Total Control Racing – Sleaford Mods new single. Posted on 08/09/201608/09/2016 By Mark Sleaford Mods have always, in their short career, precariously walked the line between fresh, new perspectives on the current music scene and lad culture nostalgia. Their stripped down electronic beats not really fitting in snugly alongside the other pop culture references of many of their 40s something (mostly male) audience (Paul Weller on… Read more
Material wealth – Ai Weiwei at Royal Academy of Arts Posted on 06/12/201506/12/2015 By Mark Everyone loves a good blockbuster. And Ai Weiwei at the Royal Academy of Arts from 19 September — 13 December, with a broad and evocative selection of works by the artist, does the job nicely. The curators have selected and presented the exhibition with a fine sense of the ebb… Read more
Resonate 2015 Posted on 31/10/2015 By Mark Festivals can be lonely events. Whether you’re knee deep in the back end of a tight crowd of music lovers, or sitting listening to a band twisting electronics and drawing out notes that have no right to exist in someone’s throat. Ultimately, all you have are your own thoughts reflected… Read more
Reimbursing the optimistic racist Posted on 26/07/201526/07/2015 By Mark At Home with Vanley Burke Ikon gallery, 22 July — 27 September 2015 How do we begin to discuss the black experience in Britain? Sometimes, there doesn’t seem to be a suitable, non-judgemental entry point. Does the discussion begin with racism? Or migration and the loss of homes in countries left behind? And so, we can sweep it aside and… Read more
Good wholesome loveliness – Sleaford Mods at Zephyr Lounge Posted on 28/03/2015 By Mark If John Cooper Clark and The Streets had a baby that was raised by Mark Fisher-reading anarcho-punks, it would probably grow up to form the Sleaford Mods. Sleaford Mods at the Zephyr Lounge, Leamington Spa put on a great show. There’s two support acts with enough distance between their styles to remind… Read more
Birmingham is full of itself Posted on 30/01/201531/01/2015 By Mark The current exhibition at Eastside Projects in Birmingham, looks inwards and backwards at the city and the artists it has given or nurtured before sending out into the world. Birmingham Show, running from 31 January to 11 April, casts a broad net across the art work of the city’s children,… Read more
Chalk and blood – Oppenheimer at the RSC Posted on 17/01/201517/01/2015 By Mark If you sat down with a large enough piece of paper, some pencils and available time, you could probably map out all the interactions that led you to that very moment you decided to map out those interactions. Everything begins small and leads to something greater. You could trace the… Read more
Katharine Morling at Llantarnam Grange Arts Centre Posted on 28/12/201428/12/2014 By Mark If you like your arts poncing experience to begin with a lesson in the juxtaposing of contemporary cultures, then you definitely need to spend more time visiting Llantarnam Grange Arts Centre in Cymbran. The small but always well curated centre occupies a 19th Century Victorian manor house resting in a small dip in… Read more
Jan Svankmajer films at Ikon Posted on 28/11/2014 By Mark Great to see some Jan Švankmajer films at Birmingham’s Ikon gallery this week. The Czech filmmaker’s work was being shown as part of the Behind the Curtain Festival, currently running up until tomorrow (29th November), so you’ll have to be quick! I only made it to the Jan Švankmajer films, but they… Read more
Lee Bul at Ikon Posted on 23/11/201424/11/2014 By Mark Living in space? Hoverboards? Robot housekeepers? They can all go fuck themselves. The future is now and it’s throbbing centre is the crashing of visual cultures from comic shop to art gallery. I’d rather live in a time when you can move from Nostalgia and Comics store to Ikon gallery… Read more