Exhibition view of Hedi Slimane’s exhibit California Song now on view the MOCA in Los Angeles. Photograph by Adarsha Benjamin.

United Colors of Benetton present their UNHATE campaign. The film UNHATE by French director Laurent Chanez, tells of the precarious balance and complex interweaving between the drive to hate and the reasons to love.

The Galerie Berinson is showing the oeuvre of the world-famous photographer Jacques Henri Lartigue for the first time in Berlin. Lartigue shaped our image of the Belle Époque more keenly than any other photographer. The world of automobile racing, elegant ladies, and the carefree life of the French bourgeoisie are irrevocably entwined with his photographic oeuvre. On view until December 16 the Galerie Berinson, Lindenstraße 34, 3. Floor, D-10969 Berlin.

Daniel Johnston has spent the last 30 years exposing his heartrending tales of unrequited love, cosmic mishaps, and existential torment to an ever-growing international audience. Initiates, including a healthy number of discerning musicians and critics, have hailed him as an American original in the style of bluesman Robert Johnson and country legend Hank Williams. Daniel has collaborated with the likes of Jad Fair (a founding member of Half Japanese), the Butthole Surfers, and members of Sonic Youth. A prolific songwriter, his lyrics focus on a range of familiar American themes, including the joys and pains of love, the exploits of comic book characters such as Jack Kirby’s Captain America, and the allure of rock and roll. Throughout Daniel’s life as a musician, Daniel has been an equally prolific visual artist. In recent years, Daniel has gained acclaim and respect for his art that could possibly surpass his legendary status as a musician and songwriter. While at first glance, Daniel’s art might give the impression that this is the work of an “outsider” artist, Daniel’s visual work communicates the same deep content and startling impact that his songs carry. In 2006 Daniel was featured in The Whitney Museum of American Art’s Biennial. From December 3 to January 3 the Blast Gallery in New Jersey presents Lost But Free. The Art of Daniel Johnston, an exhibition of Daniel Johnston’s artwork.

Butoh dancer Yuko Kaseki

Big In Japan, which was established in June 2009 in Australia by fashion brand Ksubi and Kirin as a platform for cultural exchange, presents Big In Japan 2011 with art exhibitions and performances by leading experimental Japanese artists in Sydney and Melbourne such as Kyozin Yueni Dekai, OVe-NaXx, Fuyuki Yamakawa, Onnacodomo and Yuko Kaseki. This year the events take place at Paddington Town Hall in Sydney (November 15 and 16) and 1000 Pound Bend in Melbourne (November 18 and 19).

Born in Glasgow in 1966, Douglas Gordon is today among the most important as well as the most influential artists of his generation. While he is famous for his films and large-scale video installations such as 24 Hours Psycho, his oeuvre also encompasses photographs, texts, sculptures and sound installations. In addition to Play Dead; Real Time, one of Gordon’s chief pieces, the MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst also has a number of other photo and video works by this artist in its holdings. Together they will provide the point of departure for the first major retrospective to be presented on Douglas Gordon in Europe since his show at the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg in 2007. With his analyses of images drawn from the collective memory and everyday culture, Gordon exposes basic patterns of perception. Within this framework, his works often revolve around phenomena of duplication and reflection: the couple, the double, light and dark, guilt and justice, etc. His latest work is entitled k.364, which stands for “Köchelverzeichnis No. 364”, the Köchel catalogue number assigned to the Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Vienna in 1779. After hearing this work of chamber music in Poznań (Poland), Gordon organized another performance of it with the well-known musicians Avri Levitan (viola), Roi Shiloah (violin) and the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra of Polish Radio. The musicians’ journey from Berlin to Warsaw by way of Poznań and the performance of the symphony in Warsaw account for the major proportion of the film. The two musicians’ conversations on their way to Poland reveal that their pasts, and those of their parents, are complexly interwoven with German-Polish relations, and above all with the history of the Polish Jews during World War II. The new film k.364 will be supplemented with the pieces by Gordon in the MMK collection and a large number of other prominent works of the past years to form a comprehensive exhibition – the first to assemble the latest works and thus to provide a concentrated and impressive overview of this multifaceted artist’s oeuvre. On view from November 19 to March 25 at the Museum für Moderne Kunst.  

Short film, by Sarah Keeling and Elva Rodrigruez, shot live at Piers Atkinson’s SS12 presentation at the Sanderson Hotel. Pier’s showcases his brand new millinery collection, collaborating with Zandra Rhodes for printed swimsuits and Charlotte Olympia for footwear, all styled Kim Howells.

Ancestor skull covered in feathers from Papa New Guinea at the De Young museum. Photograph by Oliver Maxwell Kupper. 

Talking Pictures brings together over 200 black and white images culled from Ellen Graham’s work for such magazines as People and Time, her personal archives, and her collection of family photographs. Each photograph is accompanied by a personal narrative that takes you behind the scenes of these celebrated images and breathes life into the glamour of Hollywood’s golden age. Each portrait captures a rare and unguarded moment in the lives of these highly-photographed stars, giving a truly intimate and fresh look at such legendary figures as Frank Sinatra, Natalie Wood, Warren Beatty, and Prince Albert of Monaco. Whether shooting actors, performers, or European royalty, Graham redefines the resonating myths that have come to surround these iconic characters. Ellen Graham: Talking Pictures is out now on Pointed Lead Press.

“A rare and exclusive glimpse” into the bedroom of record producer, and manager of The Runaways, Kim Fowley, and his new act Brianna Garcia. Photograph by Brad Elterman.