Originally published on Monday, 8th April 2013

The Culturist: April

April is showering us with a host of highbrow cultural pickings (as well as snow). This month we’re looking to Venice for our art fill, Paris for our trend fill, and London for everything inbetween. Some of the world’s best chefs will be cooking up a gastronomical storm in Wapping (Noma, included), there’s a new theatre on the South Bank, Somerset House is hosting the 2013 World Photo Awards and Sundance is coming for the second time around. All coffee breaks should be taken at the new Monocle café. Enjoy!

BOOK NOW: VENICE BIENNALE

June 1 – November 24 Full 2-day ticket €30

Venice Biennale: the event on everybody’s lips. Expect to see everyone from moneyed collectors on super yachts to the young trendy set at the glittering artistic playground. The headline exhibition will, for the first time, showcase young “post-internet” talent – including Brits James Richards, Ed Atkins and Helen Marten – while the international pavillions will hold newbie countries Kosovo, The Maldives and Kuwait among others. For some glass-clinking fun, search for the No 8 pop up.

THEATRE : THE SHED AT NATIONAL THEATRE

April 9 – February 2014, tickets £12 and £20 South Bank, SE1 9PX

If you’ve passed over Waterloo Bridge recently, you’ll notice a bright red shack on the South Bank. This is The Shed, the temporary, younger sister to the National Theatre, which will host experimental, adventurous and up-and-coming theatre for the next year. The repertoire will open with Table, a story of one family that spans 115 years, followed by a production about a bullet-catching magician and, later, a play about the Occupy Movement by Tim Price.

FESTIVAL: SUNDANCE LONDON

April 26 – 28, tickets for individual screenings from £14 The O2, Peninsula Square, SE10 0DX

The second edition of Sundance London is on its way, with a new UK programme on top of the independent American films fresh from Utah. See Steve Coogan as the notorious nightclub ownder and King of Soho, Paul Raymond, in The Look of Love, or go for something grittier such as The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete, a tale of two boys left alone for summer in the Brooklyn Projects. Real film buffs should head for panel discussions on score, comedy and screenwriting.

FOOD : THE LAB

April 25 – 27, £75
Tobacco Dock, 50 Porters Walk, E1W 2SF

Gastro whizzes will want to get involved in The Lab. Hosted by Gizzi Erskine, a line up of top chefs will be serving up dishes that push gastronomical boundaries – Alvin Leung’s Sex on the Beach dish at Bo London is just the start of it. He’ll be making an appearance alongside the Young Turks, Tony Conigliaro, Danny Bowien from Mission Chinese Streetfood, Daniel Doherty of Duck & Waffle and Brazil’s Alex Atala, to name a few. Top of our list? Lars Williams’ Noma Flavour Test. Tickets for the event have sold old, but we have a special code for 50 Urban Junkies readers to purchase tickets. Click here to buy tickets.

PHOTOGRAPHY: SONY WORLD PHOTO AWARDS EXHIBITION

April 26 – May 12, £7.50 Somerset House, Strand, WC2R 1LA

See snapshots of the world in 2012 at the annual Sony World Photo Awards Exhibition. The shortlisted entries will be on display with areas covering fashion, culture, travel, wildlife, landscape, portraitures, current affairs and more, so expect to see everything from the Fung Shun fire dragon dance in China to India’s colourful Holi festival.

BOOK : PUCCI

From £44.99

More a piece of art than a fashion book, Pucci celebrates the prince of prints who dressed everyone from Jackie Kennedy to Kylie Minogue. We want all four cover designs, please.

CAFÉ: THE MONOCLE CAFE

Opens April 15 18 Chiltern Street, W1U 7QA

IMonocle continues with its impending world takeover. After the success of its café in Tokyo, the global affairs magazine is set to open up shop in Marylebone. Sip on coffee at the high counter (by New Zealand/Aussie Allpress Espresso), go for post-work prosecco on the pavement tables or nip in for all-day snacks which include the Monocle Toasty. As expected, everything from the awnings to the monogrammed takeaway bags has the Monocle stamp of cutting design.

TRAVEL: PARIS

Keith Haring, The Political Line, April 19 – August 18, €11
11 Avenue du Président Wilson, 75116 Paris

We’re getting ourselves to Paris toute suite. In between the opening of the first Karl Lagerfeld store in St Germain and the latest burger offerings at monochrome diner Paris New York (yes, the burger bomb is spreading), there’s also a Keith Haring exhibition (pictured) at the Musée d’Art Moderne and the Electric, a new cultural centre which houses a live music space, lounge bar and club. We’ll also be stopping by Colette to get ourselves one of these.