wobbly ghosts and candlewax

I think we’ll declare this site a politics and financial free zone for a teeny while as Brits are obscenely assaulted from every direction by these nasty brutes. We took a severe hit from the WMD’s (Wobbly Mandarins of Destruction) in the Sunday newspapers this morning. But an escape and respite (but only till Tues Feb 17) can be found in The Crypt Gallery. Azerbaijan artist Kabira Alieva’s Kapricornian Voyage isn’t cutting edge, fashionable or very loud. Nor does it pretend or intend to be such. The press release describes it as the artist’s take on Alice in Wonderland and the show does indeed embody much of C.S. Lewis’ spirituality. Remarkably this is the first solo show from an Azerbaijan artist in London (there used to be a more ‘ethno’ gallery near London Bridge) and the exhibition (curated by Stark Projects) is proudly sponsored by the country’s London embassy. Weaving around the gravestone ghosts of St Pancras Church’s crypt, much of Kabira’s work is so accomplished it could easily stand on its own laurels in a West End gallery without the aid of the ghosts’ inevitable ‘exoticism’. Large-format photos jiggle alongside intricate ink-wash drawings, charcoal luminescences of body-parts and sculptures inhabiting all the crypt’s nooks and crannies. There’s no contemporary art agenda here simply the sheer beauty of mediation that creativity can bring.
Photos of mine from the opening on this webpage.

BBC Radio 3 has playwright and human rights activist The Essay: Harold Pinter's Voices
Newsnight (Feb 11) includes Oliver James who wrote Affluenza.

On for far longer is an installation by acclaimed British artists Jane & Louise Wilson, based on an unfinished Kubrick project Aryan Papers about the Holocaust, in the BFI Southbank Gallery. Though the effect of the show can really only be felt in 35mm on the gallery’s big screen and the giant mirrors reflecting it, one can get a sense online by the exhibition’s curators Animate Projects where there’s info on many of their other exciting projects.

The BFI also have the Future Film Festival and Future Film Institute.
And the doco Anvil! The Story Of Anvil (although you’d swear some of it is made up) is out in cinemas next week and not strictly for heavy-metal fans as it shows life is not always doom and gloom.

GAZWRX: The Films of Jeff Keen have a BFI screening and are released on DVD

For some light relief there’s the brilliantly clever French James Bond spoof OSS-117: Cario, Nest Of Spies or ICA DVD also have Shin-yun Won’s dark and disturbing A Bloody Aria (both out Feb 23).
Larry Charles’ very funny and very provocative Religulous out on Lionsgate DVD (Reg 1) in the States and released UK theatrically 3 April. Look out for the Vatican's answer to stand-up comedy.