Andrew O'Hagan anatomises modern culture and charts a changing society in Britain and America in his new collection of essays, The Atlantic Ocean: Essays On Britain And America. In it he explores the great tradition of essay writing from Hazlitt to Orwell and asks what the essay can do to make sense of contemporary society. The essay as a form has been revived since 9/11 when people started wanting longer, more carefully written non-fiction pieces than they were getting in the newspapers. The essay is valued for its discipline but also its flexibility on subjects ranging from world order to how to make the best cup of tea. And O'Hagan himself puts himself into diverse situations to try and obtain new perspectives, whether traipsing round the country, mixing with farmers or on the streets begging. His essays and reported pieces examine the cultures of Britain and America since Thatcher and Reagan, from the Bulger trial to Hurricane Katrina, from celebrity memoirs to the war in Iraq. O'Hagan recommends (as a true and loyal contributing editor for the London Review Of Books) that we should all wind down at the end of the day with a good essay. So go on and do just that (after attending this event, of course).

NB: Andrew O'Hagan is in conversation with Observer writer Gaby Wood.

Terry Eagleton is truly an iconoclast. A Marxist critic, critical theorist, playwright and former Oxford professor of literature, he is also a man of great wit and one who wears his politics on his sleeve. In the old days, Eagleton would have been a Man of Letters, albeit one of the Left who believed in supporting just causes. In his other guise as an Oxford professor, Eagleton tried to bring his intellectual weight to hold theory accountable via politics. His book, Literary Theory: An Introduction has been a set text for generations of students. His success, though, lies not in the fact that he's the natural heir to FR Leavis and Raymond Williams (his tutor at Cambridge), but rather in his genius for explaining difficult works and finding their political dimensions. For many years as Oxford's in-house Marxist and cult literary theorist, he kept his students enthralled with his intelligent humour -- prepare to be intrigued and entertained in equal measures.

NB: the lecture will take place at the Brunei Gallery lecture theatre.

Reading Room was shown as a work in progress, Fragments, at The Place in 2007. There was a sense that the sections of movement would come to form a unified whole, but there was a sparse feeling to the choreography that had nothing to do with being a work in progress. Commissioned by the Southbank Centre, the full work will be reperformed -- no doubt more polished, but hopefully retaining the fragmentary nature that made the preview so appealing. It can be difficult to find substance in the "snapshot" format, but this series of short dances should hold plenty of weight thanks to a talented cast. Jonathan Lunn's dancers are as inquisitive and intelligent as his work. Naming individual dancers is not often done outside of the ballet world, but Carly Best cannot go by unmentioned -- or unnoticed. Accompanied by text written with the late Anthony Minghella, Lunn's examination of lives, loves and lies weaves movement in and around spoken word, changing and complementing its quality; if you were to attend both showings at QEH you may see two very different performances. Having collaborated with several young dance companies throughout its evolution, during these performances the work will also feature dancers from postgraduate company EDge.

NB: the Jonathan Lunn Dance Company performs on both 05/06 and 06/06.

Mystical musical wizards Late Of The Pier have only released a small clutch of singles but there is plenty of hype surrounding them, thanks to Erol Alkan producing their forthcoming album. But there does appear to be a bit more substance to the Castle Donnington electro rockers than, say, the Cazals and they have a sense of humour which is a rare commodity in a climate of po-faced indie boy clones (check their video for "Focker"). Seminal acid housers Bugged Out! love them so much they asked LOTP to programme their own warehouse ball and the line-up demonstrates their esoteric tastes. Central to the night is a live performance from the band but they've got their favourite DJs down too: Annie Mac, Midnight Mike (who's been busy touring with Soulwax) and Zongamin (who's been on some hermit tip for years but is thankfully back with some new material). Showing they've not forgotten their roots, LOTP have also invited the allegedly giraffe-esque Spam Chop to DJ and they will also be manning the decks (of note given lead singer Sam Eastgate's solo excursions as LA Priest which have a decidedly Warp-esque leaning). Adding intrigue and excitement to the evening is a secret guest band whose identity will be revealed on the day of the event.

The generosity of Loris Greaud's practice as well as the multiplying possibilities of the Cellar Door project will this weekend be demonstrated in an unexpected pairing with Sierra Casady, one half of the musical hippy-heiresses, CocoRosie. For the third event in the Stage Of The Art series, a year-long "foreign exchange programme" with Palais de Tokyo, the ICA has invited the American-born, France-based and endlessly freewheeling Casady to perform her unique interpretation of the Cellar Door libretto. The key word will likely be "interpretation" as Casady puts CocoRosie's self-described "Chinese-pop / A'cappella / Drum & Bass" spin on Raimundas Malasauskas and Aaron Schuster's original libretto. Equal parts Samuel Beckett and Lewis Carroll, the libretto and the score, composed by Thomas Roussel, are the starting point of Greaud's ICA exhibition, Once Is Always Twice, and allow for the show to be endlessly replayed and reinterpreted. Formerly enrolled as an opera student at the Paris Conservatory, now on the tails of the release of CocoRosie's latest single, the modestly titled, "God Has A Voice, She Speaks Through Me", Casady will no doubt channel her current passion for "spiritual dance music" into her operatic repertoire, for a guaranteed taste of illusion.

NB: Cellar Door is on view at the ICA till 22/06.

Since they appeared over ten years ago with their eponymous debut album, Matmos, the then San Francisco-based project of two truly eccentric and inventive artists, Drew Daniel and Martin C Schmidt, have redefined the boundaries of their own experimental universe with each new release. Live, they bring an equally interesting take on what it is possible for electronic musicians to do on stage. Liberated from the confines of traditional instrumental practice, they integrate techniques from the world of film in the form of live concrete (Foley) sound and weave into the mix performance aspects derived from what can only be described as their own unique mixture of Dada-meets-John Cage. It's an approach that has won them many admirers along the way, one of the most prominent being Bjork, with whom they toured in 2001 and who sings on their album The Rose Has Teeth In The Mouth Of A Beast. For those keen to experience the many far-reaching possibilities proposed by modern electronic musical endeavour, this is a must.

NB: this mini festival comprises three separate concerts on 07/06, 08/06 and 09/06.

East Village in Shoreditch has had its guns blazing since opening last month to claim the crown of London's most nu-Balearic nightspot, a place where house music has been allowed to grow old with some dignity and the young people of this city can come to gawp at middle-aged disco dads in their natural environment. This Saturday, veteran party starters Mish Mash take the reins for the first time and come fully prepared with residents Oscar Fullone and the Reverend Milo Speedwagon. They are joined by indie super-producer and man capable of turning out many a silk purse, Paul "Phones" Epworth, coffee table/Balearic (depends which magazine you're reading this week) champions Zero 7 and best of all, Belgian slow-mo disco trancers Aeroplane, whose light touch has been turning up on many an in-demand remix the past few months. Expect plenty of beard-friendly disco, house and electro but also less catalogue number-counting and more dancing than at many of the more underground disco joints around. In fact it's the perfect primer for those who want to be bang on trend for the hopefully long, hot summer ahead.

NB: also of note on the same night is the Sud/Uzuri Recordings loft party with live sets from Move D and Lerosa.

It's anyone's guess what Larry Levan would make of the current crop of house revivalists, but as someone who worked alongside the dubfather, Francois K is probably one of the few experienced enough to cast an eye over the young pretenders. Kevorkian took a more tech-focused route during his career than Levan, but since setting up shop at Deep Space in New York he's downed those tools for the sort of dubby space tricks that the late great invented for kicks. Deep Space already has one beautifully crafted compilation behind it and proven credibility with the head-nodders so Fabric won't struggle to pack the place (not that that is ever usually a problem). The highlight of the night, aside from lessons in house history, is sure to be Panorama Bar resident Prosumer in room three -- a man obviously steeped in Chicago and Detroit past but bringing a very fresh live element to proceedings. His recent offering Serenity harked back to the eighties and nineties but with a crispness and minimalism that is noughties Berlin all over. Prosumer will play a DJ set and a live set with his Serenity co-conspirators Murat Tepeli and Elif. We expect even Francois K will be having a look.

NB: also of note on the same night is the Sud/Uzuri Recordings loft party with live sets from Move D and Lerosa.

As part of the ongoing Directorspective Season, the Barbican is screening a series of films by Powell and Pressburger, 20th century cinema's most successful and creative directing partnership. Bursting onto screens in 1940, the duo went on to almost completely dominate British cinema throughout the '40s, eventually creating 19 films over 18 years. Formerly a banker and a journalist, the pair -- together with the still-going-strong-today-at-93-years-old cinematographer Jack Cardiff -- collaborated on a string of iconic films, often featuring the war, including The Life And Death Of Colonel Blimp and the superb fantasy A Matter Of Life And Death. Imaginative stories, unusual structures and brilliant performances (not to mention some very fine screen moustaches) established the team, and when the war was over they continued to conjure up hits. Further Technicolour masterpieces followed, notably The Red Shoes (a consistent "favourite films of all time" title) and the absolutely incomparable Black Narcissus. Featuring breathtaking cinematography and design (both Oscar-winning) the Himalayan-set (but Pinewood filmed) story of repressed lust, jealous rage and creeping madness among the nuns at an isolated convent in the mountains is unforgettable: beautifully filmed, seductive and strangely gripping. An enduring masterpiece.

NB: runs till 13/07. Also of note this week is the release of Bruce Weber's Let's Get Lost, The Waiting Room and Gone Baby Gone, and the two-part David Lean Centenary season at the BFI (04/06 till 03/07 and 01/07 till 31/07).

For some, there's nothing more entertaining than vitriolically slating a film adaptation of a novel. Sometimes it's frickin' easy, but, when a film plays with a novel's literary metaphors and tropes and translates these into something the silver screen responds well to, it can bring about a truly brilliant creation, and no one's left complaining. No one's saying that adapting a film is easy, but it sure has a huge margin for error. When you take into account the edits, changes, casting, performances, locations, it can all go so wrong -- but so right if the right person is behind the project. As the Man Booker celebrates its 40th Birthday, the ICA have selected a handful of winning books over the years that have been made into films, and are screening them alongside talks by the screenwriters who adapted the novels. First up in the Booker At The Movies programme is AS Byatt's glorious novel Possession, directed by Neil LaBute. Tibor Fisher talks about the evolution from the book's chapter one to the film's rolling credits.

NB: later in the month on 15/06 (4pm) catch Roddy Doyle when he discusses The Van and on 29/06 (4pm) catch Christopher Hampton and Rosie Goldsmith when they discuss Atonement.

"I shop in Iceland" is written over Britney Spears' face. Clunie Reid is a very, very bad artist. And a rude one too. Over the last few years, she has been scrawling naughty, smart-ass remarks on photocopies and photographs -- sometimes even photocopies of photographs -- all held together with card and gaffer tape. Neither the images nor words really justify any merit, nor for that matter her system of attachment. Rather it's in Reid's application of word to image, or image to image, that elicits surprise, joy and poignancy. Reid is part of a long and healthy line of artists who put the media under erasure. Like Robert Rauschenberg and Barbara Kruger via Sigmar Polke, she is operating in that strange place between art and life, albeit with a healthy dose of The Sun, Heat and The Sunday Sport. Like fragments of medals or casts, made from collage on foamcore and lying haphazardly on each other, this pantheon of tabloid imagery continue Reid's intervention into the mediated chaos of our lives.

NB: runs till 09/06. This show is part of the ICA's Nought To Sixty series of exhibitions and events that celebrate the 60 years of institution's artistic activity (till 02/11).

Rory Stewart's life has been part establishment convention, part wild adventure. After Eton and Oxford he joined the Foreign Office. Along the way however, he spent some of his childhood running wild in the jungles of Malaysia and in Kosovo during the NATO campaign. But the decision that changed his life was the one to walk 6,000 miles across Asia in 2002, including the war-zone that was Afghanistan. It took the best part of two years and throughout the journey he relied on the hospitality of villagers to give him food and shelter. He wrote a book, The Places In Between, about the experience. Then, aged 29, Stewart went to Iraq and volunteered to help in the rebuilding work but ended up running one of the provinces. His second book, Occupational Hazards: My Time Governing Iraq, details his time spent there. Now he mostly lives in Kabul where he is chief executive of the Turquoise Mountain Foundation, which is working to rebuild Kabul. In this talk "Afghanistan rhetoric and reality", Stewart will speak about international intervention. This should be an intriguing lecture from someone who speaks as a friend of the people of Afghanistan rather than from the viewpoint of a diplomat's office desk.

Californian group Sparks, aka timeless brothers Ron and Russell Mael, are constantly re-inventing themselves, but always remain faithful to the quality of the off-beat sardonic songwriting and Russell's signature no-octave-barred vocals. Straddling the '70s, from their Todd Rundgren-produced out-there pop, via glam to Giorgio Moroder-produced disco, through to the 21st century with the musical looped insanity of Lil' Beethoven, where they really staked out their songs as serious art, Sparks' career has certainly been long and varied. Bjork, Morrissey, Associates, Orbital, Telex and New Order are just some of acts they have either collaborated with or who have cited Sparks as an influence. Over 21 nights they've been performing their 21 albums chronologically, a marathon repertory of 250 songs, and following on from 2006's, Hello Young Lovers played on 11th June at the Carling Academy Islington; they unveil the live version of the new album, Exotic Creatures Of The Deep -- another barrage of unique ornate vocal rock and electro -- at the Shepherds Bush Empire on 13th June.

NB: Sparks also play at the Islington Academy on 06/06, 07/06, 08/06, 10/06 and 11/06.

Look around, out the window and on the street: eventually everyone around you will go on that final great adventure... death. It's an inevitability and, according to Samuel Beckett one of life's two certainties. Yet in the West we seem to shun the idea, preferring to believe in immortality. Look at Indiana Jones, still cheating death at 60. In a secular world, it's a good thing that death at least figures in the language of philosophy. Having applied his considerable talents to subjects including nilhism and humour, it seems very much in keeping that Simon Critchley has moved the dead up to the forefront of his thinking. Given the number of disasters that have struck of late it is probably a good thing to contemplate that final journey. Unlike Buddhism where living with death is part of living, Critchley is offering up the lives of dead philosophers as a departure point for our consideration. Don't expect his death talk to be one filled with pessimism: with Tom McCarthy at his side, and a good sense of humour in tow, you can expect him offering new meaning to life. Or did the Pythons do that already?

Akram Khan has once again drawn together seemingly opposing disciplines. Three classically trained dancers from the National Ballet of China and five performers from his kathak company come together in a project examining themes of identity. Bahok is named after a Bengali word meaning "carrier", a meaning expanded by Khan to take in the idea of a person as a "carrier" of identity. Whether a personal journey or an artistic preoccupation, Khan seems perpetually drawn to narratives of belonging, of the individual among the mass. This work has been eagerly awaited -- the NBC are China's flagship classical company and there are bound to be some surprises in a collaboration that sharply departs from the dancers' usual repertoire. Classical choreographers tend to teach, rather than collaborate, so it will be interesting to see how Khan's methods have influenced the movement content. He often uses conversation with performers as a catalyst for choreography, re-drawing the stories they tell onto the collective dancing body. Likened to a modern tale of Babel, the work explores the way in which the body carries a sense of identity. Airport departure boards translate conversations about papers, passports and belongings -- papers pinpoint an individuals' country of origin, but identity lies in the stories they carry, and can extend far beyond the boundaries of one country or culture. The ever-versatile Nitin Sawhney has, once again, created an original score for Khan's work.

NB: runs from 11/06 till 14/06.

Knowledge of Xu Bing's history -- a former "sent down youth" of China's Communist Revolution who has since spent most of his working life in New York -- may help to explain his unique perspective on the East-West cultural divide. Xu unravels the linguistic complexities of international communication through traditional Chinese crafts and the new technologies at his disposal. This solo exhibition at Albion is focused upon Xu's ongoing pictographic redesign of the Roman alphabet, showing examples of his "square-word" calligraphy, an ongoing project since the early 1990s. With a little engagement, one's first assumption -- that this very low-key presentation of Chinese calligraphic texts holds limited appeal for a Western audience -- quickly evaporates as familiar words materialise top-to- bottom out of ordered rows of symbols. While the presiding theme is British poetry -- Thomas, Yeats and others -- by far the easiest to translate is a Chairman Mao quotation, taken from the father of the revolution's Little Red Book. Xu's allusions to his own political history makes this exhibition, as a reflection of our cultural preconceptions, a little easier to face up to, as does the poetic quality of these traditionally executed symbols.

NB: runs till 23/06.

Firing on all cylinders, Fiona Rae's new paintings assault the senses. A plethora of symbols collide on the canvas, inviting us to dive into the artist's day-glo parallel universe. In Our mission is to make our planet a star full of freshness, Rae creates a galaxy populated by a constellation of cartoon Bambis prancing through the heavens. Rae has developed a Gustonesque alphabet of symbols that hop from canvas to canvas, except her symbology is composed of motifs from popular culture and the subconscious such as pandas, angels, and Bambis, rather than Klan hoods, shoes and clocks. The Japanese- style titles are equally as vibrant as the paintings. Start a festival is composed of 2D hearts and stars, overlaid with strategically placed de Kooning-like explosions of paint, with calligraphic Shodo marks sweeping over the canvas. A reptilian figure snakes across the canvas of Hidden Dragon like the flying serpent in Miyazaki's Spirited Away. Two worlds collide as a colourful Murakami cartoon world meets a more painterly tradition of Pollock-like drips on the canvas. Rae has weaved a rich tapestry of East and West, popular culture and tradition, a reflection of her international upbringing and perfect representation of contemporary globalisation.

NB: runs till 28/06.

In the London-centric view of the art world, where it seems that the currency of art is based on the motto "Shock And Shock Again", it is easy to be romanced by the dizzying battery of attempts to surprise the seasoned, if bewildered, art-viewing public. The Chapman brothers are probably the most promiscuous in this sense, and have created a peculiar paradox in their work: it is both the most and the least shocking. We expect to be shocked, and so the work is always an anticlimax. Like a dog begging for table scraps, it's all in the anticipation. Their most recent exhibition If Hitler Was A Hippie How Happy Would We Be is both a forum for the launch of tribute sculpture Fucking Hell, and a further foray into the conceptual battleground of the double original. This time though, the "original" original belongs to a disgruntled and mediocre would-be art student who grew up to be one of history's most appalling villains. The conceptual ground is unnecessarily sensational, and the amendments made by Jake and Dinos are hardly painstakingly rendered enhancements, but there is particular magnetism in going to see an exhibition of Hitler's early artwork altered to look like a Ben & Jerry's advert.

NB: runs till 12/07.

There is a mournful and never-ending remembrance that hovers about the music of The Notwist, breeding a drifting melancholy from the union of voice and electronic and acoustic instrumentation. Since their earliest incarnation as a confused hardcore seedy gothic collective, born from the punk scene of Munich in the '80s, their music has developed into something now that is equally sumptuous and achingly beautiful, almost sentimental at points. Connecting the dots between Lali Puna, The Tied & Tickled Trio, Radiohead and Console, Markus Archer's drawn, sweet, sorrowful voice rides across a mix of crackling electronics, a constellation of bleeps, textures and fragile sonic memories again on this new release, while acoustic guitar, drums and bass punctuate and drive each song. Even their song titles reflect a hazy glowing melancholia: "Gloomy Planets", "Boneless", "Sleep", "Gravity" and "Gone Gone Gone". Six years since their breakthrough release, Neon Golden, the waiting room is finally empty, with this eagerly anticipated release and live dates to match. Jean Baudrillard once depicted paradise as mournful, a fitting location for this ravishing soundtrack.

To buy The Devil, You + Me online click here.

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