Brilliant Things To Do in October

Ai Weiwei at Blenheim Palace – October 1 -  December 14 
Today marks the opening of the UK's most extensive Ai Weiwei exhibition to date, with over 50 of the renegade artist's works on display at beautiful Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire. The show will feature early photography from Weiwei's spell in New York in the 1980s through new site-specific works conceived from China, where the vocal social activist has been remanded without a passport since 2011.

Stanley Kubrick Exhibition – October 31 - January 25 2015
Ten years after it opened in Frankfurt, and following various stops around the world, the immensely popular exhibition celebrating the life and work of Stanley Kubrick will open at Canada's TIFF Bell Lightbox, Toronto. Drawing on extensive archives from Kubrick’s home and workplace, the show features rare photographs and letters, original props and costumes, screenplays, production materials, and cameras from the legendary filmmaker's nearly 50-year career. Throughout the run of the retrospective TIFF will hold a number of screenings of Kubrick's films, hosted by special guests, scholars and Kubrick's past collaborators, to explore the themes and continued influence of the auteur's work.

Jake and Dinos Chapman: In the Realm of the Unmentionable – October 25 - January 7 2015
The Chapman Brothers will return to their hometown of Hastings for a major new exhibition, continuing their exploration of consumer culture, Western identity and human mortality. The notorious duo will be sourcing artworks from antique and junk shops in Hastings before "fixing" them for the show. An unusual programme of events will accompany the exhibit including a live tattooing event where members of the public can commission tattoos from Jake and Dinos themselves.

Julie Verhoeven and Jimmy Merris: Julie og Jimmy go dogging – Until October 26
Another investigation into issues surrounding contemporary society comes courtesy of a collaboration between artists Julie Verhoeven and Jimmy Merris for the Hordaland Art Centre in Norway. Works on paper, video and performance, assemblages, objects and sculptures collide in a complex installation that offers a portrait of everyday life that is both humorous and disturbing, drawing on a visual archive of cultural highs and lows.

Martina Lindqvist: Neighbours – October 31 - January 4 2015
Talented young Finnish artist Martina Lindqvist will hold her first UK exhibition at the Print Sales' gallery at the end of the month, featuring her starkly beautiful series Neighbours – photographs of austere houses amid the remote and snowy backdrop of rural Finland – as well as a new series titled Murmurs, depicting vanitas photographed against Lindqvist’s ailing grandmother’s bedroom wallpaper. Both toy with the discrepancy between objective reality and subjective experience which Lindqvist describes as being central to her practice.

Newman Street Tavern’s Oysterfest 2014 – October 8-11
Seafood haven Newman Street Tavern will mark the start of the Native oyster season with Oysterfest, a celebration of "the saline beauties that represent the very best of British seafood." Events will include an oyster shucking masterclass and special oyster brunch on Saturday 11th – shucking knives at the ready!

Photography auctions at Phillips New York – October 1; George Hurrell: Legends in Light – Until December 6
Two photography auctions at Phillips New York will offer buyers the rare chance to purchase works by some of the most iconic photographers of the 20th century, from Newton, Avedon, Penn and Man Ray to Weston, Cartier-Bresson and Moholy-Nagy. Meanwhile, for anyone in Lima, MATE – Museo Mario Testino presents George Hurrell: Legends in Light, the first exhibition of works by the iconic photographer in South America, featuring stunning studio portraits of Hollywood's Golden Age stars.

PATTERNITY x Imperial War Museum – The Fleet of Dazzle
Pattern pioneers PATTERNITY have teamed up with the Imperial War Museum for a special project, drawing inspiration from the museum's extensive naval archives to design a range of monochrome products that reimagine the iconic dazzle camouflage patterns painted to disguise and protect ships during the First World War. A short film by PATTERNITY and Lily Silverton complements the project.

Mr Lyan Limited Edition Bottled Cocktail at Selfridges
Ever wished you could whip up a cocktail at home to rival the best mixologists? Well, dream no more. Following the widespread popularity of his "house-drink-only" White Lyan bar in East London, celebrated mixologist Mr Lyan (Ryan Chetiyawardana) has created the world’s first bespoke, bottled cocktails, now exclusively on sale at Selfridges.

Film – Palo Alto; Biophilia Live; David Bowie Is; Nightcrawler; Zabriskie Point
There are lots of cinematic delights hitting the big screen this month. Palo Alto, the accomplished debut from Francis Ford Coppola's granddaughter, Gia Coppola, is out on October 17; a stylish and authentic slice of teenage life, the film was adapted from James Franco's collection of short stories. While Antonioni's classic Zabriskie Point, a masterful study of the American counterculture of the late 60s, is re-released on October 24. For music lovers, Biophilia Live, a concert film capturing the human element of Björk's multi-disciplinary multimedia project, Biophilia makes for captivating viewing, while David Bowie Is, a documentary about the making of the groundbreaking V&A show, is out on the October 31. Finally, for those seeking a thrill, we recommend Nightcrawler – a chilling satire on tabloid journalism that sees an enthralling Jake Gyllenhaal adopt the role of an an ambulance-chasing paparazzo.

Tanya Ling: Lines – Until October 18
Best known for her fashion illustrations and popular Instagram account, Tanya Ling is also a gifted painter as proved by her latest exhibition at London's Alex Eagle gallery. Each created in a single session, the paintings are instinctive works made up of lines that weave and swirl to create the illusion of 3-D forms, at once vivid and ethereal, strong and feminine.

Simon Costin’s Impossible Catwalk Shows – Until December 13
Take a plunge into the magical world of esteemed set designer Simon Costin with Fashion Space Gallery's latest exhibition. Entitled Simon Costin’s Impossible Catwalk Shows, the show features a series of model sets, each exploring what catwalk shows could be if possibility had no boundaries, as well as celebrating Costin's unique vision and offering insight to the working processes of set design via his sketches and notebooks.

Victoria Beckham on Dover Street
Victoria Beckham's first stand-alone store is now open at 36 Dover Street. Placed in good company between APC and The Arts Club, the 7,000 square foot flagship is a three-story emporium housing her ready-to-wear collections and accessories. There are no cash registers, and nearly everything within the store links back to the VB collection, from the tiny chains on the clothing rails, identical to those on her handbags, to the diamond pattern on the ceiling reminiscent of the A/W14 jumper motif.

Frieze London 2014 – October 15-18
London's leading modern art fair returns for its twelfth instalment with more than 160 contemporary art galleries from around the globe showing work for sale. Highlights include solo presentations from Martin Creed (Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Berlin) and sculptor Eric Bainbridge (Workplace Gallery, Gateshead), while Mark Wallinger will reimagine Freud’s study for Hauser & Wirth. We're looking forward to Club Monaco's inaugural art exhibition, Fade Out, at their Sloane Square flagship store – curated by AnOther contributor Francesca Gavin and featuring works by British Artists, Tracey Emin, Stewart Cliff and Rick Myers; as well as One Man’s Trash is Another Man’s Treasure – a unique opportunity to view works from the collection of young Theo Danjuma, with a focus on the use of found materials by modern artists and contemporary African art. Finally, Rook & Raven will display works by acclaimed Colombian artist, Olga de Amaral, alongside those of four young, female artists – Emilie Pugh, Camilla Emson, Yun-Kyung Jeong and Adeline de Monseignat – who have each produced works inspired by the Colombian matriarch, exploring cultural identity and femininity through their material practice.

Compiled by Daisy Woodward