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Scott Winfield Sublett Something happened the other day that made me realize yet again how quickly and completely cinema’s idea of the erotic has changed. A 30-ish science fiction writer of my acquaintance had just watched, on my recommendation because I felt he needed cheering up, Howard Hawks’ Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, in which Marilyn Monroe sings Diamonds Are a Girl’s …

Christian Hain It’s all very confusing indeed, and I don’t talk about that virus thing, no: even before that started, we were (mildly) shocked by Julia Stoschek’s decision to leave Berlin and take her collection to Düsseldorf, where she’s been operating another space for years. The ensuing media outcry was not limited to the German capital, as every other paper …

Patricia Wilson Smith On 12 September this year painter and performance artist Ken Turner took to the streets of St Ives in Cornwall to express his outrage and concern for the future of humanity and the planet. At a healthy advanced age, Ken’s crusading spirit is, if anything, stronger: his will to be heard more determined. In the past decade …

Gill Fickling   For the last months, with lockdown making cinemas out of bounds, the evenings have passed in a fog of mediocre films on Netflix. But one stands out – and continues to haunt me. Adú, a Spanish film directed by Salvador Calvo, left me in awe and in tears. Three parallel stories run in the film made for …

Mary Fletcher   Why does Mark Jenkin use black and white film which he develops himself? Is it because it looks old or suggests a shoestring budget or for aesthetic reasons? This is a film set in Newlyn, Cornwall – a fishing town where tourism has grown. The Cornish characters have authentic accents and are local people, not professional actors. …

Lynda Green   Take a break from the harsh realities of life as we now know it by treating yourself to two hours of pure escape in the form of the 2019 Italian film Pinocchio. Directed by Matteo Garrone, it is shot in beautiful Tuscany and stars Frederico Ielapi as the most endearing puppet you will ever come across and …

Mary Fletcher Mierle Laderman Ukeles mentions names familiar from the avant garde of the 1960s – Pollock, Duchamp and Rothko – pointing out that that they didn’t change diapers and that when she had a baby daughter she was suddenly in a world of maintenance, involving both mind-bending boredom and the rediscovery of the world as her baby did. In …

Mary Fletcher This film is about Barbara, a young secondary school attender, constructing an elaborate fantasy that helps her deal with an unbearable situation. We see people trying to help her and some girls being nasty to her in the general odious ways of school bullies. I would have liked to have seen the narrative without having absorbed the inevitable …

Anita Di Rienzo Garments, from lingerie to overcoats, have always denoted the economic and social status of the wearer, no matter if the latter is tall or short, thin or fat, elegant or lacking in bearing because every dress is a message and every colour a choice. Spokeswoman for this modern truth is Amanda Presley, played by a stunning Meryl …

Katie Zazenski On a gigantic, anthropomorphized sun-like circle, made of peach satin and suspended on the back wall of the exhibition hall, is the declaration Wierzę w Bezinteresowność Sztuki (I believe in the selflessness of art). Shirts and pants arranged in the form of two angel-like figures are surrounded by hand-stitched text bubbles. Strongly reminiscent of the American radical theater …