As an accomplished painter and celebrated poet, Isaac Rosenberg managed to bridge the gap between the Whitechapel Group of writers and a clique of early 20th Century Slade School artists such as Stanley Spencer, Dora Carrington and David Bomberg. A discussion at the Whitechapel gallery marking the 90th anniversary of Rosenberg's death will pay long overdue homage to a writer described by TS Eliot as the "most remarkable" scribe of WWI. His poems from the trenches were critical observations of The Great War, and this literary contribution in his capacity of war poet gained him great acclaim -- his Break Of Day In The Trenches was named "the greatest poem of the war" in Paul Fussell's study of WWI literature. Although Rosenberg criticised the war in writing, the practicalities of having to support his mother financially forced him to enlist in the army, which was to cut short his life at the tragically young age of 27. This talk should present an opportunity to revaluate Rosenberg's outstanding yet short-lived contribution to art and letters.

NB: for poetry fans make sure you catch John Kinsella when he makes a rare visit to the UK for a reading/talk at the Southbank Centre on 09/04 (7:45pm).

For a long time, the Belgian collective, Les Ballets C de la B has been an inspiration not only in dance but also in theatre -- exploring the play of embodiment, for instance, with dance to listen to and sound to watch. Founded 20 years ago, the company is often identified with its founder-choreographer, Alain Platel. This week, however, is your opportunity to see a new work by another company member, the Argentine dancer and choreographer, Lisi Estaras. With songs based on South American folk rhythms by Tcha Limberger (who also collaborated on the fantastic vsprs, seen two years ago at Sadlers Wells), Patchagonia promises to evoke that mythical ground at the ends of the earth known largely from our imaginations. Here the body's memories, no longer weighed by habit, prove rooted in a resilience that might yet transform the seeming desolation. For those unable to travel so far, though, there is at least the possibility of a visit to the Purcell Room this Thursday and Friday.

NB: Patchagonia is performed at the Southbank Centre on both 03/04 and 04/04 (not many tickets remain so get yours fast). Also of note, dance-wise, are NDT1 (02/04 till 05/04) and Wayne McGregor | Random Dance (10/04 till 12/04) both at Sadler's Wells and Sylvie Guillem + Russell Maliphant at the Coliseum (04/04 till 08/04).

Jazz has taken a bit of a knocking (courtesy of shows like The Mighty Boosh) over the last couple of years and to be fair, it's probably quite reasonable given that its heirs seem hell bent on straightening it out into a wholesome commercial vehicle devoid of almost all its endearing traits. Nevertheless, while a vast number of musicians are running the other way, there are some who are steadfastly holding their ground with a Howard Moon-like conviction that superficially defies belief. Truth be told, the origins of jazz are filled with errant characters and in almost every great jazz figure there resides some kind of obstinate eccentric, from Thelonius Monk to Han Bennink. Luckily for us you don't get much more idiosyncratic than the musicians gracing the bill for this evening, from Tom Arthurs' quirky English politesse and Jasper Hoiby and Stu Richie's sudoku rhythm section to musicians whose names are so far flung they apparently don't even exist. All this -- and just when you thought your local had been safely straightened out by gentrification and drum machines.

Despite only throwing five parties in the last 18 months, the Plex crew have built up impressive momentum in a city whose clubbers are notoriously hard to please. Undoubtedly, the four pillars of rave -- techno, electro, acid and bass -- play a part in bolstering this success, but behind the night lies a savvy booking policy that brings together cutting-edge international guests with rock-solid homegrown talent. Their next party may well feature their strongest line-up to date. The name DJ Pete could well be overlooked for its austerity, but keen techno fans will recognise his credentials as a key player in Berlin's untouchable Basic Channel syndicate (as Substance and one half of Scion), whose impeccable DJ sets are a rare treat in the UK. Neil Landstrumm's also somewhat of a celebrated figure in the scene, and will be performing live. Indeed, across two rooms at Elephant and Castle's den of boom, Corsica Studios, there's more excellent electronic music than you should sensibly shake a stick at; including 65D Mavericks (live), Kronos Device (live), Jerome Hill, Bass Cleff (live), Datassette (live), Rebel Intelligence DJs and the Plex residents themselves. Should be quite good, really.

Striving forth in their quest to bring the highest quality deep house to London, Sud Electronic has secured the services of Michigan's Rick Wade for their next party. Despite being an extremely well-respected producer, this marks his London debut, and there's an appropriate buzz about the occasion. Wade's distinctive, disco-influenced production style has been honed over the last 15 years, and his selection is sure to be a classy one. Joining him on the bill is Ksoul, from Torino; another purveyor of deepness, he's part of a growing clique of fresh European producers who've taken the traditional US template and added their own twist. Portable/Bodycode's involvement with the Sud Electronic label might grant him semi-resident status at the parties, but he's well capable of stealing the show, and Tristan Watkins aka Phonopsia plays lovely, varied house and techno that will complement this bill perfectly. As ever with Sud, considerable thought has been put into the small details, so the venue's an intimate 200 capacity space and the vibe will be relaxed. As such, you'll have to be swift to secure your attendance!

Historically -- in the natural order of things -- books inspired operas (as Dumas' La dame aux camellias became Verdi's La traviata). With the arrival of cinema, the next step was for operas to inspire films (as Puccini's La boheme -- itself based on a book -- became Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge). Progressing then to a logical evolution, a film has now inspired an opera. But instead of a weepy tale of doomed love and class difference, however, David Lynch's surreal 1997 psychological thriller Lost Highway has provided the template. Retaining the literature/opera (and film) dichotomy with a libretto by Nobel literature winner Elfriede Jelinek (whose novel The Piano Teacher is best known here in its film adaptation), the opera is composed by Austria's Olga Neuwirth. As in the film, the production's labyrinthine story of psychogenic fugue and parallel identities follows the descent into madness of jazz musician Fred Madison. Staged at the Young Vic, the ENO's latest co-production features Neuwirth's avant-garde looping soundscapes mirroring the dislocation of time and place that Madison experiences, and a combination of video, live and sampled sound, and roles ranging from soprano and counter-tenor to baritone.

NB: runs for six nights (04/04, 05/04, 07/04, 08/04, 10/04 and 11/04).

John Moran And His Neighbour Saori is not just the title of their show, it is also as good a way as any to describe it: a portrait of two people's lives. The two of them occupy the stage in what looks on first appearance like a ramshackle stand-up act minus the comedy. This quality of roughness and intimacy is not so much lost as layered, as the show proves to be intricately constructed and has a formal and technical complexity that is both playful and disconcerting. The show revolves around the act of performing the show itself and around the daily lives and the meeting of Brooklynites Moran and Saori. It is probably closest to performance and avant-garde theatre in form but it is put together with a composer's attention to musical form and a choreographic attention to everyday movement. This is a rare UK appearance so catch them while they are here. John Moran And His Neighbour Saori is smart, honest, has attitude and emotional depth.

NB: runs from 04/04 till 05/04, 07/04 till 12/04 and 14/04 till 19/04.

Michael Haneke's recent release of the shot-for-shot remake of his ultra-violent 1997 German language film Funny Games, has sparked the usual rabble of disgruntled banter among critics -- an obligatory observation following the unexpected success of Cache a couple of years back. Too arty for mainstream cinema, and too unsentimental for arthouse, Haneke's films can be a hard sell. His hallmark cynicism extends beyond the treatment of his subjects, and into the very medium of cinema. His films are exercises, like a crossword or Sudoku, but with disturbing results that remain with you long after you have left the cinema. They are critical implements that refuse to flatter the audience. In spite of popular criticism of his work, it seems that what motivates Haneke is not so much a condemnation of violence as an interrogatory look into the reasons why we watch it.

What's interesting about the new Funny Games is that it's not a remake, but a replica. He didn't Americanise the film, just exchanged the language and the line-up. The situation and the result are the same. Michael Pitt and Brady Corbet play all-too-convincing sociopaths, and the serial staging of ever-more explicit scenarios in which the audience is not only acknowledged, but implicated, emanates clinical logic: without spectators, there is no spectacle. So what do we -- the watchers -- do with this information? The answer is simple. We watch. So if a gluttony of violence is really what you're after, leave your liberal sensibilities at home, and enjoy.

NB: Funny Games is released in London on 04/04. Also of note is the release of My Brother Is An Only Child, Hammer And Tongs' Son Of Rambow and, in conjunction with Park Chan-wook's I'm A Cyborg, catch his Vengeance Trilogy at the ICA (04 till 12/04).

In Daniele Luchetti's film -- official selection for the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes 2007 -- we follow the Benassi family during politically tumultuous '70s Italy (anni di piombo or years of lead), when the country was in the grip of both philosophical and all too physical battles between the Fascists and Communists. Living with his family in the Fascist-created town of Latina, Accio (Elio Germano), the troubled and troublesome youngest child follows his own impetuous beliefs out of a seminary and into the local Fascist party -- deepening a rift with the family in general and his Communist-leaning, highly charismatic firebrand brother, Manrico (Riccardo Scamarcio) in particular -- a rift not helped when he falls for one of his brother's girlfriends, Francesca (Diane Fleri). The story, adapted from Antonio Pennacchi's Il fasciocomunista, follows Accio as he repeatedly fails to fit in, finding neither purpose nor respect, while in the background Manrico is getting serious. This is an involving and interesting look at taking political beliefs very seriously and in some cases too far.

NB: My Brother Is An Only Child is released in London on 04/04. Also of note is the release of Michael Haneke's Funny Games, Hammer And Tongs' Son Of Rambow and, in conjunction with Park Chan-wook's I'm A Cyborg, catch his Vengeance Trilogy at the ICA (04 till 12/04).

Given that we now live in such a closely-monitored society, the notion of war reporting seems quaint. Like the war artist, the idea of a witness seeing on behalf of the people seems to come from another era. Yet in our hyper-mediated lives, bearing true witness seems all the more important. Robert Fisk, an English and Classics scholar with a PhD in Political Science, is one of the few western journalists to have interviewed Osama Bin Laden. It is his literary knowledge coupled with his understanding of Middle Eastern politics and history that has given Fisk's reporting its distinctive voice. Christina Lamb, currently the foreign correspondent for The Sunday Times, meanwhile refers to the process of arriving on foreign soil as "going inside". To paraphrase her on the subject of her experiences, "once in, living in caves on stale bread and trying to avoid landmines and bombs, you desperately wanted to be out." With their stories of "going in", the evening promises to be full of exciting and is moderated by novelist Ronan Bennett to boot.

NB: look out for the official war artist Steve McQueen who will be exhibiting his Queen And Country at the Southbank Centre shortly.

There are two ways to interpret The Teenagers. The first is they are a vapid novelty resembling blink-182 on E, a band formed as a joke and thrust forth into the hype machine as a bit of rough for gushing bloggers and new rave horse. But the fact is, their signing to Merok -- home to the Klaxons -- was a bold stroke, taking on a French trio hellbent on subverting the US high school teen movie genre with lyrics stretched to the point of gratuity, and lush danceable rhythms that belie a deeper creativity. The verdict? That probably depends on how much you're willing to suspend your disbelief in order to indulge their visceral, synth-driven youngsterism. If you're not driven to despair instantly the odds are that they'll win you over with their humour, energy and obvious gift for melody -- all of which is delivered with an engagingly Gallic shrug.

Perhaps the narrative turn in architecture -- in which both architects and critics, clients and the public are all producers of meaning in buildings where the architect didn't supply it -- is the reason for this interest in the intersection of film and architecture. It sounds as if the emphasis of this lecture may be on their technical toolbox -- computer generated imagery -- as much as on their significance in the mythic portrayal of modern life. Film and stage designer Alan Macdonald has designed his share of Hollywood movies, including The Queen as well as the James Joyce film Nora, the sets for Rafael Bonachela / Rambert Dance Company and even a couple of Kylie Minogue videos. Architect Nigel Coates' work is high in colour and has a distinctive graphic and filmic sensibility, and he is the current head of architecture at the RCA. This talk may be a timely moment to question both of them on the nature of built versus represented reality, and the gradual process of branded experience design that is a marked trend in some forms of commercial architecture, as well as to enjoy what will no doubt be some impressive visuals.

NB: to attend you must call 0207.590.4281 or email architecture@rca.ac.uk.

It's perhaps somewhat ironic that just as the mercurial tones of Portishead are re-surfacing, one of their original sound sources, Lalo Schifrin (sampled on 1994's "Sour Times") should also be coming to town to give a concert. In the mush of current television and movie soundtracks that often seem like lowest common denominator exercises, the ingenuity and flair offered by Schifrin and his contemporaries (including Ennio Morricone and Bernard Hermann) is unforgettable, spawning a thousand imitators and inspiring a myriad of contemporary musicians. Indeed, it would seem that many of the recent revivals of '70s TV series as movie franchises are based almost entirely on their distinctive theme tunes. This concert sees Schifrin return to themes that have occupied him throughout his career, the music of his native South America, '50s jazz and its re-imagining in an orchestra setting interpreted through the great French modernist composers he so admired.

Wayne McGregor was the name behind the fascinating Random Dance Company that brought us AtaXia and Nemesis among others but after over two years spent making work for other dance companies and the Royal Ballet, his name is now at the forefront of the outfit and features as a brand in his newly re-titled company Wayne McGregor | Random Dance. For Entity, McGregor returns to his ten dancers and has commissioned music by two of the most exciting new talents on each side of the Atlantic: composers Nico Muhly (Philip Glass and Bjork collaborator) and Jon Hopkins. Both pieces are performed live, Mulhy's by the Navarra String Quartet, while Hopkins' electronica will be presented against a multi-screen installation by Patrick Burnier showing videos by long time collaborator Ravi Deepres. McGregor's work has taken his company into territories as yet unexplored by dance, such as, for example, the field of cognitive science. The results are always unexpected and highly exciting for the audience. At break-neck speed, he takes the dancers' bodies to the limits of human capacity and creates a world beyond performance, a world where the show is bigger than the stage.

NB: runs till 12/04. On 12/04 (7:30pm) Artprojx presents various short films by Ravi Deepres and Wayne McGregor. Also of note, dance-wise, are NDT1 also at Sadler's Wells (02/04 till 05/04), Les Balets C de la B at the Southbank Centre (03/04 and 04/04) and Sylvie Guillem + Russell Maliphant at the Coliseum (04/04 till 08/04).

The controversy raging about Salman Rushdie's early career was a flag waved enthusiastically by the liberal multiculturalist of the early '90s. Rushdie's celebrity was manifest in flyer-based wall plasterings in literary cafes informing the suddenly curious world about the scandal that surrounded The Satanic Verses and the fatwa calling for his blood, or in the peripheral flash of a T-shirt on a bike messenger that read "I am Salman Rushdie". For those familiar with his fiction, the vigorous backlash seemed mismatched with the incredibly rich and imaginative tapestry of allegorical narrative style and fantastical characterisation in his work, that created a shield around the germane issues therein by disguising them as cautionary tales instead of calls for revolution. A precursor to the complexities of current discourse surrounding Muslim social mores and their incompatibilities with some of those in the West, Rushdie's early work foretold of the frictions with which we are now only too familiar. Although less overtly controversial today, Rushdie has remained a prominent voice in the discussion surrounding issues of ethnicity, religion and human rights and the obvious conflicts that lie between them. He will be speaking with prolific social critic Lisa Appignanesi about the imagination and the role of women in his most recent work.

NB: for poetry fans make sure you catch John Kinsella when he makes a rare visit to the UK for a reading/talk at the Southbank Centre on 09/04 (7:45pm).

Straight up, David Levy believes that within 50 years humans and robots will be getting it on; love, sex, marriage, the whole shebang. This is no hillbilly opinion; Levy is a distinguished academic, author of Love + Sex With Robots and his arguments on the evolution of human-robot relationships are wholly convincing. Ironkind has come a long way already: from their factory machine roots, robots are now cleaning homes, keeping the kids and pets amused. They're becoming increasingly human, so sex inevitably enters the equation (stand up if you perved over Lara Croft's DDs, yeah right you wanted to raid tombs). Super-realistic sex dolls are flying off shelves worldwide -- throw in some mechanics et voila! There's the sex part taken care of. But love? Marriage? Well, if your bespoke beloved has been pre-programmed to meet your heart's desires, then yes, Levy may well convince you.

Former Whitney and SFMOMA director David A Ross has recently been appointed head of the new Albion operation in SoHo, New York. And this, Ross' current curatorial project at Albion London, and unbelievably the first UK exhibition of seminal NYC video artist Peter Campus, quietly emphasises the gallery's coup in securing his services. After experiencing several of Campus' 1970s closed-circuit camera installations one is left questioning how his role as a pioneer of the media, alongside contemporaries Nam June Paik and Bruce Nauman, could have possibly been overlooked, for this critical framing of the viewer as spectacle remains utterly relevant despite the now ubiquitous nature of such technology in our lives. Witnessing multiple real-time transmissions of oneself repeated or rotated in the performative spaces Campus creates may give rise to all manner of uncomfortable subjective responses but, conversely, appears to suggest how little control the artist has over an artwork. Campus' new static-camera video landscapes of Ponquogue, Long Island may differ radically in terms of style from the early career pieces shown here but his postcard cropping of the moving image similarly reveals as much about the historical modes and technological means through which we "see" as the locations described.

NB: runs till 26/04. Make sure you catch Peter Campus, David A Ross and Douglas Gordon in conversation at Tate Modern on 17/04 (6:30pm).

In the spirit of the French exchange, where surly hoodies are packed off on a miserable week of being barked at incomprehensibly while Gallic teenage Lotharios test the theory that British girls are easy, Stage Of The Art sees our own ICA team up with the Palais De Tokyo for a year of cultural swaps. So far we've already had a visit from Sebastien Tellier, while the French were saddled with ex-Libertine Carl Barat, and next up we get an all-too-rare visit from Canadian exile Gonzales who, since retiring his comedy electro rap schtick, has reinvented himself as a virtuoso piano player. His last album Solo Piano was a stunning collection of beautiful, elegant piano pieces and the accompanying show at the QEH a masterclass in live entertainment. This April sees the release of his latest opus Soft Power, a brilliant set of polished, intelligent pop and already a contender for album of the year. Joining him on stage will be his regular sparring partners Mocky, Katie Moore and Matthew Flowers, so you can expect a stage show that should, on the basis of recent form, have the audience in tears of laughter one minute and open-mouthed in admiration the next.

NB: support from French band Poni Hoax.

The dictum stating that modernist abstraction is over is commonplace in art criticism and Clay Ketter has been taking a highly individual angle on that thinking since first exhibiting in the early '90s. More familiar to UK audiences for his plasterboard and kitchen cabinet "abstractions", that take the norms of Swedish domestic building proportions as a basis for their grids, Ketter has travelled from Sweden back to his native USA in order to photograph the concrete foundations of houses which are all that is left in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. These large-scale photographs have an uncanny similarity to Ketter's previous work, but remind us of the powerful relationship between abstract formalism and that residue of human life, post-disaster, that essayist Dan Johsson (in the handsome accompanying catalogue) likens to the ruins of Pompeii. In an early project Ketter documented the rental of an apartment belonging to a recently deceased woman in a poor district of Malmo. In returning to those ideas Ketter manages to link architecture (itself a high-modernist paradigm), the domestic and the baggage of modernist painting in ways that take us somewhere unfamiliar, far away from any mawkish or shocking view of human misfortune, and towards a sift through the aftermath for remainders of hope and idealism.

NB: runs till 18/05.

This theatrical bio of Harold Macmillan could have gone several ways. With caustic satirist Howard Brenton holding the pen it might have been a painful skeletonisation; in many another playwight's hands, the unlikely PM would have made the perfect candidate for a bore-opic. Happily it is neither. The skip through his bookish years at Eton, fighting in the trenches, advantageous marriage, doggish loyalty to Churchill, role in WWII and questionable involvement in the Suez Crisis is brilliantly involving -- punctuated with big characters (an overbearing mother, buoyant Churchill and a neurotic Anthony Eden), dramatic climaxes (being shot at in the Somme, the announcement of WWII) and joyous dance scenes (an Edwardian Waltz, interwar Lindy Hop and post-war jiving). Macmillan may never quite seem to have the balls to pull off being PM, but when he takes the reins, it feels completely natural -- until Profumo cocks it all up (literally). The young Macmillan (dressed in WWI uniform, emphasising his survivor's guilt) and the retired PM (Jeremy Irons on top form) are both always on stage, ironically commenting on the actions of the other as they step into the spotlight. It's an incisive, illuminating and affecting device that creates a dynamic tension pivoting on a self-analytical conceit, and makes for a completely fascinating interpretation of the life of this too-often overlooked British leader.

NB: runs till 24/05.

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