PICK OF THE WEEK
Jan Vanriet / Laura Lancaster
New Art Gallery Walsall, from Friday January 29
Belgian painter Vanriet is globally renowned, yet this is his first UK show, with his work characteristically drawing on his parents’ experiences as prisoners of war. Meanwhile, Newcastle-based artist Lancaster reproduces scenes from discarded family photographs and home movies picked up from flea markets and eBay.
ALSO THIS WEEK
Light
Old Rep, Thursday January 28
The latest of the venue’s New Work Night socials is headlined by Theatre Ad Infinitum’s pulsating show influenced by the Edward Snowden disclosures, dialogue-free and lit by LEDs and torchlight.
Jindrich Streit: Sovinec
Centrala, from Friday January 29
Images of the Czech photographer’s home village, captured by his lens over four decades, often to the chagrin of the local authorities.
Richard Woods: Duck Weave
Eastside Projects, from Saturday January 30
The artist revisits weaving techniques of the very first humans, kicking off Eastside’s two-year-long Production Show programme.
The Solid Life Of Sugar Water
Rep, from Tuesday February 2
A couple negotiate their communication breakdown following the stillbirth of their daughter in a play that brought the house down in Edinburgh last year.
Land Of Our Fathers
Mac, Tuesday February 2 and Wednesday February 3
As Margaret Thatcher ascends to power, six Welsh miners become trapped underground in this powerful production.
STILL RUNNING
Cinematic Time Machine
Electric Cinema, throughout 2016
Continuing the lookback at the 1920s with screenings of FM Murnau’s silent romantic drama Sunrise on Saturday and the notorious Russian experimental doc Man With A Movie Camera on Tuesday.
Dinh Q Lê
Ikon, until Sunday April 3
A video installation from the Vietnamese artist exploring the turbulent history of a set of islands off the coast of Peru.
DATE FOR THE DIARY
Dan Flavin
Ikon, from April 13
A major exhibition of fluorescent lighting from the famed American minimalist, fittingly entitled It is what it is and it ain’t nothing else.
The Brum Notes arts roundup returns in a new monthly format on Tuesday March 1. Listen to Dan Cooper-Gavin’s arts show Theatre Of The Absurd on Brum Radio, Tuesdays 7-8pm.
