For those lacking the attention span to get through a six-hour Wagner opera, the late Berlin-born composer Boris Blacher's three short contemporary pieces - which blend electronic music with avant-garde costumes and set designs, and spoken dialogue - are the ticket. Boris Blacher's "Abstract Opera Number One", "Ariadne" and "The Flood" will be performed.

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Lucky Trimmer cuts together the best of national and international choreography like directors cut together film. We're not sure whether “lucky” refers to the nine ballet, modern dance and performance art groups who were selected for 10-minute slots in this professional talent-showcase; the festival jury who had 200 great applications to select from; or us, the audience.

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With Andy Warhol’s 1965 film Kitchen as inspiration, British theater company Gob Squad travels back in time as its actors attempt to recreate the hedonistic, experimental world of sex, drugs and wild parties of The Factory.

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Japanese dancer and choreographer Yumi Fujutani's dance workshop (Sept 27-Oct 1) focused on harnessing the energy of the body. For those who were too lazy to go through the motions themselves, this performance will offer a kind of catharsis-via-yoga.

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This dancing queen is not so self-absorbed: rather than acting out personal theatrics, Zöe Knight attempts to capture and connect the stage 'dramas' of body, light and sound. Drama Queen runs from October 1-2.

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In the movie Storyboard, film directs feet: Swedish dramaturge and choreographer Malin Elgán cut together a wide range of feature films and documentaries to direct a live dance piece. The performance was recorded, and Storyboard is the result. A lecture by dance studies professor Elisa Ricci accompanies the screening.

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In the movie Storyboard, film directs feet: Swedish dramaturge and choreographer Malin Elgán cut together a wide range of feature films and documentaries to direct a live dance piece. The performance was recorded, and Storyboard is the result. A lecture by dance studies professor Elisa Ricci accompanies the screening.

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With Andy Warhol’s 1965 film Kitchen as inspiration, British theater company Gob Squad travels back in time as its actors attempt to recreate the hedonistic, experimental world of sex, drugs and wild parties of The Factory. Also on October 19.

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A photo exhibition as itinerant as the group it celebrates. For the next two weeks, portraits of Roma will 'travel' between the display windows of three shops along Müllerstraße in Wedding. The images - which were taken by documentary/war photographer Nihad Nino Pusija during his travels through the Balkans, and will be accompanied by critical texts on the "Private fotos of Roma and Sinti, and problems of Roma identity in contemporary times" - aim to provide insight into the migrant community. Pusija's photographs have also been displayed at the Topography of Terror Documentation Centre. Wedding Mahala Opus runs through October 14; tonight's vernissage features live music.

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Neoconcretismo is a movement born in Brazil in the late 1950s – just as the new capital, Brasilia, was being laid out by architects Lucio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer. It is at the centre of The Desire for Form, which traces the origins of works of contemporary Brasilian artists back to 1950s experiments with architecture and sculpture, geometry and bossa nova. Niemeyer pioneered the use of reinforced concrete, using it to imitate the surface of mountains and the sweep of a woman‘s back. In other words: modernism, South American-style. The AdK‘s exhibition features work by Hélio Oiticica, Lygia Clark, Lygia Pape, Ivan Serpa, Aluísio Carvão, Amilcar de Castro and Franz Weissmann, as well as Niemeyer and Costa.

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New British Art: the US-oriented, globally conscious successor to (and reaction against) the ‘me’-focused Young British Artists’ movement. At least that’s how curator and Turner Prize judge David Thorp sees it. In Zündkerze (“spark plug”), three mixed-media, performance, sculpture and installation artists claim to tackle issues of “Britain’s colonial past”, “globalization” and modern transience. Though I’m not sure how this is achieved by a vacuum-packed matzo cracker constructed from stainless steel bolts, and a sculpture made of powder-coated steel, concrete, fabric, padlocks and suede – two of the pieces in this show. It’s probably got something to do with materialism. In any case, it’s the thought that counts. Through November 6.

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New British Art: the US-oriented, globally conscious successor to (and reaction against) the ‘me’-focused Young British Artists’ movement. At least that’s how curator and Turner Prize judge David Thorp sees it. In Zündkerze (“spark plug”), three mixed-media, performance, sculpture and installation artists claim to tackle issues of “Britain’s colonial past”, “globalization” and modern transience. Though I’m not sure how this is achieved by a vacuum-packed matzo cracker constructed from stainless steel bolts, and a sculpture made of powder-coated steel, concrete, fabric, padlocks and suede – two of the pieces in this show. It’s probably got something to do with materialism. In any case, it’s the thought that counts. Through November 6.

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Plasma experiment chambers, drilling rigs, unpopulated housing developments, empty streets girded with sky scrapers... Thomas Struth’s large-format photographs capture what human ambition leaves behind when the creators and occupiers vacate the lot. Human absence is conspicuous, and a bit shifty... which makes you wonder about the strangeness of the species, or else yearn to take part in the secret life of buildings and machines. Pictures from the far side by one of Germany’s most interesting photographers.

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British sculptor and 1988 Turner-Prize-winner Tony Cragg uses simple techniques like stacking, splitting and crushing to turn discarded construction materials into large-scale dynamic works. Somewhat contrarily, this exhibition displays the artists' watercolours and drawings. Through November 13.

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Indian artist Jitish Kallat's grotesque, surreal, sometimes intentionally broken oil-on-wood paintings probe the realities of daily life in the megacity that is Mumbai. Through December 4.

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One of France's foremost contemporary artists, abstract painter Pierre Soulages' paintings and sketches either go "beyond black" - getting at the heart of the color that swallows light - or do the unheard of: make black give off light. (Soulages uses glossy, linear strokes that reflect and scatter the rays that hit his canvasses.) More than 70 works will be on display in this Centre Pompidou-curated retrospective. Through January 17.

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This group show aims to embody classic existentialist questions. What is real life? And how does one achieve "the good life?" Examining the precarious, constantly toppling balance between experiencing and performing, being seen and seeing, freedom and security, the members of Group Public attack thoughts first publicized by Aristotle 2500 years ago. Tonight's vernissage also features performances by Congress. Through October 19.

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Perhaps as a critique on female and artistic narcissism, Austrian artist Elke Krystufek has been creating sexually explicit mixed-media portraits of herself for a decade. Through October 16.

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The AdK hosts Germany's first extensive exhibition of 20th and 21st century Argentinian art. This national retrospective - which features works by 70 artists active in the last century - records the country's trajectory from colonialism to dictatorship to democracy. Through November 14.

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Norwegian tenor/soprano saxophonist Jan Gabarek premieres songs from his new CD, Officium Novum. An impressive mix of classical melodies with folk undercurrents.

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Listening to Japanese Melt-Banana's madly popular, frantically paced noise-rock is like sticking your finger in an electrical socket. The white-body-suited Barberos, who combine drums and synthetic noise, promise to push the evening's voltage up even further.

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Proof against those who claim electronica is sterile, London-based Yuill combines the emotional lyrics and atmospheres of folk music with electronic beats to produce "folktronica": tunes you can both dance AND cry to.

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"Along with God, flag, and country, you now have to love the rock band Wilco, or be forced to account for yourself," Stephen Metcalf wrote in Slate Magazine in 2004. That was Chicago acoustic-rock group Wilco's indie-scene apogee, after they had rocketed to fame as ringleaders of a rallying cry against the profit-driven music industry. Six years on, what do they sound like? Good question...

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With Italian grunge-noise group OvO and Australian Naked on the Vague's own brand of "apocalyptic no-wave pop and dark psychedelic weirdness", the premiere party of this new club promises to be as decadent as its name.

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Arab or Jewish? Israeli photographer and video artist Dor Guez’s ID card says “Jewish”, but his family history is not as straightforward. Guez’s videos feature intimate interviews with his Christian-Arab relatives and his photographs of Al Lydd – the Arabic name for Lod, the city he was raised in – paint a counternarrative of Palestinian culture. His exhibition at Kunst-Werke this month deals with locality and narrative, nationality as caught between stereotyping and self-definition: Guez uses his personal situations to recollect a larger narrative. Through November 11.

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