Alex Cox and "cult" are words that invariably seem to appear together in the same sentence. After graduating from the cult UCLA film school, Liverpudlian Cox has carved himself a film career writing cult scripts (a draft of Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas) and directing cult films (Repo Man) about cult figures (Sid And Nancy). Not to mention four years of presenting incisive and enthusiastic comment about rare films on Moviedrome, BBC2's late night cult film programme. A more accurate (although equally troublesome) term for Cox however, would be "independent". Throughout his career he has been a true indie filmmaker: independent in methods, scripts, funding, co-productions, and choice of actors and music. Highly critical of the Hollywood sausage-factory approach to making films, and with outspoken opinions, he has always fought to make his own way through the minefield that is filmmaking, offering inspiration to others to do what they believe in. To mark the publication of X Films, his autobiography, he will be talking to Guardian critic Peter Bradshaw on his career and the art of independent filmmaking.

NB: additionally, the Barbican will present a retrospective of his work in early July, including a screen talk with Cox after the 04/07 (8:30pm) screening of his latest film Searchers 2.0.

This is the age of celebrity. They are everywhere. Directly and indirectly they tell us what to say, how to eat, what to wear, how to live, where to live, even how to bring up our kids (what do they know?). Celebrities have replaced supermodels in ad campaigns. In fact, where are the supermodels? There aren't any, they are celebrities now. When it comes to designing clothes, celebrities are doing that too. And yet they reign supreme over the mere mortal designers. If asked, many designers would chop off their own arms to have Ange/Kate/Uma wear their dress down that red carpet. Can a designer make it big without the blessings of celebdom? This is the topic of discussion at the Barbican, as Hadley Freeman (Deputy Fashion Editor of The Guardian, Vogue Contributing Editor and VB's ghost writer), Bronwyn Cosgrave (author of Made For Each Other: Fashion And The Academy Awards) and Roger Tredre (founder of the daily fashion journalist newswire, WGSN), come together in what is set to be an entertaining debate.

NB: this event has been programmed in conjunction with the Barbican's Viktor & Rolf exhibition (runs till 21/09).

New Statesman journalist Ziauddin Sardar was the sole reporter a few weeks ago to remark on the historic signing of a fatwa against terrorism, at a recent conference organised by the Deobandi mullahs (renowned and highly respected scholars, who sit high up within the Muslim pecking order). Their teachings have inspired young pretenders such as Iraq's foreign jihadis, Pakistani militants and the Taliban. They are a powerful bunch and when they speak their words echo across the Muslim domain. The western media seem not to have been listening too hard as the event has largely stayed out of the papers. Just in time however, for the arrival of Ahmed Rashid, Pakistani-born journalist, scholar and the West's go-to man on all things concerning Islamic extremism. Writing for numerous western broadsheets in the UK, US as well as BBC World, he is also an extremely successful author. Taliban spiked the New York Times best-seller list, feeding American's with a more critical and nuanced perspective during the early Bush years. He predicted the importance of the Afghan region as the more enduring terror front, long before it hit our headlines, pushing for US cooperation in rebuilding the region, post-Taliban, before the Whitehouse even turned its head towards Iraq. A clever man indeed.

NB: Ahmed Rashid will be in conversation with Lyse Doucet, a BBC journalist who has reported from the site of numerous conflicts, and covered the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts.

Disco: never has a genre of music been so maligned yet proven to be so resistant. Having exploded onto America's consciousness towards the end of the '70s, its challenge to the white, straight hegemony of rock'n'roll was just too much to bear and by 1979, redneck America revolted in an orgy of homophobia and destruction at Cominskey Park. Ironically it was this mass volte face on the part of mainstream society that saved disco from itself and ensured its legacy. Returning back to the gay, black and latino clubs that birthed it, disco would have its revenge fostering house, garage and eventually splicing its DNA with rock itself in the shape of bands like LCD Soundsystem and !!!. Today, once again, it's a dominant force in clubland with cosmic, Italo and Balearic sounds all present in most of the city's best clubs. Bringing it all together under one roof is The Last Days Of Disco, a new weekly night inspired by DJs such as Daniele Baldelli, David Mancuso and modern day DJs like Harvey, and labels like Eskimo, Italians Do It Better and DFA that aim to provide a home from home for dance music's prodigal son. Kicking things off, they're hosting a launch party for the rather lovely summer soundtracking Nu Balearica album mixed by Lemon Jelly's Fred Deakin, who will be joined by Reverso 68's Pete Herbert and residents John Power and David H for a night of decadent partying at this brand new East London venue.

The seeping invasion of artists who like to drop the tempo has drawn a lot from continental Europe in recent months, with the emergence of from the fringes of disco and the force majeure that is Aeroplane Scandinavian space disco. The two-year old REKIDS imprint has already notched up a string of CV-building releases in that particular universe: Prins Thomas, Rob Mello and Matt Edwards, equally renowned as Radio Slave and most recently as half of obscurantist tastemakers Quiet Village. Berlin-based Edwards is providing support this time, as the main event is Londoner Toby Tobias, launching his debut long player, Space Shuffle. Tobias already has a burgeoning local fan base thanks to his Latenightaudio events at 54, and this time will have extra flourish from Brighton vocalist Kathy Diamond, whose vocals on Aeroplane's Whispers have already helped the duo make the crossover into mainstream Balearic and house playlists. It's a long overdue flowering of home-grown talent, and given the fervour with which the likes of Lindstrom, Terje and Fulton are still received, Tobias and co certainly won't be the last to try and take on the mantle.

This is Jacobean melodrama grabbed by the tail and swung with God-holy might -- after this high octane production prepare to leave the theatre reeling, your ears ringing and possibly feeling nauseous with all the gore and lustful grinding, grabbing and grunting. This hilariously over-egged (in the best, most tasteless way) morality play is about Vindice (Rory Kinnear), a misanthrope hell-bent on avenging the murder of his beloved Gloriana by a lascivious duke. But the lustful antics at court (rape, incest, cuckolding, adultery) and wanton greed (bribery, soliciting, pimping) seep into his spirit and he becomes so consumed by his purpose he bypasses justice and mainlines bloodthirsty revenge. So far, so Hamlet, but this is OTT d'you hear? There are rivers, not spurts, of blood! There are five murders in eight lines! There's sex on stage (some of it quasi-necrophilia, oh joy)! Subtlety? Hell, no. The staging is a whirr of pumping music, impossibly flexible dancers gyrating with promiscuous intent and multimedia projections of writhing bodies and decomposing cadavers. Sex and death are the language, the substance, the currency of this play: one begets the other in a vicious circle -- it's fabulously, morbidly compelling.

NB: runs till 07/08.

One of the more peculiar musical relationships to surface over the last 12 months is that of Stones Throw Records and Spokane native James Pants. Stones Throw, home to Peanut Butter Wolf and Madlib have built up a niche market releasing dusty hip-hop for college kids to get stoned to. James Pants, undoubtedly holder of the coolest name this year, trades in a sound that saunters casually between '80s electro boogie, disco, punk funk, rap and p-funk. Admittedly hip-hop has leaned on all these heavily for several decades now, but it is strange and wonderful to see a contemporary artist dabble in these genres in their original format. According to press release hype, label boss Peanut Butter Wolf was first introduced to a young Pants six years ago while DJing at a Texs rave. This meeting then lead to a internship at the label and now the release of his debut album, Welcome, which came out last month -- Busy P has proclaimed him the next big thing. With such words of praise attached to his name, now would be a good time to catch him -- what luck, then, that he plays several London dates as part of a European Trouser Tour.

NB: you can also catch James Pants at the Amersheram Arms on 05/07, the Lock Tavern on 06/07 and at The Macbeth on 10/07.

The second London Literature Festival brings together a vibrant array of stories, readings, performances and debates that celebrate the cultural dynamism of the city. The festival sets reading in its local context, with an architectural discussion that celebrates the 40th anniversary of The Hayward, a talk about nature writing to coincide with the latest issue of Granta and a debate about the "best of" the Booker Prize. It also delves into queer literature and sexy graphic novels, as well as embracing world literature in the shape of new African writing and stories from the multicultural city of Toronto. Here are some of the highlights:

05/07 (3:30pm) @ Purcell Room
Richard Sennett joins Turner-prize winning sculptor Grayson Perry, tenor Ian Bostridge and writer Marina Warner to talk about the subject of his latest book, the value and importance of craftsmanship in the digital age.

06/07 (3pm) @ St Paul's Pavilion
Rising literary star Andrew Sean Greer flies in from the US to read from his new novel, The Story Of A Marriage, set in the '50s, with Colm Toibin, the critically acclaimed Irish-American author who wrote Blackwater Lightship.

09/07 (7pm) @ Queen Elizabeth Hall
On the 40th anniversary of The Hayward, the focus of a group of artists and architects turns to museum design, and how the modernist concept of building as machine relates to the idea of the gallery as a sculpture, as seen in Psycho Buildings. They include Zaha Hadid, Anish Kapoor, Antony Gormley and Dennis Compton, one of the gallery's original architects.

12/07 (7:45pm) @ Purcell Room
Alan Moore, a seminal figure of the graphic novel genre joins his wife and collaborator Melinda Gebbie to talk about their project, Lost Girls, in which they combine soft focus drawing and explicit sexual content.

16/07 (7:45pm) @ Queen Elizabeth Hall
Mark E Smith shares stories about his life as front man of The Fall with his biographer Austin Collings. This promises to bring up fresh insights into the life of the legendary rock band. "Reams of stuff have been written about me in the past, but never in my own words," says Smith. That is, until now.

17/07 (7:45pm) @ Queen Elizabeth Hall
Poet, novelist and playwright Simon Armitage shares his rockstar fantasies and musical inspirations with Lavinia Greenlaw, who has written The Importance Of Music For Girls about her favorite coming-of-age music.

NB: the London Literature Festival runs from 05/07 till 19/07.

When robotics artist Fiddian Warman first picked up a guitar with dreams of mimicking his classic punk idols, he most likely pictured the audience at his debut gig as hard rocking, highly appreciative, and human -- not a mechanical mosh-pit of neurally networked pogo-bots. But that's what he faces this week at the ICA when his band (Neurotic And The Punk Voice Choir) take the stage to be judged by a team of discerning mini-moto-me's weaned on a diet of The Clash, Stiff Little Fingers, Siouxsie And The Banshees and the Sex Pistols. Fiddian and his team, comprising punk guitarist Andrew Tweedie (also in the band), software guru Jons Jones Morris, computational biologist Professor Peter McOwan and neurologist Dr Barry Gibb, have "taught" the neural network the true nature of classic punk and the 2 metre high (padded) C-3POs will pogo harder and higher the more they like the music. For three nights PVC and guest bands Fumadores, Gertrude, Scrotum Clamp, The Red Eyes, Viva Las Vegas will work up a sweat as the iron-giants bounce and bash with the human audience and judge whether their punk is Punk enough. Loud guitars and a robot Simon Cowell you can punch? If only this could be every night...

NB: runs on 03/07, 04/07 and 05/07.

Despite his recent, painfully anticipated Syclops album on DFA mainly consisting of previously released material, there's still no denying Maurice Fulton is a class act with an unerring knack for producing sublimely twisted electronic dance music. Responsible for a slew of unforgettable productions and remixes for labels such as Output, Warp and Tirk, he's no mean slouch behind the decks either, all of which makes him an outstanding choice of headline act for this week's LOOSE party at the equally eccentric and enjoyable Alhambra warehouse/souk. The rest of the line-up is none too shabby either with the Loose residents Paul Crognale & Cred ably assisted by The Cosmic Truth. They are joined by another up-and-coming London producer in the form of Phoreski, who happily fits into the one-to-keep-a-close-eye-on catergory this year, having already drawn gasps of admiration from all the right sorts with several spacy disco (not disco) productions, perfect for dimly lit dancefloors.

Are you working all summer and find yourself a bit depressed? No possibility of touring the museums and galleries of the world to sniff out the best in contemporary art? No need to feel too low, because if you can't go to the cutting edge art, it can now come to you. This is at least the case with H Box, two space age screening pods bringing you the best in new video art, that can now be found at Tate Modern after having travelled to France, the United States, Spain and Luxembourg. Produced by Hermes, the legendary French fashion house, the aluminium and perspex modules are, of course, much more chic than your usual portacabins and the curating is no less stylish. Indeed, since H Box started touring the world, four new artists have joined the programme as four others gave up their place to keep things fresh. This time around, you'll get to see videos by Alice Anderson, Yael Bartana, Sebastian Diaz-Morales, Dora Garcia, Judit Kurtag, Valerie Mrejen, Shahryar Nashat, and Su-Mei Tse. If you enjoy the experience, you might want to hide in one of the pods as it travels to the Yokohama Triennale in Japan after London.

NB: runs tills 17/08. Also of note at Tate Modern is the excellent Cy Twombly exhibition (runs till 14/09).

Our oceans and waters are filled with sound, amongst many other unmentionable things too. Apparently at frequencies greater than 100,000 Hz, the noise generated by the random motion of water molecules, called thermal noise, dominates, and sets a limit to the minimum sound levels that can be measured for the human ear. Active since 1978, Steven Stapleton, aka Nurse With Wound, is a man for whom facts like this can inspire and invigorate. His often playfully witty recordings have run a veritable marathon of styles, from industrial noise, surreal nursery rhymes, krautrock to sonically rattling improvisations. Finishing a UK tour with this very unique concert, it's probably best appreciated beneath the surface, with the sounds dispersed through the water. With his diving colleague Andrew Liles in place, you can choose to get wet, wet, wet in your finest Primark bathing suit or else hover on the perimeter, and goodness knows what worlds of sound will collide between the air and the water.

NB: Wet Sounds runs in London on both 06/07 and 19/07 (tickets for the second date are limited so buy 'em quick).

There is something honest about professional wrestling. The athletics may not be honest (at least not in an olympian sense), nor the wrestlers themselves, nor the ersatz politics that drive them into the ring to face each other. The honesty in pro wrestling resides instead in its satisfaction of a basic and important social function that liberates and entertains us: the spectacle for spectacle's sake. And no one does wrestling quite as spectacularly as the Mexicans. Combining feats of ludicrous, high-flying acrobatics with the profound melodrama associated with its performance, and adding an element of fantastical heroism/villainy that one associates with masked men, the luchadores immerse their audience in a wholly engulfing experience, and it doesn't stop in the luchodome. With their dizzying feast of colours, flavours and sounds, the luchadores are bringing a little bubble of frenetic chaos and irresistible fandom to our capital. All the big names are coming out, including El Hijo del Santo (son of the late, great folk hero and luchadore extraordinaire, Santo, el Enmascarado de Plata), bringing London its first proper taste of the fanatical and lawless play that is Lucha Libre. It's a little spenny, but go on -- treat yourself. It'll be a night out you won't forget.

NB: the luchadores perform at the Roundhouse on 04/07, 05/07 and 06/07.

The themes and aesthetics in the work of Moscow-based collective AES+F, fit curiously well with the Palladian style building of RS&A Ltd, who are hosting their first London exhibition. A diorama of life-size figures, painted in high gloss with white car body paint, stand frozen in combat; they are reminiscent of polished marble Renaissance sculptures. A Wagner score, taken from the video Last Riot, 2005-2007 (a version of which was shown in the Russian Pavilion in the Venice Biennale last year and which is on display on a small screen in the gallery), provides a backdrop for the tableaux. The animated film depicts a dystopian-utopia atop a mountain where a group of beautiful youths are engaged in warfare simultaneously with themselves and each other; Hitler's famous slogan, "the youth of today is ever the people of tomorrow" springs to mind. The protagonist's movements are slow and seemingly choreographed; this is a battle dance where no blood is shed. With references to art history, popular culture and global warfare, AES+F throw our perceptions off kilter, never quite providing us with an answer to their intended direction.

NB: runs till 18/07.

The experience of not fitting in is formative and unavoidable, yet it always comes as a shock. The only thing that softens the blow is the realization that you're not alone. The Visitor creates a such a fortuitous meeting between two very different experiences of alienation: that of Walter (Richard Jenkins), a widower going numbly through the days as a professor of economics, and that of Tarek and Zainab, illegal immigrants trying to find their feet in New York. The unlikely meeting of these individuals happens when Walter comes to his New York flat for a conference only to find that the young couple has settled in after being conned into illegally renting it. An awkward cohabitation ensues and a friendship develops between the two men who are soon to be confronted by the harsh realities of the immigration system. This second film by Tom McCarthy, who also directed The Station Agent, released in 2003, is a touching and at times humorous exploration of issues that could come across as moralistic in less sensitive hands. Instead of focusing on the dehumanizing aspects of a flawed system, the emphasis is on the human bonds that can form unexpectedly, breathing new enthusiasm and passion into aimless lives.

NB: The Visitor is released in London on 04/07. Also of note this week is the release of Guy Maddin's My Winnipeg.

Walter Merziger and Arno Kammermeir seemed to be making a conscious effort to relieve themselves of the shackles of their house anthems "Body Language" and "Mandarine Girl" in their recent The Sun And The Neon Light, the pair's third studio album. Coming off the back of a DJ Kicks album that had more than a hint of soundtrack about it -- not least borrowing from John Carpenter -- Booka Shade opted for soundscapes rather than hooks. In the process one suspects they will shed some of the overexcited oaf contingent and draw in a good deal more chin-strokers. But it's perhaps a bit tricky to see that crossover happening seamlessly in a conventional live venue. So rather fortunate it is, then, that they're providing the score to a little-known Italian short, L'Inferno, being screened for the first time here. The film predates the more famous take Francesco Bertolini on Dante, which claimed to be the first ever full-length Italian picture. Don't expect a complete departure from the beloved bleeps though: the Noise Of Art series has previously roped in Francois K and Les Hommes Du Train, and we're told Booka Shade will also play a live set based on their latest album after the film. Chin strokers and oafs unite.

NB: not many tickets remain so act fast. This event is part of the larger Noise Of Art Summer London festival that runs at various venues across town from 11/07 till 19/07.

Hanging in the office space at Stephen Friedman Gallery is a piece of paper splattered with blue paint depicting the barely readable words, "everything so alive, lively living". Through reading the floor-plan we become aware that the piece was made by mixing paint with saliva. Things are not quite as they first appear in the work of Jim Hodges, and his processes of getting from A to B are as important as the final product. For example, in End Of Time, Hodges takes four-colour DPM camouflage material and cuts out each of the individual colours. In collaboration with a tailor, the individual colour pieces are then stitched together to create four mono-coloured textile works, the dimensions of which are determined by the shape of the combat fabric. Through this process the original function and normal associations with the fabric are lost, and instead it takes on qualities of fragility and vulnerability. Hodges tackles quite large issues in his work (not least life, death and nature) and yet avoids the pit-fall of heavy handedness -- his astute use of materials keeps the work fresh and exciting.

NB: runs till 19/07.

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.

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