AnOther's editors pick their January highlights including a re-run of Roman Polanski's Repulsion and Extraordinary Stories about Ordinary Things...
Repulsion at the Curzon Soho – January 4-10
In this 1965 psychodrama starring Catherine Deneuve, his first filmed outside Poland, Roman Polanski exhibits his trademark powers of atmosphere and suspense, capturing an oppressive and sinister snapshot of London. Carol, a young Polish woman, is living with her sister in the British capital, but when the sister goes away on holiday, Carol closes herself off from the world and becomes consumed by paranoia and madness. A chilling thriller, it’s the perfect option for a cold January weekend.
Suzy Menkes is awarded the Fiorino d’Oro at Pitti Uomo – January 9
Renowned journalist, and fashion critic for the International Herald Tribune, Suzy Menkes will add to her pile of accolades on January 9th this year, when she receives the Fiorino d’Oro at Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio. The award is given to “international personalities who have distinguished themselves and contributed to the society’s social and cultural development,” and Menkes is receiving it for her longstanding services to fashion journalism.
No Noise at Selfridge’s – January 7 - February 28
With a nod both to the department store’s founder, and also to the current vogue for peace and ease as part of the shopping experience, this January sees Selfridge’s impose a store-wide No Noise initiative, inviting shoppers to “see the beauty in function and find calm among the crowds”. At it’s heart is the “Silence Room”, designed by architect Alec Cochrane, based on an original concept formulated by Harry Gordon Selfridge in 1909. Customers will leave their shoes and mobile phones at the door, and enter a quiet and secure environment complete with meditation sessions and headspace pods.
"Repulsion – a chilling thriller, it’s the perfect option for a cold January weekend"
Schwitters in Britain, Tate Britain – January 30 - May 12
When his work was condemned as degenerate by Nazi Germany, the artist Kurt Schwitters was forced to flee his native country in 1940 and take up residence in Britain. Initially interned on the Isle of Man as an enemy alien, his release in 1941 saw him taking up a significant role in the British art scene. Already a fundamental practitioner in European Dadaism, his time in Britain was fruitful, as Schwitters continued in his pioneering use of found objects, being dubbed by Herbert Read as the “the supreme master of the collage”.
Light Show at The Hayward – January 30 - April 28
Britain's very first survey of light-based art, the Hayward's upcoming exhibition Light Show boasts an impressive array of artworks which use light as material to sculpt and shape space. The show will comprise twenty three large-scale installations and sculptures by major international artists, from the 1960s to the present, and will consider light's many attributes and facets (colour, shadows, illumination, projection etc.), as well as its potential as both a thing of beauty and as a means of addressing more socially or politically driven concerns.
Extraordinary Stories about Ordinary Things – 30 January onwards
This month sees the opening of a new semi-permanent collection at London’s Design Museum. Entitled Extraordinary Stories About Ordinary Things, the display will feature hundreds of ingenious, everyday designs curated according to six key themes, including fashion, Modernism, national identity and plastic. Among the highlights are Sir Giles Gilbert Scott’s phone box, Jock Kinneir and Margaret Culvert’s 1960s road signage, Issey Miyake’s fabrics made from recycled PET and Jonathan Ive’s iconic iMac design.
