Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

On the agenda: ICA; Spitalfields Music festival; Theory; Dell; Geek of The Year; Christopher Fowler

Opera for everyone, awards for nerds and a Belgian designer for 1990s revivalists

Sunday 21 November 2010 01:00 GMT
Comments

Art

Who better to spot the next set of YBAs than... you. Works from 49 of the most promising recent art graduates – chosen by a panel including the 2008 Turner Prize winner Mark Leckey – are on display at the Bloomberg New Contemporaries exhibition at London's ICA from Friday. So why not act out your very own Saatchi fantasies by perusing through a bank of videos, photos, sculptures, animations and paintings, from Vasileios Kantas' juxtaposition of football and fashion in "Red Ball", to Ed Atkins' short film A Thousand Centuries of Death? To 23 January, ica.org.uk

Adam Jacques

Music

This winter's Spitalfields Music festival in east London has its usual mix of the baroque and the bewitching. And on 17 December, four composers who span the field from electronica to opera will team up with four film-makers who've each provided a seven-minute short and 100 singers in a stunning church setting for the premiere of Streetwise Opera's 'Fables – a Film Opera'. Streetwise? All the performers are or have been homeless and use singing to help rebuild their lives. Naturally, tickets start at a tenor. spitalfields music.org.uk

Simmy Richman

Fashion

The Belgian designer Olivier Theyskens, formerly of Rochas and Nina Ricci, is taking the helm at American brand Theory, purveyors of chic tailoring at not too eye-wateringly high prices. And how better to celebrate the return of grunge-inspired 1990s minimalism than with a pair of black satin drop-from-the-hip trousers, or an over-sized white shirt? Theyskens Theory is the perfect capsule of hard-wearing and high-impact pieces for spring/summer 2011, from workwear to casual basics. Tel: 020 7221 6086, theory.com

Harriet Walker

Technology

Think laptop, think design, and it's hard to get away from thinking of a Mac. Well, Mr Jobs is about to get a little competition, as PC manufacturer Dell has linked up with hip T-shirt company Threadless to add some edge to its Design Studio XPS notebooks. Threadless, whose community base of users create the motifs featured on its site, has adapted 11 of the crowd-sourced creations to adorn laptop lids, turning functional hunks of metal and plastic into rather affecting pieces of art. From £648, dell.co.uk

AJ

Comedy

The Inbetweeners with audiences of 3.7 million; the Facebook boys on the big screen; the Jarvis Cocker revival. The geeks are definitely back. But what's it take to be crowned Geek of The Year? That's what lifestyle site geeks.co.uk aims to find out at an awards ceremony at east London venue Underbelly. Five of the most promising nerds who sign up to facebook.com/geekoftheyearuk will be picked for a geek-off on 30 November, where comedians Adam Bloom and Carl Donnelly will provide the laughs. If you're not geeky enough to net the big prize, you could still win three pairs of tickets for the event – just email your details to newreview@independent.co.uk.

AJ

Theatre

Christopher Fowler, The New Review's polymathic critic, short-story writer and chronicler of Forgotten Authors, is branching out even further, with a new play, Celebrity, opening on Tuesday at the Phoenix Artist Club in London. The play is based on the life of a real-life London PR agent, with only the names of the talent changed to protect the author from libel. Tickets (£10) are rapidly selling out, so call 020 7836 1077 or email maurice@phoenix artistclub.com to book yours now. phoenixartistclub.com

Katy Guest

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in