It begins as a form of surreal humour in a punchline that could bewilder -- when is a dress not a dress? Answer -- when it's a table. In the imagination and hands of visionary designer Hussein Chalayan however this became a reality in 2000 for his After Words Collection, when the model stepped into the midst of a circular table, pulled up the tiered wooden skirt, coiled it about her and walked away. Innovation, evolution and refusing to remain static remain key to Chalayan, an artist who over the last 15 years has been drawn to ideas that refute the standards of fashion design. With the thrill of an enchanting illusion he has developed shape-shifting dresses altered by remote control, outfits enveloped in 15,600 glimmering LED lights and patterns and cuts inspired by the dreams of blind people. Cultural displacement, genetics, architecture and philosophy combine to animate style beyond recognized parameters. For Chalayan the fabric of life is an imaginary concept, within, on and beyond the body, in designs that expand in reality and in the imagination.

NB: runs till 17/05.

A Europhile and one of the US underground's few genuine intellectuals (French newspaper Liberation once dubbed him "le plus Francais des Americains") David Grubbs is an enduring bastion of American avant-rock. A sometime stalwart of Squirrel Bait, Bastro, Gastr del Sol, Red Krayola et al, he's also produced ten solo albums that run the gamut from piano etudes and cerebral folk song, to installation pieces and dissonant noise experiments. He also helms the almost chronically esoteric art music imprint, Blue Chopsticks. When not making or releasing music he's busy working as a professor in the Department of Television and Radio at Brooklyn College, New York. It's obviously a reading week, as he's coming to the Luminaire -- abetted by a minimal combo -- to promote An Optimist Notes The Dust (Drag City). It's his first album in four years and a typically opaque crucible of slithering guitar and oblique lyrics which, like much of Grubbs's fare, rewards protracted listening. Always an agreeably urbane presence on a British stage, expect a meandering trawl through the extensive, eclectic Grubbs' back catalogue. Support comes from contrastingly English, harp-plucking, post-punk inspired chanteuse Serafina Steer -- imagine Joanna Newsom crossed with Joyce Grenfell singing the Young Marble Giants' back catalogue. The thinking persons' rock gig it is, then.

Sean Penn utterly subsumes himself in the role of US gay rights campaigner Harvey Milk, with high impact results that put this biopic assuredly on the Oscar trail. The film concerns itself with the period in Milk's life after he, at the age of 40 in the early '70s, ups sticks and moves with his gay lover (a seriously drool-inducing James Franco) to San Francisco, one of the only places in the US where there's a whiff of tolerance (as oppose to zero) of the gay community. But for Milk, this vague acceptance isn't enough, and before long he creates a safe homosexual haven cum creative and political hotbed in the camera shop he opens, a spirit that is eventually embraced by the entire street, and then the neighbourhood. The film goes on to explore his trailblazing determination to become an openly gay US political voice who speaks out at a national level about injustice and prejudice against minorities, in the face of frightening, and seemingly insurmountable, opposition. Milk's story has a natural drama that's compounded by fantastic performances, and driven by a compelling mix of personal and political emotion, tightly woven and artfully constructed. Incredibly powerful.

NB: Milk is released in London on 23/01. Also of note is the release of Frost/Nixon, the BFI Q&A screening of Three Monkeys with Nuri Bilge Ceylan (04/02) and the Renoir and ICA Q&A screenings of Better Things with Duane Hopkins (23/01 and 24/01).

Sadler's Wells starts the year on an excellent note with two pieces by Xavier Le Roy, a fascinating dancer and choreographer whose work, while hugely varied, can be seen in the same light as that of other minimalists, including Jerome Bel, Jonathan Burrows, and (also appearing soon at Sadler's) Ivana Muller. When he quietly walked off stage after last week's seminal Self Unfinished (created 10 years ago), he left a room full of distorted, confused perspectives, having drawn us into the disturbing and often illusory crossing point of "Having" a body and "Being" a body. It was utterly fascinating, and if the intrigue was as much biological as philosophical, his appearance next month at Tate Modern with Product Of Circumstances (1999) promises further exploration into this dyad. Next up though, on Friday and Saturday back at Sadler's, is a newer creation. In Le Sacre Du Printemps Le Roy meticulously recreates the movements of a conductor (inspired by this documentary) performing to a helpless audience. Yvonne Rainer was certainly right to say "There's no pandering to short attention spans here", but the key is how he draws you in regardless, combining rigorous personal investment with a willingness to occasionally cross the line between the sublime and ridiculous.

NB: Xavier Le Roy performs at Sadler's Wells on 23/01 and 24/01. You can also catch him at Tate Modern on both 20/02 and 21/02.

Joakim's built a reputation as a formidable producer and remixer -- not to mention running Tiger Sushi records, which has seen releases from Poni Hoax, the Sal Principato-backed Panico and Principles Of Geometry, best known for their Sebastien Tellier collaboration. His slightly anarchic take on electro-disco has always given the impression that there was a bigger musician waiting to break out from behind the remix, and he's shown a fantastic gift for hooks and melodies on his two solo albums, Monsters And Silly Songs and Fantomes. But there's an extra twist now, as the Frenchman is playing live in a quartet, and pushing things in a dancier direction. To see this kind of experimental pop given the main stage at Fabric is surely a pretty rare treat. If that wasn't enough, Padded Cell's infectious blend of dark psych-disco provides support. Richard Sen is another figure whose reputation as a DJ and producer is far longer in the tooth that his live credentials, but last year's Night Must Fall album proved that he's able to bring a DJ's sensibility for killer riffs to his own creations. Additional support by Yuksek (live), Riton and Brodinski.

NB: for softer Balearic disco check out Aeroplane at Cargo's Free Fridays.

In the liberated noughties, where everything goes and the activity of seeking meaning in contemporary art has long been dropped in favour of stimulation by the strange and unknown, it has become a tricky business to consider the role of the image and its aesthetical connotations in the hyper-present of today. The humanitarian Jacques Ranciere, an emeritus professor of philosophy at the University of Paris-VIII (St Denis) and author of The Future Of The Image (2003) and The Politics Of Aesthetics (2000), returns to London to discuss the future of the image/icon alliance. He is joined by fellow French thinkers Eric Alliez, Professor of Contemporary French Philosophy at Middlesex University, art historian and critic Elisabeth Lebovici and Georges Didi-Huberman, Professor of Art History, EHESS, Paris. Asking if it is possible to liberate the paradoxical life of images from their theological shadows; if the "aesthetic image" can be brought back from aestheticism to what Ranciere calls "the political stakes of a montage of the sensible"; and if aesthetics must be thought anew in the immediacy of contemporary art, the conference promises a lively intellectual did into philosophical thoughts on aesthetic discourse au courant.

The catchy math-rockers and Oxford University dropouts-about town Foals are currently hidden away working on the follow-up to Antidotes (produced by TV On The Radio's Dave Sitek but mixed by the young upstarts themselves). Although the dance-punk label, trendy haircuts and significant mainstream exposure might make you want to run for the hills (or the vomit bucket), the quintet have proved themselves on record -- and drop in enough Steve Reich and krautrock references to keep the snobs on board. That was underlined recently when The Breeders hand-picked them for the next ATP Festival in May alongside the likes of Gang Of Four and Bon Iver. They've all turned their hand to DJing in the past two years, so this is unlikely to be a token effort -- keyboardist Edwin being the most handy behind the decks. You never know, with a couple of gigs due in April, there might find some rough cuts of new Foals material getting played. But don't hold your breath.

The Ninja Tune crew head back to Kings Cross to promote three of their newer recruits for another take-over night at Big Chill House. Canadian bass-fiend Ghislain Poirier flies into London as the headline DJ to continue his European tour and make his Big Chill debut. Poirier is known for his frantic "Bounce Le Gros" parties and his diverse productions, so be prepared for a jacking clash of everything from warped baile funk to digital dancehall. The always-brutal King Cannibal (also known as Zilla) will provide the evening's harder firepower with a tear-through of his unique industrial take on grime, drum 'n' bass and dubstep -- a take that has seen Mary Ann Hobbs, Erol Alkan and Laurent Garnier added to his growing list of high profile admires. Dalston's up and coming talent Xrabit (signed to the Big Dada division of Ninja Tune) will provide DJ support and the label's creative mastermind VJ Mox will also be on hand to animate all the action. Plenty for the pound here so expect this night to be popular.

Documenting the historic 1977 TV "ha, gotcha!" interview between David Frost and disgraced former president Richard "Tricky Dicky" Nixon, Frost/Nixon has transferred from the original theatre production to film easier than expected. At the time of the interviews, what had seemed at first to be a straightforward (albeit polite pre-Paxman era) grilling by Frost gets turned on its head as he realises he underestimated the wily, self-preserving Nixon. Although each had pre-decided the other was a pushover, in reality the two were evenly matched: fronted by arrogant confidence but ruled by seething hidden insecurities. As a result the anticipated demolition of each other becomes a bloodthirsty final showdown. Despite universal knowledge of the outcome of the interview -- Nixon's confession -- the film is hugely gripping, with tension building as Frost's allotted time (and -- as he self-funded the venture -- his money) swiftly drains away. Acutely aware of the strict time limit agreed, Nixon sneakily morphs point-blank questions into rambling "good-old-boy" anecdotal answers to fend off Frost, while unnerving him with innuendo-packed off-the-cuff questions. Retaining stage originals Frank Langella and Michael Sheen in the titular roles, Langella is particularly superb as a deluded, Machiavellian Nixon.

NB: Frost/Nixon is released in London on 23/01. Also of note is the release of Milk, the BFI Q&A screening of Three Monkeys with Nuri Bilge Ceylan (04/02) and the Renoir and ICA Q&A screenings of Better Things with Duane Hopkins (23/01 and 24/01).

With a forecast of little else but economic doom and gloom all around, it's nice to know that for some the coming year doesn't look as foreboding. In the spirit of what has been a great winter show season for the African diaspora (following the hugely successful opening of the Rubell Family Collection's 30 Americans the closing date has been pushed to November 2009) London's celebrated 2004 Turner Prize nominee Yinka Shonibare will be speaking at the ICA about his work that explores issues of racial appropriation, cultural assimilation and the colonial legacy of African identity in Western culture. Shonibare will be speaking with the Director of the MA programme in Contemporary Art at Sotheby's Institute of Art, Dr Anthony Downey, about his full calendar of forthcoming projects including a major mid career retrospective at the Brooklyn Museum in June (later scheduled for the National Museum Of African Art, Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC), his commission for the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square and a recently released monograph on his work and practice.

Special Offer: call Stephen Friedman Gallery on 020.7494.1434 and quote "KultureFlash Shonibare print offer" to get an exclusive 10% discount on the price of Yinka Shonibare's new limited edition print Climate Shit Drawing 1 (2008) and monograph which are sold together in a presentation case. Offer expires on 04/02.

Tate Modern's latest blockbuster exhibition provides a rare opportunity to see legendary abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko's iconic "Rothko Room" paintings, otherwise known as the Seagram Murals. Originally commissioned for the Four Season Restaurant in New York's Seagram Building, the paintings are reunited with works from Japan for the first time at the Tate. The combination of the passionate, fiery tones of the imposing canvases, with the knowledge that Rothko took his own life in a tragic suicide on the day that the Tate received his gift of the murals, makes for a deeply meditative and contemplative exhibition. Black-Form paintings and Brown and Grey works on paper from the final decade of Rothko's life are also exhibited in this must-see show. Tate Modern will host the premiere of composer Jim Aitchison's musical interpretation of the Seagram Murals: Shadows Of Light (Music from The Seagram Murals). Leading European Chamber ensemble the Kreutzer Quartet will perform Aitchison's composition in front of Rothko's monumental paintings. Just thinking about this powerful combination of art and music gives us goose bumps.

NB: Rothko runs at Tate Modern 01/02.

This performance promises an outstanding rendition of two of the greatest masterpieces in the 20th century music repertoire. The first, Stravinsky's legendary Rite Of Spring, has not ceased to shock audiences since the first night of its performance in 1913. As its subtitle -- Pictures From Pagan Russia -- confirms, the music is inextricably linked to the images of a stage performance. It was conceived as a "ballet" for Diaghelev's company and choreographed by Nijinsky -- although the jarring movements of the dance were quite unlike anything ever seen before in ballet. The piece is widely heralded to mark the advent of modernism in the musical form. Narrating the sacrificial ritual dance of a virgin being offered to the God of Spring, the piece weaves together elements of eastern European folk music, striking dissonances, violent rhythms and even African tribal melodies, to create a continuous tension that is only finally released in the unashamedly orgiastic finale. Bartok's haunting Duke Bluebeard's Castle (1911) is an opera in one act, written for just two voices: those of Bluebeard and his newly-wed wife Judith. In a richly symbolic fairytale, Judith, curious to know about Bluebeard's mysterious past, demands to penetrate the dark secrets within each of the seven rooms of the castle, with tragic consequences. The brilliant Valery Gergiev will be conducting two great voices: Willard White and Katarina Dalayman.

NB: this concert will be performed on 27/01 and 29/01.

A diverse music collision of the 20th century vanguard of minimalism, with 21st century experimental sensibilities. The opening work is a 1986 sonata by Harald Genzmer, the Bremen-born German composer who died two years ago, written for bass clarinet and performed by Scott Lygate of the Royal Academy Of Music. The second piece is Steve Reich's hypnotic Different Trains, played by the Kammer Klang String Quartet -- Kate Riley and Helena Nichols on violins, Rob Amers on viola and Lucy Railton on cello. Reich's seminal three movement 1988 work -- with the tripartite title America Before The War, Europe During The War and After The War -- is his meditation on a train journey taken in America, juxtaposed with memories of Jews transported by train across Europe during WWII to concentration camps. The original audio included interviews with passengers who survived the Holocaust, alongside recordings of train sounds. The final instalment of the evening presents the wayward processed folk acoustics of Leafcutter John, working this time with his own animated graphical scores for the Kammer Klang String Quartet, for both of them to improvise from. His mesmeric sets are an amalgam of field recordings, acoustic strumming, heartfelt vocals and software twists and turns, meshed into an electronica haze.

With Durrr on the brink of reluctantly waving good-bye to their weekly parties (cheers Mr C, enjoy the Bahamas!) where are the great American Apparell wearing youth of London town going to go to get their early week indie disco fix? Duh, White Heat of course! They've been keeping Tuesday night entertaining since the days when Durrr was called Trash, with a winning combination of exciting bands and a playlist that stretches from synth pop to gritty electro. This week is no exception with French italo-disco machine funk specialists Zombie Zombie returning after a debut performance last year that had the crowd (us included) in raptures. Providing support are two bands that straddle similar paths between bleeps and basslines. The Oscillation count Emperor Machine and Padded Cell as impressive labelmates, and their live reputation is rising with each gig (despite the frontman's slight Kasabianisms), while zZz are a somewhat eccentric Dutch duo whose output over the course of two albums has garnered comparisons with modern day discopunk heavyweights LCD Soundsystem and The Rapture. There's no need to shed a tear over your Durrr badge just yet.

Some women lead infinitely more interesting lives than others. For some a combination of intellect, integrity and an intrepid nature dictate that their lives will be fuller than most -- a condition few of today's spangly starlets suffer from. For those of you already familiar with Ingrid Bergman as she appears in lauded silver-screen classics you may not be surprised to hear that she spoke five languages fluently, that she campaigned against segregation in the US in the '40s, and that she was wife, mother and lover to a string of fantastically influential people. A side effect of Bergman's fierce sense of identity and artistry was that she was involved in a series of interesting side projects that never reached the pinnacle of fame some of her other ventures did, and a handful of these can be found at the BFI this week, highlighting the Ingrid Bergman season. The director of the Swedish Film Institute will introduce a series of curios from throughout her career, including rushes from Roberto Rossellini's Journey To Italy and Ingmar Bergman's Autumn Sonata, a charitable call to the aid of WWII POWs, and a short film entitled The Necklace.

NB: the Ingrid Bergman season runs till 31/01. Also of note at the BFI Southbank is the extended run of Hitchcock's Notorious (till 29/01).

The work of David Beattie and Karl Burke at first glance appears to be from the Italian tradition of Arte Povera. But that's just the look. A tin-foil corner (no fat here!), half a large picture frame and a photograph of it, a metal sheet sticking out of the corner, a video of a ruler measuring a landscape, a copper rod held between walls -- since the '90s,"lo-fi" might be a better term for this. However, this isn't the whole story. Beattie could be described as a sound artist. The copper pipe is a tunnel for sound, while the metal sheet emits a low-key buzz, so listen close. Burke's seemingly mirthful analytics, a corridor formed by the frame and its reflection in the photograph or a corner that makes reflective its "cornerness", asks us to become more aware of surrounds -- as the poetry of his past Wood Drawings do. Maybe it's not all quite Arte Povera, but in its foregrounding of its own materiality and our current economic darkwaters, a greater sensitivity to the world around us is no bad thing.

NB: runs till 01/02.

Three Monkeys, the latest film by Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan won him the prize for Best Director at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. The premise for this dark and brooding piece is that of a man who assists in covering up a potentially career destroying mistake for his politician boss in the run-up to an election; though the film is really about how these events bring to a head the disintegration of an already gravely troubled family. The cast is small but highly motivated, in particular Ercan Kesal as Servet, the boss and Hatice Aslan as Hacer, the wife who in a gripping performance spends much of her time like a carpet, either being trodden on or beaten. Director of Photography Gokhan Tiryaki gives us sumptuous visual treats: exquisite skies and long penetrating studies of the characters' faces, unfettered by dialogue. Complimented by Murat Senurkmez's thoughtful and elegant sound design, this film will delight fans of Ceylan and those who love an ultra-arthouse style of film making.

NB: Nuri Bilge Ceylan will be present for a Guardian film interview post screening. Three Monkeys is released in London on 13/02.

Two of Beethoven's most well-loved pieces are brought together in what promises to be a highlight of the Barbican's season. The great Piano Concerto No 3 in C minor (1800) -- premiered by Beethoven himself, who, because the solo had not yet been written down, performed from memory -- widely regarded as his finest, retains a masterful tension between classicism and romanticism: perched on the precipice of a new musical sphere whilst retaining the elegance and compositional clarity of his earlier works. The orchestra opens with a haunting theme that gradually builds up to lead us to the powerful soloist entry in a series of ascending scales: simple, forceful, clean, inimitable. The magnificent Symphony No 5 (premiered in 1808) -- one of the greatest and most influential works of all time -- is also in the key of C minor (a key that, it has been said, epitomized the composer's musical personality). It is perhaps no overstatement to say that its 4-note motif is one of the most famous in the history of classical music. Contrast to these two grand works comes in the form of the rarely performed King Stephen Overture. The conductor is Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the soloist is the great Portuguese pianist Maria Joao Pires -- a truly special programme.

As soon as you walk into the gigantic space of the Olivier, there's a noticeable buzz. Because, as our neighbour guffawed with glee: "there's an orchestra on stage", the excellent Southbank Sinfonia. The last time Tom Stoppard's high-conceit parable played the National was 1977, and the orchestra was sat in the Lyttleton pit. Co-directors Tom Morris and Felix Barrett make it take the bold but intuitive leap into the action. That the orchestra can be simultaneously there and "not there" is not only the most resonant example of the doublethink at the heart of this dark tragicomedy, embodying the bureaucratic absurdity at the heart of the Soviet regime's treatment of dissidents; it also powers the comedy as Toby Jones' Ivanov is a seeming lunatic who believes he has an orchestra. Fans of Punchdrunk will be pleased to see Maxine Doyle's choreography explode into such an arena as well as Barrett's Barnum-like concerns. But much delight comes from Morris' input, finding as ever great interplay between elements, and is well-served by the ensemble, especially the truly exceptional Jones in a dizzying sequence of physical and musical comedy, the electric levity of Dan Stevens, and Joseph Millson's beaten heart.

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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