The AnOther editors pick the ten best things to see and do this January
1. Derek Jarman, Pandemonium – January 23
To mark the 20th anniversary of Derek Jarman’s death from an HIV-related illness in February 1994, King's Cultural Institute, located at Somerset House, will host an exhibition featuring his creative practices as director, filmmaker, set designer, painter, diarist, poet, gardener and gay rights activist, and examining his relationship with London throughout the 1970s.
2. BFI Southbank Film Screenings – Throughout January
Throughout January, the BFI will revisit some of the most classic novels in English literature through their glorious black and white film versions. Starting with ‘Wuthering Heights’ (1939), Emily Brontë’s tale of love and devotion on the Yorkshire moors, in which Laurence Olivier plays the unruly Heathcliff, the series will also show ‘Jane Eyre’ (1956), her sister Charlotte’s spiritual journey of the governess. Also showing will be Daphne Du Maurier’s chilling thriller of murder at Manderley in ‘Rebecca’ (1940), Alfred Hitchcock’s first American project, in which a young woman, played by Joan Fontaine, marries the mysterious Maxim de Winter, with Laurence Olivier in the role.
"To mark the 20th anniversary of Derek Jarman’s death, Somerset House will host an exhibition celebrating his multifarious creative accomplishments"
3. Polpetto Re-opening
The ever-popular and intimate Soho restaurant, famous for its small plates and more than reasonable prices, will return in January 2014 after a brief closure. Originally seating 28 diners, it will now cater for 70, with chef Florence Knight at the culinary helm.
4. Her – January 14
On 14 January, Her comes to UK cinemas. Joaquin Phoenix plays a new divorcee who falls in love with his computer’s Siri-like operating system, Samantha, voiced by Scarlett Johansson. This idiosyncratic love story from Spike Jonze has set off rumours of a Best Actress Oscar nomination for Johansson’s vocal performance, which would be the first nomination of its kind.
5. ARTIST TEXTILES: Picasso to Warhol – January 31
A new exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum in Bermondsey, which opens on January 31, will examine the history of 20th century art – from Cubism to Surrealism and Pop Art – through textiles. With over 200 rare pieces, the show will include work by Marc Chagall, Salvador Dalí, Sonia Delaunay, Raoul Dufy, Barbara Hepworth, Fernand Léger, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Henry Moore, Pablo Picasso, Ben Nicholson and Andy Warhol.
6. Darren Almond, To Leave a Light Impression – January 22
White Cube, Bermondsey, will display a collection of Almond’s photographs from January 22, from his Fullmoon and Present Form series. For Almond’s Fullmoon photographs, gathered over a period of thirteen years, the photographer travelled to often inaccessible locations including Patagonia, Tasmania, Cape Verde and the Outer Hebrides, to shoot ethereal landscapes under the glow of the full moon. His work explores the relationship between and effects of time and memory.
7. Vault Festival – January 28 - March 8
Explore the labyrinth of tunnels beneath Waterloo Station as a 6-week long arts festival, starting on January 28, fires up underground. Headline shows include Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas adapted by Lou Stein, Ian McEwan’s The Cement Garden adapted by David Aula, and performances from The Kansas Smitty’s House Band.
8. Lee Miller's War – January 13 - February 15
An upcoming display at The Art Exchange, Colchester will shed fascinating light on a lesser-known aspect of Lee Miller's output – her work as a photojournalist during World War II. Revered for her beauty and surrealist photography, Miller was assigned the role of war correspondant for Vogue in 1944. She was the only female combat photojournalist to work in Europe during the war, witnessing many of the key events of its final stages. In a bizarre twist of fate, she and LIFE photographer David E. Scherman walked into an abandoned apartment in Munich, hours after Hitler's death, which turned out to be the dictator himself's. They stayed there for a few days, sleeping in his bed and photographing themselves washing in his bath.
9. Taking Shots: The Photography of William S. Burroughs, David Lynch: The Factory Photographs, Andy Warhol: Photographs, 1976 – 1987 – January 17
The Photographer’s Gallery will host a triad of exhibitions, opening on January 17. Featuring over 100 photographic and assemblage works by the novelist and cult icon William Burroughs and David Lynch’s series of photographs of derelict factories, the exhibition also offers a survey of Andy Warhol’s 8 x 10” photographs, with over fifty vintage black and white prints alongside a small number of Warhol’s Stitched Works, many previously unseen.
10. International Mime Festival – January 8
The multifarious International Mime Festival returns to London on January 8 to showcase British visual theatre at its best. Taking place at the Southbank Centre, the Royal Opera House and the Barbican, the programme includes live art, physical theatre, new circus, puppetry and objet theatre, with key performances of Compagnie Philippe Genty’s Forget Me Not and Compagnie Non Nova/Phia Ménard’s L’Après-Midi d’un Foehn, in which airborne plastic bag ballerinas dance to music by Debussy.
