THIS WEEK: A SELECTIVE GUIDE

MARTIANS, READING IN TEHRAN, JEROME ROBBINS AND THE BARD | May 7th 2008

Iran Cultural Affairs Institute

Special to MORE INTELLIGENT LIFE

Our guide to what's on around the world, compiled by Jessica Gallucci

LITTLE GREEN MEN WITH EXCEPTIONAL TASTE

Imagine you are an extraterrestrial anthropologist on a fact-finding mission to Planet Earth. What would you make of contemporary art? This playful question guides a new show at the Barbican Art Gallery, "Martian Museum of Terrestrial Art". The exhibition displays contemporary art objects as though they are artefacts collected by space aliens in an effort to make sense of earthling life. The Barbican's website promises "fresh interpretations" and "humorous misunderstandings" of work by Damien Hirst, Ugo Rondinone and Andy Warhol, among others. Organisers may have taken the premise a bit far (visitors are encouraged to learn a Martian alphabet). But go for the art, and perhaps ditch the audio guide (even if it is "almost identical to a common teleportation device").

MARTIAN MUSEUM OF TERRESTRIAL ART, through May 18th, Barbican Art Gallery, London

CULTURAL LITERACY

It's still impossible to spot anyone reading "Lolita" in Tehran. But visitors to the city's 21st annual international book fair can pick up "Sexuality in Adolescence: Current Trends", by two Australian psychologists. They can also purchase "CliffsNotes on The Bible" (but not the book itself), and "Hebrew for Dummies" (but not the Torah). Iran's cultural affairs institute has banned "books containing immoral pictures, materials offensive to religious and Islamic values, books that promote religious divisions and animosity, or encourage racism or Zionism, or undermine the interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran". But the curious can still get their hands on "Nuclear Weapons and Explosions", by M.S. Yadav; "101 Outer Space Projects for the Evil Genius", by Dave Prochnow; "Violence and American Cinema", by J. David Slocum; and, promisingly, "A to Z of Women in Science and Math", by Lisa Yount.

TEHRAN INTERNATIONAL BOOK FAIR, through May 11th, Tehran

A MASTER OF MOVEMENT

The New York City Ballet marks the 90^th anniversary of Jerome Robbins's birth by performing a series of works by the acclaimed choreographer. Robbins, who died in 1998, made his name conceiving and choreographing Broadway shows, including "The King and I", 'Gypsy' and 'West Side Story'. In 1949 George Balanchine brought him to the New York City Ballet as associate artistic director; when Balanchine died, Robbins co-directed the company with Peter Martins. This Friday, the company presents a programme of four Robbins ballets: 'Andantino', an airy, intricate pas de deux; 'Opus 19/The Dreamer', an energetic work set to Prokoviev's "Violin Concerto No. 1 in D Major"; 'Piano Pieces', a fast-paced and visually witty collection of dances backed by Tchaikovsky's piano solos; and finally, the grand, theatrical 'Les Noces', performed as it was originally imagined.

JEROME ROBBINS CELEBRATION: RUSSIAN ROOTS, May 9th, Lincoln Centre, New York

SIGNS YOU'RE NOT IN KANSAS ANY MORE

Anyone who has stood before one of Rothko's canvases and watched his colours vibrate, swell and recede understands the powerful effect of colour field painting. The technique, which was an exercise in restraint after the popularity of 'action painting' in the style of Jackson Pollock, involves pouring, blotting, stroking or spraying thinned paint onto untreated canvases to create flat, abstract swathes of pure colour. 'Colour as Field: American Painting, in its final weeks at the recently refurbished Smithsonian American Art Museum, claims to be an unprecedentedly sweeping analysis of the colour field movement. Don't miss the dramatic curves of Jules Olitski's 'Cleopatra Flesh', Morris Louis's trickling rainbows in 'Theta', or the seeping inevitability of Helen Frankenthaler's 'Flood'.

COLOUR AS FIELD: AMERICAN PAINTING, 1950-1975, through May 26th, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC

WILL THE REAL BARD PLEASE STAND UP?

Was an under-educated Elizabethan actor really responsible for some of the greatest written works in the English language? Is it possible that much of the oeuvre attributed to William Shakespeare was actually penned by a woman, the Countess of Pembroke? Those are some of the questions posed by Robin P. Williams, author of 'Sweet Swan of Avon: Did a Woman Write Shakespeare?'. Williams, an associate member of London's Shakespearean Authorship Trust, will present her case and sign copies of her book on Wednesday evening, at the Newberry Library.

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