Wednesday 12 February (6:30pm)

@ Tate Britain, Millbank, SW1 (020.7887.8008) Tube: Pimlico

Antony Gormley is a big artist. He likes making very large things like The Angel of the North or big things made from lots of small things like Field for the British Isles. This art of scale is appropriate because his subject is the human condition and humans are at once small and big, depending on context, the number of them you have in a room, and their eating habits. Food too has found its way into Gormley's work, his spooky little anthropomorphic Human Beans are as moving as they are whimsical. By echoing the range of human experience, in some cases frail and others fragile, large ambitious even tyrannical, Gormley seems to reflect back onto the viewer an uneasy image of the self. So popping along to Tate Britain to hear the man talk is likely to leave you reflective and a little wiser.

NB: Gormley will talk to broadcaster Tim Marlow about the inspiration and thinking behind his work.

Thursday 13 February (12pm)

@ The Other Cinema, 11 Rupert St., W1 (0207 734 1506) Tube: Piccadilly Circus/Leicester Square

Recently dubbed "the Pedro Almodovar of the artworld" by The Economist, Kutlug (pronounced Kutloo) Ataman could become a household name in Britain with his stunning and striking solo show at the Serpentine and his participation in shows at the Barbican and Tate Modern (both of which open this month.) The Turkish artist and film-maker 's four-screen DVD installation, The 4 Seasons of Veronica Read, was one of the hits of last year's Documenta 11, and it tells -- or rather allows the subject herself to tell -- us about her almost sexual obsession with her Amaryllis plants. Filmed and presented in documentary style, Ataman's work is all about individual identity within contemporary society, and 1+1=1, a work which premieres at the Serpentine, is an account of the historic conflict in Cyprus by a Turkish Cypriot woman living in the Greek Cypriot part of the island. Today Ataman introduces Never My Soul (2001) which is one of the seven works on view at his Serpentine exhibition.

Thursday 13 February (8pm - 1am )

@ Cargo, Kingsland Viaduct, 83 Rivington St., EC2 (020.7739.3440) Tube: Old St./Liverpool St.

When you needed something to wear your sunglasses at night to, those in the know walked straight passed the Fischerspooner section of the store and headed straight for Girls On Pills --The Droyds hi-NRG noughties deconstruction of Duran Duran's early eighties classic, on the flip was an equally skewered take on Squeeze's Whip It. Unlike their electroclash contemporaries The Droyds eighties referencing is based in authenticity rather than faux nostalgia, two members are veterans of dance music's early scene -- Richard Norris was in The Grid and Andy Chatterley was in Psychic TV. Also on tonight's bill is S-Express legend Mark Morris. The eighties revival continues here...

Friday 14 February

@ Various cinemas all over London

This adaptation of Michael Cunningham's 1999 Pulitzer Prize novel features the much hyped oh-my-god-it's-Kidman prosthetic nose and the result of mixing Hollywood's finest and the creme de la creme of British Theatre. Simply put, it's three stories all in some way connected to Virginia Woolf's novel Mrs. Dalloway. There's the modern-day Dalloway, Clarissa (Meryl Streep), a post war housewife, Laura (Julianne Moore), who strongly identifies with Woolf's heroine and then there is Woolf herself (Nicole Kidman). Writer David Hare and director Stephen Daldry deftly weave together these strands -- never heavy-handedly, drawing comparisons between the three women but simply observing their isolation, melancholy and the minutiae of their daily lives. Daldry resists the need to make trite conclusions, which gives the piece its poetic feel. Add a score by Philip Glass, excellent performances from the whole cast (Kidman shines as the troubled Woolf), and beautifully rich production/costume design, and you have a film that's an example of exquisite grown-up filmmaking. Just watch and weep.

NB: Just in case you did not know The Hours, has just been nominated for nine Oscars.

Friday 14 February (1pm & 6:15pm)

@ Curzon Mayfair, 38 Curzon St., W1J (0871.871.0011) Tube: Green Park

Often referred to as a masterpiece, Death in Venice is Luciano Visconti's adaptation of a Thomas Mann novella. Intricate and detailed, this gem of a film features an outstanding performance from a middle-aged Dirk Bogarde who plays Aschenbach, a composer coming to terms with his personal demons. The soundtrack featuring Gustav Mahler, acts as a backdrop to a disastrous love felt by Bogarde. Director Visconti, was a studio exec's nightmare -- he truly believed in his art and wouldn't let a little thing like budget interfere with his vision. Thankfully his stubbornness paid off and in 1971 he was awarded a special prize at the Cannes film Festival for this film.

NB: Death in Venice will be screened at the Curzon Mayfair until Thu 20/02 and is one of three films chosen for the re-opening of this cinema on Fri 14/02... two screens and an enlarged foyer and bar area. (If you miss it at the Curzon you can always catch at the NFT -- plays there until Thu 06/03.)

Friday 14 February (8pm)

@ Barfly Monarh, 49 Chalk Farm Rd., NW1 (020.7691.4244) Tube: Chalk Farm

Do not spend Valentines either a. in restaurant with lover surrounded by couples and over-priced food, b. watching Face Lift Diaries on ITV with a litre of Vodka, or c. being a bore and "not subscribing". What's the point in all of that when the good people from Intensive Care are having the opening night of their brand spanking new monthly party at the Monarch? And what have they laid on for us? ...well a chocolate box of DJs made up of IC regulars, special guest Mira (Ladytron), and a romantic manchunian trio... I Am Kloot. If you haven't heard or seen them then IGNORE THE DAFT NAME. Since 1999 IAK have been hotly tipped to be "the ones to watch", four years later, they still are but perhaps a tad lazy. Regardless, they are John Bramwell, Pete Jobson, Andy Hargreaves, playing semi-acoustic emotional lush, with laid-bare and odd cheeky one-liners. Compared to The Zombies, Animals, Bacharach and Morrissey a new album is expected this summer. It's gonna be a hot night and the perfect place for either a snuggle or a prowl.

Giveaway: Enter our comp and be the only ones guaranteed entry, even press cant get in this one for free. One pair of tickets will go to one randomly picked subscriber who can tell us the name of their two albums.

Saturday 15 February (10am - 1.30pm)

@ Royal Academy, Burlington House, Piccadilly, W1 (020.7300.8000) Tube: Piccadilly Circus

If Valentine's Day doesn't bring you enough sweet talk this year, then this symposium at the RA the morning after might. Structured around the current blockbuster show on the Aztecs, this talk on all things chocolate will be led by three -- Sara Jayne-Stanes, Paul Richardson and James Runcie -- who have all written books on different aspects of its history. Their talks promise to look not only at the pivotal role that chocolate played in meso-American society (stimulant, elixir, currency), but it also aims to explain what it is about chocolate that continues to keep us ensnared to this day. Just the sort of grist for the world-domination mill ahead of the day's other big event -- the anti-war rally. The price of admission to the talk includes a ticket to the exhibition and coffee, but -- alas -- no chocolate.

Giveaway: We have a pair of tickets for this talk to give away. They'll go to one randomly picked subscriber who can tell us the name of the famous book which contains the word "Chocolate" in the title (hint: Tales of the Unexpected).

Saturday 15 February (1 - 5pm; also Sat 22/02)

@ Whitechapel, 80-82 Whitechapel High St., E1 (020.7522.7888) Tube: Aldgate East

You can't get away from Ludwieg Mies van der Rohe at the moment. Mies (1886-1969) revolutionised architecture in his lifetime and the major retrospective, currently showing at the Whitechapel, has got him many a mention on the telly, scores of magazine profiles, and dominated what seems like hundreds of dinner party conversations to boot. It's clear that his influence is still very much at large. Even if you've seen the exhibition, a series of two Saturday matinee conferences at the Whitechapel will help to keep you one step ahead in the cocktail chatter. Considering Mies' enduring influence and examining his somewhat problematic legacy, are some of today's most interesting topics in the arts. This week, Dan Graham, Sarah Morris, David Sibley, Sarah Wigglesworth and Jeremy Till will discuss Mies' complex influence on contemporary and future practices.

NB: The second installment to More or Less Mies will take place on Sat 22/02 (from 1 - 5pm) and speakers will comprise of David Adjaye, Victor Burgin, Sean Griffiths, and Alejandro Zaera-Polo. (To purchase tickets call: 020.7522.7888.)

Saturday 15 February (10pm - 7am)

@ The End, 16a West Central St., WC1 (020.7419.9199) Tube: Tottenham Court Rd./Holborn

If you love Dance music, big clubs and staying up till gone 6am in the morning then you will already be going. For the ones of you who could learn to love here's the info. This Saturday sees The End being taken over by Classic Recordings, a prolific Dance label set up by major player DJs Derrick Carter and Luke Solomon. Don't like anthem after anthem being crammed down ya neck? Then Derek "the master of Chicago House" will keep you and your discerning entourage jumping and begging for more classics with an upstanding 5 hour set in the main room. His accomplice and producing partner Luke will prove a worthy intervention, jumping on the main decks during the night and adding more pleasure for your measure (!). Wander to the Lounge and find Rob Mello who, celebrating a decade on the scene, will expertly work the floor with perfect moody House.

NB: This is the first of the Classic Records residents parties at The End and will also feature a set by amongst others DJ Ata (Playhouse) and is celebrating the launch of Famous When Dead Two.

Giveaway: We have a pair of tickets to give away. They'll go to two randomly picked subscribers who can tell us how old Derrick Carter was when he first started producing tracks.

Sunday 16 February (2pm & 4pm)

@ Electric Cinema, 191 Portobello Road (020 7908 9696) Tube: Notting Hill Gate, Ladbroke Grove, Westbourne Park

Who would not appreciate a Sunday double bill that will render the coming week of hard working life insignificant and petty -- or at the very best -- a celebration? Once again, the Electric will give you a chance to experience the technical masterpiece and emotional magnum opus Requiem for a Dream on the big screen. In a bizarre but fitting combination, the second part of the double-bill will be Safe, an eerie medical drama directed by Velvet Goldmine director Todd Haynes who at the moment is in the limelight with his new movie Far From Heaven (which you can catch for special preview screening at 6:30pm on Fri 21/02 at the NFT) . Safe is well-worth your time. An original and interesting story, with Julianne Moore, currently the one of the hottest stars on the silver screen (she's just received two oscar nominations), turns in what is one of her most outstanding performances.

NB: The NFT is running all of Hayne's films this month see the NFT website for details.

Monday 17 February (8:40pm)

@ National Film Theatre, South Bank, SE1 (020.7928.3232) Tube: Embankment/Waterloo

Susan Sarandon, Dustin Hoffman, Holly Hunter and Jake "Donnie Darko" Gyllenhaal come together in this in-depth exploration of the spectrum of human emotion. Moonlight Mile is a gentle, warm and funny movie that deals with the loss of a child, of a lover, and friend with intensity and sincerity. Powerful performances across the line help to build a genuine portrayal of all the characters, and director Brad Silberling has brought with him the qualities in which he created the largely underrated City of Angels. An upbeat, happy version of In the Bedroom may at first seem like a bad idea, but then again, did'nt a comedy about the holocaust raise a few eyebrows when La Vita e Bella was first released?

NB: This is a special preview screening.

Monday 17 February (Mon 17/02, 24/02, 03/03 & 10/03: 6:30 - 8pm)

@ Tate Modern, Bankside, SE1 (020.7887.8008) Tube: Southwark/Blackfriars

Bet you didn't know that Eva Hesse went to Yale, which makes her alumnus with Brice Marden, Mel Bochner, Matthew Barney and Sean Landers. This is the sort of pub-quiz trivia that's not gonna be taught at Tate Modern's four evening Close Encounter sessions. Modernism began with an idealism to make art approachable and for the people, yet we seem to have marched down the path of academic exclusivity! The comfort of saying "I don't understand" comes with knowledge... that old refrain: "the more you know the less you know." Led by Polly Ellis and Mike Ricketts, Close Encounters sets out to create dialogues between viewer and artwork, so as to allow discussion and learning to occur. Everyone in life should have such an encounter, not the third ET-phone-home kind, but of the fourth - larger-than-life, shakkke-me-to-my-knees variety. Does that exist anymore? Do people still get teary before Rothko? Come and find out for yourselves.

NB: Artists considered include: Anish Kapoor, Eva Hesse, Mark Rothko, Robert Morris, Carl Andre and Cornelia Parker. No prior knowledge of art is required. (Course takes place over a month -- four Mondays in a row starting on 17/02 and ends 10/03.)

Monday 17 February (7pm)

@ Institut Francais, 17 Queensberry Place, SW7 (020.073.1354) Tube: South Kensington

Culture at its broadest covers everything from clothes to cars to art. Food most certainly -- with television -- it's one of its most accessible forms and here, levels of connoisseurship cover all cultures and classes. France, the begetter of such wonders as pret-a-porter, Existentialism and of course, Johnny Hallyday, has a much finer product in it's fermented grape juice. Yet such simple things always seem to encourage nerd-grown: wine is defined by its region both physically and as a concept . For example, Bordeaux soil and grapes are different from Burgundy ones and so on, let alone good years and bad years. Also, certain wines should be combined with just the right food (par example cher KultureFlasheur, le Champagne et le curry)... Here, knowledge leads to savings but also intensifies pleasure, so forget 'bout learning French, the Institut Francais is offering to educate you in French things that really matter; since the autumn, it's been offering wine tasting courses. This week, Phillip MacGregor -- 35 years in the biz -- will be teaching you to tell the difference between good and poor quality wines from the six main wine regions.

Tuesday 18 February (7pm)

@ Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, SW7 (020.7590.4273) Tube: Sloane Square

Massimiliano Fuksas is an architect, academic, theorist and was Director of Venice Architecture Biennale in 2000. Unapologetically contemporary, his numerous commissions throughout Western Europe (he has offices in Paris, Rome and Vienna) display a slick and sexy continuation of the modernist tradition. His modernist grounding is also evident in his written and theoretical work, which has long been concerned with issues of town planning, urbanism and in particular, the plight of the suburbs. As Director of the 2000 Biennale, Fuksas presided over a theme of 'Less Aesthetics, More Ethics'. As part of an attempt to attract a wider audience to the Biennale than the usual suspects of artists and architects, he developed a 'Super Screen' measuring 280m x 5m that showed images "capturing the immensely complex nature of cities: sprawl, brown fields, social conflict, pollution, plight of refugees, new social centres, stations, airports, shopping centres".

NB: This talk is free but you have to call and get a ticket (020.7590.4273).

Wednesday 19 February (7:30pm)

@ Astoria, 157 Charing Cross Rd., WC2 (020.7434.9592) Tube: Tottenham Court Rd.

Glasgow's finest hit the Astoria to promote their new Greatest Hits outing, the generously titled Four Thousand Seven Hundred And Sixty-Six Seconds -- A Shortcut To Teenage Fanclub. They've been around for donkeys years these blokes and are one of those bands, like The Charlatans perhaps, whose longevity marks them out for special affection and wonder. But they share more than longevity with Tim Burgess and co; a grounding in the blues allied to a belief in a decent Poppy hook make the Fannies songs a simple pleasure. Listening to their retrospective makes you realise the extent of their quiet but dogged achievement, just as the quirky stories behind the hooks reveal themselves on a closer listen.

Ends Saturday 22 February (Mon to Sat 7:30pm; Sat 3pm)

@ Young Vic Theatre, 66 The Cut, SE1 (020.7928.6363) Tube: Waterloo

This is a rare chance to see the work of Hideki Noda, one of Japan's most innovative, contemporary theatre artists. Red Demon has received critical acclaim in Osaka, Tokyo and Bangkok, which included both Japanese and Thai actors, and now the play is being performed in English for the first time. Beneath a beautiful ceiling of softly jostling bottles, a stranger arrives in a small community through an accident at sea. The community is quick to literally demonise the outsider who is played by Noda himself. This is a tale both mythic and familiar, every culture has variations, particularly here in England. As in the play, the dilemma of the outsider, his difference and his requests for help causes heat and confusion. The fortunes of the "demon" become inextricably tangled with the identity of a small island community. Red Demon not only presents a finely wrought story, but a playful and charming piece of ensemble work, with an excellent performance by Tamzin Griffin.

NB: Run ends Sat 22/02.

Ends Thursday 27 February

@ Various cinemas all over London

Ok, so you're probably aware of the nine minute rape, and you may have heard about the head getting smashed to a pulp with a fire extinguisher and if you think you might have problems forcing yourself to sit through those scenes, we wouldn't blame you and certainly wouldn't attempt to force you. These are among the most horrific, nauseating, gruellingly unpleasant sequences you are ever likely to endure in a cinema, but if you can endure, you will also be rewarded by an achingly tender expression of real love (between the excellent real life husband and wife Cassel and Belluci -- who both appear in Matrix Rloaded), a lyrical evocation of sheer bliss, and an astonishing purely cinematic climax that assaults the senses like powerful narcotics. It's an overused word, but Irreversible is as close as film gets to being literally stunning. The story is told backwards and for once, this is far more than a tricksy gimmick, the reversal of the sequence of events creating a heightened awareness and appreciation of the sweet nothingness of life and love -- a case of extreme violence actually resensitizing the viewer. Irreversible raises more questions than it can possibly answer but, for good or bad, this is cinema at it's most powerfully affecting.

Wednesday 12 February - Saturday 1 March (Tue to Sat 10am - 5:30pm)

@ Entwistle, 6 Cork St., W1S (020.7734.6440) Tube: Piccadilly Circus

Conrad Shawcross' work draws on the rich history of kinetic art: shaping the parameters of real time and motion into controlled sculptural performances. With the centrepiece of the show, this takes the form of an elaborate two part wooden weaving mechanism. As this enormous rickety construction rotates, spools of thread are woven into thick ropes of colour, which accumulate across the gallery floor for the duration of the exhibition. While clearly a metaphor to the linear progression of "life's rich tapestry", it also speaks to the natural order of things; that connecting framework spanning the micro to the macrocosm. In the lower gallery, the installation Pre-Retrospective, includes two sculptures designed to both film and project a specific period of time. On one side, a circular wooden track mounted on a boat supports a rotating camera, which performs a slow sweep of the 360-degree circumference. A filmed panorama of sea and sky is then projected onto the walls of the gallery at the same rate as the original was documented. Alongside stands the land-based counterpart, around which runs a video projector looping a single rotation of film shot on a beach in Sussex. By fusing the process of making with the moment itself, Shawcross follows Rosalind Krauss' assertion that the spatial arts can never be separated from space and time.

NB: Show ends Sat 01/03.

Ends Thursday 6 March (Mon to Fri 10am - 6pm; Sat 10am - 1pm)

@ Lisson 2, 27-29 Bell St., NW1 (020.7724.2739) Tube: Edgware Rd.

For British artist Jonathan Monk, the present is always grounded in the past. Across the lost faces of now aging photographs, fragments of time suspended as loops of film, or gradually fading slides of long ago events, Monk explores how traces of people, places, performances and even ideas are somehow imprinted onto material objects. These fragments are then used as a basis to articulate an entirely new context and perceptual format. Sometimes using the simplest of means, by inverting postcards or photographs of random places to formulate unfamiliar landscapes, or abstracted compositions. Elsewhere, with the slide projection, Today is just a copy of yesterday, Monk mimics the process art of conceptualists such as Robert Barry in the 1960s and 70s, but here using a single image of a wall drawing installation by Sol LeWitt (which actually took place at the Lisson Gallery in 1972). The carousel moves round only once a day revealing, over the duration, the deterioration of the image as it has been repeatedly duplicated. By the end, the image is virtually erased behind a blurred haze. Such works function both as a homage to the utopian ideals of conceptual art, as well as a whimsical metaphor to fading memory and time's passing. (show ends Thu 06/02.)

NB: After Jonathan Monk's show, pop over to Lisson's main space (52-54 Bell St.) to see Pierre Bismuth's show (ends Thu 06/03).

Wednesday 12 February - Saturday 22 March (Mon to Sat 11am - 6pm; Sun 12pm - 6pm)

@ Photographers' Gallery , 5 & 8 Great Newport St., WC2 (020.7831.1772) Tube: Leicester Square

It's time again for the Citibank photography prize. By upping the winnings to a tasty £26,000 it's no wonder that every last man and his aunty were nominating themselves. Check out the four finalists in this major international competition at the Photographers Gallery... and to make it extra fun let's take bets on who will be the announced winner on Thu 27/02 with the money we saved on the absolutely FREE entry. For portraits of strangers in Brixton, we're giving Jitka Hanzlova 6/1 -- trendy & striking -- but we're living in a time of war and peace boys. To Bertien van Manen, 4/1 for East Wind West Wind (trips to China) nice bit of East meets West. High profile fashionisto Juergen Teller at 12/1, fashion is just sooo pre 9-11 darling or finally, Simon Norfolk our tip at 2/1 for post-war Afghanistan. So why not drop in, and check out why you weren't talented enough for the shortlist.

Giveaway: We have a two catalogues from the show to give away. They'll go to two randomly picked subscribers who can tell us which famous German photogapher won it in 1998.