Ensure that March is a month well spent with the help of AnOther's cultural calendar for the weeks ahead
Exhibitions
William Eggleston – Los Alamos at Foam, Amsterdam: March 17 – June 7, 2017
Born in Memphis, William Eggleston has long been considered a pioneer in photography, from his creation of colour photographs in the 1960s to his use of quotidian America as subject. Amsterdam’s Foam museum is bringing together a collection of images from Eggleston’s renowned series entitled Los Alamos, photographs taken on a number of roadtrips throughout America’s Southern states between 1966 and 1974. The resulting images are vibrant and nostalgic, fascinating glimpses into ordinary America.
From Selfie to Self-Expression at Saatchi Gallery, London: March 31 – July 23, 2017
Although taking photos of oneself may seem a decidedly modern phenomenon, Saatchi Gallery’s latest exhibition calls this notion into question by documenting the history of the selfie, tracing such forms of self-expression back to paintings of Velazquez and Rembrandt through to the likes of Cindy Sherman and Tracey Emin, in an attempt to see past the selfie’s apparent inanity. The aim is to establish the creative potential of the selfie, and this will be further explored through the #SaatchiSelfie competition: people are invited to submit their most creative selfie with the chance of it being displayed at the gallery, made instantly more intriguing with the elusive promise of a yet-to-be-announced “priceless photographic experience” for the winner. Photography enthusiasts best get snapping.
Rodin: The Centenary Exhibition at Grand Palais, Paris: March 23 – July 31, 2017
Prolific and groundbreaking artist Auguste Rodin worked during the latter half of the 19th and into the early years of the 20th century, sculpting a creative universe through his innovative choices of subject and distinctive style that rendered him a trailblazer amongst his contemporaries. 2017 marks one hundred years since Rodin’s death, and rightly so Paris’ Grand Palais is celebrating the sculptor with their centenary exhibition of over 200 of his works, as well as drawings and sculptures by Picasso, Matisse, Brancusi and many more. Set within the hallowed walls of the Grand Palais, this exhibition promises an extensive and captivating insight into the practice and work of one of France’s greatest sculptors.
Campbell Addy: Matthew 7:7&8 at KK Outlet, London: March 2 – 31, 2017
Hoxton’s KK Outlet is exhibiting a highly personal body of work by Campbell Addy throughout March, the inspiration behind it being an acutely resonant passage of scripture (also lending its name to the title of the exhibition) that illustrated significant moments of the photographer’s life: his departure from his Jehovah’s Witness upbringing and identifying as gay as a teenager. The resulting photographs are varied in their themes: creativity, faith, religion and sexuality all playing prominent roles in Addy’s coming-of-age. What’s more, Addy will also exhibit a series created in 2014 with Edvinas Bruzas in South Korea: Unlocking Seoul is a study of the artists’ experiences of the South Korean capital’s LGBT scene.
Beyond the Stars: The Mystical Landscape from Monet to Kandinsky at Musée d’Orsay, Paris: March 14 – June 25, 2017
Starry nights and mystical landscapes make up Musée d’Orsay’s latest enchanting exhibition. The Paris museum – known for housing the largest collection of impressionist and post-impressionist works in the world – is organising the exhibition in partnership with the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, thus the show will combine famed works by the likes of Gauguin, Monet and Klimt with leading Canadian and North-American artists of the 1920s and 30s, including Georgia O’Keeffe and Emily Carr. An exploration of the long-standing affinity between landscape and artist, the show will demonstrate the development of this relationship throughout an age of scientific discovery, religious upheaval and the First World War, and how myriad artists continued to turn to the landscape as a beacon of contemplation and inspiration.
Memento Mori: Robert Mapplethorpe Photographs from the Peter Marino Collection at Chanel Nexus Hall, Tokyo: March 14 – April 9, 2017
Robert Mapplethorpe’s photographs are endlessly fascinating in their variety and aesthetic. Architect Peter Marino has built up a substantial collection – one of the most significant in the world – of the late photographer’s work, which will be exhibited by Chanel in Tokyo this month. The collection of over 90 images featured in the exhibition will cover portraiture, still life, flowers and nudes, brought together under the title Memento Mori to introduce the notion of mortality, an aspect inspired by Mapplethorpe’s untimely death at the age of 42 in 1989. With the Marino-designed black and white walls of the gallery space, and those of one room rendered in black leather, this is bound to be a striking show – certainly not to be missed should you find yourself in Japan.
Rebecca Louise Law: The Iris at NOW Gallery, London: March 3 – May 7, 2017
An upcoming installation that promises to be utterly enchanting is that of Rebecca Louise Law’s The Iris at Greenwich Peninsula’s NOW Gallery: 10,000 fresh irises will be suspended from the ceiling as if floating in the space. Over the course of the two-month long installation, the flowers will evolve naturally, the colours changing and petals gradually drying, meaning this is one to visit repeatedly so as to witness the evolution of the nature on display. Law is known for her innovative installations, often making use of flora, that interrogate the ephemerality of nature, and The Iris is no exception. Honestly, what could be more heavenly than finding yourself happily overwhelmed by thousands of blue, purple, yellow and white blooms?
Nathan Eastwood: My England at Sid Motion Gallery, London: March 3 – April 8, 2017
Nathan Eastwood’s paintings come across as snapshots of everyday life in England, because that is exactly how they came to fruition: Eastwood would take photos on a phone and work from these images to create his atmospheric paintings. Scenes in launderettes, a queue at a food bank and a man glancing at a ticket before walking through a doorway all make for remarkable subject matter, many crafted in monochrome and all with immense detail, and viewing that feels at once inclusive and voyeuristic. Sid Motion Gallery is still a young venture, in an area of London undergoing exciting regeneration, rendering Eastwood’s observations of English life especially prescient.
Sterling Ruby at Gagosian, New York: March 1 – April 15, 2017
New York’s Gagosian gallery is exhibiting new ceramic sculptures and paintings by Sterling Ruby this month, a collection that features large, abstract basins – from his Basin Theology series – boasting fragmented and textured compositions beneath thick glazes. Alongside the ceramic forms will be smaller-scale oil paintings where Ruby has introduced scraps of fabric and cardboard into the swathes of vibrant paint. Ruby – who recently designed the space in which Raf Simons showed his inaugural collection for Calvin Klein in February – has stated ahead of the exhibition, “I am smashing all of my previous attempts and futile, contemporary gestures, placing them into a mortar, and grinding them down with a pestle.”
Disobedient Bodies: JW Anderson at The Hepworth Wakefield, Yorkshire: March 18 – June 18, 2017
Disobedient Bodies is a Jonathan Anderson-curated exhibition in Yorkshire that places focus on the use of the human form across art, fashion and design in the 20th and 21st centuries. The innovative Northern Irish designer has long been fascinated by modern art, and this is illustrated through his selection of sculptures for the exhibition: Lynn Chadwick, Louise Bourgeois and Henry Moore amongst others are included, alongside designs by iconic names in fashion, such as Rei Kawakubo, Christian Dior and Issey Miyake. As well as these pieces of fashion and sculpture the exhibition will house objects of craft and design, all with the intention of highlighting the multifarious ways the human form can provide inspiration and act as a subject in art.
The Best of Food and Drink
Nape by Cannon & Cannon, Camberwell Church Street, London: open now
British cured meats take centre stage at Cannon & Cannon’s venture in Camberwell Church Street, Nape. Plates and platters of delectable cured, air-dried and smoked meats are on offer along with wines and beers, and you can even buy the meats and local bread and cheese to take home – in short, a charcuterie enthusiast’s heaven.
Balls & Company’s International Women’s Day dinner: March 8, 2017
Greek Street is home to charming meatball restaurant Balls & Company – and upstairs partner of underground speakeasy Company Below – who are hosting a special dinner in honour of International Women’s Day on March 8, where an impressive line up of five female chefs will each create one dish inspired by women who have shaped their lives. The five-course dinner will be a veritable feast: from Olia Hercules’ homage to her Ukrainian heritage and her family’s ‘broth master’ matriarchs to dishes learned from formidable colleagues throughout years in the kitchen. Expect an unashamed celebration of women in the industry and their positive force.
Holi Festival at Dishoom, Bethnal Green: March 12, 2017
If you’ve not yet ventured to Dishoom, you’ve surely heard it raved about, and the second Sunday in March presents the perfect opportunity to make the trip: the restaurant will celebrate Holi Festival, the vividly bright and inclusive Indian spring festival famed for the literal throwing of vibrant coloured powder. Dishoom’s aim is to break down barriers and encourage an air of inclusivity, thus all are welcome at the festivities where street food and entertainment will be on tap.
The Cheese Bar at Camden Stables: March 2, 2017
The Cheese Truck launched in 2014 and has been seducing festival goers and food market perusers alike with their gooey melted toasties, and now a permanent fixture entitled The Cheese Bar opens at the historic Camden Stables. Serving up the classics that they have become known for, always using British cheese (of course), plus new additions like a Mexican iteration of a fondue and Breakfast Poutine featuring candied pancetta and cheese curds – if that doesn’t sound devilishly delicious, we’re not sure what does.
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The Best of Film
Awards season may be over but there’s no dearth of fabulous films to keep you occupied this month. Don’t miss Certain Women, the spellbinding new offering from American director Kelly Reichardt. A deeply poetic film, it follows three ordinary women – played by Laura Dern, Michelle Williams and Kristen Stewart – as they struggle to blaze their own trails in America’s low-lit northwest. An Oscar-nominated Isabelle Huppert is riveting in Elle, Paul Verhoeven’s brilliantly subversive thriller about a wealthy Parisian games executive who is raped in her own home, and embarks on an unorthodox mission to uncover her abuser’s identity. Then there’s Anna Biller’s The Love Witch, the tale of a beguiling young witch using her magic to make men fall in love with her – a visually sumptuous ode to 60s pulp novels. French director Olivier Assayas reunites with Kristen Stewart for Personal Shopper, a gripping ghost story for the digital age. Stewart stars as the titular buyer, a young American who has moved to Paris in the hopes of making contact with her recently deceased twin brother.
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March is also an exceptional month for foreign film releases. There’s Iranian masterpiece The Salesman, Asghar Farhadi’s Oscar-winning story of a young couple whose relocation to a new flat results in a taut and tumultuous case of mistaken identity. Aquarius, from Brazilian director Kleber Mendonça Filho, is a stunning portrait of modern Brazilian life centred on a retired music critic and her battle with the corrupt real estate agents attempting to abolish her beloved apartment block. While Graduation by Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu is a suspenseful musing on parenthood and educational bureaucracy, exploring the lengths to which a father will go to protect the future of his daughter after she falls victim to a life-altering attack. Finally, the much-acclaimed documentary Gleason is essential, and extremely powerful, viewing. It traces five years in the life of former American football player Steve Gleason whose diagnosis with the autoimmune disease ALS prompts him to start recording video journals for his unborn son.
Great Performances
March brings with it a plethora of enticing new productions. There’s Ugly Lies the Bone at the National Theatre, the brilliantly accomplished drama from US playwright Lindsey Ferrentino, which follows a severely injured war veteran as she attempts to rebuild her life with the aid of virtual reality therapy. Limehouse, a new play from Steve Waters, premieres at The Donmar this month providing a stirring, imagined account of the personal conflicts that led to the historic Labour party split of 1981. Maliphantworks at The Print Room sees visionary choreographer and dancer Russell Maliphant curate a special programme of intimate works, featuring past and present collaborators, in what proves a truly unmissable evening. At the Harold Pinter Theatre, Imelda Staunton and Conleth Hill take up the principal roles in the much-anticipated new production of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, accompanied by Luke Treadaway and Imogen Poots, marking the first staging o this play since Albee’s recent passing. Last but not least there’s the Tony-winning stage adaptation of MGM’s adored musical movie An American in Paris making its West End debut this month. A heartwarming love story punctuated by George and Ira Gershwin’s iconic songs and an array of breathtaking dance sequences.
