JAMES WALSH is moved by a provocative and original take on the relationship between ecology and architecture, and a plea to work with, not against, the materials and minerals of our world
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Reel diversity in Berlin
RITA DI SANTO reports on a bumper crop of screenings at the annual film festival in the German capital
An immersive, participatory display by a queer Australian Aboriginal performer, and a rebellious unravelling of traditional Scottish dance
EWAN CAMERON witnesses a political farce that lacks a clear message
EWAN CAMERON picks out two fascinating music shows, fusing the Korean, and the Celtic, with the modern
BENJAMIN POTHIER suggests that Palaeolithic cave paintings in Spain point to the ceremonial use of hallucinogenic flora
The bard confirms that the right has a humour bypass, and replays the English Revolution on period instruments
Chinese director Diao Yinan's Black Coal, Thin Ice was a popular choice as winner of the Golden Bear award for best film at this year's Berlin film festival.
His third feature (pictured) is drained of colour and makes striking allusions to film noir thrillers as do his choice of protagonists, an ex-police officer and a femme fatale.
But Yinan's film also invites us into the lives of "ordinary" people who lead extraordinary lives in the northern China of 1999.
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RITA DI SANTO takes us through the prize winners, and takes the temperature of a festival that prioritised narratives of exile, state violence and class division