LISTINGS: MARCH 2010

Is creativity in architecture dead?
Part of the East Festival which celebrates cultural diversity in east London, this debate will examine the future of architecture as a creative force. Speakers include RIBAJ editor Hugh Pearman and joint 2008 Stirling Prize winner Alison Brooks. Created jointly with Open House, tickets are free but must be booked in advance.
> 8 March, 6.30-8pm
Allen and Overy LLP, One Bishops Square, London E1 6AD
www.openhouse.org.uk

Docomomo UK Lecture series 2010
A series of lectures covering different aspects of modernism. This month Robert Elwall, curator of the RIBA Photographs Collection, lectures on ‘Photographing Modern Architecture’.
> 23 March 2010 from 6.30pm
The Gallery, 75 Cowcross Street, London EC1M 6EJ
www.docomomo-uk.co.uk

Alan Fletcher: Fifty years of graphic work (and play)
Retrospective of one of Britain’s most celebrated graphic designers. Fletcher died in 2006 but his legacy continues to influence global trends in graphic design. This comprehensive exhibition includes original sketches, posters, objects and archive footage celebrating 50 years of the designer’s work.
> 03 April 2010
CUBE Gallery, 113-115 Portland Street, Manchester M1 6DW

Gargoyles and Shadows: Gothic Architecture and 19th Century Photography
Featuring photographs from the 1850s to 1915 by leading British, French and Italian photographers, this show portrays gothic revival buildings in the UK and Europe, analysing the relationship between photography and architectural practice. It also looks at the role of photography in documenting architectural heritage.
> 16 May 2010
V&A Museum,  Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL
www.vam.ac.uk

Decode: Digital Design Sensations
Showcases latest developments in digital and interactive design, from small screen-based graphics to large-scale installations. Curated in collaboration with onedotzero, it includes works by established international designers like Daniel Brown, Golan Levin and John Maeda, as well as emerging talent.
> 11 April 2010
V&A+ RIBA Architecture Gallery, V&A,  Cromwell Road, London SW7
www.vam.ac.uk

Royal Academy Architecture Programme
Explores architecture’s place within contemporary culture. Lecturers include Charles Saumarez Smith, Morten Schmidt of Schmidt Hammer Lassen, and Benedetta Tagliabue.
> 15 May 2010
Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BD
www.royalacademy.org.uk

Ron Arad: Restless
Exhibition of three decades of the designer’s work, from his early post-punk style of assembling products from readymade parts, to his exclusive, highly polished sculptural objects. Even the bar will sport Arad designs to sit in.
> 16 May 2010
Barbican Art Gallery, Level 3, Silk Street, London EC2
www.barbican.org.uk/ronarad

Michaelangelo’s Dream
One of the Courtauld Institute’s great treasures,  Michaelangelo’s magnificent ‘Dream of Human Life’ was executed at the height of the artist’s powers. This exhibition explores the making and meaning of the drawing in the context of related works by both the artist and his contemporaries.
> 16 May 2010
Courtauld Institute of Art, Strand, London WC2R 0RN
www.courtauld.ac.uk

RIBAJ RECOMMENDS
Jenny Holzer
Holzer is best known for her use of text as art, combining investigative use of language with innovative use of materials and modes of distribution – together confronting some of the most potent issues of the time. This is the largest and most comprehensive show of her work for 15 years and the first of its scale to be shown in the UK.
5 March-16 May
Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead Quays South, Shore Road, Gateshead
NE8 3BA

DON’T MISS
Semiconductor: Heliocentric
Artists Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt work with video and digital animation to explore the mechanisms of perception. This show uses time-lapse photography and astronomical tracking to plot the sun’s trajectory across a series of landscapes, but maintaning the sun as static, so the landscape is what appears to move. Stephen Hawking believes that the ‘heliocentric view’, with Galileo as its vanguard, was responsible for the birth of modern science.
5 March-1 May
Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art
City Library and Arts Centre, Fawcett Street, Sunderland SR1 1RE
www.avfestival.co.uk