October Diary: where to go and what to see

Date
3 October 2016

Autumn days and the grass is jewelled, as the song goes, and with this romantic vision in mind we present a sparkling array of events from across the globe that will fill the days until Halloween. From a design biennale in Istanbul to the Frieze Art Fairs in London, the It’s Nice That team has selected the events that we think are worth a visit as the nights draw in.

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Anton Kern, Frieze London 2015. Photo: Linda Nylind. Courtesy of Linda Nylind/Frieze

Frieze London and Frieze Masters

Regent’s Park, London, 5 – 8 October 2016

One of the biggest events in London’s art calendar, Frieze London and Frieze Masters is back a bit earlier this year, taking place at the beginning of the month. Frieze London will play host to 160 galleries from over 25 different countries, showcasing contemporary art. Frieze Masters looks to the past and will exhibit work from the ancient era and Old Masters to the late 20th Century. 

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Ernst Mumenthaler. Typenmöbel, 1929. Printed by Wassermann A.G., Basel. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Philip Johnson

How Should We Live? Propositions for the Modern Interior

Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1 October 2016 – 23 April 2017

How Should We Live? exhibits the collaborations, materials and processes that have shaped the modernist interior, with a focus on domestic interiors, re-created exhibition displays and retail spaces from the 1920s to the 50s. Over 200 works will be drawn together from MoMA’s Architecture and Design collection. 

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Mårten Spångberg: Natten, The Series 2016, photo by Anne Van Aerschot

ICA Live
ICA, London, 3-8 October

ICA Live is a week-long programme of events encompassing dance, film, discussion, performance and music to coincide with Frieze London. Celebrating its ongoing programme of experimental arts, the week includes talks by James Richards, Sanya Kantarovsky, Christopher Kulendran Thomas, The Sharjah Art Foundation and specially-curated performances from Andrew Kerton, PAN and Mårten Spångberg. 

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An evening with Cheryl Dunn, MoMA

An evening with Cheryl Dunn
MoMA, New York, 3 October

MoMA presents a new digital restoration of the queer classic The Watermelon Woman (1995), the first feature film directed by a black lesbian, for the film’s 20th anniversary. Cheryl (played by writer-director Cheryl Dunye) is a video store clerk who moonlights as a documentary filmmaker. Her most recent project finds her consulting a range of sources – including cultural critic Camille Paglia and the fictional Center for Lesbian Information & Technology (CLIT) – as she traces the story of an anonymous African American actress from the 1930s, whose only screen credit identifies her as “The Watermelon Woman”.

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Illuminations: Explorations in Music, Film and Art

Illuminations: Explorations in Music, Film and Art
London, 28 October – 11 November

Illuminations runs for two weeks at various locations around the capital with events at the Museum of London, musical performances in pitch darkness and a specially curated evening with Let’s Eat Grandma.

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Louise Bourgeois – Structures of Existence: The Cells

Louise Bourgeois – Structures of Existence: The Cells
Louisiana Copenhagen, Denmark, From 13 October

Denmark’s premier arts institution is holding a major exhibition that concentrates specifically on one of the Louise Bourgeois’ most original work categories: The Cells. A large collection of strange and sensory spatial scenarios will take over the whole of the Louisiana South Wing.

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Design Manchester. Image: Andrew Brooks

Design Manchester
Various locations, Manchester, 12 – 23 October

DM16 is Manchester’s festival of design, now in its fourth year, with talks, exhibitions, workshops, films, a design fair and parties in venues across the city. Speakers include Field, Jason Bruges, Peter Giradi, Alexandra Wood and Alan Kitching.

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Northern Design Festival

Northern Design Festival
Newcastle, UK, 7 – 16 October

The Northern Design Festival 2016 takes place in Newcastle and Gateshead and will be exploring the question: “Where do ideas come from?” Speakers include the winners of the 2015 Turner Prize, designer and architect collective Assemble; Israel born graphic designer, illustrator and artist Noma Bar; and graphic designer, author and creative director Angus Hyland.

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Vienna Design Week

Vienna Design Week
Vienna, Austria, Until 9 October

Vienna Design Week is Austria’s largest design festival, held across a variety of locations and events in Vienna. Last year it welcomed over 38,000 visitors. The festival, curated by Lilli Hollein, celebrates its tenth anniversary this year and features the likes of designers Tomas Alonso, Martino Gamper and Konstantin Grcic.

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Istanbul Design Biennial

Istanbul Design Biennial
Istanbul, Turkey, 22 October – 20 November

The third edition of the biennial is titled: Are We Human?: The Design of the Species: 2 seconds, 2 days, 2 years, 200 years, 200,000 years and is curated by Beatriz Colomina and Mark Wigley. The biennial will explore the intimate relationship between the concepts of “design” and “human”.

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