A Boring Conference, London
If the slick wisdom-bombing of the TED talk can seem like oratorial Prozac, here’s something more prosaic, and proudly so. Now in its fifth year, A Boring Conference has remained true to its peculiarly British mission statement: celebrating the mundane, obvious and overlooked. (Since the last instalment, founder James Ward has published a book, Adventures In Stationery, a thoughtful safari through foolscap flotsam and pencil-tidy jetsam.) As any QI fan knows, even the most unpromising subjects can throw up fascinating insights if you drill deep, and if one of the speakers gets the wrong end of the stick and is genuinely, lamentably boring, each talk is only scheduled for 10 minutes. Topics of discussion include Stratford shopping centre and the secret history of gasometers. But will anything top last year’s presentation on Comic Sans, the hapless punching bag of the font world?
Conway Hall, WC1, Sat
GV
Museums At Night: A Conversation With Andrew Motion, Manchester
Despite the billing, the principal selling point of this event is not the opportunity to hear the former poet laureate discuss his life and works – though he will be doing that, in conversation – but the chance to be among the first to hear his latest. Sir Andrew will perform a new poem inspired by the end of thesecond world war, with particular reference to August’s 70th anniversary of the atomic incinerations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The poem will subsequently become a permanent sound installation in the main exhibition space of IWM North. Before, Motion will be quizzed by Jenni Murray. Also featuring is a screening of Chloe White’s An All-Encompassing Light. A recent winner of the audience award at the IWM’s short film festival, it tells the story of the Hiroshima bomb through the testimony of one of its survivors.
Imperial War Museum North, Thu
AM
Talking Liberties: Ranting Poets, ‘Zines And Angry Kids Of The 80s, London
The years between the rise of Thatcher and the collapse of communism are often portrayed as a one-way street. Despite unruly outliers such as the miners, the peace convoy and Rik from The Young Ones, the march towards the neoliberal consensus was surely inevitable. But, actually, the 80s were one long furious squabble and the decade’s many strands of resistance should offer inspiration to anyone despairing of today’s climate of smothering, post-everything consumerism. This talk celebrates the angry kids of the 80s who may be greying property owners now, but once scrawled fanzines, spat poetry, and generally did their best to resist the blue tide which eventually engulfed Britain. Poets Tim Wells and Salena Godden, columnist Suzanne Moore, cultural historian Matthew Worley and all-round troublemaker Garry Bushell make up the panel.
British Library, NW1, Fri
PH
