MUSIC: Convergence festival
“Convergence really shows the ambition and far-reaching vision of some of the artists in electronic music today”
Glenn Max, Convergence festival curatorConvergence festival has been bringing some of the most forward-thinking electronic artists to London over the past two weeks and tomorrow is the last chance to see its array of international talent. Germany’s Pantha du Prince, alongside acts such as Darkstar, Zomby and Shackleton, will be shaking London’s beautifully graceful art-deco Troxy venue to its hopefully quite sturdy foundations to bring the festival to a close.
Listen now to this week’s music picks on The Monocle Arts Review
Art: Richard Diebenkorn
“I urge anyone who loves painting or art to go and see what I imagine will be one of the exhibitions of the year already”
Fisun Guner, visual-arts editor of ‘The Arts Desk’US painter Richard Diebenkorn is a name you rarely hear among the greats of abstract expressionism, such as Pollock and Willem de Kooning, but the Royal Academy is hoping to change perceptions with a major new retrospective of the artist’s work. Diebenkorn captured a distinctly West Coast side of a movement often preoccupied with chaotic visions and his images show a contemplative, California-bred mindset that doesn’t shout to be heard, even if people are shouting about it now today.
Listen now to this week’s art picks on The Monocle Arts Review
Books: So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed
“I found it completely fascinating, it tells you so much about how we behave – quite a good guidebook on how to be a moral person”
Cathy Rentzenbrick, associate editor at ‘The Bookseller’Welsh author, broadcaster, filmmaker and sometime musician Jon Ronson’s new book, So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed, looks at the very modern phenomenon of public shaming and how it has been amplified past all previous norms by social media. Ronson has never been deterred from delving into topics that are so current we might not quite know how we really feel about them yet and condensing them into bestselling books such as ‘The Psychopath Test’, which asked whether there’s a little Hannibal Lecter within all of us. He asks questions we never knew we needed answers to – or perhaps just the ones we were hoping we’d never have to know. Listen to a special interview with Ronson on this Sunday's episode of The Monocle Weekly.
Listen now to this week’s literary picks on The Monocle Arts Review
Film: The Gunman
“Sean Penn does this Charles Bronson middle-aged action-man thing rather well”
David Jenkins, editor of 'Little White Lies'‘The Gunman’ is an action film based upon the 1980s thriller ‘The Prone Gunman’ by Jean-Patrick Manchette. Under the direction of ‘Taken’ director Pierre Morel, Academy Award winner Sean Penn is an operative who wants to get out of the game to settle down with his girlfriend, played by Jasmine Trinca, and finds himself the target of a team of relentless hitmen.
Listen now to this week’s film picks on The Monocle Arts Review
Ballet: Swan Lake
“Prince meets swan, prince is tricked into swearing undying love for lookalike of swan, prince loses swan – it’s very simple, very powerful and totally tragic – it’s the ballet you want to see”
Louise Levene, journalist and critic for the ‘Financial Times’Until 9 April the iconic melody of Tchaikovsky’s ‘Swan Lake’ will flood the halls of London’s Royal Opera House. The ballet that first premiered in 1877 tells the tragic love story of Prince Siegfried and Odette, who has been cursed and turned into a swan by the evil spirit Von Rothbart. It’s a timeless tale and Anthony Dowell’s opulent production makes it all the more memorable.
Listen now to this week’s dance picks on The Monocle Arts Review
