Tuesday 15 July (6:30pm)

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

The worlds of art and business are increasingly inter-linked as the boundaries blur between strategies of advertising and marketing, and artists explore the wider commercial mediums of design, film and TV, which cross over into the corporate sector. Art has always been a lucrative market, and artists and gallery owners alike are now becoming much more business and media-savvy, but the presence of the corporate world within the actual artwork's content, is a creative path less-trod. This talk features two artists who use the corporate world as the basis for their practice. Carey Young, shortlisted for this year's Beck's Futures, has a parallel career as management consultant, and her artwork has included a collaboration with Virgin Megastore, where her presence infiltrated the store from editing till receipts to management training. More recently for Beck's Futures she notoriously made Beck's Marketing manager sign a legally binding NDA, preventing him from revealing the contents of her new work, thus obstructing any subsequent commercial gain that may have been achieved. She is joined by photographer Anna Fox, who also explores the strategies of big-business. They discuss their practice with writer and documentary filmmaker Richard Reeves, regular Guardian columnist on work-place ethics and issues, and author of Happy Mondays: Putting the Pleasure Back into Work (2001).

Wednesday 16 July (Wed & Thu 8pm)

@ ICA, The Mall, SW1 (020.7930.3647) Tube: Charing Cross/Piccadilly

Not content with making music just for clubbers, David Holmes has for some time been crossing into the world of cinematic entertainment, so it's no surprise to see him headlining the latest installment from the ICA's ever-enticing music program as Stella Artois launches After Dark, an exploration into the future cinema experience, fusing film and club culture. With five rooms of entertainment there will be preview screenings of Buffalo Soldiers and Confidence as well as a chance to see Hard Core Logo amongst others from the Raindance Film Festival Retrospective. This eclectic mix of wonderfully strange films offers the perfect counterpart to Holmes' gritty supersonic sounds, who in recent years has become the Hollywood darling with cool film scores for flicks like Ocean's Eleven. Along side with Holmes, DJ Yoda will be playing his own breed of turntablism with the experimental Electronica/Pop and Hip-Hop fusion of the Psychonauts to VJ footage from the Raindance Film Festival, topping off the ultimate genre fusing night of what can only be described as a unique entertainment experience.

NB: After Dark repeats over two days (Wed 16/07 and Thur 17/07). For the full schedule check the website..

Giveaway: We have a pair of tickets to give away for Wed night. They'll go to one randomly picked subscribers who can tell us the name of David Holmes' label.

Thursday 17 July (6:45pm)

@ ICA, The Mall, SW1 (020.7930.3647) Tube: Charing Cross/Piccadilly

The inimitable and newly Turner nominated Grayson Perry discusses "muffin buffin", "bishop bashing" and a bit of "monkey spanking" with self-love academics at the ICA. Tickets to arrive in a brown paper bag. It's a titanic collision of minds hopefully occurring inches above the gutter. Jonathan Dollimore, respected queer theorist, English Prof and former farm hand will bludgeon the beefsteak on one side, whilst Thomas Laqueur knuckle shuffle guru and author of Solitary Sex: A Cultural History of Masturbation -- should dominate the floor. Perry specialises in wonky looking ceramic pots, and arriving at posh dos in big dresses as alter-ego Claire. His pots attack cool boring people, or deify his teddy bear, he draws cars and sexual inadequacy. His website is a paeon to childlike simplicity. Either that or is unbelievably naff and totally disarming. The mind boggles as to what will happen when this lucid, intelligent yet very odd man gets on a stage with two real experts: masturbation taboo? Hell yeah. That's gonna make this a fascinating and potentially hilarious evening (just don't bring your Gran).

Thursday 17 July (7:15pm)

@ Design Museum, Butlers Wharf, Shad Thames, SE1 (020.7940.8790) Tube: Tower Hill

Any aspiration for a new designer to become a household name becomes quickly and justifiably dashed as Tord Boontje proves that you don't get a reputation for just chucking more stuff onto a saturated market. The responsibility of a designer today is to offer "an awareness of choice" and to provide information, not just more stuff. In '97 he and his partner Emma Woffenden launched the tranSglass project; a recycling collaboration that revealed the awesome and genuine beauty hidden within discarded wine and beer bottles. Similarly the Rough-and-Ready collection asked us to question the completeness of the project; ; it brought us into the creative process and asked where we think value lies. Since returning to the RCA to teach, his work reveals a delicate, fairy tale sensitivity, and a femininity evoking sentimentality and memory. Some of his work is not to everyone's taste, but being nominated for the Designer of the Year award has given him headline status and certainly a reputation in our house. He will be discussing his work and plans for the future.

Thursday 17 July (9:30pm - 2am)

@ Plastic People, 147-149 Curtain Road, EC2 (020.7739.6471) Tube: Old Street

Batten down the hatches and prepare yourself for yet another bombardment of bass as following the success of their first Arcola Bass Rave, Warp unleash another night of low-end digital devastation. Tonight's mid-summer's rave-up features performances from bass junkie Dub Kult -- tearing up subterranean tech-house and abstract alien-funk; Footwork Records main man Louis Digital, with his own unique blend of R&B inspired spliced-up space-funk; the inevitable Warp DJs and a live laptop set from Warp's new signing Steve Milanese. With the first release on Warp's new Arcola 12" label imminent what better introduction to its sound than a night of deafening bass fuelled breaks 'n' bleeps. Watch yer bassbins, we're telling ye!

Friday 18 July (8pm)

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

Like some mad, Slavic band of gypsies hitch-hiking their way to the big smoke, Gogol Bordello roll into town as part of the fruitful (in a "what do you get if you cross a lychee with a pomegranate?" sort of way) collaboration between Tate Modern and Egg this summer. Falling under the aptly-titled Rubric label, Gogol Bordello's sound is ethno-punky, sweaty and raucous, with stomping rhythms and frequently surreal and macabre lyrics; a type of Iggy Pop meets Kafka (according to the New York Times). At their gig this Friday, Ukrainian-born singer Eugene Hutz and his merry band of Russian, Isreali and American melody-makers will perform material from 2002's album Multi Kontra Culti vs. Irony, which explores the experience of immigration and various other diasporic realities...

Friday 18 July (7:30pm)

@ The Garage, 20-22 Highbury Corner, N5 (020.7607.1818 ) Tube: Highbury and Islington

Your summer social diary may well include Oxfordshire's fledgling celebration of all things off kilter kicking off this Saturday. Run by indie label Truck Records, the inspirationally named Truck Festival, is one of the few alternatives to the overwhelming and unashamed, banner waving capitalist carnivals that spring up in our fields this time of year. The line up is fantastic, but if you aren't a fan of portaloos and sunburn you can catch 3 of their top headliners at a pre-fest gig at The Garage this Friday. It'll be an evening of ruckus induced mucky pop from the US, East London and Hull. The Butterflies of Love, Finlay and Fonda 500 are a perfect combination of talent and real potential. Like many of their fellow guitar wielding Americans, the BOL have captivated a large audience in the UK with their emotional pop, while not being convincingly missed by the record buying public at home. Young guns Finlay have their own record label Growl Wow, and own delightful brand of messy, kooky noise. And finally, with funny hats and daft genius the four men and one woman that call themselves Fonda 500 will start ya off with dirty melodies and crazy sharp beats.

Friday 18 July (7pm - 3am)

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

Cargo's new regular Champion Sound night (it does what is says on the tin -- champions new sounds) this week introduces the luscious deep funk sounds of Bristol-based Quantic's (aka Will Holland) latest incarnation -- the Quantic Soul Orchestra Live Deep Funk Band. The QSO deals in live music only (that's strictly no samples allowed) and comes with an 11-strong band of sonic delights, bringing together a soul-jazz-funk vibe championed by the likes of Mr Scruff, Gilles Peterson, Richard Dorfmeister and LTJ Bukem. The Quantic Soul Orchestra, also due to play at this August's Big Chill festival at Eastnor Castle, Herefordshire, are signed to Tru Thoughts Recordings. They're joined at Cargo -- Shoreditch's premier venue of mellow grooves -- by Mangatoat (yes, that's the South African-inflected version of the crisp green vegetable) who's electronic tunes have been described as "downtempo funk fuelled, vocal assisted sonic sofa heaven. With tablas." Plus top-notch Tru Thoughts DJs: Rob Luis, Quantic and TM Duke.

Saturday 19 July (12pm - 12am)

@ State51, 8-10 Rhoda St., E2 (020.7729.4343) Tube: Shoreditch

A treat is in store this weekend for followers of electronic music, as the Placard Headphone Festival hits London for the first time in its six year history (other city venues are Melbourne, NYC, Paris and Tokyo). This event should prove to be a worthy experiment for those with a curious disposition and introverted blip-popsters alike, as the entire 12-hour experience is transmitted to the audience via headphones. About a squillion (give or take a zillion) artists will contribute soundscapes crafted through different methods and genres during the festival, and are likely to be treated to musical forms that aren't as much "in your face" as "behind the eyes"; the question is... for how long can you stay in this surreal environment? There will be performances from the intriguing project that is the Voodoo Muzak Network -- geographically separated musicians linked via a network, under the conductive whip of a specially-designed computer program. Further sublime showers of minimalism should be cultivated by BitTonic, Dual (fresh from a recent tour of Japan), Icarus and Si-cut.db. All this can be experienced from the comfortable introspection of your favourite pair of cans.

Afterparty
Sun 20/07 @ The Foundry (3pm - 8pm)
The Slow Sound System is also hosting the afterparty. It promises to provide a soothing aural backdrop that can only be described as the electro-acoustic equivalent sound of tropical rainforests, or the noises made by whales beneath the sea (the SSS leave no stone unturned in their spinning of many threads from a single loop). The SSS line-up is as follows: Residents (3 - 5pm); The Legenadry Jesse Belle (5 - 6pm); Slub (6 - 7pm); & Crucial Felix (7 - 8pm).

NB: Check the website to tune in to what's going on at Placard NYC and stay posted for a dedicated chat space set so you can compare notes over the net. Amplification is provided, but the organizers recommend that attendees bring their own headphones as supplies will be limited.

Sunday 20 July

@ Gate Cinema, 87 Notting Hill Gate, W11 (020.7727.4043) Tube: Notting Hill Gate

Being a refugee isn't quite like running away from home, the latter are defiant, sending out messages, or perhaps like the former are looking for a better life. Seeking refuge is an attempt to significantly improve one's standards of living, or simply, to escape the current one for political, economic, or possibly aesthetic reasons. Shot with a digital camera and in natural light, following the journey of two young Afghan refugees journeying from Pakistan to this country, Michael Winterbottom and his writer Tony Grisoni's tender little gem, In This World offers something to take refuge from our comfortable little lives. Now, the Friends of Aschiana have organised a one-off charity screening in support of the Afghan charity, ASCHIANA (Afghan Street Working Children and New Approach). So get out of the heat and come support this charity!

NB: This screening will be followed by an interview with Nabil Elouhabi -- now in Eastenders and the only professional actor in this film -- and possibly someone from the production crew.

Sunday 20 July (7:30pm)

@ Barbican Centre, Barbican Centre, EC2 (020.7638.8891) Tube: Barbican

Further to his first installment of Masada three years ago, John Zorn brings a new challenge to the Barbican Jazz stage this week with a new take on traditional Jewish music. The nature of music and chaos combined at their finest, Zorn's performances promise a wild ride even in the downtempo. Having developed and kept up a spontaneous relationship between composition and improvisation, the musical atmosphere is manic and organic, and propelled by a cross-cultural momentum and compelling idiosyncracy. The usual suspects come out to play: long time collaborators Marc Ribot on guitar, keyboardist Jamie Saft, bassist Trevor Dunn, and percussionists Cyro Baptista and Kenny Wollesden, all back Zorn's alto sax in this new persuasion of Jewish music.

NB: Also on the bill is Roberto Rodriguez presenting El Danzon de Moises.

Sunday 20 July (7:45pm)

@ Royal Festival Hall, South Bank, SE1 (020.7960.4203 or 4242) Tube: Embankment/Rail Waterloo

The battle commences, and as part of Rhythm Sticks 2003 you get a once-in-a-life-time opportunity to see what will be a seminal performance, sheer sonic poetry. Two houses, both alike in talent, creativity and balls, come together to beat with rhythm, tune and bright lights. Hexstatic's Stuart Warren Hill and Robin Brusen breakbeat and VJ pushing their Macs and DV cams to the limit of groundbreaking techniques. On the other hand, The Bay's Simon Richmond, Jamie Odell, Andy Gangadeen and Chris Taylor will be unplanned and unrehearsed pleasure, reacting purely with the crowd creating one off shop of unbelievable sound, with no care for record deals or releases. Revolutionary, without restriction, this isn't just about playing records.

Giveaway: We have two Hexstatic goodie bags (each bag will contain two music CDs and two video CDs) to give away. They'll go to two randomly picked subscribers who can tell us who was KF's first resident artist.

Sunday 20 July (9:30pm - 2am)

@ Plastic People, 147-149 Curtain Road, EC2 (020.7739.6471) Tube: Old Street

Composed sound engineer by day, Berlin-based Stefan Betke transforms himself into electronic sound composer by night, and under his Pole moniker creates clean, glitch-filled digi-dub. With a special one-off live show, Betke, label founder and A&R man for ~scape, celebrates the launch of his new eponymous album where he will be joined on stage by Five Deez front man and Pole contributor, Fat Jon. Counting pioneering composers and musicians such as Steve Reich, Arnold Schoenberg, John Zorn, Arto Lindsay and Fred Frith as major influences, Betke has moved away from his signature static, cavernous sound, and assembled a precise album of structured beats, gliding bass stabs and rich narrative. Although still faithful to his minimal, fractured dub~scapes, Pole (the new album) shows much greater affinity to the funky, Hip-Hop vibe and a successful change in direction. A night of genre-defying, deep, pulsating slabs of sound complemented perfectly by Jon's crisp lyrical flow is promised.

NB: Special guest DJs on the night include industrial dancehall renegade Kevin Martin, aka The Bug plus Tom Brown of Lex Records, Warp's Hip-Hop imprint.

Giveaway: We have two copies of Pole and two Pole T-shirts to give away. They'll go to two randomly picked subscribers who can tell us the name of Pole's first three releases and list them in chronological order.

Monday 21 July (8:30pm)

@ Ronnie Scott's, 47 Frith St., W1 (020.7439.0747) Tube: Tottenham Court Rd./Covent Garden

There are many things that have come out of Cuba besides cigars and Fidel... both of which involve the lips: one for inhaling, the other to project words and in Fidel's case hours of words. There's also Afro-Cuba music, and that emanates from the hips. Now for the fingers, there's Cuban jazz pianist Jesus "Chucho" Valdes, who led the Jazz group Irakere -- "equatorial forest" in West African -- and as he's said, "we Cuban piano players are always thinking of the rhythm base... always thinking of Cuba when we play." Irakere really produces a bricolage of sound, and Valdes who was classically-trained, brought the traditional rhythm of the Cuban drums together with the energetic, eccentric Bebop. Though perhaps they're more famous for being the first Cuban group to be signed to an American label and have an album produced Stateside when Jimmy Carter raised the trade embargo for a brief period in American history.

NB: Irakere will be in house for two weeks from Mon 21/07 to Sat 02/08. In the first week, Theo Travis will be their guest, and Arnie Somogyi the second.

Ends Sunday 20 July (Thu to Sun 11am - 6pm )

@ Interim Art, 21 Herald St., E2 (020.7729.4112) Tube: Bethnal Green

Titled She, Rebecca Warren's new show after H. Rider Haggerd's 1887 novel, and the various films inspired by it -- notably the 1965 Hammer version with Ursula Andress -- is more late Picasso meets de Kooning meets Rodin than adventure-romance. These larger-than-life sculptures, are in other words, archetypal woman of the Venus of Willendorf variety: waifs need not apply. In recent years, Warren has worked with clay sculpture, which at once recall 19th century figuration and early 20th century modernism. However, where her earlier pieces were more material and abstract merely hinting at figuration, the more recent work has -- like later Picasso -- veered closer to the representational. Unlike Elvis Costello's rendition of Charles Aznavour's She (Tous les visage de l'amour) which emphasizes longing, this concatenation of buttocks, legs, breasts are burlesque and rough, possibly even maternal! Like Chris Ofilli's "blackness" there is the critical aspect to these bulbous, highly femininized structures, but also present is a playful, exuberant celebration of materiality.

NB: Rebecca Warren is also in the current summer group show at Matthew Marks (24th St. space -- until 15/08) in NYC, and will have a solo show at the Donald Young Gallery in Chicago this September.

Tuesday 22 July (7pm)

@ ICA, The Mall, SW1 (020.7930.3647) Tube: Charing Cross/Piccadilly

It took 606 takes to get right: the advert where all the bits of the car do an inch perfect domino roll, waddle, bump and bass around a set before the car rolls away. Remember? The Cog, already hailed as a masterpiece, is an astoundingly original and technically brilliant car ad. The problem? It wasn't original. Fischli & Wiess had already done it. OK, so theirs is basically a B-movie version of the Honda ad, but then they probably didn't spend 3/4 of a million GBP on it. This is a recurrent tale, remember Guiness and the dancing man? Likewise Gillian Wearing being used by Volkswagen, and then using them back. Well, the ICA is bringing Honda to trial. Two intellectual property barristers (Simon Malynicz and Ashley Roughton), will argue it out, spreading the seething can of worms all over the floor covering complex issues of ownership, authorship, and plain old plagiarism. Did Honda copy, or were they merely inspired? Then again, should artists be legally barred from borrowing in return? A Hymn Damien? Important stuff for anyone who's even peeped at another man's doodles.

Ends Sunday 27 July (Wed to Sun 1pm - 6pm)

@ Chisenhale, 64 Chisenhale Rd., E3 (020.8981.4518) Tube: Bethnal Green

Best known for his gallery cybersquatting antics, and recent The World Wars websites for Beck's Futures 4, Nick Crowe continues to explore the effects of technology on society, while simultaneously offering us a glimpse of the future. For his latest wheeze, Pride Mobility Products Ltd., have kindly lent the artist a number of their finest scooters for the elderly. Thus, Crowe points to the demise of subsidised and communal transport that has lead to the rise of these motorised buggies on the streets, but not without letting us have some fun in the process. Visitors to the Chisenhale are invited to hop-on and test drive a selection of models ranging from the compact three wheeler with handy front basket, to the prestigious four wheel, high-backed chair version which affords a commanding view of the pavement. A racy metallic red paintjob adds sophistication to your geriatric journey, which though, will leave you frustrated once the top speed of 4mph is achieved. Dodgems style, a soundtrack of Deutsche Grammophon accompanies drivers as they make sedate and collision-free laps, with the occasional 360 degree spin, across the floor of the gallery. While some might find such empathetic activity to be a depressing wake-up call to their own mortality, others may very well feel reassured that even in their twilight years they can remain stylish when on the street. (Show ends Sun 27/07.)

NB: Nick Crowe: The Nineties, a micro-retro of his cybersquats and antics runs concurrently at Mobile Home Gallery, E1 (Sun 03/08).

Ends Saturday 2 August (Tue to Sat 10am - 5:30pm)

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

If you haven't witnessed a Lisbon choir belting out an acappella version of Kraftwerk's The Robots, then frankly you haven't lived. Fortunately, help is at hand courtesy of a fistful of filmic gems at the Entwistle, which also delivers snatches of life as a New York prostitute and a wacky "busking performance artist does classical sculpture" turn, among many other oddball offerings. The theme? Celebrations of extraordinarily ordinary lives it seems. Jennie Livingston's film gives the show its name and ballast, proving how a lick of imagination and splash of flamboyance can make even the toughest of existences quite a breeze. Meanwhile Daria Martin's Birds melds dance, fashion and sculpture to explore idealised cultural movements, whilst Oliver Payne and Nick Relph (they received this Biennale's Golden Lion for best artist under 35) knit a montage of suburban British youth exploits in House and Garage. Sean Landers' Remissionem Peccatorum provides the pseudo sculpture, while Portuguese artist Joao Onofre delivers the surreal Kraftwerk number. Appropriately, the show features four pieces by Andy Warhol, the lord and master of deifying the ordinary. Warhol made a series of half-hour programmes for cable TV in New York in the '80s and four classic episodes get a rare screening here. Extraordinary ordinary indeed.

NB: Show ends Sat 02/08.

Ends Thursday 7 August

@ Various cinemas across London

Nicolas Philibert, a master of the documentary format has created an award-winning glimpse into the life of a single primary school class in the Auvergne, rural France. Filmed over six months, the cinematography captures the changing seasons and as children interact often forgetting the camera, we get a sense of character and storytelling. All aspects of the average school day are told with touching scenes of a schoolteacher (Georges Lopez) resolving arguments and talking to a mother who feels helpless to aid in her daughter's development. But we are struck by the complex emotions and difficulties of growing up so much more because the lives of JoJo and Olivier do exist and the rest of their story is yet to be told. Philibert's repertoire, which includes Le Pays des sourds (In The Land of the Deaf) and La Ville Louvre (Louvre City), proves an ability to reflect humanity through a seemingly simple documentary format. Philibert once said of Louvre City, "it is not an art film, it's simply a social commentary on the little jobs in life", but perhaps this is where his work becomes art, capturing beauty in the everyday.