Typewriters, Wicker Husbands, and Subatomic Melancholy

Late October offers its usual prescription for seasonal gloom: high-minded visual art, psychological gore, and a touch of existential absurdity. For those seeking distraction from public sector inertia and economic headwinds, the upcoming cultural slate provides an array of choices across the European landscape.

London’s British Library marks half a century since the death of Agatha Christie with a major exhibition opening on October 30. Displaying her 1937 Remington typewriter—the tool behind And Then There Were None—alongside life-sized replicas of Orient Express carriages, private letters, and early manuscripts, the institution offers a curated look at the writer who transformed homicide into comfortable reading. Across town, the Warburg Institute provides a quieter option with Night Maps, an exploration of historical depictions of the night skies running through mid-April.

Across the continent in Northern Italy, Turin Art Week turns to subatomic physics. At OGR Torino, curators Daniel Birnbaum and Jacqui Davies present The Quantum Effect from October 31 through February 25. Centred on the visual legacy of the black monolith from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, the showcase translates concepts such as dark matter, parallel universes, and teleportation into physical form. Displays feature a Yayoi Kusama infinity room alongside an animatronic gorilla crafted by British artist Ryan Gander.

Cinematic releases lean into the absurd. Directors Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson bring Wicker to cinemas on October 30. Adapted from a short story by Ursula Wills, this folk comedy stars Olivia Colman as a frustrated medieval fisherwoman who hires a basket weaver, played by Peter Dinklage, to craft her a husband out of wicker, played by Alexander Skarsgård. The narrative uses its bizarre setup to dissect female desire and traditional marriage dynamics. Elsewhere in film, Lance Oppenheim’s Primetime starring Robert Pattinson arrives in UK cinemas on October 30, while Netflix debuts the documentary The One About Matthew Perry on October 27.

On television, crime fiction maintains its grip. Apple TV+ debuts Nocturne on October 30, drawing from Lars Kepler’s novels The Sandman and Lazarus. Stephen Graham plays imprisoned serial killer Jurek Walter, who continues to orchestrate outside crimes while a former homicide detective, played by Liev Schreiber, and an FBI agent, played by Zazie Beetz, search for a missing child. On Paramount+, Michael C. Hall returns in the second season of Dexter: Resurrection alongside Brian Cox as the New York Ripper.

The musical calendar concludes with veterans reflecting on imperfection. Queens of the Stone Age release their ninth album, Perfecth, on October 30. Frontman Josh Homme selected the deliberately flawed title to signal an honest exploration of human vulnerability, health setbacks, and personal relationships. On the same date, industrial metal band Ministry releases Hate to Go, marking their seventeenth and final studio record.

Written by Thomas Nussbaumer thomas.nussbaumer@alpineweekly.com