Culture Now: Gilles Peterson and Jez Nelson, London
As a complement to the ICA exhibition, Shout Out! UK Pirate Radio In The 1980s, this lunchtime chin-wag will see Peterson and the ex-pirate now Radio 3 jazz presenter Jez Nelson chew over the cultural legacy of those pioneering tower-block broadcasters. It is a concept that, in 2015, already feels like ancient history. Contemporary bass music may clearly owe its origin to a specific British pirate radio aesthetic, but in the last few years the internet has changed everything. Young MCs and DJs now break through by giving music away online, while internet stations, such as KMAH in Leeds and London’s NTS, have revived the excitement around niche electronic music radio, but are doing so for a global audience. It will be interesting to hear whether Nelson and Peterson think anything has been lost in that transition; primarily the close sense of community and defiant rebellion (not to mention the raucous, chaotic presenting) that defined many early pirate stations.
ICA, SW1, Fri
TN
Ledbury Poetry Festival
With a programme featuring readings by Selima Hill, Don Paterson and John Cooper Clarke, Britain’s biggest poetry festival abounds with fascinating fodder for the mind. Opportunities for lively, lyrical discussion include a poetry-as-protest talk chaired by “free expression” champion Ursula Owen (5 Jul); writer Marina Warner and former archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams exploring poetry and belief (7 Jul); and an appearance by Ko Un (12 Jul), the former Buddhist monk and Korean war survivor whose incredible 30-volume Maninbo (Ten Thousand Lives) honours the oath he made in prison to remember every person he’d ever met with a short poem. Should you fancy something a little less intense, both Shirley Williams and Michael Palin will be sharing their life stories, interwoven with their pick of Desert Island Poems (9 Jul).
Various venues, Fri to 12 Jul
CB
Disaster Playground, London
A rogue asteroid is heading for Earth. What do we do? If this was a Hollywood movie, an elite think tank of the world’s best and brightest would put aside humanity’s petty squabbles and brainstorm a solution, possibly involving Bruce Willis and a nuclear warhead. But, in real life, our action plan for looming armageddon is apparently far murkier. That’s what French artist and designer Nelly Ben Hayoun discovered when she asked key scientists, crisis experts and politicians to lay out the protocol for various global devastation events. After a screening of Disaster Playground, her short, quirky, Prodigy-soundtracked documentary capturing their sometimes alarming responses, Hayoun will discuss cosmic threats and our general planetary preparedness with astronomer Dr Franck Marchis in a Q&A chaired by Guardian architecture and design critic Oliver Wainwright.
BFI Southbank, SE1, Tue
GV
