This weekend’s entertainment includes The Brooklyn Book Festival featuring Paul Auster, live music from Esmerine who are on tour, an exhibition at the Uffizi Museum in Florence, and London’s latest pop-up shop for the Design Festival.
1. Festival: New York
- Brooklyn Book Festival
This Sunday the Brooklyn Book Festival brings exciting new writers and established names to Brooklyn Borough Hall and Plaza. Saturday has smaller gatherings such as Paul Auster reading at the Old First Reformed Church. On Sunday, authors ranging from Jennifer Egan to Chuck Klosterman will appear from 10.00.
Brooklyn Borough Hall and Plaza, 209 Joralemon Street, Brooklyn, NY, tickets are free and distributed one hour before events at the plaza
brooklynbookfestival.org
2. Music: UK
- Esmerine
Canadian instrumental (with the odd vocal) post-rockers Esmerine play their first ever UK gigs next week, touching down at Stereo in Glasgow on the 19th and then on to Leeds’ Brudenell Social Club and Electrowerkz in London. The band, which features members of critically lauded collective Godspeed You! Black Emperor, has been together for a decade and recently released their third album ‘La Lechuza’. Shows in France, Germany, Switzerland and Iceland to follow.
Stereo, 22-28 Renfield Lane, Glasgow; The Brudenell Social Club, 33 Queen’s Road, Headingley, Leeds; Electrowerkz, 7 Torrens Street, London
esmerine.com
3. Exhibition: Florence
- Francesco Clemente I Tarocchi
In a special project with the Uffizi, Naples-born artist Francesco Clemente will display in the historic museum 78 works inspired by tarot cards. Running until November, the exhibition will also feature 12 self-portraits from the self-portraiture master, with Clemente portrayed in the guise of the 12 apostles. It’s a typically contemplative, layered set of works set in the beautiful environs of the Florentine institution.
Francesco Clemente I Tarocchi, until 6 November. Uffizi Museum, Florence. Open daily 08.15–18.00 (closed Mondays)
polomuseale.firenze.it
4. Design: London
- SCP Design Department Store
The London Design Festival this weekend will see SCP East transform into the SCP Design Department Store. The pop-up will house new products by Donna Wilson, Gubi, Michael Marriott, Rich Brilliant Willing and Rob Ryan across two floors, and host the public launch of the London Design Guide 2012-13. There will also be seven metre installation outside, ‘Product & Homage to Constantin Brâncuşi’ by Marriott, with integrated seating where visitors can relax and enjoy an Olympia Express coffee or, if caffeine doesn’t pack a big enough punch, a pint from recently reopened local brewery, Truman’s Beer.
SCP East, 135-139 Curtain Road, London. Open Monday – Friday 09.30-20.00; Saturday 09.30-18.00 and Sunday, 11.00-17.00. Until 25 September
scp.co.uk
5. Film: USA
- Restless
Monocle’s favourite director Gus Van Sant’s follow up to the Oscar-winning Milk, is the quiet story of morbid romantics (see our September issue 46). Enoch Brae (Henry Hopper) meets Annabel Cotton (Mia Wasikowska) at a funeral and the two connect over the mystery of death.
Restless is on general release this weekend at cinemas across the US
