Repetition in art today is almost common fold but step back 40 years and you'd find former cab driver (an occupation ironically shared with Philip Glass) and social worker Steve Reich challenging listeners with his tape works "It's Gonna Rain" and "Come Out", with an early approach to what popular music today takes for granted -- looping voices, fragmentation and reverberation. Writing music for piano, organ, voices, percussion and even hand clapping, Reich has continued to explore ideas focused on rhythmic change and timbre, and at the grand age of 70, Reich is celebrated in this ambitious season.

When The Orb sampled Reich's "Electric Counterpoint" in 1987's "Little Fluffy Clouds" they acknowledged an influence that can heard in Remixing Reich (07/10), a night that introduces Coldcut mixing up "Music For 18 Musicians" and DJ Spooky's collaboration with Kronos Quartet. The following night offers new commissions from Gavin Bryars, The Pop Group's legendary Mark Stewart, Glenn Branca and Philip Jeck's turntable experiments.

In 1993 Reich collaborated with his wife, video artist Beryl Korot, on The Cave (04/10 to 06/10), a work exploring the roots of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, echoed musically by the ensemble. An epic three-act work, it's more resonant than ever in our current climate and presents a new shape for theatrical performance, employing five gigantic video screens dominating 18 live musicians on stage.

Bored in the afternoon? Then check out the cinema programme of Reich related goodies. Penniless? Then drop in to experience Brian Eno's 77 Million, a generative sound and image installation, and check out the freestage performances by Bang On A Can All-Stars and Konono No 1 (07/10 and 08/10). Repetition doesn't have to be boring!

NB: Phases - The Music Of Steve Reich runs till 08/10.

War actions, utopian and interplanetary worlds, threatening mutant bodies, Japanese legends, graffiti culture... an account of what the spectator can experience through Lens Flare 05, a selection of video games curated by onedotzero. But this is only one part of Mind Games: The Art Of Video Games. The main draw for us is Artprojx's presentation of a series of works by established international artists curated by Gyonata Bonvicini and David Gryn. This latter part of the show examines visual art and the video game aesthetic and how they intermingle. Most of the artists participating in Mind Games belong to the first generation that have grown up with this kind of aesthetic. Selected works include not only examples of digital animation but also the deconstruction of the language of video games. Cao Fei's subjects are teenagers obsessed with Japanese anime who dress up as their favourite characters and act out dramatic battles in suburban areas, where private capital is fuelling brutal development, while Diego Perrone's Vicino A Torino Muore Un Cane Vecchio painstakingly depicts the agony of an old dog, bringing back the physicality of death on a level of reality far from the virtual and mechanical representation of the traditional video game.

NB: Kristin Lucas, Miltos Manetas, Yorgos Sapountzis, Eddo Stern and Patrick Tuttofuoco are also featured in the programme (this event is part of the London Games Festival which runs from 02/10 till 08/10).

Nicholas Kurti, eminent physics professor at Oxford, once stated: "I think it is a sad reflection on our civilization that while we can and do measure the temperature in the atmosphere of Venus, we do not know what goes on inside our souffles." Heston Blumenthal's career as Britain's molecular gastronomy master chef could very well be an answer to this lament. The owner and chef of The Fat Duck in Bray shares his intriguing specialty -- as well as the Best Restaurant In The World slot -- with Ferran Adria and his elBulli for which foodies the world over congregate to Spain every year. Radish ravioli of oyster, Sardine on toast sorbet, Smoked bacon and egg ice cream frozen with liquid hydrogen, Mango and Douglas Fir puree -- all his dishes ally science with haute cuisine in order to create incredible flavours, textures and forms. For the pleasure of all Epicureans, Blumenthal will discuss the ultimate dinning experience with Charles Campion, the author of The London Restaurant Guide. The possibility of a demonstration lingers in the air like the sweet smell of violet sea urchin...

Man Push Cart begins in the wee hours of a New York City morning -- a sky as black as night, but streets heaving with cabs, lorries, delivery men. Throughout these congested streets a shiny silver coffee cart is slowly wheeled to its designated street corner, ready to fuel commuting city workers with coffee and bagels. Ahmad is from Pakistan -- once a successful singer in Karachi, he is now a street vendor in Manhattan, selling coffee by day, porn videos by night -- trying to keep his head above water and realise the American Dream. Like an updated Taxi Driver, Man Push Cart shows a section of the unnoticed nocturnal army of people who keep the city going. Almost entirely shot at night, Ahmad's repeated daily rituals of setting up the cart create a lyrical rhythm that make his Sisyphean task seem strangely poetic. An excellent performance from first time actor Ahmad Razvi, the film is a great study of being solitary in a crowd.

NB: Man Push Cart is released in London on 06/10. Other films of note out on the same day are Neil Young: Heart Of Gold, Brothers Of The Head, The Pervert's Guide To Cinema and Scorsese's adaptation of the Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs, The Departed.

The French and the English have been fascinated with each other for centuries, yet have maintained a physical and ideological distance ever since the 100 Years War. Intelligence Squared, infamous for its lively debates held at the Royal Geographical Society, collaborates with the Institut Francais to bring the IQ2 London-Paris Festival to London. The three day event aims to examine Anglo-Gallic relations and to fill the gap by plying the Brits with food, culture and debate a la francaise and by winning the French over with a spot of tea and a bit of Cabaret.

The programme is as dense as the London Public Transport at 6 o'clock and as promising as a bottle of Chateauneuf du Pape. Among the many highlights, let us mention illustrators Jean-Jacques Sempe and Quentin Blake interviewing each other (06/10 at 6:30pm). Londoners looking for an argument should join speakers Anthony Grayling, Alain Minc, Timothy Garton Ash and Colin MacCabe for "Intellectuals begin at Calais (Are the British guilty of spurning the intellectual tradition? Or are the French guilty of over-valuing it)" (07/10 at 11:30am). The discussion promises to become heated when authors Christopher Hitchens and Bernard-Henri Levy debate whether invading Iraq was necessary (08/10 at 4pm).

Those who prefer to listen in on conversations might want to hear what Jacques Marseille, Professor of Economic History at Paris-1-Sorbonne University, and Charles Bremner, Paris Correspondent for The Times, have to say about France's future as they discuss "France: prete a changer? France needs a revolution to survive" (07/10 at 11:30am). Francophiles and cinephiles alike will be delighted by a classic Truffaut / Rohmer double bill: Jules et Jim followed by L'Anglaise et le Duc (08/10 at 2pm and 7pm). The visual arts are represented by the cheekily-titled debate "Marcel Duchamp flushed art down his toilet and it has never recovered testifies" (08/10 at 2:30pm). Finally both cultures are bound to bond over talk of sex and juicy political gossip as promised by "Le Cinq a Sept: The art of the French Affair (They deal with les liaisons amoureuses better in France)" (08/10 at 5:30pm).

NB: IQ2 London-Paris Festival runs for three days at the Royal Geographic Society and Institut Francais.

Not actually an orchestra, but often genuinely magical, Norway's Susanna Wallumrod and her keyboard playing accomplices Morten Qvenlid and Andreas Mjos (both members of Bergen avant-brass ensemble Jaga Jazzist) make music of twinkling Nordic melancholy. A major cult north of the Skaggerack, their 2004 album, List Of Buoys Of Lights, delighted with its seamless blend of jazz, electronica and genteel indie rock and unlikely deconstructions of Dolly Parton's "Jolene" and Leonard Bernstein's "Who Am I". This year's all cover version album Melody Mountain took that theme further, with Wallumrod's serenely intense vocals ranging liberally over the songbooks of Prince, Bob Dylan and AC/DC, amongst others. In truth, it's something of a holding pattern of an album in lieu of her next full set, but live, Susanna and co are a compelling spectacle, lending an icy sensuality to whatever they essay, so a bewitching evening undoubtedly awaits.

What does actually go on behind electronic artists' laptops when they're on stage? Are they checking email? Playing Doom? Also what do all those knobs, switches and flashy lights actually do? Or is it all a ruse and they've got a CD player under the table? Well here's our chance to find out -- Bleepfest brings together electronic musicians of all genres and profiles from bedroom experimenters to professionals, including "an ex-cult band member along with a well-known figure from the pop past", to get their equipment out and show it to the public and each other. There'll probably be a bit of everything, from broken children's toys to ultra high tech with bells and whistles (or lasers?), so there'll a bit of something to get involved with whether you haven't made electronic music before or you're a full-on uber-geek. The event carries on with a concert in the evening, letting some of the more high profile artists show what they can really do with their gear after they've let the public press their buttons and twiddle their knobs all afternoon. All in all a good chance to play with "grown-up" toys all afternoon.

Slavoj Zizek has made it ok to be a pervert. He has brought the art of trash to a level of academic pursuit -- Stephen King is just as valuable a resource for the Slovenian psychoanalyst as Freud or Benjamin. In his widely praised The Pervert's Guide To Cinema, he talks about classic and contemporary blockbusters, and how they have influenced our ways of seeing and understanding desire. He doesn't pull any punches either -- a refreshing change from the world of film theory (and psychoanalysis as a whole) that aims to elevate cinema into a higher state of meaning, Zizek grabs it with sweaty hands and brings it right to the forefront of our dirty minds. An intelligent and quirky speaker, his passion and enthusiasm mean his lectures are both inspiring and entertaining. It is easy to see why he is lauded in the Western world with Baudrillard-style academic super star status. This is an excellent chance to catch all three parts of his documentary, The Pervert's Guide, and to hear him speak on all topics film-related (07/10 at 6pm and 08/10 at 4pm) -- including a play-by-play breakdown of Hitchcock's Psycho in conversation with Darian Leader. Get your tickets early, they will go quick!

NB: The Pervert's Guide To Cinema screens at the ICA till 30/10 (on 06/10 after the 7:30pm screening catch the director Sophie Fiennes as she hosts a Q&A).

As a specialist in putting close relationships under the microscope -- from the family (Son frere) to friends (Those Who Love Me Can Take The Train) to lovers (Intimacy), it is no surprise that Patrice Chereau's Gabrielle is also a story of a relationship under scrutiny. Set during France's Belle Epoque, the film, adapted from Joseph Conrad's short story The Return, charts a marriage that unravels after a discovered infidelity. Isabelle Huppert's intense performance of the emotionally starved, unfaithful wife earned her a Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival last year, and Pascal Greggory is a revelation of inner torment. Depending on taste, Chereau's use of visual techniques, including text and black and white images interspersed within the narrative, will illuminate or irritate. An insightful portrait of what seethes beneath the surface of decorum and class, and what happens when one partner breaks through the emotional barriers that confine relationships.

NB: Patrice Chereau will give a Q&A after the screening. Gabrielle is released in London on 17/11. Films of note out this week are Man Push Cart, Neil Young: Heart Of Gold, Brothers Of The Head, The Pervert's Guide To Cinema and Scorsese's adaptation of the Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs, The Departed.

The first UK retrospective of the artist Hans Bellmer is not to be missed. Bellmer is well known for his creation, and images, of life-sized dolls, a practice that he developed in direct opposition to the Aryan ideal of the human form that was propagated during the Nazi regime. The Whitechapel show is a brilliant exploration of human anatomy, which demonstrates Bellmer's surrealist leanings and fascination with unconventional manipulations of the human pose. In this show, amongst a plethora of drawings and hand-coloured photographs of dolls in contorted positions, is a four-legged life sized doll entitled La Poupee. The doll must certainly have been a source of inspiration for Jake and Dinos Chapman, but if you are not a fan of their work, all the more reason to see this, which is a case of the master having done it best. Of the most compelling work in the show is a series of black and white photographs of women bound in string, which characteristically possesses an undercurrent of undirected sexual fetishism. Formally, the string-binding process separates the folds of human skin into fleshy compartments that recalls anatomical analysis, certain works of Louise Bourgeois, and meat sticks or doner kebabs.

NB: runs till 19/10 (on the ground floor catch a show of works by Pierre Klossowski).

As time passes, Andy Warhol's (1928-87) star seems to rise and rise... Sorry Andy, no 15 minutes for you, it's gonna be more of an entire afterlife. As we catch glimpses of his oeuvre -- and they seem to be everywhere these days, the celeb paintings, the piss abstractions, and so on -- Warhol's understanding of the sheer mundane qualities of modern life, particularly in America, seem altogether more prescient. He is the Duchamp of the Ford production line, the Beuys of Kapital! Who else would have committed daily life to film, before reality TV -- and he would have loved that -- and shown us that even when we are not looking, life still goes on. On July 25th 1964, from 8:06pm till 2:42am, Warhol trained a camera from the Time-Life Building to the Empire State Building and treated this architectural icon, as he once described, as "a star"! It's radical in that his lens never moves, nothing happens, lights on and lights off, people enter and leave... still nothing happens -- unedited -- for eight hours. Now here's your chance to dip in and catch some real -- 1964 -- life.

NB: Empire (a DVD transfer) screens daily from 09/10 till 15/10 in its entirety. For our North American Flashers, Empire is also on view in Andy Warhol Supernova: Stars, Deaths and Disasters, 1962-46 at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, Canada (curated by David Cronenberg).

Thank the Lord this adaptation of The History Boys from stage to screen works (although it's not surprising since Nicholas Hytner and Allan Bennett's last collaboration for play-to-film fun was The Madness Of King George, which basked in Bafta and Oscar glory). The original cast's reprisal of their roles sees them take full advantage of the extra space and dimensions afforded to them, both physically and in terms of their character interpretations. The boys themselves still just about pull off being 18 or so and, as their teachers training them up for Oxbridge, Stephen Campbell Moore inspires them with renewed fervour whilst Richard Griffiths and Frances de La Tour are seasoned pros who could probably carry the film on their own. Still, the added bonus of a funky '80s soundtrack injects some new bite into the project. The final scenes (in which, post Oxbridge, the boys talk about their careers as adults) still seem ludicrously improbable -- possibly more irritating for a cinema crowd notoriously less tolerant of breaks in the illusion of reality than theatregoers. Still, check out this preview on the 9th, and if you do have a problem with it, you can quiz Hytner (or some of the cast) about it, or any other glitch that takes your fancy.

NB: The History Boys is released in the UK on 13/10.

It's worth strolling down Floral Street once in a while, not to see the inexplicably popular standy-still-statue people, but rather to gaze skyward at a rather ingenious and beautiful footbridge by architects Wilkinson Eyre. A series of squares rotate across the void to connect two awkwardly offset openings -- anything but pedestrian. In an age of architectural hyper-production, it's tempting to make sense of things by inventing an "ism". (Deconstructivism, anyone?) At best, the labelling of architects can favour style over substance. At worst, it's just plain wrong. You could claim that Wilkinson Eyre's work has its roots in high tech -- true in a sense, but it doesn't help to describe their work. Best known for some of their bridge designs, which include that most delicate of Stirling-winning structures, Gateshead Millennium Bridge, as well as some closer to home, there's a strong theme of poetry rather than prose. Chris Wilkinson has described himself and partner Jim Eyre as "more artists than technicians", and as their projects become increasingly expressive, it's easy to see what he means.

NB: Wilkinson Eyre: Architecture On The Ramp is on display at the RA till 13/11.

Leslie Scalapino is one of the increasingly appreciated big-cheese writers of the world poetry scene of the last 30 years. Her exemplary path as poet / publisher / critic has straddled the Beat / Language poetry divide with a grace and generosity that few of her contemporaries have managed. A compelling (quiet) live presence, her passionate and engaging work is a map of the many possibilities of what it means to be both a writer and human being. As the publisher of O Books she has been responsible for many beautiful editions of contemporary poetry and 30 years after the publication of The Woman Who Could Read The Minds Of Dogs, remains one of the few genuinely revolutionary presences on the San Francisco Bay Area poetry scene.

NB: you can also catch Leslie Scalapino when she reads in Cambridge on 08/10 as part of the Contemporary Experimental Women's Poetry Festival.

Jesper Just's films often contain men crying, singing and tenderly performing rituals alone or in groups. He shows men at their most vulnerable and deals with relationships and the notion of power and belonging, often in relation to sexuality. These are slow motion, lyrical acts in a professional filmic setting, most often without any dialogue other than the gaze and other non verbal acts. The tension builds up densely, so don't miss the UK premiere of the new film -- It Will All End In Tears -- which presents the sometimes problematic links between father and son. Previous films bear titles like No Man Is An Island, The Sweetest Embrace Of All, A Fine Romance, The Man Who Strayed and Bliss And Heaven... do you see a pattern?

NB: Jesper Just will discuss the film and his work after the screening.

For the last six years Drowned in Sound has established itself as the UK's most popular indie music website. Despite their detractors within London's prickly indie scene, it's difficult to argue with a site that attracts over 100,000 readers a week, has released albums by Martha Wainwright and Metric among others and openly aspires to facilitate a genuine music community. To celebrate their sixth birthday, they're promoting and supporting a number of shows; in typical fashion they're showcasing some of the freshest new music around at the moment. Dartz! are a melodic DC-hardcore inspired three-piece; equal parts indie, punk and pop, they offer an inspiring live show. Blood Red Shoes are a similarly exciting prospect: a shouty guitar-drum duo, they have been omnipresent on the London scene for the last year and genuine crossover success seems inevitable. The Chap are a slightly different prospect, eclectically mixing sharp funk, electro beats and hardcore guitars. The headliners have been billed as "awfully special guests" and although rumours have offered a variety of potential names, it remains a tightly guarded secret. Perhaps all more the reason to attend, although even if the surprise is someone you don't like, this gig should still be worthy of your time.

NB: Drowned in Sound additional birthday dates take place on 11/10 (Field Music + The Amateur Dramatics + Lucas Renney), 17/10 (Elliott Smith memorial show), 24/10 (Final Fantasy + Sebastian Tellier with Band + Adjagas), 25/10 (Tunng + Brightblack Morning Light + Jill Barber), 26/10 (King Creosote + Larrikin Love + Peter Bjorn & John + Alexis Taylor of Hot Chip) and 30/10 (special guest + Emmy the Great + The Mules + Johnny Flynn + Tom Hatred + Morvern Caller + Duncan Brown).

Branding is what branding does -- seduce, divide and conquer. Whether you are in the camp which regards the identity industry to be the airbrushed image of the devil incarnate wrapped in red ribbon, or appreciate the just manipulation and finesse of Satan's makeover, everyone has an opinion. And according to branding guru Wally Olins we, the consumers, are the ones calling the shots. Garish bow ties and dark rimmed glasses aside, Olins is known for his straight talking approach, offering honesty as his own distinctive trademark. The makeover maestro was responsible for the facelifts of BT and Orange to name but a few and was rewarded with a CBE for his work in 1999. Nowadays sitting in state as chairman of Saffron Brand Consultants he's tapped into the non-profit socially conscious corporate arena, itself a hot bed of branding potential. Work with the National Housing Federation will see that area decked out in branding jewels pretty soon. With an enthusiasm for regional and national branding, Olins has raised the bar on image strategy. Which face Britain may adopt we are yet to see and Olins to address.

Gael Garcia Bernal, talisman of Latin film, will announce to a polite NFT crowd how he single-handedly rejuvenated Mexican Cinema, that any script he shows the slightest interest in is given an immediate Green Light, and that his production company are busy tackling Mexican filmmaking bureaucracy head on in a cottage industry grass roots kinda way. He won't, though, because he is a polite and intelligent young man, but if he did who could possibly accuse him of lying? As well as answering questions pertaining to his filmography to date, including the forthcoming Michel Gondry feature The Science of Sleep, Bernal will concentrate on other matters such as his production company Canana Films -- cananas are those bullet belts Mexican banditos wear across their chests -- the travelling film festival they organise, Ambulante, and the state of Latin American film production today. This is an open forum style Q&A and Bernal will answer questions from anyone with their hand up. The event is billed as an educational event and is free to students.

NB: this event is part of the Mexican Cinema Now season at the NFT (runs till 18/10).

When everyone else screams, a silent whisper might be the way to get one's point across. In the past eleven years since they started to work collaboratively under the name SANAA, no one has whispered as eloquently as Tokyo architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa. Their white, light, clean buildings share a deceptive simplicity that echoes the more poetic pages out of the book of Toyo Ito -- which makes sense, seeing that Sejima worked in Ito's office before launching her own practice. Compare an Ito poem such as the Tod's Omotesando Building with SANAA's Zollverein School in Essen -- both are very bold buildings, but whereas the tree shadow façade of the former screams "look at me", the hip-to-be-square window choreography of the latter doesn't scream at all. It just makes you look. While language barriers have occasionally been in the way of some previous SANAA talks (together with cultural differences: "Grandma's room, four tatami" isn't necessarily the most efficient way to explain a space to Western fans of architecture), no one with a serious interest in dancing diagrams should miss out on a chance to hear Sejima and Nishizawa discuss their work, ranging from product design via private houses to public buildings.

NB: on 10/10 (6:30pm) catch Zaha Hadid at RIBA as she discusses her recent work in conjunction with winning the Jencks Award.

Tagged as UK's "most enduring independent music company of its time", Touch established itself as one of the leading labels offering challenging new experimental electronic music. Starting in 1982 with cassette magazines it went on breaking the boundaries of electronic music composition, opening the doors to artists such as Christian Fennesz, Ryoji Ikeda, Biosphere, Oren Ambarchi and sound architects like Chris Watson or minimalist compositions lead by Phill Niblock. Now, the Balham-based label has decided to celebrate its 25th locally at The Bedford with the "cream" of its current artists. Headlining the event will be Mr Fennesz himself with his computer processing of electric guitar. Philip Jeck in contrast combines ancient record players and worn, scratched vinyl to take the turntable beyond its spectrum. New Zealand's Rosy Parlane -- previously of avant-rock formation Thela with two albums on Ecstatic Peace! which also included Dean Roberts -- will make a rare London appearance showing the abstract electronic side of Touch's catalogue. Finally, Swedish sound artist and musician Carl Michael von Hausswolff will perform his studio-based sound research after his recent performance at the ICA as part of Cut And Splice 2006. Topping the entire evening will be a DJ set by new signing Jacob Kirkegaard focused on meticulous sound recordings. No hesitation.

NB: this event will sell out so buy your tickets now.

This is the first UK exhibition of the young Polish painter. Most impressive about the work is the breadth of stylistic range that Ziolkowski employs in executing his paintings. Almost unidentifiable as the same artist, the works range from surrealist landscapes to bold still lives to portraits. In one canvas painting, the scene recalls a post-nuclear disaster, replete with drain pipes that look as though they've come out of an episode of The Simpsons. Or are they worms? Another work on paper is a gentle view up a young girl's billowing skirt. Downstairs in the difficult-to-curate-at-the-best-of-times vault, is a series of 25 drawings of nudes. Rather like chancing upon the deranged secrets of a covert manic, the drawings immediately suck you into their secrecy. They are a stark contrast to the vivid colours that dominate the space upstairs. Dense with imagery, and oscillating somewhere between abstraction and figuration, these are the kinds of works that you can really look at, which is all too rare in painting these days.

NB: runs till 28/10.

Sometimes records creep up on you when you least expect it. Released back in July, Stabil is arguably the most conventional release on Germany's Raster-Noton label, home of binary and polarised music from Carsten Nicolai among others, but succeeds in exchanging brutal electrostatic click and pulse rhythms for a more textural, harmonically led structure. Born in France but based in Berlin, Kangding Ray (aka David Letellier) offers a fresh voice to possibilities interfacing acoustic instruments and electronics. Piano lines softly land on the surface, as simple melodies envelop each track and cloudbursts of intersecting microscopic frequencies surround one another. Deceptively seductive it's come to soundtrack the last days of summer, so under doctor's orders to share our enthusiasm we suggest you embrace this elegant release before the days draw to a close.

To buy Stabil online click here.

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