Weekend Agenda 11/12 May
This weekend pick out a literary classic in Buenos Aires, take a cinematic trip to Greenland, and enjoy the new album from Atlanta band Deerhunter.
PHOTOGRAPHY: LONDON
2013 Sony World Photography Awards
This weekend in London is your last chance to see the works of the winners of the Sony World Photography Awards at Somerset House. Whittled down from 122,000 entries from 170 countries, the 700 photographs range from current affairs to fashion, travel and wildlife. The exhibition also honours US shutterbug William Eggleston for his outstanding contribution to the field over the past four decades. Stocked with 20 of his works, the show focuses on Eggleston’s use of colour photography to promote the medium as an art in its own right.
Somerset House, The Strand. Open Saturday and Sunday 10.00-19.00. Until 12 May.
worldphoto.org
DVD: GLOBAL
Village at the End of the World
British filmmaker Sarah Gavron focuses on the village of Niaqornat in the far northwest of Greenland in this understated and touching tale of a community in decay. Reached only by ship or helicopter (weather permitting) the village has a population of 59. Gavron captures the inhabitants’ worries, frustration in individuals such as Karl, the experienced hunter and de facto leader, whose craft and commitment contrasts with Lars, the teenager who thinks of nothing but leaving. Gavron’s film is as engaging as it is informative and although featuring one of the remotest locations on earth, it tells familiar stories that hit much closer to home.
Village at the End of the World is available to buy now.
villageattheendoftheworld.com
BOOK FAIR: BUENOS AIRES
Libros Como Puentes
Catch the closing weekend of Libros Como Puentes – a three-week literary festival organised by the Argentine Society of Writers the nation’s capital. The Spanish speaking world’s largest book fair, its event space covers 45,000 sq metres with 400-plus exhibits, lectures, author signings and conferences. For the first time Libros Como Puentes has invited a foreign city – Amsterdam – as a guest to bring its own selection to the festival. Other writers, essayists and authors appearing include Isabel Allende, Wilbur Smith, Carlos Fuentes, and Mario Vargas Llosa.
Buenos Aires Argentine Rural Society, Santa Fe 4201. Open Saturday 13.00-22.00 and Sunday 13.00-21.00. Until 13 May.
el-libro.org.ar
FESTIVAL: MEXICO CITY
Fmx - Festival de México
The 29th edition of Mexico City’s main festival kicked off on Thursday with visual arts performances, exhibits and productions held in venues throughout the city’s historic centre such as the Palace of Fine Arts and the Metropolitan Cathedral. Started in the 1980s, today’s festival has grown to include international attractions ranging from British chamber music specialists the Heath Quartet to Finnish experimental electronic artist Mika Vainio, as well as screenings of Japanese animation. On Saturday don’t miss choreographer Miguel Moreira’s poignant ballet The Old King performed by Belgian theatre collective Les Ballets C de la B.
At locations across the city, see website for details. Until 19 May.
festival.org.mx
MUSIC: GLOBAL
Deerhunter: Monomania
One of Atlanta’s less showy musical success stories of recent years has been guitar-driven melodic misfits Deerhunter. The five-piece led by enigmatic singer Bradford Cox, return this week with new album Monomania – their sixth since emerging from the city’s garage rock scene in the early 2000s, that also birthed Atlanta favourites the Black Lips. On Monomania, Deerhunter return to the slightly scratchier, rough and ready sound of their early recordings after the slicker studio experiments of 2010’s Halycon Digest and Cox’s solo work as Atlas Sound. It’s an effortless, often lackadaisical collection teetering somewhere between a classic and catastrophe.
Monomania is available to buy now.
4ad.com/artists/deerhunter
