November pick of Europe's best culture events
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From Helsinki avant-garde cinema to factory fairs in Switzerland, your guide on where to be a culture vulture this month
Avanto Festival, 16 - 18 November, Helsinki
(Foto: ©avantofestival.com)
The eighth edition of the Avanto Festival in Helsinki is themed 'International Free Cinema'. It will focus on experimental cinema that question traditional cinematography. Watch a retrospective of Canadian artist Michael Snow, with Wavelength (1966_ at the forefront of minimalist film. Also featured is Austrian avant-gardist Peter Kubelka,an important pioneer of experimental filmmaking. In cooperation with Äänen Lumo ('The Charm of Sound', a non-profit association) and the Potlatch club, there will be a wide scope of free music from Finland and abroad
(Photo: ©avantofestival.com)
Europalia festival, 3 October 2007 - 3 February 2008, Brussels
Europalia Saint Oedipus (Photo: Wierszalin Theatre)
The pluri-disciplinary festival features music, film screenings and artwork usually centred around a particular country or theme. This year’s theme is the cultural unity and diversity of the 27 EU countries. Highlights include a film uniting 27 artists from the 27 countries discussing European art
Brighton Digital Festival 2007, November, UK
The third edition of this annual festival is all about digital art, from music to image and 3-D. The Portfolio Clinic is an invaluable opportunity for digital media hopefuls to get advice from successful companies. A display of pyrotechnics is a new public work using sensor-powered technology to create an interactive projection of animation. The Brighton and Hove Web Awards are an annual celebration of the city's creative talent. Events are dotted around the city with many taking place at Brighton University, reputed for its arts department
(Photo: onemorechris/ Flickr)
Berlin Jazz Festival, 31st October - 4 November, Germany
(Photo: Leonie Purchas)
This takes place at four venues - Kulturbrauerei, Quasimodo, A-Trane and Haus der Berliner Festspiele. This year’s highlights include , a concert and panel discussion on the role of culture in the Arabic-Jewish dialogue. Safinez Bousbia, an Irish-Algerian filmmaker and initiator of the ensemble features alongside Avitall Gerstetter, cantor of the Jewish Community of Berlin. Also playing is Finnish guitarist , Fat Kid Wednesdays, a from Minneapolis and German saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock, of the BBC Jazz award in 2005.
four-day festivalAriel meets AchmedEl-GustoKalle Kalimabandwinner
(Photo: Berliner Festspiele)
Seville film festival, 2 - 10 November, Spain
Different projection halls such as the Nervión Plaza Cinema and the Lope de Vega Theatre will host the festival dedicated specifically to contemporary European film. Spanish films showing include Ladrones ('Thieves' 2007, Jaime Marques), La noche de los girasoles ('Angosto' 2006, Jorge Sánchez-Cabezudo) and Alatriste (2006, Agustín Yanes). Tribute will be payed to Italian documentary maker and writer Gianni Minà, who won the last Berlinale Camera prize in 2007. The Czech film industry has a special focus in this edition
(Photo: festivaldesevilla.com)
Bratislava 17th month of Photography, November, Slovakia
The Fotofo Society and the Central European House of Photography have been organising a variety of group and individual photo exhibitions focusing mainly on central and eastern European photography. Several workshops will be held, as well as lectures, a photo-book competition, and a concert of compositions by Slovak musicians inspired by various photographs. Highlights include exhibitions of Paolo Pellegrin (Italy), Carl de Keyzer (Belgium) and Slovak Documentary Photography from 1970 – 1989
(Photo: ©ewan21/ Flickr)
'Kunst 07 Zurich' 13th International Contemporary Art Fair, 2 - 5 November, Switzerland
A panel at the art fair offers the ZKB Art Award for the first time to one of twelve Swiss candidates. This fair, held in two former factory buildings with a total area of 8000 m2 behind Zürich-Oerlikon railway station, is mainly targeted at interested collectors from Switzerland, and overseas and 'urbane and culturally interested Swiss visitors'. Panel discussion with French Chinese émigré novelist, Gao Xingjian, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2000
(Photo: kunstzuerich.ch)
Design contre Design, 26 September - 7 January 2008, Galleries du Grand Palais, Paris
The Design contre Design exhibition brings together objects and household furniture from the Industrial Revolution to the present day. Rather than follow a chronological arrangement, the exhibit juxtaposes and draws parallels between various pieces of art and architecture. The exhibition starts with formal comparisons: straight lines and geometry. For example, a wooden sofa by Dannhauser (1825) sits next to a corrugated cardboard ‘bubble’ chair by Canadian-born sculptor and architect Frank Gehry (1979)