Tuesday 22 October (8pm)

@ The Electric, 191 Portobello Rd., W11 (020.7908.9696) Tube: Ladbroke Grove

Based on the book by Hubert Selby jr., Requiem for a Dream is one the most powerful cinematic experience ever to have been produced in the United States. Warning: the film renders you emotionally drained, speech may seem an impossible task, and do not be surprised if you find yourself curled up in a foetal position three days after the viewing. The haunting score will haunt you -- and so will the realisation that this movie is about all of us. This is a work about our dreams as well as our addictions. When you reach the stage where an objective look-back is within reach, notice that this piece of art is a technical masterpiece surging downriver on the screen as if it's one long snaking painting. Requiem for a Dream is the Guernica of cinema, and director Darren Aronfsky, its Picasso.

NB: The Electric Cinema is one of London's plushest, tonight's screening is special in that it's followed by a Q&A with Dr Massimo Riccio, whose controversial therapeutic methods in treating addictions at The Priory have established him as one of the leading experts in the UK.

Tuesday 22 October (6:30pm)

@ Tate Britain, Millbank, SW1 (020.7887.8008) Tube: Pimlico

There's so little to not admire about James Lingwood and Michael Morris. For the last decade and 40 projects, they have co-directed Artangel, and if you've been a regular KultureFlasher, then you know that, Matthew Barney's Cremaster Cycle, Steven McQueen's recent films and Richard Wentworth's activities in King's Cross have happened because of them. If Artangel have done anything, it's to put the pulse in the '90s London scene; their projects have brought things to this country that would otherwise not have happened. So we hope that, not only will they be talking, giving tips and generally celebrating all the nice things that they've made happen but also dishing the dirt...

NB: This talk coincides with the launch of Artangel's most recent publication, Off Limits which celebrates 40 Artangel projects since 1992.

Tuesday 22 October (12pm - 6pm)

@ Elms Lesters Gallery, 1-3-5 Flitcroft St., WC2 (020.7836.6747) Tube: Tottenham Court Rd.

Having been inspired and influenced by street culture, Foot-Patrol, Gimme5 and James Lavelle (the man behind the Mo Wax empire) have decided to celebrate aspects of "the street". Headlining the first in a series of six exhibitions showcasing artists who are products of this environment, is Brooklyn-based Kaws with his first solo UK show. A graduate of New York's School of Visual Arts, Kaws, has progressed from the early days of "tagging" and "bombing" walls to what American press have described as "subvertising". "Borrowing" commercial ads from bus-shelters, subway stations and billboards which he then personalises with his cartoon-inspired skull and crossbones creation (Companion), or other abstract shapes before returning them to their original location. Not content with making his mark on the world of advertising, Kaws manipulates all-American icons such as Disney and The Simpsons, and has also created his own brand of clothing, dolls, sculpture and video work. Treading a fine line between art and commerce, Kaws has managed to manipulate the corporate world and create his own unique brand of Pop Art.

NB:This exhibition is only on for five days until Saturday 26/10. Also worth noting is that several fashion photographers are Kaws fans, including David Sims, whose work will also be on show including some specially made pieces.

Tuesday 22 October (6:30pm)

@ Tate Modern, Bankside, SE1 (020.7887.8008) Tube: Southwark/Blackfriars

Depending on who you believe, John Ashbery is either, "America's greatest living poet" (Harold Bloom) or "the major poet of our minor age" (Charles Altieri). And it would not be preposterous to think he may be both. What is clear is that few poets writing in America today are free of his influence and at 75 the work of this Pulitzer prize winner is as vital and inventive as it's ever been. Your interest in this event will depend on your interest in poetry, but with the very spirited presence of Peter Ackroyd (writer of the excellent London: The Biography) presiding over the evening, the discussion of Asbery's new work, which takes on the form of Chinese whispers, should be something worth shouting about.

Wednesday 23 October (7pm)

@ Astoria, 157 Charing Cross Rd., WC2 (020.7434.9592) Tube: Tottenham Court Rd.

If you like your music soulful, funky, epic and most important of all -- live -- then something wicked this way comes. Ninja Tune artists, The Herbaliser, are showcasing tracks from their fourth album for the highly acclaimed label and are gracing the Astoria with their breathtaking full band sessions. The odd scratchy noise, a little groove, cinematic strings, beat-heavy breaks and extravagant keyboard & horn action make for some real killer funk that would be at home on the soundtrack to some '70s blaxpoitation movie. Joining the dots between smooth instrumental hip-hop, jazz-fusion and funk rhythms, The Herbaliser will have you moving from head to toe.

Wednesday 23 October (6pm)

@ Apollo Theatre, 29 Shaftesbury Avenue, W1V (020.7494.5399) Tube: Piccadilly Circus

Sir Alan Ayckbourn, is a giant of British Theatre rivalled perhaps only by Harold Pinter & Tom Stoppard. But it's the broad appeal of his work that distinguishes him from some of his more "difficult" peers. Having worked in all aspects of the theatre both behind the scenes and in front, Ayckbourn's grasp of the theatrical process is unrivalled. Talking to theatre critic Michael Billington, Ayckbourn is likely to inspire anyone with an interest in creating for the stage. As Ayckbourn himself has said; "Never start a play without an idea" an edited roll call of his major successes, Absurd Person Singular, The Norman Conquests, Bedroom Farce, Just Between Ourselves, A Chorus Of Disapproval, Woman In Mind, Things We Do For Love and The Revengers Comedies, proves he knows how to take his own advice.

Wednesday 23 October (7pm)

@ Check Site for Details

InDigEnt is the all-digital film company responsible for Ethan Hawke's Chelsea Walls and Campbell Scott's Fear. InDigEnt launched in 1999 by Gary Winick -- director of Sweet Nothing and Out of the Rain -- whose latest project Tadpole, is featured as the opening gala in this year's Raindance Film Festival. Introducing excellent Aaron Stanford in the main role as the young Oscar, a teenager obsessed by Voltaire and in love with his stepmother, Tadpole also features a first-rate supporting cast with Sigourney Weaver, John Ritter and the underrated Bebe Neuwirth (Lillith Crane from Cheers and Frasier). Winick won best director at Sundance 2002 for Tadpole. The Raindance Festival starts today Wednesday 23/10 and concludes on Friday 1/11. Their aim is to stimulate and encourage young and independent filmmakers from the UK, providing them with a platform to something "greater" -- and to give the cinema going public an alternative to the Hollywood blockbuster by screening work from a wide selection of independent filmmakers from all over the world.

Thursday 24 October (6pm - 8pm)

@ Gimpel Fils, 30 Davies St., W1K (020.7493.2488) Tube: Green Park

Remember Andres Serrano, him of the piss, blood and other bodily fluids, them were the '80s: politics, money and art... ahhh the good life. And many forget what beautiful images Serrano is capable of orchestrating. In the wake of 9/11, he has turned his attentions to America in the form of identity; his current show America presents portraits of different "Americans", a blond-haired blue-eyed boy scout, a female postal worker, a rodeo queen. Through the 49 portraits on show Serrano offers, as in his previous work on sexuality, a dignified gravitas that is so often lacking in day-to-day photography, and it's not just America on display, but humanity...

NB: This exhibition ends on Saturday 30/11

Thursday 24 October (7pm - 12am)

@ Deluxe-arts, Deluxe Gallery, 1st Floor, 2-4 Hoxton Square (0207 729 8503) Tube: Old St.

ADAADAT is a new London based electronic music label that pledges to cater for the "gameboy generation", the first to have grown up solely on diet of electronic music. Tonight they are taking over the gallery at Deluxe-arts (formerly the Lux Cinema) in Hoxton Square to celebrate the launch of their first compilation album and will be showcasing a selection of their roster including live sets from Japanese gameboy musician cow'p and FatCat's Duplo Remote.

Friday 25 October (7pm)

@ Shepherds Bush Empire, Shepherds Bush Green, W12 (020.7771.2000) Tube: Shepherds Bush

In a recent interview Orton said that she felt patronised by certain factions of the music press. A female singer/songwriter who seemed equally happy strumming on her acoustic as she did collaborating with The Chemical Brothers and William Orbit? Surely she was a fake or at least less talented than first presumed? Well, no, as anyone who has seen her live will attest to, she's an internationally respected artist, who has managed a feat which many of her male contemporaries have failed to do; that is broken into the legendarily impenetrable Billboard album chart with her third album Daybreaker. With talents no less than Emmylou Harris, Bruce Springsteen and Ryan Adams -- all self-confessed fans -- perhaps we can lay the words of these doubting critics to rest.

Friday 25 October (7pm)

@ The Marquee, 16 Parkfield St., N1C (020.7288.4400) Tube: Angel

Whether you know Jon Spencer from his current occupation as the charismatic front man of the Blues Explosion or from one of his earlier incarnations -- as the rock'n'roll animal growling weird lyrics on top of the noise that was Boss Hog, say, or the electrified punk playing the trombone with the Honeymoon Killers; the cool kid grinding the organ with Calvin Johnson's Narcotic Sound System; the anti-everything-hero smashing up his guitar with Pussy Galore -- you know what you'll be getting at the Marquee: the same sweaty, funky, trashy, dirty rock'n'roll'n'rhythm'n'blues'n'gospel'n'soul fusion that he's spent the past 11 years perfecting together with Russell Simins and Judah Bauer in the sexiest bass-less trio on earth ever.

Friday 25 October (7:30pm)

@ Barbican Centre, Barbican Centre, EC2 (020.7638.8891) Tube: Barbican

Iain Sinclair, J.G. Ballard, Ken Campbell, Bill Drummond and Chris Petit equal some of the greatest talents and most diverse working artists in Great Britain today -- and now they can all be seen at the same time. Iain Sinclair left his native east end and walked around the M25 to discover its secrets, myths and histories -- then wrote a book about it. Writer and filmmaker Chris Petit quickly snapped up his project. The result is a stunning and provocative film, London Orbital, to accompany the book. It'll be screened this Friday at the Barbican, and supplementing it, will be readings by Iain Sinclair, J.G. Ballard, Bill Drummond and Ken Campbell. As an added bonus, the music of WIRE, Scanner and Jimmy Cauty will also be featured. Not to be missed!

Saturday 26 October (11am - 1pm)

@ Curzon Soho, 93-107 Shaftesbury Ave., W1 (020.7439.4805) Tube: Leicester Square/Piccadilly

Once again, it's time for more Extreme Cinema shorts at the Curzon Soho. The diversity of the five directors itself is certainly extreme: Atom Egoyan (of The Sweet Hereafter and Ararat) will have his 1982 short Open House -- a strange tale of an old house up for sale -- screened, while King Blockbuster-maker himself George Lucas will be represented by THX 1138:4EB (aka Electronic Labyrinth) a futuristic short that was later made into a feature film. Eric Zonka (of The Dreamlife of Angels) will have short Seule screened -- similar to Dreamlife in its honest portrayal of humanity. But for those who missed the exquisite The Warrior by Asif Kapadia, they'll get a small three minute taste of an early work called Hotdog. Last, but certainly not least, Michael Radford (of Il Postino) will be screening a segment from Ten Minutes Older: The Cello named Addicted To The Stars.

NB: Michael Radford will be on hand will for an extreme Q&A after the screenings

Saturday 26 October (1.45pm)

@ Ritzy Cinema, Brixton Oval, Coldharbour Lane, SW2 (020.7733.2229) Tube: Brixton

Don't you just love Matthew Barney... graduates Yale Sculpture, he is a catalogue model and football player in college, dates Bjork, is supported by Artangel, and he gets to work with Norman Mailer and Ursula Andress, what??!! Why him!? Well if you like your cinema -- or for that matter your art -- difficult and mentally-challenging then Barney is your man. Call in here for men-in-quilts, satyrs, stags, weird psycho-sexual motions, gyrations and just plain phallic objects -- usually coated in Vaseline. Barney began as a conceptual-performance artist who showed his performances in the space in which they were recorded, so you'd be where he was in the same space, a sort of ghost-in-time... neat eh? But that performance has now transformed into a cinemascope event. Make no mistake, the Cremaster Cycle is no run-of-the-mill arthouse feature, it's a nine-hour, five film odyssey created over a decade... challenge yourself to be challenged! Parental guidance not required.

NB: Barney has customized the lobby of the Ritzy with new sculpture to coincide with the screenings the Cremaster Cycle screenings -- which will be shown from Friday 25/10 till Thursday 14/11 -- see the Artangel website for the full schedule

Sunday 27 October (7pm)

@ Shepherds Bush Empire, Shepherds Bush Green, W12 (020.7771.2000) Tube: Shepherds Bush

It's rare for a gig to be an experience, a moment-defining, time-stopping, self-losing night of pure joy. But tonight will be one of them. Watching 24 people dressed in white robes singing about the healing power of sunshine whilst harmonising with all manner of instruments (theramins, harps, bells) is an inspiration on its own. Watching them all go batshit crazy for the music they make is a fundamentally positive experience. Pixies, Beatles, and Flaming Lips are clear musical references, but The Spree are out there on their own. Join their church today!

Sunday 27 October (10am-1pm)

@ Curzon Soho, 93-107 Shaftesbury Ave., W1 (020.7439.4805) Tube: Leicester Square/Piccadilly

Morvern Callar is the debut novel of Scottish author, Alan Warner. It's a gritty, compelling read characterised by a mood of desperation, set in a Scottish port town, our main character eeks out a meagre living in a local supermarket. When her writer boyfriend takes his own life Morvern conceals his death, sells the deceased's unpublished novel off as her own and then runs away to Ibiza with her best mate Lanna for some hedonist escapism fuelled by sex and drugs. This brilliant novel (worth reading quite apart from the film) now reaches our screens courtesy of acclaimed director, Lynne Ramsay (of Ratcatcher fame). Like Ratcatcher, it's a distinctly visual representation of the book which is stripped back to basics. Having received acclaim at both Cannes and the Edinburgh Film Festival, today is your chance to preview the film after which Ramsay will be joined by co-writer, Liana Dognini (they first met at the National Film And Television School) to discuss their collaborative approach in adapting this text to screen. Oscar-nominated Samantha Morton, who plays Morvern, will also be on hand for the discussion.

NB: Watch out for the soundtrack -- to be released on Warp records on Monday 4/11-- with tracks from amongst others: Aphex Twin, Broadcast, Stereolab and Boards of Canada

Sunday 27 October (7:45pm on both Sunday 27/10 and Monday 28/10)

@ Royal Festival Hall, South Bank, SE1 (020.7960.4203 or 4242) Tube: Embankment/Rail Waterloo

You know you're a cut-and-dry Londoner when you brush past someone and don't notice it. Fact mostly you step on feet... such is BIG city urban life; and that's what it's like: rush here rush there, shout, lose temper, get-in-line, lose temper again, smile at beautiful stranger, day made. Metapolis Project 972 sees choreographer Frederic Flamand continue his collaborations with big wig architects. This time it's Zaha Hadid, and you know what that means: dance that's inspired by sprawling metropolitan life, combined with an architect renowned for swishy-sweeping futuristic architecture. Based upon the contradictions of urbanity (private/public, fluid/rigid, etc...) Zaha has designed the bright, eye-popping costumes and sets, while Flamand's bodies work against the rigid/flow of city-space-time. Seems like a match made in foot-stepping heaven. Keep your hair on, and have your pleasure button ready to be pushed!

NB: Metapolis is on for two nights only... catch it on Sunday 27/10 or Monday 28/10

Sunday 27 October (3.30pm)

@ Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Rd., SW7 (020.7942.2000) Tube: South Kensington

Architecture And... Living is a continuing series of talks organised by the V&A and RIBA that features prominent architects and designers in order to offer insight into the practice and address relevant contemporary issues. This time up, we have Architecture And... Living focusing on the relationship between the architect and changing demographics. Rick Mather, Will Alsop and Shigeru Ban will each discuss how their work responds to lifestyle shifts, cultural changes and natural disasters that must ultimately dictate the success of their enterprise. Interesting on their own, but much more fascinating from a comparative viewpoint if you can make it to all three. On Sunday Rick Mather has his turn on the podium. Renowned for his human touch in the urban design strategy for London's South Bank, the Dulwich Picture Gallery's "garden walls" scheme, the roof gardens and a modern residence in Hampstead, Mather's talk might also provide insight into sustainable and energy-efficient architecture.

NB: Tickets can be bought by calling 0115.912.9184

Monday 28 October (7pm)

@ The Borderline, 16 Manette St., W1 (0207.395.0777) Tube: Tottenham Court Rd.

Don't be fooled by the diminutive stature of Jen Macro and Gill Sandell as they front Blusher at Soho's Borderline on Monday -- this band presents a powerfully emotive and introspective brand of music, reminiscent of a female Radiohead. Together with their powerful and cogent rhythm section, this is a group of very competent musicians and song writers that are well worth a listen. Support comes from Stone Foundation and Shelbies Hut.

Ends Sunday 27 October (Daily 10am - 5:45pm)

@ Design Museum, Butlers Wharf, Shad Thames, SE1 (020.7940.8790) Tube: Tower Hill

When Phil Met Bella documents the friendship and collaboration of two of London's most eccentric characters -- Philip Treacy, the milliner and Isebella Blow, the style maven. The exhibition of hats at the Design museum were either made specifically for Isabella herself to wear -- and she wears hats often! -- or commissioned for the fashion pages of The Sunday Times Style section where Isabella was once Fashion Dictator (she's just about to start at Tatler). From the sublime to the ridiculous -- check out her profile in the hat made with the help of the artists Tim Noble and Sue Webster. Philip and Isabella's relationship has developed apace from protege to big pals -- Isabella is godmother to Philip's dog, Mr. Pig, and nothing will stop Isabella from continuing her search for the next big thing now the likes of Treacy and Alexander McQueen no longer need her patronage.

Ends Friday 1 November (Wed to Fri 12pm - 6pm)

@ The Alpine Club, 55 Charlotte Rd., EC2 (020.7613.0755 ) Tube: Old St.

Winter's nearly here, time to get warm, roast meat, think of holidays in the sun... or alternatively, you can chill out at high altitudes with sublime mountains. Curated by Bruce Haines and Paul Claydon, Art and Mountains provides an interesting collision between mountains, art and climbing at the Alpine Club. This curated show of 33 contemporary artists is a mix of stars (Hamish Fulton and Peter Doig) and London regulars (David Thorpe and Brian Griffiths). Check out Mariele Neudecker's diorama of a foggy mountain (it's water that creates the mist -- a nice inversion there) Koo Jeung-a's marker pen sketch of mountains is suitably zen while Kate Bright's mountainscape is Warholian diamond-dust kitsch. Perhaps most poinient is Johnny Dawes' (a climber) doodles and dioramas: just the lo-fi facts of mountain life. So come be chilled and not catch a cold. Don't forget to ask to see the Matterhorn -- that Swiss mountain on your Toblerone bar -- at the top of the stairs.

NB: The Alpine Club is a fraternity for fellow alpinists and currently promotes preservation and climbing ethics. Tonight Author and mountaineer Stepahn Venables, artist Paul Claydon, Ben Tufnell assistant curator, Tate Britain and Vienna-based painter Herbert Brandl discuss asesthetics, the physical and intellectual impact of extreme landscapes in Contemporary art and culture Tuesday 22/10 at 7pm