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Top 10 events in London

EVENTS IN LONDON ARE UPDATED DAILY - last update (05/01/09 - 5pm London time)

- A Hell of a Fight for the Last Piece of Pudding - Whitecross Gallery welcomes you to enter the intriguing worlds of father and son duo, Jock and John Mooney. An opportunity not to be missed, they pitch their sculpture, drawings and paintings against each other for the first time in ‘A Hell of a Fight for the Last Piece of Pudding’. Having inherited his father’s uncanny sense of the absurd, Jock Mooney constructs monumental installations from hoards of miniature figurines and oddball characters with dislocated limbs, alongside other bizarre objects such as Flintstones inspired wreaths littered with bones and fried eggs - effigies of political, historical, mythical and religious figures. The sheer scale of these installations is jaw dropping, considering that each piece is individually sculpted from a plastic modelling compound and hand painted in high gloss.  Until January 10. www.whitecrossgallery.com

- Robin Rhode: Through the Gate - Rhode’s practice, which incorporates performance, photography, film, drawing and sculpture, draws upon his upbringing in South Africa. For this exhibition, he tackles the historical relationship between Britain and his native country. Until 10 January. www.whitecube.com

- The Street - Henry VIII's Wives - Henry VIII’s Wives is a collaborative group of artists, based in Berlin, Copenhagen, London and Oslo. Since 2005 the group has been focused on their ongoing project Tatlin’s Tower and the World. Russian Constructivist Vladimir Tatlin designed the 400ft tower in 1919 as a symbol of modernity and site of discussion and debate; it remains famously impractical and unbuilt. Henry VIII’s Wives plan to realise the project by building the tower in its full size and intended materials but in different parts and in various locations around the world, so that each realisation will function as a catalyst for different kinds of activity. Until 11 January. www.whitechapel.org

- Turmoil and Tranquillity - This exhibition will celebrate the National Maritime Museum’s unrivalled collection of 16th- and 17th-century Dutch and Flemish maritime paintings. These seascapes and coastal views of the Stuart Age are of outstanding quality, whilst the Queen’s House itself once housed a studio for featured father and son artists, the van de Veldes. Turmoil and Tranquillity will focus on the emerging genre of maritime art in the Low Countries in the 17th century. The exhibition will highlight the key maritime painters of the period and demonstrates the rich aesthetic and narrative potential of the genre. By displaying both Dutch and Flemish artists, the exhibition will highlight the reciprocal influences within the Netherlands and illustrate the emergence of the seascape as a distinct art form. Until 11 January. www.nmm.ac.uk

- Cold War Modern - Design 1945-70 - The period after the Second World War was one of anxiety and tension but also one of great optimism and unprecedented technological development. This exhibition examines how design was shaped by the cold war period against the backdrop of the battle between communism and capitalism, the advances of the space race, and the international competition to be modern. Concentrating on the years from 1945 to 1970, the exhibition displays objects from around the world including the USA, the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Italy, France, East and West Germany, Cuba and the UK. Until 11 January. www.vam.ac.uk

- Cildo Meireles - Cildo Meireles  is widely recognised as one of the leaders in the international development of Conceptual art. This exhibition is the first extensive presentation of the artist’s work in the UK. Revealing how he is particularly fascinated by scale, the works range from an object in the form of a small ring to an installation covering 225 square metres. Meireles has made some of the most philosophically brilliant, politically telling and aesthetically seductive works in recent art. Since the late 1960s he has created sculptures and installations which involve an element of participation. His deep interest in the relationship between the sensorial and the cerebral, the body and the mind, is now seen as one of the defining characteristics of the post-war Brazilian avant-garde, out of which Meireles emerged with his early works at the end of the 1960s. He has remained loyal to these origins, and to a political and ethical viewpoint formed outside the so-called cultures of plenty. Until 11 January. www.tate.org.uk/modern

- Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2008 - In quite the largest selection in some years, Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2008 introduces the work of 57 artists. Open to all final year graduates and post-graduates of Fine Art at British Colleges and Universities, this year's submission attracted over 1400 applications. Until 11 January. www.newcontemporaries.org.uk

- Cartoons and Coronets: The Genius of Osbert Lancaster - Osbert Lancaster was one of the most famous artistic personalities of his day, renowned as an architectural satirist, illustrator, theatre designer and cartoonist. This exhibition, which marks the centenary of his birth, will celebrate the astonishing range of Lancaster as an artist and as a chronicler of style and fashion, drawing on an unparalleled archive of original designs, illustrations, works on paper, sketchbooks, theatre sets and photographs, none of which have ever been previously exhibited. Until 11 January. www.wallacecollection.org

- Christmas Past to Christmas Present - A celebration of the festive season as seen through the decorations, Christmas stockings, crackers, chocolate boxes, biscuit tins and hundreds of toys and games that have become so much part of Xmas tradition since Victorian times. Festooned with images of Santa Claus and numerous Christmas cards from every era, this exhibition also features festive pictures from magazine covers, song sheets and children`s scraps. Until 13 January. www.museumofbrands.com

- Tory Blues: A Cartoon History of the Conservative Party - This exhibition of original cartoons by leading political cartoonists, from Sir John Tenniel, Sir Francis Carruthers Gould, E T Reed, Harry Furness through Low, Strube, Butterworth and Illingworth to Steve Bell, Peter Brookes, Dave Brown, Nick Garland and Morten Morland plus many more, charts in a satirical fashion the fortunes of the Conservative Party. From Walpole to Cameron with the likes of Baldwin, Churchill, Thatcher and John Major in between, this exhibition will appeal to anyone with an interest in modern British politics. Until 17 January. www.politicalcartoon.co.uk

- Mamma Andersson - Andersson’s mysterious and compelling paintings present an everyday world instilled with magic, folklore and unsettling ambiguity. Sensuously rendered in thick, impenetrable swathes of paint which melt into diaphanous oily streaks, landscapes and interiors merge into each other only to separate again. Her distinct visual language creates its own context where biographical references, visual quotes, cinematic flow and disjointed narrative converge. In this exhibition domestic settings, institutional interiors and remote landscapes are bathed in cool, Nordic light and appear to have been deserted by the figures who so often inhabit them. There is a pervading sense that these uncanny scenes are sites of recent trauma or impending danger. Like a film score, her rich palette and evocative paintwork weave an enigmatic atmosphere of suspense. Until 17 January. www.stephenfriedman.com

- Fernando Ortega - The exhibition presents a new body of work articulating Ortega's delicate experimentation in the translation of sound into visual registers. The artist reactivates traditional performances and dormant instruments while generating resonances between visual and sonorous occurrences. In the making of his work, Ortega seems to share Sol LeWitt's conviction that 'irrational thoughts should be followed absolutely and logically'. Ortega's practice sees the artist thoroughly pursue an idea that can at first appear unachievable due to practical impediments. His works rely on fortuitous and apparently inconsequential circumstances; ephemeral situations capable of bridging intellectual pursuits with powerful sensorial experiences. Until 17 January. www.lissongallery.com

- Renaissance Faces: Van Eyck to Titian - For the first time ever, this exhibition will trace the development of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century portrait painting, in both northern and southern Europe side by side. 'Renaissance Faces' will feature many of the great masters of the Renaissance, including Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, Michelangelo, Botticelli, Holbein, Cranach, Van Eyck and Dürer. The exhibition will comprise around seventy paintings, along with medals, sculptures, drawings and engravings. 'Renaissance Faces' will explore issues of likeness, memory and identity, examining portraits which were commissioned in connection with courtship, friendship and marriage – including self-portraits of artists themselves. Until 18 January. www.nationalgallery.org.uk

- Andy Warhol: Other Voices, Other Rooms - No artist living in the second half of the 20th century has made a deeper impression on popular culture and consciousness than Andy Warhol (1928-87). The Hayward presents a major exhibition that brings a fresh perspective to his work, showing works from the 1950s through to the 1980s. The exhibition presents Warhol’s films, screen-tests, videos and television programmes, which combined with extraordinary archive material, seminal paintings and installations, illuminates his creative process. Until 18 January. www.hayward.org.uk

- Rafael Lozano-Hemmer - Frequency and Volume - For his first solo UK exhibition in a public gallery, Lozano-Hemmer transforms The Curve into an immense interactive environment. Frequency and Volume is composed of 48 radios, which can potentially all be tuned to different channels simultaneously. The 90-metre long arc of the gallery wall becomes a visual and sonic representation of London’s radio spectrum, constantly changing according to the physical position of its visitors. Until 18 January. www.barbican.org.uk

- Turner Prize 2008 - The Turner Prize is a contemporary art award that was set up in 1984 to celebrate new developments in contemporary art. The prize is awarded each year to 'a British artist under fifty for an outstanding exhibition or other presentation of their work in the twelve months preceding'.   Nominations are invited each year, and the prize is judged by an independent jury that changes annually. The four shortlisted artists present works in a show normally held at Tate Britain before the winner is announced in December. Artists are not judged on their show at Tate. The decision is based on the work they were nominated for. Until 18 January. www.tate.org.uk

- GSK Contemporary - The Royal Academy of Arts launched GSK Contemporary, a new eclectic three month season of exhibitions and events. GSK Contemporary shows international artists, surveys emerging trends and provides a new platform for experimentation, discussion and debate within the contemporary visual arts. On entering the building, visitors are greeted by Swiss artist Rémy Markowitsch’s suspended lightsculpture, Onion Options. The Berlin-based painter Maya Roos uses the computer software Norton to break down and colour code the work of an individual and create a ‘portrait’ through the hard disk of the subject’s personal computer. The large painting, Portrait by Speed Disk: Malcolm is unveiled in the ground floor entrance gallery. Until 19 January. www.royalacademy.org.uk

- Jonh Korner - War Problems - War Problems is a new series of sixteen large-scale works, each representing a Danish solider killed in Afghanistan and each bearing a single name - Anders, Mikkel, Thomas, Sonny. Unlike a traditional war artist, Kørner himself has not visited Afghanistan nor witnessed first hand how the sixteen soldiers lived and died. From the outset, his intention was to create an image of a dead Danish soldier that was independent of insider knowledge or a result of investigative research. Kørner’s signature use of watered-down acrylics, bleeding brushwork and intense colours is seemingly at odds with emotive and often disturbing scenes of war. Until 24 January. www.victoria-miro.com

- Alan Aldridge - the man with the Kaleidoscope Eyes - This is the first UK retrospective featuring the works of the celebrated illustrator and graphic designer Alan Aldridge. Dubbed the graphic entertainer in the 1960s and 70s, Aldridge illustrated lyric books for the Beatles, album covers for the Rolling Stones, the Who and Elton John, was Art Director for Penguin, illustrated children’s books such as the much loved The Butterfly Ball and designed adverts and identities for iconic brands such as the House of Blues and the Hard Rock Café. The exhibition will be an elaborate display of complete works as well as sketches, notes, letters and other archival material as well as films; bringing to life the exciting career of Alan Aldridge. Until 25 January. www.designmuseum.org

- Clarke's Cabinets of Cures: Blood, Mermaids and Madness - Taking inspiration from Wellcome Collection’s rich archive, ‘Clarke's Cabinets of Cures’ by Mark Clarke is a series of mismatched cabinets with fascinating stories to tell. Each cabinet is created from disparate reclaimed fabrics and everyday products to reveal a series of surreal moments in medical history. An intriguing cast of characters emerge, from the Crimean War heroine Mary Seacole to the Spanish Countess of Chinchón seeking a cure for malaria. Until 25 January. www.wellcomecollection.org

- This Is War! Robert Capa at Work - Gerda Taro On the Subject of War - Robert Capa is one of the leading photographers of the twentieth century and defined how modern warfare was photographed. This exhibition, which includes over 150 images, some never-before-seen photographs and newly discovered documents, illuminates Capa’s working process and features many of the photographs that have become iconic images of war. The talented and groundbreaking German photographer, Gerda Taro spent her brief but dramatic career photographing the Spanish Civil War alongside Robert Capa, her lover and collaborator. She was one of the first female photographers to work on the frontline and the first to be killed in action in 1937, aged just 26, whilst covering the battle for the city of Brunete. Taro’s unflinching images of the casualties of war, distinguished by her experimentation with the dynamic camera angles of New Vision photography, are a remarkable contribution to the tradition of war photography. Until 25 January. www.barbican.org.uk

- Paths to Fame: Turner Watercolours from The Courtauld - This exhibition will be the first full display of The Courtauld Gallery’s outstanding collection of watercolours by J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851). The works span the artist’s career from important early landscapes made when he was a teenager, to the highly finished watercolours and his celebrated expressive late works. The works form The Courtauld Gallery will be supplemented by closely related loans from Tate and private collections, enabling viewers to see the development of some compositions from early sketches and exploratory ‘colour beginnings’ to finished watercolours and published prints. Until 25 January. www.courtauld.ac.uk

- Bob Dylan - This exhibition documents not only the revered singer-songwriter, or the award-winning film director but the relationship between the two – a friendship that led to some truly extraordinary images. In more than 40 years of photography and cinema, Schatzberg has achieved great acclaim. This, his first UK Dylan exhibition, celebrates the enormous talent of both the photographer and his subject. Best known for his iconic Blonde on Blonde album cover, Schatzberg’s exciting and personal archive exposes Dylan at his most enigmatic - giving viewers the exclusive opportunity to view the collection. Until 28 January. www.proud.co.uk

- Keith Coventry - Painting and Sculptures Part I: Early Groups - This is the first of two exhibitions presenting major works by the acclaimed British artist, Keith Coventry. Coventry is known for his paintings and sculptures which manipulate the legacies of Modernism in order to address the conditions of contemporary urban life. 'Painting and Sculptures Part I: Early Groups' will present work made in the decade following Coventry’s first solo exhibition in 1992. Including important works such as his 'White Abstracts', 'Estate Paintings', 'History Paintings', and 'Supermodels', the 'Junk' series and a selection of sculptures, the exhibition will demonstrate the extraordinary breadth and consistency of Coventry's oeuvre. Until 31 January. www.haunchofvenison.com

- Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer's Life, 1990-2005 - A new exhibition opening at the National Portrait Gallery in October, Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer's Life, 1990-2005, will draw together for the first time the well-known assignments and rarely-seen personal work of one of the world's best-known portrait photographers.  With over 150 photographs,  Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer's Life, 1990-2005 shows iconic images of famous public figures together with personal photographs of her family and close friends. Arranged chronologically, they project a unified narrative of the artist's private life against the backdrop of her public image. The exhibition features Leibovitz's portraits of well-known figures, including actors such as Jamie Foxx, Daniel Day Lewis, Al Pacino, Nicole Kidman and Brad Pitt as well as artists and architects such as Richard Avedon, Brice Marden, Philip Johnson, Chuck Close and Cindy Sherman. Highlights include dancers Mikhail Baryshnikov and Rob Besserer holding a dance position on a beach, William S Burroughs in Kansas and Agnes Martin in Taos. Until 1 February. www.npg.org.uk

- Mark Rothko - This is the first significant exhibition of his work to be held in the UK for over 20 years. Tate Modern's iconic 'Rothko Room' works are reunited for the first time with works from Japan. Rothko’s iconic paintings, composed of luminous, soft-edged rectangles saturated with colour, are among the most enduring and mysterious created by an artist in modern times. In the exhibition his paintings glow meditatively from the walls in deep dark reds, oranges, maroons, browns, blacks, and greys. Until 1 February. www.tate.org.uk/modern

Events in London continue