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I don't know if riding an elevator is already in your plans for the weekend - but if not, and if you're going to be around London's Southbank, it might be worth slipping in, between looking at the back of people's heads in and waiting to get served at .

The Southbank Centre is recreating 's - first shown at Birmingham's in 2005 - as part of its . The artwork is staged inside the centre's glass JCB lift and involves the recorded voices of singers, rising as the elevator ascends and descending as it falls. Have a listen.

Creed became well-known after for his Work No 227: The Lights Going on and Off. He says his art is a way of countering our visually overloaded, choice-saturated culture. I like Creed's work. I asked him for a line on this piece and got this: "I don't know what to say. I don't know which notes are best. I don't know if I'm coming or going." Up and down maybe, Martin?

He has a numbering system for his work that has taken the Factory Records route of allocating a number to all output, not just his artworks. It's not straightforward like Factory's, though. ; Creed's is a bit more conceptual. I spent a good five minutes trying to figure out the method, but failed to spot a system. I asked his gallery if anyone there could explain. Here's the reply:

"Please find below some info on Martin's titles / numbering:

"'All things are equal in Creed's esthetic universe, whether it's filling a room full of blue balloons or filming a girl crapping on the floor. The Abstract Expressionist painter Clyfford Still numbered his canvases because no words could do them justice. Creed numbers his works because they're basically all the same, just one thing after another. His emblematic equation, 'the whole world + the work = the whole world', posits a value of precisely zero for the work itself.' ()

"'Everything Creed makes is assigned a work number and catalogued; from interventional objects to writing, songs and interviews. The number system is often assigned in a non-linear fashion and does not necessarily relate to the date a piece was created, but a number, once assigned, is never used again. Work #158, 1996, is a simple sheet of framed A4 white office paper with the sentence 'something on the left, just as you come in, not too high or low' printed in black ink. The framed piece of A4 hangs on the wall exactly as described. Work #115, 1995, is subtitled 'a doorstop fixed to a floor to let a door open only 30 degrees', which is again, exactly what the viewer encounters on entering the gallery.' ()

"'His often extremely self-effacing works, all titled by number, have been characterised as 'attempts to short-circuit the visually overloaded, choice saturated culture in which we live'. They also take their place in the honourable tradition within the avant-garde of making work which appears to have no material value - which resists or defies commodification, even if in vain. Hence his conscious use of modest and everyday materials.' ()

"'Since 1987, Creed has numbered each of his works, and most of his titles relate in a very direct way to the piece's substance. Work No. 79, some Blu-tack kneaded, rolled into a ball and depressed against a wall (1993), for example, is just what it sounds like, as is Work No. 88, a sheet of A4 paper crumpled into a ball (1994). One of Creed's best known works is Work No. 200, half the air in a given space (1998), which is a room with enough inflated balloons in it for them to contain half the air in it.' ()

"'Creed presents us with a picture of quotidien life in the fourth dimension. It is a place as ordered and conventional as this world, but its rules are awkwardly and sometimes unobtrusively different. Since 1987, he has given each of his works a number, and it is apt that this numbering system has nothing to do with the logical numerical sequence convention dictates. Some numbers remain unascribed, but these aren't gaps, rather elegant creations of palpable nothingness; somewhere they might have an abundant shape and presence, as suggested by the alternative title for Work no. 208: song (1999) - Nothing is Something.' ()"

"You might also find this quote interesting:"

"'Giorgio Sadotti: If you were a number and not a name, what would it be and why?
MC: [laughs] Erm... aye... I'd have to say zero... because... er... you know, it's exactly halfway between positive and negative... and since I'd find it very difficult to choose a number... zero would be the least of... zero would be the number that would cause me the least worry... and that's... yeah... important to me... aye... I'd probably be happy with that.' (from )"

The idea of a number as onomatopoeia. That's nice.

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is not a big man. This incidental observation morphs into vivid consciousness when he prepares to dance at the beginning of , his new show which opened at on Monday evening.

In front of an expectant full house, on a desolate stage with no music and just some bells on his legs to keep him company, he appears worryingly vulnerable and fragile. It's like watching a young, frail and frightened first-time comedian take an open-mic spot at a beered-up Edinburgh Fringe bear pit: you can't help but fear for his well-being.

But Akram Khan is no rookie. He is a well-respected, highly successful choreographer and dancer who has dazzled audiences across the globe with his movement and power. And so he did again on Monday with his mastery of the north Indian dance form of .

Midway through the performance, during an entertaining music-and-dance improv session, he made explicit his intention to provoke unease among his audience. "Fragility," he said, "is a good thing. It keeps you in the present." At first, I thought he was simply referring to himself as a lone dancer; I later realised the apophthegm was for us, the watching public.

Towards the end of the first half of the show, he introduces the musicians who accompany his dancing. The last to be announced is the percussionist . She comes from Japan, where Akram had discovered her at an open rehearsal. He was looking for a fierce man, not a delicate woman, but ended up choosing Yoshie because of "her inner power".

Actually I think there is some poetic license in his use of the word "discovered". As I understand it, he went to the Japanese island of where the remarkable are based (Yoshie was a member) and spent time working with them. Hardly a Simon-Cowell-style open rehearsal, but that's by the by.

After the break, Akram is joined on stage by another dancer. They work beautifully together as they tell a very truncated version of through dance. There is still percussion accompaniment, but Yoshie is no longer on the drums - she is the one dancing with Akram.

You need exceptional qualities to be able to drum to a high enough standard to become a Kodo member. Only a very remarkable individual could also dance at a sufficient level to warrant taking the stage with Akram Khan. Yoshie Sunahata has achieved both and more. She also sang beautifully. Inner power and some.

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Shepard Fairey, the graphic designer, street artist, ad man, political commentator and all-round 21st-Century visual arts polymath who is most famous for , is finding life on the streets a little rocky.

May Day, on the corner of Houston Street and Bowery in New York, was commissioned by the gallery to coincide with and promote its monographic show of his work. It has come under attack from taggers and others as reported in and .

In , the eloquent Mr Fairey talks about the project while cherry-pickers and assistants beaver away in the background. He talks about the historical importance of the site - Keith Haring used it in 1982 - and his part in Banksy's film .

Deitch Projects has long been supporters of street art. The gallery represents the estate of Keith Haring and two years ago recreated to celebrate what would have been the late artist's 50th birthday.

In 2007, it put on 's work and preceded the Shephard Fairy Houston Street commission with .

I can see that, for some, it might run counter to the spirit of what is largely an underground movement to have a major public space dedicated to the work of street artists - it's hardly sticking it to The Man. But having helped to produce a couple of years ago, where six international artists and partnerships produced colossal works on the side of the building overlooking the Thames, including one by Os Gemeos, and having seen how the artists chose to respond to the circumstances makes me think that a major permanent outside space for international commissions on this side of the Atlantic could elicit some memorable work.

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's graphic novel has just won the graphic novel category of the , the first time it has been awarded.

And I'm delighted. Not about Asterios Polyp's win - I haven't yet read the novel - but that such a mainstream prize should establish the graphic novel as a category. For those who are not yet drawn to the genre, such a prize serves a useful function of highlighting excellence and generating interest.

There are plenty of reviews to read on Mazzucchelli's book, including ; most of them will quickly lead you to his 1990s collaboration with Paul Auster and Paul Karasic in creating .

Which might mean that this prize leads you to discover not just one new novel but two.

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One well-groomed, articulate, charming, intelligent, middle-aged, middle-class white man has been the stand-out player in the first weeks of the election campaign, and that's David.

Not David C, in this case, but David H: . His are a blessed tonal relief from the deafening dissonance generated by the majority of election comment in the papers. I've enjoyed all of his and , but .

DH's pieces are well-crafted, precise and witty and do not resort to cynicism (well, only a bit). It's grown-up editorial, guided by a personality that is revealed with modesty and subtlety. Most contemporary columns, sad to say, are akin to the finger-jabbing rants of a drunken bore at a party.

The other day, I asked DH why he chooses to write plays that fictionalise his take on current affairs instead of developing his journalism.

First, he thinks that a single piece of journalism, written in the moment when events are still unfolding, can provide only a partial account. Much better, he says, to gather a variety of reports and opinions over time, and only when the story has come to some sort of resolution to add the element of historical perspective and create a work that encompasses the whole. A play, he thinks, is the best device to achieve this.

And second, there is the shared experience of theatre. David Hare would far rather create a work that is mutually experienced by a few hundred people than a printed text that is consumed individually, privately and at different times. He says this from the position of both a playwright and a theatre-goer.

For DH, journalism is but a flirtation; theatre is his true love.

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This film is the first in a series I will be posting on Gomp/arts that will feature a wide range of arts figures including writers, musicians, directors, performers and artists giving advice about a specific aspect of their work.

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Mon dieu! Woody Allen has cast French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy in his new movie - which starts shooting in Paris this summer, . She will star alongside Marion Cotillard, Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams.

This could be just the start of a global trend for leaders' wives (or husbands) to be signed up to the silver screen. Perhaps someone from Central Casting is running their eye over our own three potential "first ladies" and mentally matching them up with directing talent? Miriam and Pedro Almodovar, SamCam and Sam Mendes, Sarah and Ken Loach...?

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The volcanic ash cloud is an act of God. At least it is from an insurance point of view.

The UK's performing-arts scene is now cancelling events on an hourly basis due to the talent being stuck elsewhere.

Gil Scott-Heron is a case in point. He was due to be playing at the Royal Festival Hall tonight, but is stuck in America. Bad luck for the 2,500+ fans. But spare a thought for the South Bank Centre. This from the press office:

"In the rare instances where events are cancelled due to circumstances outside the control of Southbank Centre or the artist involved, Southbank Centre is liable for the costs of the event and the refunding of tickets."

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Alex Ross, the New Yorker music critic, has become chattering-class royalty since the publication of his award-winning book on 20th-Century classical music . If awards were given out for book titles, this would be right up there with Freakonomics.

Now ; well, a three-stop American city tour anyway.

Alex will do the words while Ethan Iverson will provide the (educational) musical accompaniment. .

Although there's obviously an element of tongue-in-cheek around the hyperbole AR is proclaiming regarding his tour, his idea could genuinely evolve into a stadium world tour. All things live are booming at the moment: not just theatre and festivals, but "edutainment" in the form of book festivals and lecture tours.

During May the author and zeitgeist guru will be . MG has the pulling power to fill a decent-sized theatre and undertake a tour with his brand of contemporary culture lectures. So, if he can do that what could AR & EI achieve?

It wouldn't be a huge surprise to see that wily impresario David Campbell, the man behind the success of London's O2, getting in on the act. The potential for an Alex Ross / Ethan Iverson global tour to empty Notting Hill, Islington and Hampstead and fill the O2 for at least a couple of nights might well be crossing his entrepreneurial mind.

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With all the chutzpah of his recently-deceased dad, Joseph Corré, Malcolm McLaren's son and founder of , has called for his father's funeral on 22 April to be marked in an appropriate manner with a "MINUTE OF MAYHEM". "Put on your favourite record," he says, "and let it RIP!"

He posted this pop call-to-arms on his human-rights site (nice clean design, by the way), where you can also buy a souvenir/commemorative T-shirt specially made for the occasion that bears the legend "Cash for Chaos", as was the one worn by MM in the movie , during his performance of Max Bygrave's You Need Hands. And he looks good. But like skinny jeans and smoking, T-shirts only look good on sub-forty-year-olds. After that age, you just look like a dentist or a jogger. Worse still if the 'T' has a slogan: then you look like a dentist trying to be cool. Not very rock 'n' roll.

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Things happening this week that have caught my eye.

• Peter Pan is a bit whimsical for my taste, but the new production by opening on Friday in Glasgow has been re-written by , which mean it's well worth taking a look. I went to see his play earlier this year at . Two things about it:
(1) it is a sequel to Macbeth;
(2) it is one of the best new plays I have ever seen.
If you missed the original Hampstead Theatre / run, there could be good news. I have heard that the National Theatre of Scotland is considering its own touring production of Dunsinane.

• Gil Scott-Heron is in conversation with the ebullient publisher tonight before embarking on a week-long tour in the UK and Ireland. backstory in the Guardian.

• Jannis Kounellis, from Friday, is the stand-out opening of the week. who continues to produce work of exceptional quality and intellect. was a highlight of that year; this show might well be a highlight of 2010.

• David Remnick is the Pulitzer-wining editor of who has written a new Barack Obama biography - that's a high-level combination. At 672 pages, it is very long; like so many books nowadays, this suggests either an indulgent trend or a marketing gimmick to hint at value-for-money. Still, most of those who have taken on the task of reading it seem to have found it largely worthwhile (see, for example, ). Picador is publishing the book in the UK in a little under three weeks' time; in the meantime, .

• Billy Bragg's opens today. An evening that is part-gig, part-play and part-installation suggests something less than coherent, but anything named after and featuring Bragg's 1980s classic A New England - made famous by - is tempting.

• After opening last year at London's , Pictures from an Exhibition gets a brief run at Sadler's Wells from Friday. It's inspired by Mussorgsky's famous piano piece, which you can hear and is the work of choreographer and director Daniel Kramer, .

• I spent too long at the site Letters of Note before before spending even longer at its sister site Letterheady, both of which do exactly what their names would suggest. Good work from the curator and congratulations on the baby.
and

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Shakespeare was a greedy, weak, devious individual who only thought of himself at the great expense of the rest of the community in Stratford-upon-Avon. Well that's the view Edward Bond took in his play which opens at Chichester Festival Theatre tomorrow.

It portrays our greatest playwright in very poor light. Bond's story sees William Shakespeare fearful about the possibility of losing the land he has bought on the proceeds from his plays. The land is now Shakespeare's only source of income - he has lost his writing mojo. A big local landowner wants to drive Shakespeare's tenants off the land, thereby leaving the embittered Bard with diddly squat. What to do? Sell out to the developer or fight for his tenants?

Shakespeare now finds himself in the same situation as one of his most famous characters, King Lear. To add further ironic spice to the play the producers have cast , the great Shakespearian actor and spokesman for his work, as the miserly Shakespeare in this unflattering story of a selfish playwright at the end of his days.

And it's worth noting Edward Bond if you're not familiar with him or his work. He has a reputation. . That's not his reputation.

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was one of the most significant cultural figures in the 1970s whose death will bring back a flood of nostalgic memories for many of those who were teenagers at the time. as the impresario behind the Sex Pistols, the mop-haired catalyst for punk and for running a fashion shop called SEX with his then-partner Vivienne Westwood. McLaren and the manager of bands such as Bow Wow Wow is likely to feature less prominently in the collective consciousness, but these were not insubstantial achievements in their own right.

My abiding memory of Malcolm McLaren will be none of these. It was not because of his illustrious past that I always sat up and listened whenever he popped up on my television or radio. It was because of his mind. I will remember McLaren for his intelligence, his use of language and his ability to catch a common thought and reshape it into a prescient phrase.

His arrival as on the nation's TV screens in the late 1970s, loftily pontificating on any subject he cared with prophetic confidence, was like being given your first shot of whisky after a diet of fizzy pop acts and even gassier DJs. He understood the media game and knew he could play it better than most. Plus he had that magic media ingredient: charisma. He was colour while everybody else seemed still to be black-and-white - whatever the monochrome images on the right might suggest.

He said that his grandmother told him to "disregard anybody with any air of authority". Most kids would have thanked granny for the advice and perhaps nicked her fags, but McLaren turned it into a set of brand guidelines on which to build a career. He could have used those wise words as the tagline on any of his products, just as Apple now encourages people to Think Different.

For someone with an anti-establishment persona, it was ironic that he chose to be an entrepreneur, the career path of choice for any right-thinking Thatcherite. But it was this sort of contradiction that made McLaren so compelling. If there was a rule, he was the man to find an exception.

His days at the top table of youth culture were long gone, but he was still one of the most intelligent and entertaining commentators on the subject of contemporary arts. He was always worth listening to; his remarkable skill with words made sure of that.

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