As immigration remains a perennial Great British Obsession (currently starring our Polish friends) how often do we hear the other side of the story? I For India takes a very personal look back to when Sandhya Suri's father arrived from India 40 years ago to take up doctor training in Darlington. As usual, it was to be temporary -- as is often the case, it was not. For 40 years he chronicled his life -- in Super 8 and reel to reel audio tape -- which he swapped with his family in India, sharing the remarkable sights of his new home -- chain-smoking mini-skirted nurses, Blackpool illuminations, snowstorms -- in exchange for "cine letters" of weddings and feasts in the village. The audio tapes are especially poignant, as he and his family express their feelings about "home". Now Sandhya's sister has decided to emigrate to Australia -- plus ca change...

NB: I For India is released in London on 03/08. Other films of note are Electroma (out 03/08), The Walker (out 10/08), Transylvania (out 10/08), Henry V (out 10/08), 12:08 East Of Bucharest (out 17/08), Raging Bull (out 17/08), Lady Chatterley (out 24/08), 2 Days In Paris (out 31/08) and Withnail And I (out 07/09).

Daft Punk's new feature film Electroma is beautifully shot, hovering somewhere between Gus Van Sant and Spike Jonze, and is sedate in its pacing. Be ready for a long slow feast for the eyes that can lean a little heavily towards the arty side of art film (perhaps a hint of Matthew Barney), but is buoyant enough in its crests to be entertaining as well as intriguing. The score is unexpectedly uplifting -- a Daft Punk signature fusion of late '70s folk with more contemporary electropop. Electroma is not just a long and well-produced music video, it is a vast, engulfing panoramic portrait of the plight of two robots aspiring to be human. The overall message is a somewhat ominous and uncomfortable series of truths, but with an idiosyncratic style twist that makes it fun to watch.

NB: Electroma screens at the Ritzy for one week from 03/08 till 10/08 (DVD released in September). Other films of note are I For India (out 03/08), The Walker (out 10/08), Transylvania (out 10/08), Henry V (out 10/08), 12:08 East Of Bucharest (out 17/08), Raging Bull (out 17/08), Lady Chatterley (out 24/08), 2 Days In Paris (out 31/08) and Withnail And I (out 07/09).

Back once again for the renegade massive! After taking a lengthy hiatus to recharge their rave batteries the Wang crew are back at their new home and everyone's current favourite just this side of legal venue, Corsica Studios. Kicking things off as though they'd never been away hosts Electro Elvis and Lula have roped in some familiar faces, like jazz bass playing electro overlord Squarepusher, East End rave legends Shut Up & Dance and techno hero Billy Nasty. It's not the most cutting edge line-up you'll see all year but sometimes it's good to go back to basics to see exactly just how it should be done: a fearsome soundsystem, acts that know how to use it and a friendly, up for it crowd. Sorted.

NB: for techno fans, on the same night, check out Lost's Spacebase party with Juan Atkins at Plastic People and the night before the Closer party with Kevin Saunderson at a warehouse in central London.

The machine humming in the front space at Vilma Gold appears, through the window grill, as though it might have been designed for restraint, but is actually a reconstructed model of a Moniac -- a hydro mechanical device developed in 1949 to illustrate the monetary flow. This curious object (a handmade replica of what Michael Stevenson imagines the lost Moniac of the Central Bank of Guatemala would look like if in operation today), with blood red fluid sluicing around its largely defunct parts like an old warhorse on the demise, operates as a visually arresting key to the artist's investigation into the politics of the Tropics during the 1950s. Empty banana boxes stacked perilously by a projection of an American infomercial -- disingenuously promoting "the circle of trade" between North and South America -- provide a totemic reminder of the price of Western progress. Stevenson's sensitive sculptural interpretation of historical fact pulls this regrettable political period firmly into the present day.

NB: runs till 12/08.

Bossa/Electro/Hipster/Freaks unite! Architecture In Helsinki and Max Tundra are here to bring you their quirky takes on the hottest dance floor grooves, and propel your spirit with a little indie/electronic dada quirkiness! With AIH releasing their highly anticipated Places Like This album this month and Tundra's new album already being tipped to be the alternate spring hit of 2008, this is a chance to get in on the action before more hotly tipped talent goes global. So don't worry if you won't be around to dirty your boots in Camden at KOKO, you can get up close and personal with them at the Hoxton Bar & Grill, which might just prove to be even better... Not interested? Well so long, farewell, some best friend you turned out to be. As the Mothers so aptly put it, "Suzy Creamcheese, honey, what's got into you?"

The BFI Southbank is boldly screening a complete retrospective of Andy Warhol's cinema throughout August (and going on into September). In the swirling, dazzling cultural revolution that was the 1960s (between '63 and '68 to be precise), Warhol shot a phenomenal, production-line like number of films, embracing hundreds of four-minute portraits of friends and colleagues, such as Allen Ginsberg, Dennis Hooper, Paul Morrissey and Edie Sedgwick, and more than 150 other titles, such as the truly epic Sleep (312 hypnotic mins of John Giorno fast asleep) and Empire (485 mins of the Empire State Building over 25-26 July 1964). Over the recent past, many of these films have been restored and re-released and now London audiences have the chance to experience Warhol's unique body of work in all its full, rich complexity.

NB: this complete retrospective runs till 31/08. For Andy Warhol fans make sure you catch Stephen Shore's Factory photos at Sprueth Magers (till 25/08) and Warhol vs Banksy at The Hospital (till 01/09). Finally, for those heading up to Edinburgh, check out Andy Warhol at the National Galleries of Scotland (till 07/10).

Cult Brooklyn experimentalists Gang Gang Dance are an intriguing outfit; similarly to their underground peers Animal Collective, they are one of the few "indie" bands who can be considered as true innovators. Their sound is characterised by an effervescence of ideas -- organic percussion, MIDI guitar, rolling synths and the swirling delayed vocals of frontwoman Lizzi Bougatsos coalesce to form a unique mix laced with the tangible static of invention. Three albums albums down the line, the pick of which is probably 2005's God's Money, this much-name-dropped band have become a hipster favourite. It is in the live environment when the tension which makes them such a distinctive band -- the freeform elegance and melody within fractured soundscapes and chaotic arrangements -- should acquire an extra potency. Prior to the main event, electronic performer Dan Deacon will offer a suitably experimental performance of his composed work.

The minimal scene is having a strong 2007 and one of the most prominent labels has without a doubt been the multifaceted Kompakt. Two of their artist albums will be featuring heavily in the obligatory end of year charts. The Field's From Here We Go Sublime managed the impossible in crafting an album of trance music that didn't make you want to cut your ears off. Equally as good but different was Chromophobia, the debut album from Brazilian architect/commercial jingles man Gui Boratto that touched on several strands of house and techno. A live performance from Boratto is the main draw at Plastic People on 08/08, the latest event in a burgeoning relationship between Kompakt and kraut disco obsessives Allez Allez. Kompakt artist Matias Aguayo also features on the decks. Expect lots of looking good on the dancefloor when Boratto unleashes the anthemic "Beautiful Life".

In the mid-to-late-'90s Putney's Fridge proffered a critically revered UK response to the then flourishing Chicago post-rock scene of Tortoise and co. A gifted trio comprising multi-instrumentalists Kieran Hebden, Adem Ilhan and drummer Sam Jeffers, their sound mixed resonant electronics with dulcet electric guitars, drum machines with jazzy ride cymbals, and they built a reputation that provided springboards for Hebden's stellar Four Tet project and Adem's folk-imbued solo albums. Fridge never actually split and they returned to the fray earlier this summer with their fifth album, The Sun (Text), which builds on their multi-textured past and adds intriguing layers of free jazz indebted ambience. Live, we can expect a far more propulsive and, yes, rockier (alright, post-rockier) animal than most of the participants' latter-day solo projects.

NB: you can also catch Fridge on 11/08 when they play at the Field Day Festival.

Tony Gatlif's latest film is a delirious mix of love story, road movie, documentary record of the music and dance of Romany culture and subversion of the celluloid myth attached to Transylvania and all its Dracula connections (in horror movies Transylvania is a land of a thousand deaths, here Transylvania is a celebration of life and survival). Three women arrive in a deserted Romania village. They are led by Zingarina (Asia Argento coming on strong like Beatrice Dalle with balls), looking for her Romanian lover, who left her in France, two months pregnant. With Zingarina are her close friend Marie (Amira Casar) and a Romanian translator. Zingarina throws herself body and soul into her mission. Plunging headlong into the ways of Roma life, she hooks up with another man, a rootless traveller named Tchango (the ever edgy, sensual Birol Unel), and an off-beat relationships ensues.

NB: Transylvania is released in London 10/08. Other films of note are I For India (out 03/08), Electroma (out 03/08), The Walker (out 10/08), Henry V (out 10/08), 12:08 East of Bucharest (out 17/08), Raging Bull (out 17/08), Lady Chatterley (out 24/08), 2 Days In Paris (out 31/08) and Withnail And I (out 07/09).

Adventures Close To Home, scorers of early gigs for the likes of Gossip, Chromeo and Spank Rock, hold steady to the small venue ethic. They're right to -- anyone who squeezed into the debut London performance of CSS will tell you that guitars and beats are best served up close and sweaty. There's likely to be a lot of sweat at this episode -- not least from the fierce, heavily distorted bleeps of Crystal Castles, a Torontonian boy/girl duo whose pop is malevolent as it is loud. Thankfully, headliners are The Teenagers not some evangelists for the underage movement but a punchy French lo-fi indie group who scored a deal with Klaxons' home label Merok by asking kids to post lyrics on their MySpace page and then peppering them all with lust and expletives. Not a gig for the inhibited shoe gazer.

Sven Vath is one of the few names to get a mention alongside Richie Hawtin and Ricardo Villalobos as being an architect of the resurgence of techno. Vath's Cocoon label has also established its annual compilation as the coalface from which everyone else tries to mine the next killer track. It's no surprise that Jay Haze, Onur Ozer, Michal Ho and Roman Flugel have all had their brushes with that release. Haze is known for stripped back, funky rhythms -- often spun by Villalobos -- and the spectacle of a complex three-deck plus laptop setup. Like Turkish export Ozer and Ho, American has been pulled into the massive Berlin scene, where Flugel has been a fixture ever since the release of "Geht's Noch", a track that hurtled into the mainstream so quickly it led some purists to almost write him off. There's no sign of the Berliners selling out yet though.

Difficult to imagine in our obsessively observed Reality TV/mini DV/CCTV times, but at the end of the 1950s the then-amazing combination of handheld cameras and portable sound equipment, and the explosion of political awareness triggered by the Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam, created a revolution in documentary filmmaking. Direct Cinema was to documentary what the Nouvelle Vague was to narrative cinema -- revolutionising film by using the camera to observe, and expose, the realities of life -- political, provocative, warts-and-all studies, shot on the street and away from the control of the establishment. Led by the prolific Maysles brothers and DA Pennebaker, it also became linked with studies of musicians, encompassing the brilliant Gimme Shelter, and Don't Look Back, Pennebaker's record of Dylan's 1965 UK tour. After the screening, Dave Saunders, author of a new book on Direct Cinema, will discuss the movement and Pennebaker's part in it.

NB: also of note is the release of I For India on 03/08.

While Charlie Chaplin never disappeared from view, his work has certainly enjoyed a renaissance of late, and his Mutuals shown over three nights at Cadogan Hall will be projected in newly restored clarity. The accompanying scores, composed by Carl Davis over several years, will be played live by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted by Davis himself. It won't be a repeat of the Chaplin Operas recently seen at the Coronet (this presentation of Chaplin's work differs in ways one would expect from the move from Elephant and Castle to Belgravia) as Cadogan Hall offers comfort the Coronet cannot, and Davis is the consummate creator of complementary and innocuous soundtracks. These soundtracks lend themselves particularly effectively to screenings of Chaplin's most inventive and idiosyncratic films, made in a period of his career when he had complete freedom working at the Mutual Film Corporation.

NB: the event runs from 15/08 till 18/08. Another special film event of note is John Waters in conversation post screening of his new film This Filthy World at the BFI Southbank on 17/08 (6:30pm).

The artist formerly known as Smog returns to London to remind our hearts of a feeling called love and all that comes with it. Bill Callahan's lyrics have been stolen by many a lost soul and used to woo a girl or break a heart. Singing songs from recent album Woke On A Whaleheart sees some sun shine on the darker days gone past; the music is lighter and doesn't have the dissonance so prevalent with earlier records. This change in tone could be down to his flourishing romance with ethereal angel Johanna Newsom who has plucked on his harp strings -- still we shouldn't expect a dance routine. Prepare to be silenced by a voice and songs that are as satisfying and fascinating lyrically as they are melodically, with words that stand alone and make your heart stop.

12:08 East Of Bucharest arrives as a contender in two recent cinema trends -- new Romanian films and post-Communist peeks into repressive histories (The Lives of Others) -- bringing a welcome (and unexpected) giggle to both categories. One of a wave of award-winning Romanian films by new directors, the 2006 Cannes Camera d'Or winner shares a similar award pedigree with The Death Of Mr Lazarescu and Four Months, 3 Weeks And 2 Days. Tackling the selectiveness of memory and the natural desire to want to be a part of history, this sly comedy has a small town's local TV station commemorating the 1989 Romanian Revolution by taking an investigative look back 16 years to the fall of dictator Ceausescu, and their town's own glorious part in this life-changing event. A genuinely funny breath of fresh air.

NB: 12:08 East Of Bucharest is released in London 17/08. Other films of note are I For India (out 03/08), Electroma (out 03/08), The Walker (out 10/08), Transylvania (out 10/08), Henry V (out 10/08), Raging Bull (out 17/08), Lady Chatterley (out 24/08) and 2 Days In Paris (out 31/08) and Withnail And I (out 07/09).

Despite the re-release of Hairspray this summer (what was wrong with the original again?) as a big blockbusting date movie, there is an event for John Waters fans -- those who really feel the big hole that Divine left behind in the film world, for example -- so rest assured. For anyone who has ever wanted to know (but may have been afraid to ask) there is more to John Waters than meets the eye. Just ask Patty Hearst. Better still, watch This Filthy World, a low-down and dirty look at his experience in the film biz. Don't worry, there will be no sugar coating on this baby, but be warned, it is not for the weak of constitution. In case you still have any questions, or you would like Mr Waters to go into (ahem) deeper detail, he will be there in the flesh speaking candidly about his influences and his career to date.

NB: also of note is the special screening of Werckmeister Harmonies with a special Q&A with its director Bela Tarr on 14/08 (6:10pm) at the Renoir.

Since The Last Tuesday Society started gathering the great and good of the word-warbling world at east London's hip eaterie Bistrotheque, literary shindigs have never been so de rigueur. The summer's highlight is undoubtedly a talk by the inimitable Selina Hastings, a writer who has penned biographies on the jewels in the crown of the literati glitterati. This evening's star subjects are Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh, two writers who undeniably contributed to the iconisation of the English aristocracy before and during the WWII (after which point things rather went into decline for the toffs as a new era of English social mobility was ushered in). From the inner circle of the then-coveted social scene, Waugh and Mitford painted portraits that simultaneously pilloried and idolised the idiosyncratic, eccentric hauteur of the characters that surrounded them. Both writers are celebrated to the point of deification for their infamously acerbic tongues, whippet fast wit and brilliantly astute humour -- so let's hope an evening in honour of them is just as ebullient.

Pascale Ferran's film of DH Lawrence's famously controversial 1928 novel (only published in Britain 32 years later) never loses its Gallic roots, giving it in some ways an odd feel for an Edwardian costume drama. It does, however, offer a long (at 168 minutes) and highly bucolic take on the second of the three drafts of the novel, memorably named John Thomas And Lady Jane. Into the wretched idyll of the Chatterleys' English country life -- neither she nor he can cope with his war-caused impotence -- is brought an awakening for her and both nudity and an un-romantised relationship with Parkin the game-keeper. This is all handled intelligently, and kept very close to the original, by Ferran -- you can see why the Academie des Arts et Techniques du Cinema gave it a clutch of Cesars.

NB: Lady Chatterley is released in London on 24/08. Other films of note are I For India (out 03/08), Electroma (out 03/08), The Walker (out 10/08), Transylvania (out 10/08), Henry V (out 10/08), 12:08 East Of Bucharest (out 17/08), Raging Bull (out 17/08), 2 Days In Paris (out 31/08) and Withnail And I (out 07/09).

It's a welcome return to London for M.A.N.D.Y., who a couple of years ago were making huge electro house tunes seemingly for fun and making everyone want to move to Berlin. Their influence was secured after the formation of Get Physical Music with DJ T and one of the best German live acts on the scene, Booka Shade. They wowed some of the crowds at this year's Miami WMC, as did Claude VonStroke, whose brilliantly simple "Who's Afraid Of Detroit" made a lot of people's top ten lists for the year. The San Franciscan is fast becoming man of the moment for house production in the US thanks to his use of weird beats and sounds and it'll be very hard to stand still once those whistling hooks kicks in.

NB: for some good techno check out Multi Vitamins' third birthday party on 26/08 (10pm - 6am) at Electrowerkz with Arnaud Le Texier, Dan Berkson & James What, L8 Hours, Mark-Henning and Oliver Ho/Raudive.

One of the great aspects of the Arctic Circle events is their taste when it comes to showcasing music with a cinematic bent, beyond mere chill-out blissdom. Both main artists playing this night are on the ever-reliable FatCat label and it's the first time Max Richter has performed his latest album (Songs From Before) in London. Richter's pieces are haunting, with evocative motifs and sometimes incidental noises (eg an old typewriter tapping). But they also convey a pleasing melodic and pared-down simplicity recalling the works of Eric Satie, Wim Mertens, Aphex Twin's ambient works, utilising piano, cello, violin, viola and electronics, antique and modern. Hauschka meanwhile is influenced by, in his own words, labels Morr Music, Raster-Noton, Staubgold, 12k, Touch, and ECM; his hesitant-but- bubbling prepared piano pieces show that same spare beautiful minimalism, with some added drive. Steve Lawson (Pillow Mountain) adds sterling support with his solo bass, with DJ sets from Ryan Teague and Ben Eshmade, and visuals from Mokital.

Goat and Monkey Theatre's re-imagining of The Ghost Sonata in a dockland hinterland was a treat for us last year. Now they have fallen in love with the story of the doom-crossed affair of Abelard and Heloise, and sculpted it into a new piece called Reverence. In all their work, the audience is teasingly led into an adventure within an environment that responds sensitively to the site in which they find themselves. The site for Reverence is the new temporary home of Southwark Playhouse, one of the arches underneath London Bridge station which -- if neighbours Shunt are anything to go by -- will be a richly atmospheric catacomb. Book early and prepare for a promenade into a darkness in which your imagination can lose itself, where shadows re-enact a grippingly beautiful tale.

NB: runs till 22/09. Also of note is The Terrific Electric which runs at the Barbican from 04/09 till 15/09.

Insouciant French fantasy Julie Delpy takes the director's chair, scripting, editing, scoring and starring in this eccentric, eminently watchable romantic comedy. Applause for the choice of actor to star alongside her because a tattooed up Adam Goldberg (let's just say he's the guy from Friends) delivers a devilishly charismatic performance perfectly counter pointing Delpy's fragile reserve. The couple stop off for a brief stay in Paris but unfortunately the French in-laws hate Americans, and how come they keep meeting past lovers on every street corner? As you'd expect from Delpy this is brilliantly written, very much in the vein of Before Sunset (which she co-wrote), with the chemistry between the two leads flooding the screen. There's always something about watching beautiful people in nerdy glasses kissing in the Parisian sunlight.

NB: 2 Days In Paris is released in London on 31/08. Other films of note are I For India (out 03/08), Electroma (out 03/08), The Walker (out 10/08), Transylvania (out 10/08), Henry V (out 10/08), 12:08 East Of Bucharest (out 17/08), Raging Bull (out 17/08), Lady Chatterley (out 24/08) and Withnail And I (out 07/09).

After wowing audiences back in May on their last tour with the fantastic combination of A Hawk And A Hacksaw and The Hun Hangar Ensemble, comes a slightly more cut down affair, as Jeremy Barnes and Heather Trost are joined by the cimbalom player Unger Balazs, who pretty much blew everyone else off stage last time around. Don't be surprised if you end up whisked off your feet to Transylvanian dances, the odd folk classic taken off into the darkest regions of the Balkans, or an improvised departure or two. The cosy Luminaire is hosting two nights with this line-up and both are being recorded for possible future release, so if you do come along, please don't cough too loudly.

NB: A Hawk And A Hacksaw perform on both 04/09 and 05/09.

The Oxford Samuel Beckett Theatre Trust Award has been propelling new makers of experimental theatre into the spotlight for five years now and it's a measure of its success that it's now collaborating with bite07 at the Barbican to produce this year's winner, giving the wherewithal to mount its brilliant idea. This year, newcomers BOiLEROOM emerged from a very strong field with The Terrific Electric, a piece using vaudeville and visual flair to tell the story of a surreal household falling under the spell of a scientist. It tackles our relationship with the increasing mechanisation of technology, and BOiLEROOM have collaborated with a physicist and a cardiac surgeon, as well as having old bold Mark Ravenhill as mentor. It's only a short run so worth booking well in advance -- especially for 13/09 (8:50pm) when Ravenhill joins the company for a post-show talk.

NB: runs till 15/09. Also part of bite07 is Complicite's A Disappearing Number, which runs from 05/09 till 06/10.

Last year Orhan Pamuk became the first Turk to win a Nobel Prize, a triumph not just for his outstanding talent (his books have been translated into more than 40 languages) but, paradoxically, for Turkey. The year before Pamuk stood trial for insulting "Turkishness" when he commented on the silence surrounding his country's genocide of Kurds and Armenians. Pamuk's case caused an outcry internationally and caused reservations about Turkey's anticipated entry into the EU. The charges were eventually dropped but he is now in exile. He comes to the Southbank Centre to mark the publication of his new book, Other Colours, which includes his Nobel lecture, "My Father's Suitcase". This exciting event is a unique chance to hear one of the world's most eminent authors discuss his work and ideologies: free speech and the tolerance to accept philosophies from both East and West.

A synth band in the truest sense of the world, ever teetering between psychedelic pop and cerebral rock noise, Caribou will be bringing his gently agro brand of beautifully bent melodies (with an enticing "and special guests" addendum that might prove interesting) to Bardens Boudoir on the 5th. "Melody Day" is currently blazing an old-school bop-rock trail to set the pace for the impending release of Andorra, his new album you can snap up in the shops on 20th August if you want a pre-gig fluffer. Following in the footsteps of recent releases by the likes of Daft Punk and DJ Shadow, Andorra brackets the recent ages of music, incorporating all the important stuff from psychedelic hippie rock to Pixies-style gritty pretty pop to positively electrotastic trip-hop and indie. Whether it's about the evolution of modern music or just a medley of listenably hooky grooves you'll just have to wait and see.

Did you know that 70% of women who do not have orgasms through intercourse are able to achieve orgasm easily by masturbation? If you think this is shocking, it's probably because you're not yet familiar with Shere Hite, the infamous feminist and author of the Hite Report, the study of female sexuality that gave reports by Masters and Johnson and by Alfred Kinsey a run for their money. Her work was so controversial that she chose exile from the United States after a slew of threats and attacks to her credibility. Now, having apparently given men/women relationships a rest, Hite is back in the UK to explore female rivalry in conversation with Dr Terri Apter, author of the books The Sister Knot and You Don't Really Know Me. Let's see if we've evolved beyond hair pulling and eye scratching.

The architectural concept "softspace" is not as it sounds a place of padded walls and fluffy cushions but a means of describing the sensory flipside to the "hardspace" that has traditionally delineated public and personal territory. Interactive domestic gizmos such as sensor-oriented light and heating devices are already commonplace in the home, but remain some distance from the responsive technological possibilities suggested in films such as eXistenZ. Architects Usman Haque, Jason Bruges and Daan Roosegaarde and designer Despina Papadopoulos will discuss the new social implications uncovered by their work -- as building solutions move further away from bricks and mortar permanence -- with Tate Modern curator Jane Burton and Lucy Bullivant, critic and author of Responsive Environments: Architecture, Art And Design (V&A Contemporaries, 2006). The highlight for many, though, will likely be the keynote speech by eminent new media theorist Lev Manovich.

NB: for more traditional architecture make sure you check out Global Cities also at Tate Modern, Zaha Hadid at the Design Museum and this year's Serpentine Pavilion.

It's strange to think that only a couple of years ago Trafalgar Square was still a dirty, ignored traffic roundabout. But in the years since the pedestrianisation of the square's north face it has taken its place amongst Europe's great piazzas thanks to creative events such as this. Organised by the ICA, this concert marks the culmination of the Beck's Fusions events in London and sees big beat survivors The Chemical Brothers, revitalised after the critical response to their new album We Are The Night, headlining a night of multimedia events as they perform with the acclaimed UVA (United Visual Artists) whose innovative light and projector based installations have seen them work with the likes of Massive Attack and U2 over the years. In support is up and coming Scottish electropop star Calvin Harris, collaborating with VJ Novak 3D Disco and the ever worth catching DJ, Erol Alkan.

Giveaway: we have four pairs of tickets to give away. They'll go to four randomly picked Flashers who can tell us in which London nightclub UVA have a permanent installation.

NB: tickets for the concert are available through promotional bottles of Beck's, the Beck's Fusions website and the ICA membership programme. The concert marks the culmination of Beck's Fusions at the ICA -- four nights of live art and music-based performance, film and installation works from both breaking acts and established artists.

If Jacques Cousteau was an underwater David Attenborough then Jean Painleve was a mischievous submarine cineaste. Like his fellow ocean-going Frenchman, Painleve filmed undersea fauna exhaustively, but unlike his contemporary he preferred visual opulence to scientific exactitude and his oft-repeated mantra "science is fiction" made him a controversial figure in sub-aquatic circles. His films, often shot in dream-like, hyper-real colour, are hymns to piscine exotica, inky octopi copulation, minnows executing geometric ocean bed "ballets" and sea urchins flailing in apparent erotic rhapsody. Hoboken indie trio Yo La Tengo were initially invited to make live soundtrack music to accompany a season of Painleve's films at the 2001 San Francisco Film Festival and reprised the performance at the Barbican in 2002. Both filmmaker and musicians inhabit that resonant zone between bewitchment and kitsch and YLT's tremulous guitars, brushed cymbals and dulcet electric organs make a wonderfully "liquid" complement to the stunning visuals.

NB: also of note at the RFH are the six Brian Wilson concerts (10/09 till 16/09).

The title of the Whitechapel discussion series was made for Thomas Hirschhorn, a man possessed by big ideas that can occupy still larger structures, populated by the thoughts and interactions of audiences from the highbrow to the fringes of society. His most recent exhibition, Stand Alone at Arndt & Partner in Berlin, bore all the signs of the usual exuberant and visually noisy constructions, stuffed with cardboard, tape and other media of throwaway value, but traced a new tack of disruption. Hirshhorn has always stopped the viewer in their tracks to unmask quotidian chaos, but in Berlin a real and metaphoric felled tree through the centre of the gallery was just one device to render usual modes of transport, communication and comprehension useless. His work and reputation are monumental, his practice far from fossilised.

The intimate set of black and white photographs that greets you as you enter the similarly monochrome space of Sprueth Magers momentarily makes you forget that you are looking at images of one of the most famous artists ever. Stephen Shore's series of black and white photographs, The Velvet Years: Warhol's Factory 1965-67, offers a snapshot of the celebrities that frequented the Factory during the mid-'60s, including Warhol himself, Edie Sedgwick, Lou Reed and Paul Morrissey. If the photographs seem a little understated it is because the teenage photographer was not at all fazed by the stellar cast he was set amongst. Shore has recently said of this time: "I rejected my Factory period for a long time. For so many of the others involved, it was the pinnacle of their lives. For me it just wasn't. It was the beginning." Indeed early indications of the documentary style that came to dominate Shore's career can be seen in these pubescent origins.

NB: runs till 25/08. Look out for Phaidon's monograph on Stephen Shore to be published this autumn. For Andy Warhol fans make sure you catch a complete retrospective of his films at the BFI Southbank (till 31/08) and Warhol vs Banksy at The Hospital (till 01/09). Finally, for those heading up to Edinburgh, check out Andy Warhol at the National Galleries of Scotland (till 07/10).

Descending into Turbine Hall, you are confronted by a film emitting apocalyptic messages about the global rise of the city accompanied by dark strains and brooding beats. "In 2007 for the first time in history one out of every two people will be living in a city", flashes up one bulletin. "By 2050 75% of people will be living in cities", prophesises another. A sense of foreboding looms large under the implication that this rate of growth is unsustainable, not least because of the giant-size carbon footprint stamped on the earth as a result. However, the silver lining to this globally warmed cloud is that it is not too late for us all to learn how to develop in an environmentally, economically and socially sustainable manner. Artists and architects including Richard Wentworth, Nils Norman, Zaha Hadid and Nigel Coates explore issues of public space and social inclusion, while an international audience interacts with this pedagogical experience.

NB runs till 27/08. For architectural fans make sure you catch Zaha Hadid's show at the Design Museum and this year's Serpentine Pavilion.

Face to face exhibitions always seem like a bit of a cop out. Artists who may not have chosen to meet in life are brought together in death and paint. The 1985 pairing of Warhol and Basquiat was of course a living collaboration between the two artists, although the 2007 face off between Bacon and Picasso in Lucerne was not. Warhol vs Banksy, however, proves to be an interesting juxtaposition. Their shared subversion of consumerism and an anarchic attitude towards a celebrity soaked society makes for a coherent coupling. Where Warhol made Marilyn and Campbell's soup, Banksy makes Kate and Tescos. But don't be fooled by their similitude. Just as Warhol and Basquiat were photographed for the poster for their show nose to nose and wearing boxing gloves, Warhol and Banksy are pitted against each other in terms of who gets the most hits on Google and, most importantly, who fetches the higher price at auction.

NB: runs from 07/08 till 01/09. For Andy Warhol fans make sure you catch a complete retrospective of his films at the BFI Southbank (till 31/08) and Stephen Shore's Factory photos at Sprueth Magers (till 25/08). Finally, for those heading up to Edinburgh, check out Andy Warhol at the National Galleries of Scotland (till 07/10).

The eminent anthropologist, Mary Douglas once observed that dirt was merely misplaced soil and weeds were flora that had migrated onto the wrong space. Likewise, trashy journalists -- no pun -- so often wish that many of the objects in today's art galleries could be into the nearest junkyard, or at least reclassified as junk. Today, we seem to be a state of constant wastage, over production and over consumption. Taking its title from a Beatles' lyric, says the junk in the yard brings together a group of artworks that allows us to contemplate and confront this situation. From Gavin Turk's bronze sleeping bag, to Jessica Stockholder's Frankenstein creations from junk and Derek Boshier's ticket series, we may learn to quickly realise that one man's junk is another's auction fortune.

NB: runs till 08/09. On 17/08 catch a special evening of talks and performances with Phyllida Barlow, Doug Fishbone and Can Altay. Other shows of note are How We Are at Tate Britain (till 02/09), Helio Oiticica at Tate Modern (till 23/09) and Hreinn Fridfinnsson at the Serpentine (till 02/09).

Thanks to the utterly grim weather this "summer", the shops have yanked forward their autumn collections -- expect heavy fabrics and dark colours until, say, about MARCH. If such a flagrant disregard for the very Englishness of summer antics (smock dresses/ shorts in arctic temperatures, picnics under leaden skies, etc) riles you, head for the sartorial wonders of New York Fashion Now. The exhibition showcases work by some of the Big Apple's cutting edge designers; those who, despite being fledglings on the scene, struggled on in the face of the cataclysmic slump after 9/11 and succeeded in garnering praise from fashionistas. Of the 20 or so designers on show, there's Zac Posen and his sportswear-chic; Christian Joy's outlandish costumes for Yeah Yeah Yeahs singer Karen O; the avant-garde anti-consumerist designs by Slow and Steady Wins the Race; and the ornate, detailed craftsmanship of atelier Maggie Norris. It's real escapism: experimental, daring, courageous and inspiring: definitely something to make time for.

NB: runs till 23/09. For more fashion check out Camouflage at the Imperial War Museum London (till 18/11).

The Hothouse is set in an unspecified "caring" institution and, like many of Harold Pinter's works, focuses on the corrupt workings of power within the institutional space. At the opening, we are informed that patient 6457 has died (it transpires quickly to be a murder), and that patient 6459 has had a child (which we soon discover to be a rape). We are quickly led to suspect that it is the staff in charge who are responsible for these crimes, despite their hypocritical bemoaning of the state of their hospital; we see how it is that they in fact are as much prisoners of the institution as the patients behind locked doors. To our mind, the script is not one of Pinter's finest: the jokes found half the audience roaring with laughter, but left the other half (including us) cold, and the story became rather thin and tedious in the second half. Despite this, the performances were strong, and highly watchable.

NB: runs till 27/10. Another production of note at the NT is The Philistines (till 18/08).

To mark the 200th anniversary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act, the National Gallery has produced a contemporary exhibition that is nothing short of extraordinary. Unprecedented in its examination of a Black presence within the art historical narratives of the National Gallery's collection, and in its presentation of work by a living artist within the collection, Scratch The Surface and Yinka Shonibare MBE's commission are momentous even before setting foot in the galleries. It is nevertheless a thrilling aesthetic experience -- a skilfully executed blend of subtle violence befitting of its tragic subject, as history rears its ugly head, only to be decapitated. Exhuming the dark histories of two prominent portraits, a whole institutional and cultural history is challenged and changed through a forcible coup d'etat of representation complete with guns and a suspended pheasant exploding in mid-air. Exhilarating, thought-provoking and a must for anyone with a stake in our culture past, present, and future.

NB: runs till 04/11. Other shows of note are How We Are at Tate Britain (till 02/09), Helio Oiticica at Tate Modern (till 23/09) and Hreinn Fridfinnsson at the Serpentine (till 02/09).

The pioneering methods of Cubism -- disruption of the familiar image through warped perspectives and playing with contours -- were far reaching in their influence. It's not surprising to hear that Picasso exclaimed "We did that!" when he saw a camouflaged gun, as military conflict and later art and fashion were to explode this conception of cunningly configured, abstract designs into a consumer friendly package. This intriguing show traces the story of camouflage from France in 1915, via the Dazzle ships of the World War I, the inevitable screenprints of Andy Warhol, Jean-Paul Gaultier gowns, Maharishi fashion iPod /PSP cases and couture by John Galliano. It's a startling realisation that the armour of the warrior became street fashion, linking a military experiment to the market-place. Are we parading on display or seeking to hide in our dress today?

NB: runs till 18/11. For another take on camouflage check out the Gavin Turk and Hardy Blechman shows at Riflemaker (till 08/09). And, for more fashion, check out New York Fashion Now at the V&A (till 23/09).

It's been a colourful journey that has led Zaha Hadid up to this point: where her architectural feats are celebrated in a monumental exhibition at the Design Museum. To hold such a retrospective is a confident move by the museum's new director Deyan Sudjic, for the architect is one who has had something of an incendiary relationship with both the public and critics alike. Take the fiasco over the Cardiff Opera House, or the several hundred fantastical plans for buildings (compared to the mere handful actually built) that have earned her the moniker the "paper architect". Still, we defy anyone to turn their nose up at the sheer theatricality of Hadid's designs, which have a simple, striking presence and high-impact effect. On display here are a phenomenal array of plans -- for buildings in production in China, Singapore, Istanbul, Rome and Dubai (to name a few) plus countless others that have yet to take off. It really is jaw dropping. Don't miss it.

NB: runs till 25/11. While at the Design Museum make sure you catch the Jonathan Barnbrook show. Also of note is Global Cities at Tate Modern and this year's Serpentine Pavilion.

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