This innovative spectacle, performed by a tight unit of precociously talented acrobats, is hard to categorise for it encompasses theatre, circus, dance and music. Traces is the concept of five 20-something French-Canadians who trained in Chinese acrobatics, gymnastics and Western circus skills. After joining Les 7 doigts de la main they created Traces -- a smash hit at the 2007 Edinburgh Festival. The production is set in a make-shift shelter where the performers tell their stories through dance, song and high-risk acrobatics, eager to leave a lasting trace of their being before an impending Armageddon. In one melancholic scene, gamine Parisienne Heloise Bourgeois remembers her Grandfather as a hand scribbles nostalgic words in a film projection. The performers scale Chinese poles, dive through hoops and tumble across the stage to a soundtrack of pulsating music. As well as the nail-biting acrobatics and infectious energy of its youthful performers, there are moments of humour -- such as a reality TV satire called Infinity House. Urban street culture is also referenced, and one segment where the performers chalk hopscotch lines brings to mind the street art of Robin Rhode. Traces is a highly recommended, life-affirming slap round the face that makes you hold your breath from start to finish.

NB: Traces is performed at the Peacock Theatre till 14/03.

Fuck uses the word "fuck" more times than any other film in history. Previously the record was held by director Kevin Smith's film of 2001, Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back, which uses the F-word a mere 248 times; this particular film employs 857 fucks in 90 minutes. Yet, directed by Steven Anderson said picture is no rampaging shag fest. It is a challenging, provocative and downright hilarious documentary that investigates and examines every aspect of that most common of expletives -- its still unknown origins, its use, its meaning -- in fact he leaves no fucking stone unturned. And while some, such as Hunter S Thompson, rapper Ice-T and director Kevin Smith, love the word, others, such as Christian singer, Pat Boone and Janet M LaRue (Chief Council for the Concerned Women Of America) are not quite as keen and want it banned. But as the film vigorously underlines, any such restriction of language is against the First Amendment and thus unconstitutional -- so maybe we should use it a lot fucking more.

NB: Fuck screens at the ICA till 05/03. Also of note is the special Claude Lelouch Q&A screening of Crossed Tracks at Cine Lumiere (13/02), the talk and screening of Renzo Martins' Episode III at Wilkinson gallery (17/02) and the Jeff Keen season at the BFI Southbank (17/02 till 27/02).

Claude Lelouch's latest film is thriller, road movie, romance and at times farce, all skilfully knitted into a cosy, comfy and comforting bit of fun. Famous writer of not-so-serious books Judith Ralitzer (Fanny Ardant) has just has just released a highly acclaimed serious novel and is enjoying the fame, though knows she needs a follow up. Huguette (Audrey Dana) is left stranded at a motorway service station after having a row with her fiance and is offered a lift by a persistent stranger (Dominique Pinon). Somewhere in Paris, a man leaves his wife and children without explanation. To catalyse all this, a murdering paedophiliac rapist who gains trust from his victims by performing magic tricks is on the run from prison. These elements are woven into an easy to watch piece of hokum with plenty of humour, no shortage of tension, and engaging performances that makes for great entertainment. The French title of this film (Roman de gare) translates as "Airport Novel" or "Beach Book". We're a bit confused at what the English title's supposed to mean, but if you read French, it does what it says on the tin.

NB: post screening catch Claude Lelouch for a Q&A. On Saturday catch Lelouch when he gives a two-hour illustrated masterclass led by Professor Ginette Vincendeau at Cine Lumiere (10am - 12pm). Crossed Tracks screens at Cine Lumiere from 13/02 till 26/02. Also of note is Fuck screening at the ICA (13/02 till 05/03) and Episode III by Renzo Martins screening at Wilkinson gallery (17/02).

Awesome promoters Cocadisco pick Valentine's Day weekend to escape the basements of Dalston and aim for the sky with their biggest party yet South of the River at Corsica Studios. Central to the night is a rare appearance on these shores from Dutch electro legend I-f, with such a booking proving suitably apt given Cocadisco lifted their name from the back catalogue of The Parallax Corporation, one of his many aliases. Further racing of the pulse is guaranteed with live performances from Heartbreak and Fan Death. The former, seemingly quite incongruous on alt hop label Lex, released a superlative debut LP last year with a camp Italo thump that sounded like Freddie Mercury ditching Brian May for Patrick Cowley. Fan Death will be fresh from a sultry support slot at Simian Mobile Disco's NME show and are still basking in the critical applause given to "Veronica's Veil", their recent single on ace imprint Phantasy Sounds. Little Boots is the pick of the DJ support and given the mass exposure she's had this year we're sure you know who she is.

The Capital's rave crew Zombies Ate My Brain head to Vauxhall for an evening of frenzied Valentine's Day romance they're calling "My Bloody Valentine". Building on their impressive reputation for booking big headliners such as James Holden and Ewan Pearson, the Zombies kick off 2009 with live-techno specialist Mathew Jonson. The Canadian (now living in Berlin) is currently one of electronic music's most influential composers with an adored back catalogue shared between heavyweight labels such as M-nus, Kompakt, Perlon, Itiswhatisit and his own imprint Wagon Repair. Over the past two years Jonson slowed down his solo work to concentrate on his improvised electronic band named Cobblestone Jazz. Now after a well-received album and a global tour of venues as diverse as the Montreal Jazz Festival to Fabric, he returns to the frame with a number of international solo dates. Billed to be performing at The Lightbox with a 24 channel mixer, keyboards, synths and effect units means this will be a performance that drives the concept of live dance music way beyond a standard Ableton Live set. Anyone living within the M25 with more than a passing interest in techno music should make sure they witness this.

Just seven days on from the coup of hosting Martyn's album launch party, the Shoreditch-based promoters FWD>> line-up a selection of artists leading the Capital's garage revival. Since launching underground dance station Rinse FM, East London's Geeneus has been a major influence on the city's urban music movement with many of grime's bigger artists owing a degree of their commercial success to his efforts. The scene figurehead has recently turned his attention towards pioneering a stripped-down and sexed-up format of sub-heavy house music called "funky". Funky is tipped to be big in 2009 and no doubt a selection of the genre's gradually circulating tracks will be showcased over the course of the evening. For many, the night's main attraction will be a rare London appearance from the Romanian soundboy TRG. The innovative producer spent 2008 reviving the mid-'90s sound of 2-step garage through the modern medium of chugging dubstep, resulting in some of the year's best electronic productions. With rumours of an album in the pipeline, expect plenty of unreleased material in the mix. The popular DJ Breakage provides the support for what should be the place to be in East London on Sunday night.

Remember the days when disco was popular again? You know, when if you heard the name Todd Terje you wondered why someone was yapping on about that dude from New York who did the song about jumpin'. Well, Horse Meat Disco was playing disco classics back then, arpeggiated Italo thumpers and punk funk oddities to whoever fancied it on a Sunday night in Vauxhall alongside special guests from the disco beard elite. Two months into 2009 and the HMD boys have naturally taken advantage of the current vogue for all things disco: they're on the cusp of a new bi-monthly residency at Fabric with international dates to fit in around their weekly (without fail) Sunday party. Additionally HMD have dipped their toes into the lucrative world of vinyl shaped disco edits, with their first release out last week naturally including an obscure Dusty Springfield track. What better way to celebrate than invite down the much revered don of Norwegian nu disco Prins Thomas to keep the Vauxhall masses dancing into Monday morning.

Feeling disillusioned with the way things are being run? Then do as Hungarian-born Erno Goldfinger (1902-1987) did as a student in 1920s Paris, after becoming frustrated with the architectural ateliers at the Beaux-Art, and set up your own radical new studio. Not only that, but having just read Vers une architecture, he then went and asked Le Corbusier to run it. Fantastic. Corb of course declined. Goldfinger kicks off the third season of the Royal Academy's The Architects Who Made London series. Goldfinger was an influential and controversial pioneer of the British modern movement. As one of the New Brutalists, lead by the Smithsons, and the inspiration for the eponymous James Bond villain, Goldfinger left a lasting mark on Britain's cultural heritage. His large-scale projects of the '60s have been loved and hated in equal measure. The Alexander Fleming House (1963) on Elephant and Castle roundabout (now known as Metro Central Heights) was built for the Ministry Of Health, and ironically became notorious for Sick Building Syndrome. Perhaps his most famous building is the now iconic and Grade II listed Trellick Tower (1972) in West London. His smaller scale home in Willow Road (1938), Hampstead, is a fantastic example of late '30s modernism and is open to the public through the National Trust.

NB: Maxwell Hutchinson, architect and ex-president of the RIBA, will be leading the conversation with Professor of Architecture and Cultural History, Alan Powers, from the University Of Greenwich. Catch Maxwell on other dates for this series when he discusses Richard Seifert (02/03), Denys Lasdun (09/03), Powell and Moya (23/03), Alison and Peter Smithson (06/04) and lastly, Chamberlin Powell and Bon (20/04).

Is being informed a substitute for acting morally? This is a debate that ensnares many unsuspecting artists and filmmakers who set out with the best intentions to make public a state of extremity in seclusion, or an element of humanity in disharmony with the mores we embrace in the west. Is the art viewing audience really the platform upon which to present the jarring dissymmetry between classes, or do artists just broaden the divide? What is the consequence suffered by the victims of an economy that struggles to find a balance between exploitation and indulgence, or worse: indentured labour and waste? Why do we risk converting the urgency of poverty into entertainment? It is cynical perhaps to assume that the upper classes of a global economy would wish to preserve the circumstances that suppress developing nations as an anthropologically empowering enclosure to mirror the conquered colonies of centuries past, but in many ways, news media and documentary film have done just that. Renzo Martens' new film set in Congo takes an unflinching look at the Sisyphean task of making a profit in a developing nation and tackles the more difficult question for the viewer -- what is my part in all of this?

NB: on 17/02 (7pm) catch Renzo Martens in conversation with JJ Charlesworth. Episode 3 screens at Wilkinson till 22/02 (screenings of the film are scheduled during opening hours at 11:15am, 1:15pm and 3:15pm).

Increasing image technology has given us all the chance to be filmmakers, documenting flashmobs and snowstorms on our mobile phones. The 1960s offered a similar democratisation of filmmaking, with access to cheap 8mm cameras. As new interest grows in creating moving images, there has been a parallel renewal of interest in the '60s pioneers of avant-garde short film like Jonas Mekas and Gregory J Markopoulos. Now it's the turn of Brighton's own "Dr Gaz" Jeff Keen. Aged 85 and an experimental filmmaker for over 40 years, Keen's psychedelic, pop-art shorts, usually edited in-camera and often containing multiple exposures, are fast-moving, animated/live-action hybrid masterworks. An initial fascination in the '60s with comics, superheroes and fanzines gradually morphed from beatnik craziness into more political works, with a particular '80s emphasis on anti-war imagery. His earlier films often featured both himself and other family members in crazy costumes, and all his films employ inventive (and budget) special effects using cutouts, paintings and stop-action sequences. Great fun and an inspiration to all new avant-garde filmmakers.

NB: the Jeff Keen seasons runs from 17/02 till 27/02.

There is indeed evidence of a movement in contemporary theatre towards a more embodied engagement with an active audience. In one wave of this movement, the audience stands, moves and plays, whether in the electric events of Shunt, the immersive worlds of Punchdrunk, the adventures of Coney, or the fun and games of Hide And Seek -- its latest Sandpit running at the ICA the following night (18/02, 7pm). In another wave, a sit-down audience is imaginatively engaged to assemble narrative and meaning from a fragmentation or form of a play. One of the best and most prominent exponents of this work is director Katie Mitchell, whose recent practice of experimentation has taken her from Waves to Attempts On Her Life and ...some trace of her at the National Theatre. Here she is in conversation with the Royal Court's thoughtful impresario Dominic Cooke and the excellent, engaged playwright David Edgar. Whether you prefer to stand up or sit down as an audience, there should be plenty of interest here, and common interest to tease apart where we're heading.

NB: also of note is the virtual live art programme True Riches (till 31/12).

After a year that saw Late Of The Pier graduate from taste maker darlings to mainstream end of year poll toppers with their debut album, Fantasy Black Channel, everyone's favourite cosmic alchemists need to step up to the ockey and deliver some new material that realises their obvious talent and potential. Here's hoping that their current nationwide tour sees them road-test some new songs, particularly as the material on Fantasy Black Channel has formed the majority of their set list since they were spotted by Erol Alkan some two years ago. Early arrival should be pencilled in to catch support act Micachu, who seem to have escaped being pigeonholed into the media's current hankering for all things female and provide a less obvious take on pop. Micachu's debut album Jewellery, a beguiling explosion of ideas over the course of 15 mercifully short songs, has just been scooped from the grasps of Accidental Recordings by big shots Rough Trade and has generally been making our ears happy at KultureFlash HQ these past few weeks.

Sprawl's typically diverse line-up of audio mayhem is kick-started with the light touch of the Invisible Bees, a "primitive-psych-folk-duo", centred around buzzy hypnotic accordion swells, minimal guitar and vocals. The Bees' Damian Burgess and Norwegian Elin Eriksen list Harry Partch, Sonic Youth, Philip K Dick, Neil Young, Derek Bailey, Captain Beefheart and Tarkovsky amongst their inspirations. Interdisciplinary artist Alexis O'Hara is a rare Montreal-based visitor to these shores. Straddling the cabaret and avant-noise scenes, she samples and processes her voice in real-time, creating live performances that combine electro-acoustic incidentals with story-telling, reminiscent of a lo-tech Laurie Anderson, exploring the possibilities of error and failure. O'Hara has been known to wear clothes that run on batteries, apparently. The final act, Nine Owls In A Baguette, is the brainchild of radio artist Patrick Furness. The Nine Owls sets feature bizarre outfits and a surreal take on sound design. Sights and sounds to behold.

Radically re-conceiving the role of the artist the work of Joseph Beuys (1921-1986) incorporated drawing, sculpture, installations and political activism. His life in Germany was influenced by service in the Luftwaffe, training as an aircraft radio operator, with outside interests in biology, botany, geography and philosophy, eventually making him consider a career as an artist. His catalysts, and often the seeds of concepts, were his drawings. The pieces in this small show date from the '50s, and clarify a period of crisis and introspection. "The things inside me had to be totally transplanted," he explained, "a physical change had to take place in me, in which old experiences and phases of thought are cast off in order to permit positive changes". Beuys' motifs include female figures, integrated with iconography from folklore, mythology, alchemy and Christianity; he reclaimed them to create his own personal symbolism. Almost reminiscent of Matisse, these earthy sketches, drawings and collages -- fashioned from chlorinated iron, milk, sticking plasters, and even an old passport photo -- give an intimate glimpse into his creative process.

NB: runs till 28/02.

Let not the fog and icy caverns scare you away, especially if you have been a victim of the recent London blizzard. Out Of Darkness -- Axel Huette's new show at Waddington Galleries, although not for the light hearted, offers a journey into the natural sublime from the safety net of the white cube; the wilderness is tamed within the frames. A graduate of the Hilla and Bernd Becher school of photographic thought (think no-fuss, sober, documentary style stuff), and former studio mate of Andreas Gursky, Huette retains the trademark attention to meticulous detail in conjunction with monumental scale, yet in his most recent works he takes it a step further, appropriating his passion for travel and far out, inhospitable places were wild nature roams free. With a bit of a romantic edge, Huette's photographs, some printed on natural paper using the Ditone method, are reminiscent of the hypnotic Caspar David Friedrich landscapes. They really suck you in. A fellow German mood is set -- complete isolation never felt so alluring. For a more intense high, try compare and contrast, and check out the new National Geographic collection-cum-store next door on Regent Street before this show -- the traditional travel photography, in the conventional A3 size, is a friendly piece of cake compared to Huette's icy mammoths.

NB: runs till 07/03.

You and your partner are sitting either side of a table in a cafe. You are engaged in conversation. But every moment has been scripted, both of you are told what to say and what to do by a recorded voice. Props and toys tumble out of a box of delights, and you discover yourselves in the act of conversation during a 30-minute experience that is delightful and profound. Rotozaza have been intelligently pursuing their obsession of the unrehearsed performer responding to live instructions for some time now, most notably in the masterly Doublethink. But Etiquette -- created with digital company Somethin' Else -- opens out this practice by making its audience the performers. It makes a welcome return to London at Dalston's vibrant Cafe Oto, after a run in Edinburgh that has led to it being exported all over the world. It remains elegant and resonant, and there's an unexpected reflective joy in sticking around to watch others engage with it; it's a must-play experience for anyone interested in what the best theatre might be.

NB: Etiquette runs daily from 10am - 5pm till 31/03.

Conversation Piece: Brian Eno + Jon Hassell (09/04, 6:30pm)
Brian Eno needs little introduction, but John Hassell may be familiar only to the avant music cognoscenti. As much an anthropologist as a veteran, post-Miles Davis experimental trumpeter, Hassell was the instigator of something called Fourth World -- exotic hybrids of oriental, occidental and "imagined" ethnic sounds which prefigured the commercial "Womad-isation" of world music by a good few years. Hassell's ideas were a catalyst for Eno's turn-of-the-'80s dalliances with African forms (notably in tandem with Talking Heads). For this concert the cerebral eminences grise will be putting a variety of subjects to rights, including: "control and surrender", "kinds of abstraction sickness" and what "sex, art, religion, music and drugs have in common". It should be a blast.

Mouse On Mars: Soundtrack To Werner Herzog's Fata Morgana (17/04, 7:30pm)
Having spectacularly managed to outlive the relative extinction of both post-rock and electronica, Mouse on Mars nevertheless still retain the best elements of both despite the fact that they never explicitly name-check either. It's a savvy game plan which is often reflected in both the music itself and their approach to performing live, which has increasingly seen them incorporate live drums in a knowing nod to the oft cited mantra that "two guys with electronics doesn't make a compelling stage show". It's an interesting twist of fate that they should now choose to perform to one of Werner Herzog's more madcap inventions, that in itself almost wrote the rulebook for how to transform a failed premise into a near legendary spectre; a context that clearly won't reward a soundtrack that is anything less than inspired.

Touch: Fennesz + Rosy Parlane + CM Von Hausswolff (21/04, 6:30pm)
Christian Fennesz's last album on Touch (2008's Black Sea) was greeted by most critics with the kind of sentimental gushing normally reserved for Oscar speeches. In a remarkably similar vein to the rose tinted outpourings that accompanied Slumdog Millionaire in the press, it seemed that no hyperbole was too great for Black Sea, which had by all accounts arrived just in time to deliver us from the benighted death throws of Western Civilisation. Given this, the concert setting will be a welcome chance to hear the work in a new context and all the more so considering the company Fennesz will be keeping on the night. Rosy Parlane and Carl Michael von Hausswolff offer us a timely reminder of the kind of musical enquiry Fennesz's back catalogue capitalises on; a modest open ended musing on what constitutes musical expression and composition, which, not unlike the music of American minimalist composers Charlemagne Palestine, La Monte Young and Tony Conrad, returns us unashamedly to the primal beauty of sound itself.

NB: Ether 2009 runs from 09/04 till 24/04. The above gigs are our picks and likely to sell out in the next two or three weeks so act soon.

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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