ART: TORONTO
Postscript: Writing After Conceptual Art
Forget the tired cliché “a picture paints a thousand words”, a group of more than 50 conceptual artists are now letting words do the painting. Postscript features a range of text-based art from the 1960s to the present, exploring how language interacts with society and culture. As a highlight, lovers of the written word should head down to the Power Plant in Toronto to enjoy Turner Prize-shortlisted artist Fiona Banner’s epic Indian ink reinterpretation of the Bayeux Tapestry in word-form, "1066".
The Power Plant, 231 Queens Quay W. Open Tuesday to Wednesday 10.00-1800, Thursday to Saturday 10.00-20.00, Sunday 10.00-18.00. Until 2 September.
thepowerplant.org
FILM: MELBOURNE
Melbourne International Film Festival
Melbournites have over two weeks to binge on more than 300 films from all over the world at MIFF 2013. We recommend for Saturday The Patience Stone, directed by Kabul-born Atiq Rahimi and co-written by French screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière (Belle de Jour [1967] and The Unbearable Lightness of Being [1988]). It features a captivating performance by Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani in her role as the young wife of a comatose husband under difficult circumstances in an unidentified war-torn Middle Eastern village. Not always easy viewing but essential, eye-opening cinema.
At venues across Melbourne, see website for details. Until 11 August.
miff.com.au
EXHIBITION: LONDON
In Lines and Realignments
Debuting this weekend, London’s Simon Lee Gallery will be presenting a group exhibit of seven Brazil-based artists who have worked on the idea of suspended action and static performance. Each of the works is on the brink of a transformation – from Marcius Galan’s installation of hammered nails tinkering with fragile lights to Cildo Meireles’ “The Sermon on the Mount” – a mirrored basement room featuring 126,000 matchboxes on a sandpaper floor.
Simon Lee Gallery, 12 Berkeley Street. Open Monday to Saturday 10.00-18.00. Until 28 August.
simonleegallery.com
PHOTOGRAPHY: HONG KONG
All About Hong Kong
Ten local and international photographers explore different aspects of Hong Kong, tracking the city’s history from the 1950s to present day. Among the 80 photos on display are the eternal classics of colonial Hong Kong by Chinese film director and photographer Ho Fan, the latest works by the Hong Kong-based German photographer Michael Wolf, and local self-taught photographer Kwan Kam Cheong’s sombre perspective on the city’s back alleys.
AO Vertical Art Space, 13/F, Asia One Tower, 8 Fung Yip Street, Chai Wan. Open Tuesday to Saturday, 10.00-18.00. Until 14 September.
aovertical.com
MUSIC: LUCCA
Sigur Rós at Lucca Summer Festival
The Lucca Summer Festival takes over the beautiful medieval Italian city each July, and you can catch one of the closing events on Saturday night by heading to the picturesque square Piazza Napoleone to hear the epic sounds of Icelandic band Sigur Rós. The group who have taken their brand of reflective, mostly instrumental post-rock to commercial heights that have eluded many of their peers, recently released excellent new album Kveikur. And a Tuscan piazza bathed in fading sunlight is probably the best place to become familiar with the rest of their immersive catalogue.
Piazza Napoleone, Lucca. Saturday 27 July, 19.30. See website for ticket details.
summer-festival.com
