The Catalan sculptor Miquel Barcelo and French choreographer Josef Nadj bring the biggest mud battle ever staged to the Barbican. Ten tons of red clay form the set for this duel. The object of the performance here is to reveal the collaborative art of shaping the universe around us. Two performers armed with outsized tools carve a world of their own on the wall and a landscape out of the clay surrounding them. The final result is reminiscent of the some of the latest work by German artist Anselm Kiefer. Having chopped the clay around them the artists then immerse themselves into the soft and voluptuous material. This collaboration between a sculptor and a performer takes the world of stage performance into a new realm, opening up endless possibilities and bringing the audience to the core of the creation process, where the body and clay are in their raw state and are prey to the hands of the artist. With a live soundscape by Alain Mahe, this performance promises to blow away the dusty old preconceptions that obscure Mime and take you into an unmapped world.

NB: Paso Doble runs from 16/01 to 19/01 and is part of the 2008 London International Mime Festival (runs till 27/01).

Following the vogue for bringing to your attention all the things you didn't know you were missing, both architecture types and regular humans will be glad to hear that the AA is exhibiting a deserving lesser-known artist. One that Rem Koolhaas found first, and married: Madelon Vriesendorp. She is famous for 1975 painting Flagrant delit, depicting two buildings abed in postcoital deconstructionist repose, but her extensive work is located within such a unique context -- the helium-filled world of Dutch architectural superinvention, plus the delocalized world of international art -- that a rare public appearance is sure to be compelling. Here, a whole world is presented for your consideration. This lecture is related to the exhibition (which includes installations and 8,000 postcards!) and condenses her multiple working practices in a digestible way; also check out a recent publication on her work in the architectural Triangle Bookshop downstairs (worth a visit in itself).

NB: Madelon Vriesendorp: Paintings, Postcards, Objects, Games runs at the AA till 08/02. For Richard Rogers fans catch him when he gives a lecture at the AA on 22/01 (6pm).

Scandinavians have always understood the importance of good design and Gothenburg's Little Dragon exercise the kind of good taste and utilitarian modernism that would make Ingvar Kamprad proud. They've already grabbed themselves a Rough Rough Trade "Single of the Week" with their "Twice"/"Test" double A-side, breath of jazzy fresh air that brings to mind Roisin Murphy joining Hot Chip for a weekend break in Kraftwerk's Kling Klang studio. Tipped for big things, and quite rightly so, Little Dragon's beautifully crafted future pop springs forth from the Peacefrog label -- and imprint that's already given us the diverse yet essential charms of Jose Gonazalez and Nouvelle Vague -- and should easily find favour with hip young modern types who appreciate something a bit more intelligent, classy and understated than the average fare in their CD racks. Catch them live at Cargo this week for a Peacefrog special along with soulful dance music innovator Charles Webster, presented by DJ Karen P as she launches her new monthly night Broad Casting.

Ahhhh, awards ceremonies: the glamour and glitz of the red carpet, the bright lights of the paparazzi exploding into action as minor celebrities spill out of their dresses and into the headlines and Billy Crystal's grinning mug. All this and more will almost certainly be absent this Thursday at the first annual Dubstep Awards. What the event may miss out on in terms of Dior draped starlets and tearful acceptance speeches it more than makes up for in quality, as some of the scene's leading lights such as Kode9, Rusko and Caspa will be on hand to showcase this still-evolving and exciting genre. And there is much to showcase as dubstep has had an astonishing 12 months, finally achieving escape velocity from its South London club roots and forcing its way into the living rooms and consciousness of the country and spreading itself far and wide beyond these shores.

It's a first and a final: Jonathan Burrows and Matteo Fargion return to London for the final performances of their internationally acclaimed triptych of dance pieces. And for the first time, all three pieces will be performed in one evening. Both Sitting Duet, The Quiet Dance and Speaking Dance are intimate and funny meditations on dance, music and friendship. They have toured to 36 countries with this extraordinary and unusual piece. Burrows is a former Royal Ballet soloist and Fargion is a composer. With both possessing exceptional technical skills but in very different artforms, the possibilities for performing together sound potentially awkward -- the composer should not be sharing a stage with a former Royal Ballet dancer, what is he thinking?! But as the rave reviews from 2008, 2006 and 2003, from past London appearances and from around the world suggest, this is a rare success possessing both lightness of touch and genuine dance comedy.

NB: catch this performance on 18/01, 25/01 and 26/01.

An overwhelming masterpiece, The Diving Bell And The Butterfly is directed with a ravishingly vivid artist's palette by painter, Julian Schnabel, also the director of Basquiat and Before Night Falls. The true, and uncommonly remarkable story of Elle editor Jean-Dominique Bauby, who -- superbly rendered by Mathieu Amalric -- suffers a stroke and, apart from his left eye, is totally paralyzed. But while in hospital Bauby still manages to write a best-selling book using a most painstaking process, whereby his speech therapist (Marie-Josee Croze) goes through the alphabet in the order of most commonly used letters, while he chooses a letter by blinking -- one blink for "yes" two for "no". Yet the film is not just about the writing of the book, as screenwriter Ronald Harwood and cinematographer Janusz Kaminski expertly illustrate what Bauby sees around him, his fantasies and his dreams. A film that celebrates the tenacity of the human spirit, this is shockingly brilliant achievement that you will never forget.

NB: this special advance screening with be followed by a Q&A with Julian Schnabel. The Diving Bell And The Butterfly is released in London on 08/02. Also of note this week is the release of the Coen brothers' No Country For Old Men, the Wim Wenders retrospective at the BFI (15/01 till 29/02) and 4 Months, 3 Weeks And 2 Days (screening at various London cinemas).

Talking about art's immateriality is best left to the turtleneck-wearing philosophers of the 1960s. Nowadays, it's much more au courant to ponder the dematerialization of labour. That is, according to Antonio Negri who co-wrote the definitive book on the topic also known as Empire or the unofficial Communist Manifesto of the 21st Century. Yes comrade, if you are reading this during a much-deserved break from your remote working station, you just might be interested in this highbrow day of radical thinking that aims to explore the "immaterial" character of labour brought about by information technology in the current context of libertarian political debates. Other speakers include philosophers Judith Revel, Franco Berardi and Maurizio Lazzarato; all experts on Deleuze, Foucault and biopolitics. If capitalism is getting you down, this is likely to lift your spirit...

Artist Steven Claydon's self-selected group exhibition allows you, in effect, to get inside his creative mind, and judging by this show, the colour scheme there is predominantly cream, ochre and grey. Francis Picabia makes another guest appearance in a Camden Arts Centre exhibition, and the cheerful ghosts of Dada embrace everyone involved, including those like Graham Sutherland and Ian Hamilton Finlay, whose vision might normally be seen as too severe for the Dadaist spirit. In fact this intriguing exhibition taps in to a very current trend, of using the archive as a way of framing an exhibition project, along the lines of "let's mix up the unfashionable past with the present and see if we can come up with the future..." The predominantly sombre colouring and downbeat character of much of the art included (Jim Shaw's video piece gives a good sense of cod ritual gone a little flat in spirit), suggests the future is an uncertain one. Charles Simonds seems totally at home in this context, perhaps more than he seemed in The Hayward's Peer + Ocean of 1980, which itself now looks like an end-note to '70s formalism that could do with some re-exploration.

NB: runs till 10/02. On 19/02 and 20/02 catch re-creations of Erwin Wurm's iconic One Minute Sculptures.

French documentary filmmaker Nicolas Philibert moved into peripheral cinema fame with the 2002 documentary Etre et avoir. Back To Normandy goes back to when he was a young filmmaker and worked on the 1976 release I, Pierre Riviere, Having Slit The Throats Of My Mother, My Sister And My Brother.... Yes, this really was the title. Philibert returns to the original location and hooks up with the cast (mainly made up of indigenous peasants) exploring the film's narrative as it evolved over time. The peasants talk lucidly to camera, one old man rides a bike with no hands and another can't put a flip flop on after slitting a pig's throat. As he exemplified in his earlier documentaries, like Every Little Thing and the fascinating In The Land Of The Deaf, Philibert manages to get the best from his subjects. An unexpected and illuminating documentary.

NB: on 19/01 at 2pm Nicolas Philibert will also introduce I, Pierre Riviere, Having Slit The Throats Of My Mother, My Sister And My Brother.... For documentary fans catch Nick Broomfield on 20/01 (12pm) at the Curzon Soho when he gives post-screening discussion after Battle For Haditha.

Despite the fanfare that surrounded the opening of the tarted up Amersham Arms (fully justified given South East London's paucity of decent music venues) the unwashed student masses of New Cross don't yet seem to have fully embraced the godsend on their doorstep, eschewing some of the more leftfield nights. Thankfully this hasn't dampened the spirit of the venue's promoters to keep pushing the freshness. None more so than Teutonic fancydans Allez Allez, whose previous nights down the Amersham proved that girls with nice fringes will indeed dance to dirty techno. After a very special Christmas party in the company of Optimo and Grovesnor, this Saturday sees electronica posterboy Nathan Fake and Gallic edit freaks D*I*R*T*Y Soundsystem join in on the fun. Drowning In A Sea Of Love, Fake's debut LP on Border Community, garnered much critical praise for it's melodic almost ambient soundscapes, but luckily he has lots of new jacking dancefloor material to test out. D*I*R*T*Y were of course responsible for that not-nearly-as- ubiquitous-as-it-should-have-been Frankie Valli edit, and they have plenty more disco oddities up their sleeves to get the assembled dancing.

There's an evening of aural ninjitsu at KOKO on Saturday, as DJ Krush drops in -- flanked by a healthy array of supporting DJs. The undisputed elder statesman of Japanese turntablism has first gen roots within the artform, establishing his own hip-hop crew in Tokyo in 1987, but his work as a producer has been equally groundbreaking. Early releases on Mo' Wax laid down the blueprint -- a sparse hip-hop aesthetic underpinned by Shuriken-sharp beats, showing a knack for skewed jazz samples and the incorporation of traditional Japanese instruments. His DJ sets deftly weave these elements and more, with a classy subtlety that almost plays down his technical mastery. The Herbaliser support in a DJ capacity -- a duo whose musical history is intertwined with Krush's through the Ninja Tune back catalogue. The same can be said of DJ Vadim, who has directly collaborated with Krush in the past and is certainly no slouch behind the decks. Memory 9's rep has been building recently, owing to live/laptop mash-ups of more credible genres than you can shake a spliff at, whilst The Shadow Orchestra marries delicate electronics with more organic-sounding instrumentation. Not a bad buffet of beats, at the end of it.

Attempting to photograph war in a meaningful way is a practice cunningly co-opted by Pulitzer could-bes and Magnum photographers in the all-seeing eye of the general public. So, generally speaking, our view of war and its byproducts is always high-drama -- there is always a hero, always a tragedy, always a moral dilemma. Even in the Gonzo-style snapshots of the events at Abu Ghraib, there is an almost cinematic directorial quality that elevates the photos, and through them the war itself, to a higher ground, hovering above what we civilians experience as daily life. Nick Waplington's new series Synesthesia (appearing also as You Are Only What You See) suggests instead that the nature of war is not best communicated through the nigh-classical medium of award-winning photojournalism, but rather as a composite: a barrage of 1,000 images; moments that have immediate and urgent social relevance encoded within their seeming banality. Whether photos of soldiers at work or rest, or of family and friends back home, the images Waplington has assembled from soldiers' photo-sharing websites who have served in the Middle East in the last 20 years are equally politicized and familiar, sentimental and terrifying as what they convey is the resolute normalcy of war.

NB: catch Nick Waplington on 20/01 when he discusses his work, including his current installation at the Whitechapel and in various local venues (Double Dactyl, a series of unlabeled prints hung in various locations around the neighbourhood). Following the event, the artist will lead a tour to view some of his off-site work (this event is free but you must book). Waplington's Whitechapel exhibtion runs till 20/01.

The decision to put Cormac McCarthy's novel in the hands of the Coen brothers was an inspired one. Hats off to producer Scott Rudin. The combination of storytellers makes for a powerful film with knockout impact. The faux-simple linear plot sees Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin), a Texan poacher, stumble across the fallout of a drugs deal gone very wrong in the middle of the desert. After a moment of deliberation, he takes the millions and runs, to which end he is pursued by the local sheriff (Tommy Lee Jones) -- guided by his honourable moral compass -- and myopic psychopath Chigurh (Javier Bardem), each out to restore their own version of order, on their own terms. But this ain't no bog standard chase thriller, no siree. Sinister tendrils with wider social and moral implications snake their way through the murky action. Unexpected tension emanates from the uneasy (but pitch perfect) balance between uncomfortable humour, gruesome action, chilling suspense and tender emotion. Performances from the leads are almost impressionistic; oblique characterisations that hint at what's beneath the surface, without hammering the point home. This is an exceptional film that is not only gripping, but which wrangles with broader issues without sanctimonious chirping or patronisingly glib pronouncements.

NB: No Country For Old Men is released in London on 18/01. Also of note this week is the Wim Wenders retrospective at the BFI (15/01 till 29/02) , 4 Months, 3 Weeks And 2 Days (screening at various London cinemas) and the special advance screening of The Diving Bell And The Butterfly with a Julian Schnabel post screening Q&A (18/01, 8:30pm).

In the opening scene of Metamorphosis, family life ticks to a mechanical routine until the father realises at the breakfast table that his breadwinner son, Gregor, is still in bed when he should have left the house two hours before. Overnight, Gregor's loneliness has transformed him into a despicable thing. No one saw him before and now no one can stomach seeing him at all. Directed with humour and rigour by the Lyric's artistic director David Farr and by Gisli Orn Gardarsson, director of the Vesturport Theatre (Iceland) that brought Woyzeck to the Barbican, the show is unsettling both physically and emotionally. Our view of Gregor's room is a wrenching 90-degree shift from the rest of the house. The insect Gregor crawls from wall to wall in an agonising search for peace. But as his family comes to realise that the presence of this monster is no longer acceptable, Gregor tumbles out of his room, upsetting their plans to ignore him, and to their relief, attempts to creep out of their lives. With him goes the weight of conformity and a colourful landscape opens for the family, but at what price? This compelling and acrobatic show uses tragedy and humour in equal measure to reach to the core of life.

NB: runs till 02/02.

The Lockheed Lounge was Marc Newson's break through work back in 1986; a continual sinuous curve described in his own words "like a giant blob of mercury". It brought him overnight and international attention from his small corner of Sydney, Australia. From our 2008 goalpost he has been a prolific designer, whose name easily slides in alongside that of design superstar, Philippe Starck. He has retained his signature style with work imbued with a hard-nosed industrial edge, which he has applied to furniture, shoes, watches, a car and even jet design. He gained momentum, and commissions in the '90s, working firstly in Tokyo and then jumping on board the computerized bandwagon, lending his expertise to the mass market and working with companies such as Alessi. Paris and then London were hi next stops. He's now back in Paris and is a sure thing at auctions, where his works fetch record prices. Newson is also very much part of the "design-art" movement, having had a sell-out show at Gagosian in New York. Recently his name has been linked to something altogether more spectacular, designing a space plane for European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company.

NB: he will be joined in conversation with Alice Rawsthorn, the design critic of the International Herald Tribune and the ex-director of the Design Museum.

Edward Burtynsky produces large-format, pin-sharp colour photographs of what he refers to as "nature transformed through industry". The work -- beautiful, compelling and often profoundly moving -- is a skilful and highly aesthetic fusion of art and what could perhaps be called geo-political comment, managing to encompass in a near-documentary style both the effects of man's industry on nature and the effects of that same industry on man himself. The Quarries photographs on show here, which are documented from major mining operations across the globe, are typical in their mix of grandeur, detail and startling subject matter. The works detail such vast human endeavour that you find yourself looking for the joins -- only to realise that these pictures are actually real and all the more arresting for it.

NB: runs till 02/02.

Alan Brooks has been collecting images of his favourite artists for as long as he can remember. De Stael's big, honest-looking hands mixing great gobs of paint, Mondrian, Warhol and other art luminaries posing in their studios -- we know Brooks' drawings refer to a bygone era of making but, like all good photorealist works, alert us to the second-hand nature of their source. The filmy graphite glaze through which these personalities appear may be the rendering of actual detail -- the gloss or touch-damaged scuff of photographic production -- yet veil-like vertical lines imply movement, as if describing the moment each original image was pulled from the developing fluid. Art stars also feature in the videos of Dan Rees, who plays with the notion of artistic collaboration in these recordings of two ping-pong tournaments between himself and prominent British artists Simon Starling and Jonathan Monk. The just audible tap of bat-ball-table and small yelps of triumph provide the perfect conceptual soundtrack to this show about the ways artists inform each other.

NB: runs till 03/02.

In parallel to the post-rock music movement in Chicago, the mid-'90s saw an emergence in Germany's Cologne and Dusseldorf regions of a post-dance strand of electronica, drawing in elements of rock, techno/dance music, but also harking back to the achievements of mid-'70s experimental German groups such as Neu!, Harmonia, Can and Kraftwerk. Riding this wave in the last decade were Dusseldorf's To Rococo Rot, alongside Mouse On Mars, Oval, Kreidler and Laub. Consisting of bassist Stefan Schneider with brothers Robert (guitar, electronics) and Ronald Lippok (drums, effects), their early albums set the template for a guitar-based minimal side-swipe at rock (and dub), but with a lavish slice of electronics. TRR created a sound that truly pulsed and throbbed, but was at the same time understated. Releasing works on various labels -- eg Mute, Staubgold -- their current home is Domino, who issued their recent mini-album, ABC123. The title relates to the 50th anniversary of the font Helvetica. Each of TRR's members is endlessly creative with on-going solo projects, notably Stefan's Mapstation, Robert's solo work and Ronald's Tarwater group. Consistantly listenable, without slipping into bland cliche, TRR's light-but-muscular music sketches are always hypnotic live.

It is unsurprising that Andrey Bartenev is from Norilsk, a depressed former Gulag town in Russia's Arctic Circle. The artist's bright and beautiful installations, collages and set-designs strike you as a natural counter to the desolate landscape he must have grown up in. His LED-sculpture and film work, currently on show at London's Riflemaker gallery, discuss contemporary anxieties about alienation in a virtual world but also call to mind that phenomenon known to dwellers of the Arctic Circle -- the Northern Lights. The Show (2007) for example, projected at the end of a darkened corridor in the old gun shop, is a hypnotic feast of swirling, silvery flecks reminiscent of the Aurora Borealis. The show is split over two floors and includes collage work, light boxes and looped films but its focus is surely Disco-nnexion, a re-formulation of Lost Connection, shown in the Russian pavilion at last year's Venice Biennale. Described as a field of "lonely hearts", Disco-nnexion is a glass tunnel, installed in the window of the gallery, filled with pulsating LED spheres continuously orbited by the word "disco-nnexion". Best viewed in the evening for maximum hallucinogenic effect, Bartenev's piece is a haunting visual metaphor for estrangement in the digital landscape.

NB: runs till 23/02.

Modernising a classic always carries a great risk of failure. However, Don Taylor's version of Euripides' Women Of Troy deals with the challenge relatively well. Katie Mitchell's production is set in a bizarre modern industrial building located somewhere in the docks of war-torn Thebes. Music and costumes add a 1930s gangster movie ambience, highlighted by repetitive waltz routines performed unexpectedly by the characters on stage as time transitions. Mitchell's interpretation of this Greek classic is very visual with great attention to detail. Sadly sometimes the focus on the style rather than the text itself belittles the significance of the characters and makes the experience a bit too domestic. The audience remains occupied and surprised by the unusual setting, impressive special effects and confident direction, but the production in general fails to consistently engage with the pain and drama of Hecuba's plight. The style of the production at times gets in the way between audience and performers, but somehow Mitchell still manages to impress with the theatricality and grandness of her production.

NB: runs till 27/02.

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.

If you want to tell us about an upcoming event please do so by sending an email to: events@kultureflash.net. We receive many emails and thus please realise that sadly we cannot reply to all of them. Every single email receives attention and we will contact you if we need anything further. Please note that KultureFlash is not a listings ezine and we do not receive any payment from venues, artists, managers or promoters.

Please send all press releases, invites, books and CDs to:

KultureFlash Ltd.
52 Cranmer Court
Whitehead's Grove
London SW3 3HW