Top image: Still, ‘Dogs Don’t Wear Pants’ (2020) dir. J-P Valkeapää

The Weekend Combo is in self-isolation, shuttered at home finding new forms of entertainment that involve staying firmly put. While the usual array of exhibitions, gigs and bars are all off-limits, have no fear, we’ve subbed in the Lockdown Combo and edited together plenty to get your teeth stuck into from the comfort of your own sofa – and you needn’t even get dressed: plus!

Here’s our Lockdown Combo, bringing you the best things to do at home this weekend.

FRIDAY 3rd April – SUNDAY 5th April 2020 

Film

Whipped
At this point in self-isolation, our minds are starting to twist, blur and travel to new corners of the psyche. Don’t fear this. Embrace it and enhance it by watching J-P Valkeapää’s acclaimed new film Dogs Don’t Wear Pants. Selected in the Contemporary World Cinema section at TIFF and currently available as a streaming rental on Curzon Home Cinema, meet dominatrix Mona as she takes you on a story of grief, desire and BDSM. It’s an absurdly dark and humourous watch full of latex and sweet, sweet pain.

Live-stream festival

Good eveningggg, internet
This Friday, archival/reissue label Light in the Attic has organised a special live-stream charity concert with a ripper line-up of isolated icons. Featuring performances from Jarvis Cocker, Devendra Banhart, Gruff Rhys and Barbara Lynn, amongst many others.

Streaming from their own house – from Rio to Tokyo; Cardiff to Austin; Barbados to Italy – each musician will put on their most intimate performance to-date. And with all donations going to MusiCares, an organisation helping people in the music community affected by the Coronavirus, what’s not to love?

Fans can tune in for free on Friday, 3rd April at 16:00 PST via LITA’s Twitch and YouTube Channels. More information here.

Film

Animated isolation
Studio Ghibli’s timely arrival on Netflix has seen 21 titles from the legendary animation powerhouse become available over the last few months. This weekend you will be able to enjoy the final three films to be added: Howl’s Moving Castle (2004), The Wind Rises (2013), When Marnie Was There (2014) and Pom Poko (1994) joining stone-cold classics like My Neighbour Totoro, Spirited Away, Kiki’s Delivery Service and Princess Mononoke. As far as escaping reality goes, nothing beats a dose of Ghibli, and with two new projects in the pipeline for 2020, including one directed by the studio’s co-founder Hayao Miyazaki, now is the perfect time to refresh your memory.

Studio Ghibli films are streaming on Netflix now.

Theatre

A total farce
National Theatre At Home gives audiences the opportunity to view some of their most acclaimed productions for free, from the comfort of your own home. Where you might have once spent a small fortune for a six-month-in-advance booking of their acclaimed One Man, Two Guvnors (dir. Richard Bean, 2011), starring James Corden, the National will now stream the performance via their YouTube channel over the course of several days. How generous.

Corden won rave reviews for his performance as Francis Henshall, the flamboyant cockney who spends the entire play holed up at the pub with the task of keeping (who he believes to be) his two guvnors separate. Unbeknownst to him, both guvnors are in on his little scheme and with a Shakespearean sense of dark comedy (involving disguise and swapped identities), much hilarity ensues.

One Man, Two Guvnors premieres on 2nd April at 19:00 here.

Food

Nordic nosh
In 2004, a group of chefs came together to conceive the New Nordic Food Manifesto, which prioritised fresh, seasonal ingredients and simple, stripped-back ideas. These ideas inspired Martin Berg when curating his menus at ARKET café, but now he’s sharing the results in a free, online cookbook crammed with tasty, healthy vegetarian recipes.

Although divided into seasons, plenty of the recipes work all year round: from the meringue and nectarine cake (perfect for isolation baking) to Berg’s baked white asparagus, there’s enough variety to please sweet and savoury foodies alike.

Download the ARKET cookbook here.

Album

Lockdown Blues
Denmark’s finest, Iceage, have filtered their thoughts via the channel they know best and released a special Lockdown Blues single as “an attempt at addressing this troubled new reality during Covid-19.” With all profits going to Médecins Sans Frontières – an organisation providing aid where needed – new music by Iceage is always welcome, especially in current conditions.

View this post on Instagram

Written in the wake of the lockdown on gatherings, borders, schools and life as we know it, “Lockdown Blues” is an attempt at addressing this troubled new reality during Covid-19. We’ve felt the urge to touch base now that the physical touch has been suspended and contribute an effort to raise spirit In the face of adversity. All profits from Bandcamp will proceed directly to Médecins Sans Frontières who right now are doing their best to provide aid where it so urgently is needed the most. Our thoughts are with all those in jeopardy to the many various horrors in relation to the crisis, those situated on the front lines and those who are direly compromised. Stay safe, take care and keep up the good fight, Iceage. Link in bio

A post shared by ICEAGE (@iceage) on Apr 2, 2020 at 6:01am PDT

Online Fashion Week

Frow for all
The last few weeks have seen fashion events worldwide cancelled for the foreseeable future, but already a handful of pragmatic organisers have turned to live-streaming as a solution. This weekend, it’s Moscow’s turn.

Initially scheduled to begin this Monday, Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Russia is now streamlining and live-streaming a mammoth list of designer presentations this weekend, as well as premiering a series of lookbooks. Some will be available to order immediately on designer e-boutique AZIEL too, building on the return to ‘see now, buy now’ recently trialed in Shanghai. A handful of other segments are in the works, too: log on to see virtual model Aliona Pole ‘try on’ a curated series of digitally-rendered looks.

Link to come

Fashion workshop

Get crafty with the McQueen team
The kind souls at Alexander McQueen have spent the last few weeks offering nuggets of isolation entertainment, like the Sarabande Foundation’s live-streamed chats and insider workshops. Now, they’re encouraging followers to get creative by sharing various images across socials and urging fans to replicate their favourites.

Entitled McQueen Creators, the project kicks off this week with a handful of looks from the recent in-store ‘Roses’ installation, which also featured work-in-progress looks from budding designers. Digital tutorials on everything from 3D creation to at-home embroidery are in the works, too, promising the perfect distraction for fashion students and fans alike.

View this post on Instagram

McQueen Creators. Each week we will be asking you to be part of our creative community, working together from home on a series of projects; sometimes with some inspiration from the McQueen team and collaborators in the form of digital tutorials. This week we invite you to sketch the Autumn/Winter 2019 Rose dress with us. Find your sketchbook and chosen materials. Screenshot the picture you’d like to sketch from the upcoming series of images. Sketch, colour or paint your favourite image. Then take a picture and share your final piece on Instagram by tagging @AlexanderMcQueen #McQueenCreators to be featured on our channel. Share your creations with us by Monday 6th April to be featured on our channel. #StayAtHome

A post shared by Alexander McQueen (@alexandermcqueen) on Apr 1, 2020 at 4:39am PDT

Book

New world? 
In these days of uncertainty, who knows what the world will look like post-Corona: indulge your imagination by reading J.G. Ballard’s 1981 novel, Hello America. The plot fast-forwards to a century after America’s financial collapse, depicting an abandoned urban desertscape populated by isolated natives and remnants of its culture. Here, we follow a group of pioneers who return to the ruins on a voyage of rediscovery as they explore the country’s fate. Taking a blade to the American Dream ideal, Ballard’s text slices at the edges, drawing extra poignancy with each passing decade.