Josef Nadj: Les Philosphes
Greenwich Dance Agency
Wed 05/10 to Sat 08/10 @ 7:45pm
Les Philosophes is presented in three acts: an installation of 24 video tableaux; a 30-minute film projected onto four panels, and a 50-minute live performance. There are five performers: four philosophers and a central father-figure, a guardian of knowledge. The drama is expressed silently through movement and action, and the piece explores masculinity, relationships between generations and the search for origin. Set inside a specifically designed circular performance space, be one of only 120 people who each night will be able to get close to the creative genius of Josef Nadj.

Lyon Opera Ballet: Philippe Decoufle's Tricodex
Sadler's Wells
Thu 06/10 and Fri 07/10 @ 7:30pm
From an undulating bed of sea anemones to a myriad of mythical animals, imaginary plants, flying machines and labyrinths, Philippe Decoufle's Tricodex is a visual feast for all generations. Featuring 28 dancers and over 150 fantastical costumes, Tricodex is the third installment of Decoufle's inspired interpretation of Luigi Serafini's fictitious encyclopaedia, Codex Serafinius. Don't miss a stage production of the man who brought sparkles to the French winter Olympics back in 1992. Tricodex is a UK premiere and promises to be a glittering trip through the magical maze of Decoufle's imagination.

Rachid Ouramdane/l'Association fin novembre: Les morts Pudiques
Lilian Baylis Theatre at Sadler's Wells
Sat 08/10 and Sun 09/10 @ 7:45pm
Youth and death on the internet is the starting point for Les mort Pudiques, Rachid Ouramdane's UK premiere. Research on suicide attacks perpetrated by young Muslims, the teenage penchant for gothic wear as an expression of rebellion and new trends in youth suicide will shape the dance expressed as a sequence of mortal transformation.

NB: Dance Umbrella 2005 runs till 13/11.

In an attempt to render the world in black and white, politics rarely makes for good art. In music it's damn nearly disastrous, just check out John Lennon's '70s output, and when you think it works, as in early Dylan, you realise it's not politics at all but something far more complex and emotionally true. Put politics in a picture and more often than not you get propaganda. But for some reason, the stage seems to do politics well. Ever since Shakespeare and no doubt before, the stage has provided a suitable space to rage against the machine or to support it. David Hare is without doubt one of our foremost living playwrights and since his masterpiece Plenty in 1978, his left wing politics have produced a string of theatrical hits. Yet what makes his plays work are the universal human truths expressed by his characters. In this talk, Hare will be drawing on his new book Obedience, Struggle and Revolt: Lectures on Theatre, to discuss such subjects as Iraq, Palestine and the privatisation of the railways. What makes the event worth attending is the fact that in these violent times, it is always the human story behind the politicking which remains compelling, and in David Hare's hands, the two never come unstuck.

NB: this event will most likely sell out so buy your tickets asap.

Iceland is a nation of contradictions. Its obsessions are the laudably cerebral chess and the frankly barbaric whaling. In winter you can swim in a bath-warm natural pool while ice and snow pile up around you, or alternatively frolic in its twenty-four-hour-a-day summer sunshine and then pay £10 for a pint of cooling lager. This inbred dualism is obviously meat and over-priced drink to the artistic temperament and every second person you meet in Reykjavik is a singer, poet, painter or full-time conceptual thinker. All of which should make it no surprise that Iceland's tersely monikered, erstwhile sailor Mugison is himself something of an enigma. Loosely affiliated to the Sigur Ros camp, Mugison's music only touches peripherally on the bare-branched beauty of his better known countrymen. He does, however, share with them a peculiarly Icelandic knack for melding acoustic instruments with digital gee-gaws -- Mum fans should also form an orderly queue. Mugison's is, ultimately, a playful palette -- his charming, light-as-air music topped off by his own dreamy, far away vocals. It sounds like folk music for the technological era -- or, as The Face recently described him, "...one of the best singer-songwriters recently seen creeping out of a computer". Expect gnomic wisdom, electro-folk whimsy and, thankfully, beer that won't require a re-mortgage to buy.

Giveaway: we have two copies of Mugimama, Is This Monkey Music? (Accidental) to give away. They'll go to two randomly picked Flashers who can tell us the name of the label that released Mugison's Lonely Mountain.

Isn't it written in stone somewhere, or on some lost scrolls in some caves, that "thy sequels shall face damnation and bring plague upon thine director's career (except for that lovely Godfather II)"? If anyone has ever seen Blair Witch II, you know it to be true. It has, however, recently become apparent that occasionally an Act II is a good idea -- roll on Ingmar Bergman's Saraband. Thirty-two years after the original five hour Scenes From A Marriage. Saraband sees Marianne (Liv Ullmann) and Johan (Erland Josephson) reunite after a long period of separation bought on by the events in the first film, Johan contemplates his "meaningless existence". A whole different film in tone, the story, characters and direction have matured well.

NB: clever NFT has scheduled two screenings of Scenes From A Marriage (13/10 and 17/10) to coincide with the release, so take the chance to see both these critically acclaimed films at the cinema.

A weekend of events focusing on the revolutionary life and music of Iannis Xenakis: composer, architect, mathematician and freedom fighter. Commencing on Friday night with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Singers executing his large scale works Shaar, Alax and Nuits; using the many individual players to create dazzling single forms from many separate complex motions.

Saturday continues with chamber and solo performances in concerts with pianist Rolf Hind contrasting the serenity of Morton Feldman against Xenakis' brutally impossible Evryali. This is paired with the excellent Arditti Quartet, who have made recordings of all Xenakis' quartet and solo string works, joined by Nicholas Hodges on piano. These concerts are punctuated by a round table discussion featuring people who played a large part in Xenakis' life and those whom his music has affected.

The final day includes the screening of the biographical film Something Rich And Strange by Mark Kidel. This is followed by a concert by the London Sinfonietta, long term collaborators with Xenakis, playing the keyboard concerto type works A l'ile de Goree and Eonta. The whole weekend is finished off with a performance of Xenakis' otherworldly electronic tape work: La legende d'Eer, realised by Sound Intermedia.

NB: this festival runs from 07/10 till 09/10.

For more than a decade Claire Denis has been creating disarming, alluring cinema. Having worked as an assistant director to Wim Wenders and Jim Jarmusch among others, Denis is one of France's most distinctive and inventive filmmakers. Her narratives have more in common with poetry than prose, the near-silence of her films often more photographic than filmic. Her minimal use of sound heightens your senses, making you listen carefully to breaths, rustles of clothing, distant police sirens. When music enters a scene, it is often sudden, enchanting and dream-like. The Institut Francais' complete retrospective includes a masterclass (Fri 07/10 at 7pm) with the director discussing actors and the role of music in her films with long-time collaborators, actor Michel Subor and Tindersticks singer Stuart Staples. A preview of her new documentary exploring dance and movement, focusing on the work of choreographer Mathilde Monnier, will also be shown (Sat 08/10 at 8:30pm), followed by a Q&A with both filmmaker and subject. The retrospective also features rarely screened early works such as Chocolat (Sun 09/10 and Tue 18/10), I Can't Sleep (Sun 09/10 and Sat 15/10) and a programme of short films, as well as her more recent works.

NB: this retrospective runs from 07/10 till 20/10.

Everything is a tense, subtle and intelligent story about the odd goings on between a client and a prostitute in a Soho brothel. Ray Winstone plays Richard, a married man who wants to talk with a prostitute rather than have sex, but is troubled about expressing what exactly it is he is there for. Naomi, played with great conviction by Jan Graveson, keeps expecting things to take their natural sexual course, but cannot work out Richard's highly guarded motives. A low-budget film shot in nine days on HD, Everything is predictably raw. However, British director Richard Hawkins' first film is able to capture the elusive nastier and cheaper aspects of London life superbly. The city's ugly high-rise living, shoddy interiors and anonymity come through very strongly, as does the struggle sex workers face in order to make a living. The film gets its title from Naomi's statement that she will do "everything", for a price. This is cleverly worked into a story of people doing everything they can to help each other in times of difficulty, a story about Londoners that filmmakers seldom tell.

NB: Everything screens at the ICA from 07/10 till 13/10. The Fri 07/10 (9pm) screening will be followed by a discussion with Richard Hawkins and Ray Winstone (tbc -- see the ICA website for updates).

Serious, not a joke -- so begins many a round robin email about Rohypnol, Progesterex and dodgy minicab drivers. It seems it only takes a small twist of fate for a casual meeting to turn into a nightmare, and the gist is not to trust people. Do you ever get the feeling that the person you've just met is lying to you? Do they really work in advertising? Would it really be a great idea to go back to their flat in Limehouse? The seedling Russian filmmaker Ilya Khrzhanovsky managed to convince the imfamous writer Vladimir Sorokin (over coffee through a mutual friend) to write him a script starting with a real-life story of mutual social lying and mistrust. What follows is a grotesque Lynchian tale, with an Eraserhead industrial soundtrack and eating scenes that may make you avoid chicken wings for the foreseeable future. Ilya says "it's about different-sameness"; to be honest you may get a little lost, but for the sheer beauty of its downplayed drama, and the ICA one off opportunity of a live mix soundtrack by Osymyso, you should see this, what may turn out to be, a little piece of genius. If Ilya is not pulling our leg, we trust we will see more of his genius in the future.

NB: 4 screens at the ICA till 27/10.

Breakbeat and drum 'n' bass as genres thrive so well outside of the capital that each city in which the DJs and fans tend to congregate needs only to put on a couple of stellar nights to really keep the movement alive. West London-based collective Tempo Tantrum do such a thing on a monthly basis in Brixton's comfortable Telegraph, and have been doing so for five years now -- it's a mark of the calibre of residents Reza, Matt Juice, Intajah and Xerxes that this, their birthday party, boasts sets from the likes of Darqwan (aka Oris Jay) -- whose hit "Said The Spider" crossed from the UK Garage-born breakstep genre into popularity with the Warp crowd due to its urgent beats and terrifying bassline -- and jungle originator Doc Scott alongside Teebee and current Ram hot property Sub Focus (whose recent remix of the Prodigy's "Smack My Bitch Up" is currently destroying floors). Tempo Tantrum have worked very hard to build their reputation as fresh faces in a scene which tends to congeal towards housier, more sedate sounds, and it's great to see such commitment to keeping the sound as edgy and urban as it can be.

A sequel to the cult television series Firefly, Serenity is also the cinematic directorial debut of Joss Whedon, best known for creating the seminal Buffy the Vampire Slayer. However dubious this introduction may sound, the film is in fact a well acted and visually breathtaking piece of story telling that marries the more languid plotting of television sci-fi with the epic set pieces of the big screen; a remarkable achievement. The television series, following the fortunes of a motley band of misfits manning the rundown space ship Serenity, was a bizarre blend of genres that left the television moguls nonplussed -- they pulled it after 15 episodes. This occasioned a storm of protest from impassioned viewers, resulting in the film. The film is sure to please both the hardcore fans, as well as audiences who have never watched Firefly. Serenity may not sweat the same paranoid hysteria of Alien or aspire to the lofty philosophical heights of 2001 A Space Odyssey, but it is a genre-defying and entertaining watch. Sit back and enjoy.

NB: Serenity is released in London on 07/10.

Since American Psycho was first published in the United States in 1991, every cold-eyed coke-fuelled i-banker, suddenly seemed like Bret Easton Ellis was feeding him his lines. Few writers have produced such sleek, slick and sharp representations of their era. Starting with Less Than Zero, a glittering and grotesque odyssey of hedonism and decay in LA which Ellis sold to Penguin Books at age 21, he has become one of contemporary literature's most compelling icons and strongest talents. However, creating searing satires of the society's soulless, has also earned him the reputation of being a callow egotist, loudly self-destructing in public. Now relatively grown-up and self-reflective he is unnerved by being frequently confused with his chic sociopath characters, and his upcoming novel Lunar Park, published by Picador, shows him questioning the depth of his own shallowness. The novel tells the story of a fictional fashionable writer (named Bret Easton Ellis) whose suburban zip-code does little to temper his drug-use or apathy until characters from his (and the "real" Ellis' novels) begin to cross into his physical reality. Now, in a rare UK appearance, Ellis will talk with critic John Walsh about writing and what it means to be the maturing voice of a generation's vices.

Giveaway: we have one copy of Lunar Park to give away. It'll go to one randomly picked Flasher who can tell us the name of another famous author who went to university with Bret Easton Ellis.

With Insen, Alva Noto (aka Carsten Nicolai) and Ryuichi Sakamoto continue a collaboration that began after meeting during Nicolai's first tour of Japan, which then led to the release of their debut album Vrioon in 2003. Sakamoto founded influential electronic group Yellow Magic Orchestra, but is perhaps most noted for his solo career, film soundtracks and work with such artists as David Bowie, David Sylvian and David Byrne, while Nicolai forms part of the Raster-Noton label, focusing on conceptual and experimental projects in music, art and science. The collaboration between these two unique artists explores the interaction between electronic and acoustic instrumentation, blending Sakamoto's harmonic, airy piano arrangements with Noto's almost silent digital static, sinewaves, glitches, hums and whirrs. This new live production of the project will feature an on-stage video installation complete with dynamic, real-time visualisation of the sound as graphics and should provide excellent aural and visual relief for the mind.

NB: this event is part of the Barbican's Only Connect series.

Those fortunate to enough to witness Laura Veirs within the ornate confines of Bush Hall two weeks ago were treated to a performance that was at once poignant and electrifying. Veirs has been bracketed under the vague and encompassing "Americana" genre; a slightly lazy comparison, since her recent album Year Of Meteors is characterised by immaculate choice production. Within a live setting her songs acquire a powerful dynamic edge, largely down to the influence of her charismatic and engaging backing band the Tortured Souls, featuring album producer Tucker Martine, multi-instrumentalists Steve Moore and prolific songwriter, Karl Blau. Veirs promises this upcoming concert will feature a different set and should include more tracks from her previous album, Carbon Glacier. It is unlikely Veirs will be playing venues of this intimacy once word of mouth buzz gradually propels her towards a wide audience -- Shepherds Bush Empire surely awaits when she next returns. Hence, this is a treasured opportunity to see an engaging and affecting artist on the cusp of genuine success.

Giveaway: we have three copies of Year Of Meteors to give away. They'll go to three randomly picked Flashers who can tell us how many albums Laura Veirs has released.

This round table discussion, chaired by Blueprint's editor Vicky Richardson, will be an exercise in restraint and the understated. The architects Caruso St John, who recently completed the private residence The Brick House in West London and the 187 Gallery Centre for Contemporary Arts in Nottingham, will discuss their work together with the German artist and photographer Thomas Demand and Paul Oliver. The discussion complements the exhibition of the architects' work at the AA, which explores the potential of interpretation in contemporary practice and seeks to illustrate Caruso St John's long-held belief that interpretation of past architectures works alongside current obsessions with innovation and novelty.

NB: Caruso St John: Cover Versions runs at the AA gallery from 08/10 till 03/11.

Imagine being a child again. Seeing the world around you with a sense of wonder: learning new words and meanings; playing with bright coloured toys; discovering intriguing household objects. On walking into Richard Wentworth's current show at the Lisson, you get the impression that the acclaimed elder statesman of British sculpture recalls what it's like to be young. He perceives ready-made objects in exciting ways, juxtaposing them to create inventive visual dialogues. Look at Mirror, Mirror (2003) an assorted spectrum of language dictionaries jostling alongside each other on uniform metal shelves, to create new international conversations. Or a piece of word play, Mode-Module-Modular (2004), a bright constellation of balls, orbiting around coat hooks on a French wooden wine crate, as though atoms in space. Original ways of looking at the world resonate throughout this spacious and accessible hang. Wentworth is equally good at questioning his environment from the outside in, as he is from the inside out; in Tantamount (2005) he places a giant bale of straw in the middle of a field of shiny metal bars, representing a day's country ploughing in a world of modernity. As Wentworth sifts through the multiple meanings of words and images in this show of new and classic works, he reminds us of the vitality of imagination.

NB: runs till 08/10.

Timothy Taylor Gallery's lights are dim, so the visitor may, on approaching, fear that the blasted staff have closed the space early. But the door opens to a row of inscrutable black squares, which only upon close inspection reveal their hidden portraits; wide-eyed and bare-chested children loom out from behind the dark surfaces. Another work is a constellation of swirls and smeared dusting, ludic marks made by snakes slithering over a photogram surface. Daguerreotypes in the final room prove Adam Fuss' engagement with the moment of capturing an image -- does a photograph constitute record or event itself? Fuss' works are immaculately crafted, to the point they try one's credibility, and wonder at his skill is tinged by a sense that we have not given up hope of finding unknown truths through a camera lens nor yet learnt to distrust the photographer's art.

NB: runs till 14/10.

If you were lucky enough to see environmental artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude's stunning installation in saffron The Gates in New York's Central Park for two weeks last February, you won't want to miss this rare opportunity to hear them speak about their work. The artistic duo, best known for wrapping or "surrounding" objects, buildings and even islands, will discuss their past triumphs which include Wrapped Reichstag, The Pont Neuf Wrapped, The Umbrellas and Surrounded Islands, as well as their next project Over The River project for the Arkansas River, in the State of Colorado. They'll talk about the years of preparation that are required for their epic installations and discuss the preparatory drawings, scale models and collages. If you've ever wondered if there's a deeper meaning behind Christo and Jeanne-Claude's installations, other than to offer a new and beautiful way of looking at an old landscape, now's your chance to ask them.

NB: documentation, drawings and collages by Christo and Jeanne-Claude for the project Over The River can be seen at Annely Juda Fine Art from 19/10 till 17/12.

A few years ago, architects seemed to fall into one of two categories: big on teaching theory, short on hands-on practice, or vice versa. Nowadays of course, things are different. Zaha Hadid is building actual buildings, not just winning prizes, and even that master of drawing-board-bound ideas Peter Cook gets to try out his site wellies. Foremost among the practitioners of "doing as well as talking" is Foreign Office Architects -- the husband and wife team of Farshid Moussavi and Alejandro Zaera-Polo. Multiple teaching commitments around the globe, including Moussavi's recent stint at the AA and Harvard's GSD, haven't stopped them building on site, from early big wins such as the Yokohama terminal to their recent Spanish Pavilion. FOA have been lying low in terms of media coverage since their Breeding Architecture show a while back, but it's probably because they've been so busy. Here in the Smoke, there's been the small matter of their part in the Olympic Bid, and possibly the Capital's most exciting commission in years, the BBC's Music Box. Charles Jencks will be chairing this evening of discussion with architecture's most glamorous couple, and they'll be graciously accepting his Jencks Award for successfully balancing theory and practice.

Rather than going in and out of fashion, William Burroughs continues to dominate our culture like few other artists do. Sinister and funny, profoundly spiritual and doggedly pragmatic, dignified and horrifically vulgar -- quite simply, there is no one quite like him. He was an inspiration to his friends Kerouac and Ginsberg, and remained ahead of the pack throughout his life, attracting the likes of Jagger, Bowie and Kurt Cobain as fans. Burroughs was interested in communication in all its myriad forms, and his attempts to communicate took him in many directions. Not only did he aggressively reinvent the novel with his revolutionary The Naked Lunch, but he also worked on sonic cut ups, paintings and drawings that recorded his violent quest for wisdom. Part I of this three part exhibition, Dead Aim, includes Burroughs' hand drawn Shot Sheriff drawings, violently expressive works riddled with gunshots. An animation-style Rolodex of images hums eerily in a corner, and two films about Burroughs' work emit blue cathode rays in a dark stairwell. The work, much of it rare and as yet unseen, is given room to breathe in this perfect setting, really allowing the audience to soak it up. The revolution starts here. Again.

NB: Part I ends on 09/10, Part II starts 11/10 (pv 6:30 - 9pm) and ends on 01/11 and Part III ends on 18/12. On 07/11 catch a special multimedia talk Smokescreen with Oliver Harris, Ian MacFadyen and Terry Wilson (the 7pm talk is sold out so get your tickets fast for the 9pm one).

We were never really compelled by anything on the Crosstown Rebels label. Maybe it was their choice of sky blue sleeves and the Century Gothic typeface that put us off. But their first album release has totally struck it gold. Much will be made of the fact that Pier Bucci is from Chile. And rightly so, his palette sits comfortably with such like minded souls as Luciano, Ricardo Villalobos and Dandy Jack . All new breed Chileans taking techno to previously uncharted territories. A psychedelic tint hovers over the album along with a thoughtful approach to melody, playfully executed. Sub-layers of acid and digital disintegration creep in every now and again to add tension and drama. The slow breakbeat waltz of "Cosmic" jars against "Towers" retro-bleeps and shuddering dub. A calling card for next generation Chileans and their total mastery of the new dance.

NB: catch Bucci live at The Key on Sat 08/10 and then on Sun 07/10 (10:45pm) when he plays a live set and is interviewed by Nick Luscombe on the XFM Flo-Motion show.

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