Catch Berlin beatmaster Dirk Dresselhaus as he headlines in London to perform experimental nuggets from the new album Skoda Mluvit (City Slang). Schneider TM preserves the best of '90s sound with their edgy, off-beat, hypnotic grooves. An approachable younger relation of "Teutonic Boomers" Can, Neu!, Kraftwerk and other German electronica outfits, these soundscapes hover somewhere between techno, pop and instrumental. Skoda Mluvit (meaning "move on" in Czech) is a more daring follow up to the quirkily beautiful Zoomer and groundbreaking debut Moist, weaving guitar riffs and African rhythms in with the trademark computer wizardry. And the experiment is a resounding success.

NB: on the night, Schneider TM is aptly heralded by '80s retro outfit Camp Actor.

Under the mantle of "World Culture", the Mosaiques Festival brings together a genuinely diverse range of films, talks and music. Most of the work explores stories from the Francophone world, this year focusing on Algeria, Morocco, Martinique, Haiti and Guinea. There's a preview of Heading South, a naturalistic drama about the sex trade in '70s Haiti, which stars Charlotte Rampling. The director, Laurent Cantet (whose award-winning films include Time Out and Human Resources), will be taking part in a Q&A at two screenings (05/05 and 06/05).

The festival also features several documentaries, tied to some of the talks, examining political issues in Haiti, Algeria, Sri Lanka and Morocco. Algerian fiction is showcased with Aziz Chouaki, who launches his third book The Star Of Algiers (13/05), and Faiza Guene, who launches her first English translation of the critically-acclaimed Just Like Tomorrow (13/05). Talks include the prolific Moroccan writer Tahar Ben Jelloun in conversation with the talented Guardian journalist Maya Jaggi (12/05), and award-winning novelist and essayist Raphael Confiant discussing post-colonialism and Creole culture (04/05). Perhaps the most intriguing night at Mosaiques is the Marseille-based seven-piece Les Orientales playing Algerian Music Hall songs of the '40s and '60s fused with jazz, rumba, tango and flamenco (13/05).

NB: Mosaiques 2006 runs from 04/05 till 14/05 at the Institut Francais and from 05/05 till 11/05 at the Ritzy Cinema.

One of the more peripatetic figures in contemporary literature, Linh Dinh was born in Vietnam but spent most of his life in Philadelphia before moving back to Saigon, then on to Italy and now, of all places, to Norwich, where he holds the David T K Wong Fellowship at the University of East Anglia. But that's nothing compared to the movement in his work, where, as one reviewer noticed, "Dinh changes cities as fast as thought." And yet for all that, as one of his poems would have it, "A provincial often thinks himself superior to a cosmopolitan/Because he knows every nook of a stinking alley." All the better that this rare opportunity to hear Dinnh read his poems and stories finds him paired with local hero Simon Smith, putatively "the Jack Lemmon of English poetry" (which we think relates to someone else's comment that, "Smith is master of the deceptively casual poem.") He's launching a new collection, Mercury (Salt Publications).

NB: on 23/05 catch KultureFlash's Barry Schwabsky and Carol Szymanski for the next in this series of poetry nights. Lastly, make sure you catch Yang Fudong's exhibition which is currently on view at Parasol unit (till 09/06).

If you are an art aficionado you've probably had this earmarked in your diary for months -- if not, make an effort to squeeze in this symposium at the V&A by some of the art world's heavy hitters. Yve-Alain Bois -- art-historian par excellence -- leads a panel of experts (from across the globe) in a discussion about Ellsworth Kelly, with reference to the exhibition currently running at the Serpentine (till 25/05) and his work over the last half century. Kelly's work is notoriously difficult to connect with (it's often accused of impersonalism and the bleak dissolution of the self) and his staunch defenders often have a tough time encouraging a full emotional as well as technical appreciation of his pieces. Here's your chance to have some of the best in the business either win you over afresh or enhance your admiration.

NB: Ellsworth Kelly is also exhibiting at Tate St Ives (till 07/05).

Like the oxygen of life for all those last-gasp aspiring filmmakers out there, The Magician proves that yes, you can make a brilliant film, guerrilla-style, for absolutely peanuts. Hell -- you don't even have to hire actors -- just get the crew to double as the talent. Like a Southern Hemisphere Man Bites Dog, this super-low-budget Australian mockumentary is the tale of Max Totti, a Melbourne film student who is documenting his neighbour, hitman Ray Shoesmith (writer / producer / director / editor Scott Ryan), as he goes about his day-to-day business "making people disappear". Ray, possessor of the worst film teeth since Austin Powers, may be a guy you absolutely wouldn't want to double-cross, but if you are itching to argue about the cast of The Dirty Dozen, discuss the gay Mardi Gras or debate the morality of adulterous footballers, then he's your man. In this blackly comic record of kidnappings, hits, road-trips and discussions on who gets the last piece of chewing gum, Ryan is absolutely mesmerising as Ray -- a bizarre mix of banality, humour, morality and frightening intensity -- a charismatic character that you can't help being drawn to, despite the obvious dangers.

NB: The Magician is released in London on 05/05. On 07/05 at 5pm catch a combined free screening / Q&A with Scott Ryan / party at Cargo.

What does it mean to see? Is vision purely optical? Does the "mind's eye" really exist? At the time that painter Hugues de Montalembert was attacked with paint thinner during a mugging in New York City in 1978, he had never met anyone blind. Within hours of the attack he himself was blind. Retaining his thirst for travel, after slowly recovering his independence, he struck out alone for Bali where he spent months handwriting 800 pages of notes for his autobiography La lumiere assassinee (Ecplise). Director Gary Tarn's experimental documentary Black Sun attempts to show the world as it would be perceived by de Montalembert -- to reflect the very visual internal world that he has had to develop, and its interaction with the physical world. Stunning imagery accompanies de Montalembert's calm, meditative voiceover as he reflects on perception and explains what the act of seeing means to the sightless. An inspiring cinematic reflection on loss, the senses and our place in the visual world, it demonstrates de Montalembert's observation that "vision is a creation not a perception".

NB: Black Sun is released in London on 05/05 and screens at the ICA till 25/05. On 13/05 catch Gary Tarn for a Q&A after the 6:45pm screening of the film.

London has, oddly enough, never been a centrifuge for (challenging) contemporary electronic music festivals -- up until this weekend. Through Cut and Splice -- the self defined "premiere annual festival of radical electronic music and sound art" -- the established Sonic Arts Network organisation, in co-production with BBC Radio 3, has managed quite a coup in its third running year: to bring the Acousmonium, an 18 speaker sound-system created by Francois Bayle, a co-founder of the Groupe de Recherche Musical (GRM) to London for the first time in its 30 year history. This impressive three day event will also show influences drawn from late Musique Concrete composers such as Pierre Schaeffer, Pierre Henry, Luc Ferrari or Iannis Xenakis.

The monumental L'Experience Acoustique will take place on the last day as a two hour performance. Leading us towards this sound experience will be a number of influential names of the current experimental scene. Also on Sunday the all-female laptop trio The Lapetites (Kaffe Matthews, AGF and Ryoko Kuwajima) will perform Eliane Radigue's compositions; opening that evening will be one of Krautrock's pioneer, Hans-Joachim Roedelius. The Saturday afternoon will start with haunting drones of Carl Michael von Hausswolff and noise from Mego's laptopper Hecker and a performance by French sound theorist and composer Michel Chion. The opening day will focus on electroacoustic composers with another GRM figure, Christian Zanesi, and a new work by British composer John Wall.

NB: the ICA bar will also be hosting label showcases from ReR and the 25-year-old Touch (with an exclusive performance by Philip Jeck) and a DJ set from noise terrorist Russell Haswell.

Most electronic labels seem to be moving away from signing proper electronic musicians and going for people with guitars and voices. Some might call this diversifying, others might call it diluting. Do we really need any more indie-guitar bands snuggling up next to seasoned laptoppers? Manchester's Skam Records are one label who seem to have bucked the trend and have fiercely stuck to their original ideals. From initially giving us the industrial dark clank of Autechre's offshoot project Gescom, to the pastoral ambience of the Boards of Canada, these guys have furrowed their own path. They've also been unafraid of taking their manifesto out on the road: from pirate radio to illegal raves. Tonight sees them taking over The Poke for a (legal) night of intense electronics and uncompromising machine music. From the high-velocity, algorithmic crunching hyperspeed techno of Cane to the layered and melodic shuffle of Freeform. But we reckon the highlight will be Massonix. 808 State's Graham Massey's solo project has 16 years of rave experience on his side. We can't wait to see what he has in store.

A discerning raver of the house inclination is currently being spoilt in London. The loft / lucky cloud / beauty and the beat collectives are putting on wonderful, intimate and unpretentious all night affairs with an emphasis strictly on superb sounds and nice people for whom lashings of white powder and exorbitant cocktails are not prerequisites for a good night out. Now we have a new monthly night at the Soundstage, which is next to The Key, in what's becoming a Kings Cross theme park of quality clubs. Headlining the first event will be Victor Simonelli, veteran of the New York scene and very well positioned to offer his musical interpretation of "what is house". Simonelli is in for a rough night as he's also committed to the after party at The Key. This will be a diligently programmed event with a genuine attention to detail, organised by people intent on providing the finest sounds, surroundings and atmosphere. Boogie on down.

The theremin is one of the earliest fully electronic musical instruments; dating back to 1917 it is particularly distinctive in that it is the first musical instrument designed to be played without being touched. Outfitted with two antennas, a magnetic field surrounds the instrument, and when the hands of the player enter the field, changes in pitch and volume occur. Playing the theremin requires precise skill and perfect pitch. Although it is an instrument unknown to most it has impacted popular culture, having been utilised by The Beach Boys ("Good Vibrations"), Led Zeppelin ("Whole Lotta Love"), Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and Phish, to name but a few. Now that the above has been explained to those who were previously ignorant, the night itself will feature Mable -- claiming to be the only theremin ensemble that can emulate a full orchestra -- imitating the sound of cellos, violins, flutes and even the human voice. To be honest it is probably futile to attempt to explain what it will all sound like; except to say that it will sound equally strange and captivating. For the inquisitive, adventurous and the open-minded this should be a fascinating night.

Lost Vagueness began life as a festival haven for style gurus unwilling to compromise their raison d'etre -- fabulous fashion. In the face of rivers of mud flowing at Glastonbury, these doyennes of coiffured perfection slunk off to an adjacent field, dressed up to the nines, and jived like there was no tomorrow. Like-minded purveyors of '40s elegance, Charleston masters, tailored gentlemen and sartorial glamour pusses continued to gather together to indulge their penchant for show-stopping garb and scene-stealing performance under the LV banner -- long after the last scraps of Somerset field had been washed away. Following a break-away motion which saw the launch of their own festival (held at Lewes, Suffolk in the summer) LV have hit the ground running with their decadent assault on London. The Lost Elephant Ball (a masked ball no less) paves the way for the 2006 flurry of events in the name of LV indulgence -- don your glad rags and dancing shoes, polish up your two-step and get in there for some carnivalesque cabaret, a black jack and roulette racket and some glorious entertainment courtesy of The Cuban Brothers.

NB: if 6am is too early for it all to end, then make sure you stop by Turnmills for the Lost Vagueness Veryveryverywrongindeed after-party (6am - 2pm).

Stereotyping inhabitants of the countries that comprise Europe is a lazy annoyance, it's true, and one which should be stamped out, but every now and again you find a national cliche which people embrace and which is deservedly touted. Sure, the inhabitants of Great Britain like to forget that the remaining countries in the EU think that we drink too much and have terrible teeth, but we love the fact that our taste in music is fanfared. Similarly for every lazy cheese / capitulation quip The Sun makes about the French, you'll find many more regarding their laconic cool -- and this is what Did We Mention Our Disco?: Parisian Invasion of Canvas is all about. That and minimal techno, of course. Join hot-stuff pop-bothering flickery electronica wunderkind Justice, "Flat Beat" maestro and all-round sparse tech legend Mr Oizo and many more for an evening of sweaty dance music, which, if it was a facial expression, would be that distinguished Emmanuelle Beart moue which would cause your partner to realise what they'd been missing and leave you. Go, if you think you're cool enough.

With line-up changes worthy of the Sugarbabes Huun-Huur-Tu are an unusual detour for the avid gig-goer. They are a Tuvan throat singing group from the Russian / Mongolian border, able to sing up to four notes at a time each -- yep -- have a go -- it's hard! The Union Chapel is the venue, and for those of you who did not notice that it's been out of order for about a year this is a celebratory re-opening gig for one of London's best ever venues. Back to the music, well it sounds like nothing you will have ever heard before; a bit folky, yes, but with the nutsy vocals of what could be a 50 a day Marlboro Red habit! This band have spawned more commercial and even "rocky" projects including Yat-Kha, but these guys are genuinely one-of-a-kind for us London-types: they use all kinds of unusual instruments for their records such as the Scottish smallpipe and have even recorded tunes on horseback. A genuinely unusual gig.

Best known for his stellar sideman duties with the likes of Tom Waits and Elvis Costello, indomitable, string-mangling guitarist Marc Ribot is a veteran of the NYC Downtown school that gave us John Zorn, Arto Lindsay and their ilk. The versatile Ribot combines stints in his own Latin-tinged combo Cubanos Postizos, crazed avant-jazz solo forays and regular session work (he'll be heading out on the road with T-Bone Burnett later this spring). His latest venture, Ceramic Dog, however, marks something of a departure. Named after both the ultimate kitsch object and, allegedly, an expression meaning "frozen with emotion" (as in the perfectly still moment before a fight breaks out), Ceramic Dog are a power trio who promise "free / punk / funk / experimental / psychedelic / post electronica" -- which we think it's fair to assume will equate to something approaching raucous anarchy. Joining Ribot are noted improv scene tyros Shahzad Ismaily on bass and drummer Ches Smith, making up what Time Out New York recently described as Ribot's "rawest band in ages".

With his last album, Politics, Sebastien Tellier confounded listeners with his highly personal, twisted but addictive songs, which benefited from a Parisian theatricality, Godspell meets Chicago, a touch of post Air melodrama, and with just a sprinkling of Robert Wyatt, Syd Barret, and a Badly Drawn Serge Gainsbourg. The symphonic qualities of this work were outstanding for their maturity and with such cultural collisions you'd imagine this would have been an aural nightmare, but in fact it is made for one of the most uplifting records of the time. Produced by Mr Oizo (how can you forget Flat Eric, the Crazy Frog of his day) and featuring legendary beat master and former Fela Kuti collaborator Tony Allen, keeping the tempo on vinyl, one can only hope that this night connects some of the dots of his influences, and lights up the damp evening of London town.

There's something very British about the fact that one of our greatest ever designs (the French had something to do with it too) is defunct, but we are just so proud of our supersonic commercial plane, the Concorde. It just won BBC Two's The Culture Show and the Design Museum's Great British Design Quest even though it has been out of service for three years following a devastating crash in 2001 and a slump in passenger numbers. Christopher Orlebar is an author and Concorde expert. Having flown the things it would seem he would know what he's talking about; he retired from BA before the planes downfall in 2000. This is a chance to find out from someone on the inside about one of our best ever designs, and look to the possibilities of future flight innovation.

The Spectre is a fictional superhero that appeared in numerous DC comic books written by Jerry Siegel, the creator of Superman. The Spectre's career began when a detective was murdered. His spirit refused to pass into the afterlife and, in the guise of a chalk-white man in a green cloak, it sought bloody vengeance against the murderers in a grim, supernatural fashion. What has The Spectre got to do with FAT? Well FAT are comical, fantastical and fashionable. Archispectre is considered here to be an imaginary or supernatural architecture and, given the shortcomings of the architectural lexicon, it was necessary to construct a term to describe the elusive iconography of FAT. Like Archigram before them, FAT are interested in popular culture and thus have recognised that the fashion cycle lasts two decades before bad taste turns good. Whilst this is hardly a revelation to anyone "outside architecture", (in music for example, '80s new wave, punk and electronic synth gave rise to electroclash) this means that post-modernism, like leg warmers, is back. Modernity has today bifurcated into post-modernity and super-modernity. You can hear one reverberate within the other as FAT's all-embracing pluralism resounds within the austere space of Herzog & De Meuron's Tate Modern. The question is: which form of modernity can save the city?

Laconic, long-limbed Will Self heads for Tate Britain to postulate on how visual imagery has helped shape his work. Interesting to know how he came up with the idea for Cock And Bull, where a man grows a fanny behind his knee, and a woman's clit becomes engorged to the point of having penile proportions. Hmmm. Perhaps not something we'd like to hear more about. Still, with a new novel, The Book Of Dave, about to hit the shelves (billed as a wry take on the nature of received religion -- the rants of a East End taxi driver become the foundation for a new religion, 500 years after they were written down and buried), this is a great opportunity to hear how the cogs of his creative machinery are kept well oiled.

South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker are in London for this Skillset Masterclass at the NFT, part of The Stanley Kubrick Masterclass series, presented by the National Film And Television School and Script Factory. London satirists and animators should jump at this opportunity to learn from the masters. More than just animators -- Parker and Stone write, direct, produce and compose for their instantly recognisable brand of animation with its scathing observations of US society. They've been around for a while now, their appearance in drag at the Oscars was six years ago, but they still seem as new and dangerous as ever -- think of the recent Scientology vs South Park furore and those episodes we don't get to see. Stone and Parker's masterclass will look at the art of political satire -- including their own sources of inspiration from Bruckheimer to Thunderbirds -- as well as getting a bit "technical" with a look at different formats and styles, such as puppets vs cell animation.

Encounter an Amikam Toren sculpture and you will be left with some hard thinking. To his generation, he's one of London's best kept secrets: a true conceptual object maker. Following 2003's Golem, Toren is offering us another "heavy duty" object of thought. This time a school chair sits in the gallery's central space, its writing surface built high with layer upon layer of writing arms glued together. A homage to Brancusi's The Endless Column? Perhaps, but Received Wisdom feels more like a hangover of bad thinking days... Resounding gloom follows Toren's work, but not the suicidal variety, rather one that's cheeky and playful, hence the gravitas that follows each of his things. An Israeli long-time resident in London, his brand of art links Arte Povera with American conceptualism, Naumanesque explorations with European existentialism...and with a selection of "armchair paintings" (found paintings combined with found texts) on the walls what more could you ask for...

NB: runs till 20/05.

In keeping with the quirky attitudes of springtime, the oscillating giddiness and moroseness of weather and spirit means that this is an excellent time to view as much visual art as humanly possible. At Sadie Coles HQ you can catch Laura Owens' exhibition of new paintings that opened last week. For those unfamiliar with Owen's work, she combines an eclectic approach to media and materials with an intuitive means of representation, ranging from the decorative to the dramatic, and depicting scenes of violence, tenderness and surreality in sequence. For fans of her previous work, Owens' new paintings remain loyal to her diverse practice, with affectations ranging from European ornamental art forms to Hindu relief sculpture.

NB: runs till 27/05.

After last week's fight, this week in the yellow corner weighs in Phaidon Design Classics at a modest 25 pounds. The boxing ring of publishing heralds another unwieldy heavyweight publication to celebrate an exhaustive and comprehensive collection of design objects. Presented in its very own zigzag design case, this three volume set takes the reader through a rapid history of industrialisation. Even now as you read this you'll find at least something around you that features in here, whether it's the Post-it note, a Pritt glue stick, a mobile phone, a calendar, radio, record player, watch or the very screen in which these pixels shape themselves up to seduce you. Patents, prototypes, old advertisements, images showing the process of manufacturing, archival photographs, all combine to offer up an illustration of the evolution of design and its value to our lives. Marvel as the humble corkscrew takes on Le Corbusier in the ring, and Eames requests a rematch with the clothes peg. Now, put down your gloves and turn the pages of this essential volume, one elegant page at a time.

To buy Phaidon Design Classics online click here.

KultureFlash is a free, weekly newsletter covering contemporary culture in and around London. Each week we track down some of the more unusual and interesting events taking place in the capital and deliver them straight to your inbox. Featuring art, gigs, films, talks, clubs and more -- we are committed to bringing you an eclectic mix of the most stimulating events in London.

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