CCA Highlights May / June 2015

You there! Urbanite looking for artistic events to attend! Yes, you! From CCA’s third programme of the year, we’ve picked the highlights we think deserve a gander from yourself. With everything from Thurston Moore to Ibero-American culture to Dan Deacon, this line-up’s fit to burst with possibilities for your diary in May and June.

First stop: live music. Head to Stag and Dagger's Live at Glasgow and turn your Sunday stroll through the city into a walking music festival. Django Django, Francisco the Man, Jim Valentine, The Thurston Moore Band and over a dozen other artists will perform at venues within a four block radius of Sauchiehall St. Just be sure to grab your advance ticket from the O2 ABC box office sometime before the start on 3 May at 1pm.

Limited by categories like film, art, or music? Next up’s all three in one: Cryptic Nights presents Articulations: immersive interactions between man and machine, wherein musician Craig Ritchie Allan of Numbercult will animate film visuals in real-time to compose corresponding melodies, and create a visual-musical performance rather different from anything we’ve seen before. Catch Ritchie Allan on Thursday 7 May at 8pm.

After that, we’ve got the perfect film follow-up from promoter Love Music Hate Racism, with a screening of The Clash: Westway to the World. Directed by the band’s long time collaborator Don Letts, the documentary includes interviews from band members, plus footage from their back-to-back concerts in New York. A Grammy Award winner, this one won’t disappoint on Sunday 10 May at 6.15pm.

Speaking of categories, why’s it all got to be in English? Unique among film festivals in Scotland, IberoDocs brings Ibero-American culture (that is, culture from former colonies of Spain and Portugal) to Scottish audiences. Last year, documentaries ranged across subjects like emigration, integration, rural landscapes; this year the subject is identity, with confirmed films El Tiempo Nublado, Salt of the Earth, and more. Eche un vistazo Sat 23-Sun 24 May.

For something a bit more on the art side, check out the Jerwood/FVU Awards 2015: What Will They See of Me? which looks at how much everyone does see in a world where a greater number of waking moments are spent on the internet. This year's awards go to film artists Lucy Clout and Marianna Simnett – the former’s From Our Own Correspondent examines the vanishing private lives of journalists, while the latter's Blood tells the story of Isabel, a convalescent trying to understand her identity. See the exhibit between 30 May and 12 July from 11am-6pm Tuesdays through Saturdays, and 12-6pm Sundays.

Lastly it's back to live (electronic) music, where Dan Deacon would like a word: “Can you feel the lightning covering your skin? / It's the nightmare / 'Cause you're on fire.” Thus opens Feel the Lightning, the first song off Deacon’s latest album Gliss Riffer, a blast of upbeat synths, lyrics coherent enough to think about, nods to minimalism, and a pounding bassline ready for the dancefloor. Deacon will perform in Glasgow on Thursday 18 June at 7.30pm.