Things We Like

Following our foray into the digital-only world, this marks the first of our weekly round-ups of, quite simply, things we like here on the DW newsdesk.

Tour de France

It’s hard to pick an iconic image of the Tour de France. Some would suggest the classic advertising imagery from the early 20th century when the Tour, in its infancy, was used as a mechanism to sell sports newspapers.

Some would go for the modern equivalent of this – the sponsorship train that precedes the Tour at its every stage – giant gaudy kitsch advertising structures that rumble through the streets of France, spilling out key-rings, chocolate and other fripperies. For some it’s all about the bikes.

For me, the key image of the Tour de France is the massed peloton of riders – at first sight an indistinguishable horde of brightly-coloured lycra, with closer inspection revealing each individual rider and their own private race – the team strips, the rainbow of colours denoting national and international champions, the yellow jersey for the best overall racer, the sprint specialist in green and (my personal favourite) the polka dots of the King of the Mountains.

The Tour de France runs until 24 July.

Director Marie Losier

Last month we blogged about the Floating Cinema currently stoically making its ways round East London’s waterways, and we’re especially grateful to little vessel for drawing our attention to Marie Losier, the director of the film showing onboard this evening, Slap! The Gondola; and a film we’re just desperate to see – The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye. The film presents and intimate portrait of Genesis Breyer P-Orridge and his partner  and collaborator, Lady Jaye, who sadly died during the making of the film. It focuses on their numerous cosmetic surgery procedures, aiming to unite themselves as one ‘pandrogynous’ being.

Manchester International Festival

Among the many highlights of the festival, which opened last week, are Dickson Despommier’s Vertical Farm, an ambitious project to create the UK’s first multi-storey vertical farm, located in a disused tower block in Manchester.

The 11 Rooms project builds on the festival’s reputation for performance art, bringing together 11 artists to create durational encounters to make new and re-imagined work for the Festival. Each will explore the ephemeral aspects of art, focusing on an idea or situation that both establishes and erases itself in the same instance.

For more information see http://mif.co.uk