We Recommend
Mohamed Bourouissa at Liverpool Biennial
Sat 14 Jul - Sun 28 Oct
FACT - Liverpool
Bourouissa’s artworks explore power relations, displays of masculinity and societal tensions. For Liverpool Biennial, Mohamed Bourouissa created a film and a community garden inspired by a garden made by a patient of the psychoanalyst Frantz Fanon in Algeria. With the support of Fluxus Art Projects.
Visual Arts
Inhuman Resources by Pierre Lemaitre
Sun 26 Aug - Mon 26 Nov
MacLehose
Alain Delambre is a 57-year-old former HR executive, drained by four years of hopeless unemployment. All he is offered are small, demoralising jobs. So when a major company finally invites him to an interview he is ready to do anything.
Books
In Paris by Jeanne Damas and Lauren Bastide
Wed 5 Sept - Mon 5 Nov
Viking / Penguin Random House
Two Parisian women – model and fashion designer Jeanne Damas and journalist Lauren Bastide – shine a spotlight on twenty real-life women of Paris, dispelling the myth that there’s only one type of Parisian woman and introducing us to the city they live in.
Books
Illuminating Women: Photographs by Mayotte Magnus
Sat 8 Sept - Sun 24 Mar
National Portrait Gallery
This exhibition celebrating creative women revisits key portraits from Magnus including artists Liliane Lijn and Glenys Barton, authors Marina Warner and Margaret Drabble, actresses Glenda Jackson and Judi Dench or Nadine Gordimer.
Visual Arts
League of Spies by Robert Merle
Wed 12 Sept - Mon 12 Nov
Pushkin Press
An uneasy peace reigns in France, but behind the scenes Catholics, Protestants and the agents of foreign powers are still locked in secretive, bloody combat. Pierre de Siorac’s apparent employment as a doctor masks a more deadly occupation as a spy.
Books
Renzo Piano – The Art of Making Buildings
Sat 15 Sept - Sun 20 Jan
Royal Academy of Arts
From The Shard in London to the Pompidou Centre in Paris, the buildings of Renzo Piano have enriched cities across the globe. This exhibition reveals the vision and invention behind his pioneering work, showing how architecture can touch the human spirit.
Visual Arts
Courtauld Impressionists: from Manet to Cézanne
Mon 17 Sept - Sun 20 Jan
National Gallery
This exhibition traces the development of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings through a selection of over forty masterpieces from the collection of the Courtauld Gallery, including famous works by Cézanne, Toulouse-Lautrec, Renoir, Manet and Seurat.
Visual Arts
Now, Now, Louison by Jean Frémon
Wed 19 Sept - Wed 19 Dec
Les Fugitives
Progressing by image and word associations, Frémon evokes Bourgeois's history and inner life, bringing a sense of fascinating and moving proximity to the internationally renowned artist... This is a phosphorescent account of Bourgeois’s life.
Books
Ulla von Brandenburg: Sweet Feast
Thu 20 Sept - Sun 31 Mar
Whitechapel Gallery
Ulla von Brandenburg takes previous Whitechapel Gallery exhibition Sweets (1973) as inspiration for this new commission. Von Brandenburg re-enacts this show with local children in a new immersive and colourful seating structure. With the support of Fluxus Art Projects.
Visual Arts
From the Inside Out
Thu 20 Sept - Sun 11 Nov
Drawing Room
Supported by Fluxus Art Projects, this exhibition explores the variety of ways that artists create personal narratives and celebrates the power of drawing to reflect the complexity and diversity of female experience.
Visual Arts
Soufiane Ababri
Fri 28 Sept - Sat 24 Nov
SPACE
For his first UK exhibition, Soufiane Ababri confronts themes of homophobia and racism in order to dismantle mechanisms of domination — from post-colonialist to patriarchal power structures — while aiming to thwart oppressive social dynamics. With the support of Fluxus Art Projects.
Visual Arts
Oceania
Sat 29 Sept - Mon 10 Dec
Royal Academy of Arts
Marking 250 years since Cook’s first voyage to the Pacific, this exhibition celebrate the dazzling and diverse art of the region of Oceania, from the historic to the contemporary. Organised in partnership with the Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac.
Visual Arts
The Height of the Storm
Tue 2 Oct - Sat 1 Dec
Wyndham's Theatre
Starring two of the greatest actors of their generation on stage together for the first time - Jonathan Pryce and Dame Eileen Atkins - this major new play by award-winning writer Florian Zeller is a compelling and searing family drama.
Performing Arts
Divinations of A World To Come
Tue 2 Oct - Sat 17 Nov
the Agency. Gallery
The exhibition, curated by Bokantaj, introduces works by Hervé Beuze (Martinique) and David Gumbs (St Martin/Martinique) for the first time in the UK. It will explore the intersection of art and literature, and their roles in our conceptions of the future.
Visual Arts
Pierre Huyghe
Wed 3 Oct - Sun 10 Feb
Serpentine Galleries
Pierre Huyghe, one of the world’s leading conceptual artists, presents a major new exhibition transforming the Serpentine Gallery into a porous and contingent environment, housing different forms of cognition, emerging intelligences, biological reproduction and instinctual behaviours. Exhibition supported by Fluxus Art Projects.
Visual Arts
Strike your Heart by Amélie Nothomb
Wed 10 Oct - Mon 10 Dec
Europa Editions
This is the story of Diane’s relationships with other women: her best friend, her mentor, her sister and, of course, her mother Marie. Amélie Nothomb balances light-hearted observations with crushing revelations, exposing the spectrum of female bonds.
Books
Tropic of Violence by Nathacha Appanah
Wed 17 Oct - Mon 17 Dec
MacLehose
Marie, a nurse on the island of Mayotte, adopts a baby abandoned by refugees and names him Moïse. But when she dies, Moïse is left alone, plunged into uncertainty and turmoil, set on a collision course with the gangs of the largest slum on Mayotte: Gaza.
Books
Agar Agar
Tue 23 Oct
Village Underground
Having gained plaudits on both side of the channel, electronic pop duo Agar Agar are releasing their accomplished and surprisingly emotive debut album, The Dog and the Future, at the end of September and playing their biggest ever UK headline show.
Contemporary Music
Turned Red Earth: Fragments of WWI Soldiers’ Diaries and Letters
Thu 25 Oct - Sun 4 Nov
SPILL Festival, Ipswich
Writer Lucy Greeves presents a limited edition book and posters that weave together voices of English, Scottish, American, French and German soldiers who fought in 1914-18 at the SPILL Festival in Ipswich.
14-18, Talks
A Night of Feminist Discussion and Comics with Emma
Thu 25 Oct
Waterstones Gower Street
Join Emma, the French creator of incisive, funny and fiercely feminist new comic The Mental Load as she discusses gender roles, income inequality and myriad feminist issues with Creative Director at Myriad Editions Corinne Pearlman, and design journalist Laura Snoad.
Talks
For the Love of Corals
Sat 27 Oct - Sat 19 Jan
Obsidian Coast (Bradford-on-Avon)
Obsidian Coast presents its inaugural exhibition, For the Love of Corals by artist Sonia Levy, a cinematic inquiry that focuses on the daily labour of caring for endangered beings to resuscitate them from their imminent human-induced extinction. Supported by Fluxus Art Project.
Visual Arts
Long Live the European Novel with Mathias Enard
Sun 28 Oct
Coronet Theatre – Auditorium
French author Mathias Enard and Italian writer Nicola Lagioia discuss the issue of a European Novel in the age of Brexit and deaths at sea in the Mediterranean.
Talks
Ted Hughes Translated
Mon 29 Oct
Europe House
A public presentation of new translations will be held at the Europe House for the 20th anniversary of the death of the poet Ted Hughes and the 50th of the founding of Arvon, the creative writing charity which he and his wife Carol powerfully supported.
Talks
Mathias Enard and Elif Shafak at London Review Bookshop
Mon 29 Oct
London Review Bookshop
Mathias Enard returns with Tell Them of Battles, Kings and Elephants, a thrilling novella about how seemingly unmatched pieces seen from the opposite sides of civilisation can mirror one another. He will be in conversation with Elif Shafak.
Talks
Birmingham Royal Ballet – La Fille mal gardée
Thu 1 - Sat 3 Nov
Sadler’s Wells
In this joyous country tale Lise and her mother clash in a foot-stomping, cabbage-throwing, battle of wills. With dancing chickens, a dizzying ribbon dance, clog-dancing and an adorable Shetland pony, this comic masterpiece is surely the happiest of ballets.
Performing Arts
Robolution by Les Particules
Tue 6 - Thu 8 Nov
The Cockpit
With the help of their onstage robot and armed with solid references from pop culture, science fiction and scientific reports, Les Particules attempt to answer some questions, with you! A conference-theatre piece premiering in the UK as part of Voila! Europe Festival.
Performing Arts, Talks
Language Show
Fri 9 - Sun 11 Nov
Kensington Olympia, London
Language enthusiasts and Francophiles, we look forward to seeing you at the Language Show! Join us at the Institut français's stand to learn about our latest educational offer and support for French teachers in the UK, our comprehensive language courses and school activities, and more.
Talks
Matthieu Boogaerts
Fri 9 Nov
Librairie Caravansérail
The acclaimed, left field French songwriter plays an intimate bookshop show. Over the past 20 years, Boogaerts has charmed listeners in France and beyond with his repertoire of tender, minimalist ballads, drawing on reggae, afro-pop, electronica and folk.
Contemporary Music
Christine and the Queens
Tue 20 - Wed 21 Nov
Eventim Apollo
One of the dates announced sold out almost immediately, so another has been added for the French star's return to the UK following her stratospheric success in 2016. A new album is on the way too, so there will be new tracks amid the firm favourites.
Contemporary Music
Le Concert de l’Hostel Dieu – Pergolesi, Stabat Mater
Tue 20 Nov
Saint John’s Smith Square
Since the middle of the 18th century, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater has been an absolute triumph all over Europe. Le Concert de l’Hotel Dieu will perform the well-known piece in Saint John’s Smith Square.
Classical Music
EUROLIS Seminar – Reaching New Audiences: Sharing Strategies
Fri 23 Nov
Senate House
Leading experts from various European countries will share their experiences & ideas on the best strategies for libraries to reach new target groups. Chaired by Davina Omar, chair of PR at CILIP - organised by EUROLIS.
Talks
France Now – Focus on French Theatre in Manchester
Tue 27 Nov - Sat 1 Dec
HOME Manchester
With its focus France Now, HOME presents three contrasting performances from the best of the French artistic contemporary scene: Ballet Bar by the Pyramid company, J'ai trop peur (I'm so scared) by David Lescot and Submission by Michel Houellebecq. As part of En Scène!
Performing Arts
Jain
Tue 27 Nov
Electric Brixton
Three years after her first album Zanaka, an album dedicated to Congolese rumba and hedonism, Jain has returned with Souldier, a more personal collection that's still stuffed with pop hooks. Live she has an uncanny ability to get a crowd moving within minutes.
Contemporary Music
London Philharmonic Orchestra Performs Dusapin
Wed 28 Nov
Royal Festival Hall
Well-known contemporary French composer, Pascal Dusapin wrote a piece inspired by Flann O’Brien’s novel At Swim-Two Birds. After its world premiere in Amsterdam, the work will be premiered in London thanks to the support of Diaphonique.
Classical Music
Flavien Berger
Mon 3 Dec
Village Underground
Three years after the release of his cosmic first album Leviathan, the electronic pop producer is back with Contre-Temps, an 80s analogue dream of the future. On stage he is as engagingly relaxed a performer as you're ever likely to see.
Contemporary Music
An evening with Leïla Slimani
Wed 12 Dec
The Diamond, University of Sheffield
Franco-Moroccan novelist Leïla Slimani won France's most prestigious literary prize, the Goncourt Prize in 2016. She will be talking about her novel Lullaby, now a global literary sensation.
Talks
Notre Dame de Paris
Wed 23 - Tue 29 Jan
London Coliseum
After touring in 23 countries worldwide over the last 20 years, the smash-hit French musical based on the novel Notre Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo returns to London with an international team of singers, dancers, acrobats and music composed by Richard Cocciante.
Performing Arts