PHOTOGRAPHY: MARRAKECH
Portrait of Marrakech
In collaboration with the forthcoming Marrakech Museum for Photography and Visual Art (to be completed in 2016) this exhibition at the El Badi Palace also partners with the Magnum Photos agency, who have had five of their photographers spend two weeks engaged in a ‘visual dialogue’ with locals to get shots of Marrakech identity. Mikhael Subotzky installed six GoPro cameras on his motorbike for a 360-degree vantage point, capturing images as he zipped around town that are both dizzying and serendipitous. Alternatively, Paris-based art critic Simon Njami has selected images from Magnum’s archives to give a bigger picture of Marrakech’s rich history.
El Badi Palace, Ksibet Nhas. Open Monday, 9.00-16.45; Wednesday to Sunday, 9.00-16.45. Until 1 February.
mmpva.org
FILM: UK
Day of the Flowers (Dir: John Roberts)
Strong wills (and even stronger Scottish accents) clash in this feel-good comedy shot against the backdrop of sun-drenched Cuba. Directed by two-time BAFTA winner John Roberts (Paulie, 1998 and Say Good-bye, 1990) Day of the Flowers follows the misadventures of two sisters, played by Eva Birthistle and Charity Wakefield, on a quest to disperse their late father’s ashes in Cuba. Great performances all around but the real show stealer is Cuban ballet dancer Carlos Acosta who makes his acting debut as the love interest of one of the siblings.
Day of the Flowers is at cinemas across the UK.
dayoftheflowers.com
PHOTOGRAPHY: TOKYO
Josef Koudelka Retrospective
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo is hosting Czech photographer Josef Koudelka’s first retrospective in Asia. Born in Czechslovakia in 1938, Koudelka’s images cover topics as diverse as scenes from ordinary life in late 1950s Prague, to the invasion of his home country by Russia and the Warsaw Pact armies in 1968. The 283 works on show also include his series on Gypsy life and his latest project – Chaos – images of industrial and natural landscapes photographed throughout Europe with a panoramic camera.
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 3-1 Kitanomarukoen, Chiyoda-ku. Open Tuesday to Sunday, 10.00-17.00; closed Mondays. Until 13 January.
momat.go.jp/english
INSTALLATION: VANCOUVER
Meric Algun Ringborg: Metatext
Turkish artist Meric Algun Ringborg is making her North American solo exhibition debut not just inside, but all around Vancouver Contemporary Art Gallery. Her installation, “Metatext”, comprises of lines of text around the building's façade – dictionary definitions of words that branch out into creative, if fragmented, narratives. By sticking her personal thoughts all over the public institution for everyone to read, Ringborg suggests that the boundary between what is private and what is public may be less clear than we may assume.
Vancouver Contemporary Art Gallery, 555 Nelson Street. Open Tuesday to Sunday, 12.00-18.00. Until 19 January.
contemporaryartgallery.ca
MUSIC: EUROPE
Blouse
Portland Oregon band Blouse are on tour throughout Belgium, France and the UK from Saturday. The trio seem to enjoy making records that are a little out of step with the times – 2011’s self-titled debut was all minimal synths and frosty vocals reminiscent of a lonely late-1970s disco, and 2013’s Imperium ditched those synths in favour of loud guitars just when the rest of the musical herd seemed to be catching up. But whatever the style, it’s strong songs and nagging choruses that are really making Blouse stand out, and you can see them at Brussels’ Le Brass on Saturday, Paris’s Fleche D’Or venue on Sunday and at tour dates across the UK, (and back to) France, Switzerland and Greece from next week.
Blouse play Le Brass in Brussels on Saturday, Fleche D’Or in Paris on Sunday. See website for further dates.
louseblouse.com
