Cultural life: Rachel Whiteread, artist

Rachel Whiteread

Visual Arts

I've just been to the Ice Age Art: Arrival of the Modern Mind exhibition at the British Museum. It was fabulous seeing those art works, although it was a bit too crowded for my liking. There is a very interesting exhibition titled Adjective Machine Gun by Eddie Peake at the White Cube. It has elements of sexuality, architecture and performance. It's great to see work like that from the next generation of artists.

Films

The last film I watched was Side Effects. I think there's probably some truth in it in terms of the future of the pharmaceutical industry. Rooney Mara and Catherine Zeta-Jones give very good performances. I also loved Lincoln.

Books

I'm reading Hello World: Where Design Meets Life by Alice Rawsthorn, which talks about the effect of design on our lives. I've just finished Pond Life: A Swimmer's Journal by Al Alvarez, a book about old age and swimming, which I loved.

Theatre

I last saw Twelfth Night at the Globe with Mark Rylance. There was something very profound about standing outside in the rain with my head right by the stage in the pit, seeing a play that is actually very contemporary.

Rachel Whiteread's exhibition Detached is at the Gagosian Gallery, London WC1 (www.gagosian.com) 11 April to 25 May