Get ready for something a little different. Princess Belsize Dollar, aka Helen Carmel Benigson, is a self-styled video artist, rapper, lover, activist and sushi addict, who lists amongst her key interests Eminem, Match of the Day, late night poker, youporn.com, sun-worshiping, moisturising, gold jewellery, soldiers and royalty. Fresh out of the Slade and already creating quite a frenzy, the artist will be treating us to an exclusive live performance and Q&A streamed live into Rollo Contemporary Art via Skype. Welcome to the 21^st century folks.

Princess’s work, an eclectic fusion of performance, rap, film and photography, explores the notions of boundaries (whether political, geographical or physical), stereotypical femininity, fantasy, being a female Jewish rapper, and most interestingly our obsession with cyberspace. Which is where Skype comes in. Providing we don’t encounter any unforeseen ‘technical problems’, you’ll be experiencing a pivotal moment in the history of Love Art London Q&As. Be there or be square.

This event is for Members Only (25 places)
http://www.helenbenigson.com/
http://www.rolloart.com

When you think of a coffin, what comes to mind? A dark mahogany, lead-lined number with gold plated handles, topped with a bouquet of lilies is probably about right. Think again. In Ghana on the west coast of Africa there’s an old and rich tradition of the deceased being buried in a vibrantly decorated casket that reflects their profession. If you were a fisherman, you get buried in a fish. If you were a fruit farmer, you get buried in a pineapple. If you were a barman, you get buried in a bottle of beer. And in the case of this chap, if you were a pilot, you get buried in, well, a Ghana Airways aeroplane. Each coffin’s hand crafted and beautifully painted by local artisans. In Ghana, it’s believed that when you die, you should have saved the equivalent of six months' salary for a suitable coffin, and a similar amount for a party involving the entire community. Everything about this process is designed to celebrate the deceased’s life rather than mourn their death. After all, it happens to us all and although scary it’s as natural as being born. So why not go out with a bang?

London’s resident art expert on all things African, Jack Bell, joins us for a special tour of the Southbank Centre’s extraordinary exhibition Boxed: Fantastic Coffins from Ghana, part of their Festival for the Living. Mortifyingly brilliant.

This event is for Members Only (20 places)

http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk

Architecture geeks, hold onto your undies, this’ll be an awesome ride. One of London’s most recent and beautiful hunks of steel and glass, The Angel Building has won countless awards for environmentally friendly design and innovation. However, although the building itself is a stonking sculptural masterpiece in its own right, it also contains an outstanding collection of artworks. The most impressive of which is a monumental sculpture 'Out of the Strong Came Forth Sweetness' by Ian McChesney which occupies most of the vast central atrium, extending the full twenty-two metres from floor to ceiling (that’s more than 5 double-decker buses stacked on top of each other). And the most fascinating fact is the design is based on an experiment with a pot of treacle and a teaspoon. Imagine dipping a teaspoon into a pot of treacle and allowing the sticky mixture to fall from it. Freeze that frame and turn the entire shape upside down. See? We’ll be taking a special behind-the-scenes tour with Derwent London director Simon Silver, who commissioned this outstanding art collection. Architectastic.

This event is for Members Only (25 places)

http://angelbuilding.com/

Get your thermal socks on, we’re going camping. Why? Because that’s precisely what artist Alex Hartley (the chap responsible for Nowhereisland, a floating sculpture made mostly of matter collected from an island in the High Arctic which will be taking a 500-mile journey around the UK, pulled along by a tug boat, during next year’s Olympic shenanigans) is doing at the Victoria Miro Gallery. Floating on the ornamental pond in the gallery’s back garden is a ramshackle dome made from rusting car bonnets cut into triangles which, for the duration of the show, Alex is calling home. Although the artist describes this contraption as a lunar module as designed by Harold Steptoe, it’s surprisingly cosy, insulated with Hessian, complete with a wood-burning stove and a chicken coop. Fair questions at this juncture might firstly be why but moreover why in January for Pete’s sake? Questions you’ll be able to ask the artist yourself.

Alex’s work seeks to explore ideas of habitation, wilderness, belonging and isolation. It's all about the search for peace in an increasingly noisy world, the harshness of nature, its simple beauty and survival too. And what better way to explore these ideas than by turning one of London’s most celebrated contemporary art galleries into an eco lodge? We’ll be meeting Alex for a tour of his show and chatting to him about life inside the dome. Fantastic.

This event is for Members Only (25 places)

http://www.victoria-miro.com/

Holy bejeezers, talk about getting the New Year started with a bang. The legendary Billy Childish (painter, musician, poet, punk and hero of the British art resistance movement) joins us to discuss the quaintly titled exhibition What is ART HATE and Other Cuntish Questions on show at L-13. The gallery, or to use its full name, THE L-13 LIGHT INDUSTRIAL WORKSHOP and PRIVATE LADIES AND GENTLEMENS CLUB for ART, LEISURE and THE DISRUPTIVE BETTERMENT OF CULTURE, will, for the duration of the show, cease to exist as a ‘gallery’ but will instead accommodate “pre-ordained and tightly controlled 'open days' where art may sometimes be viewed in and amongst the official ART HATE ARCHIVE.” Splendid.

A weird and wonderful installation including artworks like The Patented Marcel Douchebag Finger of God Painting Machine, Reginald Dada’s Automated Art Hate Horse, The Art Hate Trike, a calendar bearing the words ‘Will you die this year?’ and a collection of signs crafted from tubular metal carrying messages like TRUST YOUR DISSATISFACTION and KUNST MACHT FREI (Art Makes One Free), this is like nothing you’ve ever seen before. Billy, who is rumoured to be involved with the show, joins us for an intimate evening of explanation, conversation and poetry reading. Genius.

This event is for Members Only (25 places)

http://www.l-13.org/