Arts

The Angel of History: a vivid reconstruction of Walter Benjamin’s final days

13 January 2007
In September 1940 the Marxist literary critic and essayist Walter Benjamin committed suicide in the Spanish border town of Port Bou.

A State of Denmark | The Star | Media Burn

13 January 2007
A State of Denmarkby Derek Raymond£7.99 Serpent’s Tailpublished 18 January Cult crime novelist Derek Raymond wrote this dystopian novel in the mid 1960s. It concerns a future England where an openly fascist regime has taken power, led by Jobling, a former Labour politician.

Peter Howson: Andrew, Portrait of a Saint

13 January 2007
According to the New Testament, St Andrew was the first disciple to be called by Jesus Christ. He was later executed by the Romans at Patras in present day Greece on the X-shaped cross which now bears his name.

Street art 5: Banksy and guerrilla art

16 December 2006
In recent years there has been a renewed interest in street art, coinciding with the rise of the anti-capitalist movement. One element of this is "culture jamming" or "adbusting", where activists use guerrilla art techniques to subvert the advertising that pervades our society.

Street art 2: Russia 1917 – public festivals

16 December 2006
The creative flowering that followed the Russian Revolution of 1917 is an extraordinary example of how art can play a major part in the struggle for a better society.

Cultures of Resistance gig success

16 December 2006
Acclaimed jazz musician Courtney Pine performed at the hugely succesful Cultures of Resistance gig in London on Friday of last week. Gilad Atzmon, Rodney P and Skitz, and Sam Beste also performed. The gig was a fundraiser for the Socialist Worker appeal

Spike Lee’s When The Levees Broke – the lost voices of New Orleans

16 December 2006
All respect to Spike Lee. After Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, he felt he had a political duty to make a documentary about it, to make it long – and to make it for television so as many people as possible saw it.

Street art 3: Diego Rivera and the Mexican Revolution

16 December 2006
Mexico was rocked by a revolution between 1910 and 1919. The post-revolutionary government attempted to harness art to its cause.

Video clips of Cultures of Resistance concert, Friday 8 December 2006

16 December 2006
Sam Beste Presumption of Innocence performed at the Cultures of Resistance concert in London on Friday 8 December 2006

Benjamin Britten's anniversary is a chance to celebrate one of the best British composers

16 December 2006
Benjamin Britten was the greatest of the British classical composers of the second half of the 20th century. He ranks among the greatest British composers ever.

Street art 4: Posters as weapons in Paris 1968

16 December 2006
In 1968 France was brought to a standstill by a huge movement of students and workers. This movement paralysed the French state and also saw an explosion of experimental street art.

Street art 1: The art of the streets

16 December 2006
A basic feature of capitalism is that aspects of life that should be accessible to everyone become controlled and restricted to a privileged elite – the ruling class. Works of visual art, such as paintings or sculptures, are no exception to this general rule.

What’s Going On – The Dirty Dozen Brass Band | The Corporation

16 December 2006
What’s Going OnThe Dirty Dozen Brass BandCD out now It is testament to the power of Marvin Gaye’s album What’s Going On that its songs have been covered by hundreds of artists, almost from the moment it was released in 1971.

Drunk Enough to Say I Love You? by Caryl Churchill

09 December 2006
A new play by Caryl Churchill is a genuine cultural event. The author of such acclaimed plays as Light Shining in Buckinghamshire, Cloud Nine and Top Girls, is one of the most distinctive, intelligent and (both artistically and politically) radical playwrights of her generation.

Living History | Kneehigh plays | Stray Dogs | Voices For Bethlehem | Marx

09 December 2006
Living HistoryTate Modern, central Londonuntil 28 JanuaryFree Living History explores the response of artists to major political events of the past 100 years. Highlights include Chris Ofili’s No Woman No Cry, a moving painting about the racist murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence.