© Victoria and Albert Museum

© Jamie Reid. Photograph by Victoria and Albert Museum

Zaha Hadid Architects

This spring the V&A will present a major exhibition celebrating the best of British design from 1948, the year of the 'Austerity Olympics', to 2012. Over 300 objects will be shown with most of these selected from the V&A's extensive archive.

Homegrown fashion, furniture, fine art, graphic design, photography, ceramics, architecture and industrial products will all be represented. This will be an epic journey from post-war industrialism, to the New Towns such as Harlow and Milton Keynes, to 1960s consumerism, 80s radical art right up to modern day technology and architecture. Expect to see household goods as well as lesser known designs.

The exhibition reminds us of the importance of Britain as a hub of creativity and innovative design even at a time when manufacturing has mostly moved elsewhere. Jaguar, Mini, Concorde, Zaha Hadid, David Hockney, Alexander McQueen, Terence Conran, David Bailey, Vivienne Westwood, David Bowie and Peter Saville are just some of the brands and tastemakers whose work will appear in what will be the definitive retrospective of modern design in this country.

British Design 1948-2012: Innovation in the Modern Age takes place at the V&A from 31st March to 12th August 2012.

Text by Thanh Ma

Rachel Rose defies most definition. A fine artist working across a variety of media (she will taking part in an exhibition from the end of next month, currently open in London, creating work on the theme of what Martha Rosler might still yet describe as the Semiotics of the Kitchen; you'll find more details in your daily Culture section as they emerge), she launched a new book of poetry yesterday in an opening in Because Magazine's second favourite city, New York.

Rose likes to untangle, expose and play with the structures that scaffold our daily routine. This new book, titled Open Poem and produced in collaboration with artist Alex Da Corte, who created the imagery that accompanies the written work, is comprised a series of poems that have either been written or came to life as messages on a smartphone. The tricksy interplay between tradition and technology, between the tap-tap-typing that happens innately, thinking more of issues of space than of accurate content, and that most intimate of forms: poetry.  Tactile sensuality is a theme that overarches the work, and the associated photography of original sculpture alongside the poetry transfers plaster to plastic in a very visceral and relevant material mash-up: clashing tradition with the shock of the new.

Rose turns what might be thought of as a gimmick into a very deliberate, and very thoughtful, trope through which to explore contemporary notions of intimate, personal, one-to-one communication. Readers shouldn't be surprised that this is a simple and engaging read, as well as displaying a consistent strength throughout (no mean feat for a book of contemporary poetry). There are certain traits that American artists have that European artists are still developing (a broad generalisation, and one that is based on the institutional foundations that support young artists; something that is based more on the culture of commodity over there than here, where culture becomes both the object and subject of knowledge).  Balanced finely within this book, it's a small and unassuming treasure that never outstays its welcome.

Open Poem by Rachel Rose with Alex Da Corte is published by Publication Studio.

image: Creeps Back. CD, unisex human pheromones, plaster, acrylic, plaster utensils. 8x11". 2012. Rachel Rose.

The Dardennes brothers are the European arthouse sensations who have wowed critics internationally since the release of their 1996 film La Promesse. Their following film, Rosetta, won the Palme D'Or at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. They've won an award at every Cannes Film Festival that they've played at since and are the most recent of a band of only six directors who have won the Palme D'Or twice (the second time for their 2005 film L'Enfant). Their films are notorious for their portrayal for the grim and difficult social situation in which their characters are based, what in England might be called gritty, kitchen sink drama. There's a touch more élan to the films of the brothers, and this is demonstrated by their latest release. The Kid with a Bike opens, winner of the Grand Prix at last year's Cannes Film Festival, starts a limited release in UK cinemas today.

Truthfully, we here at Because Magazine's Culture section approach the films of the Dardennes brothers ruefully, and we make sure we have something fun and diverting to go to afterwards. No such reservations were necessary for this film. A simple story of boy slowly being disowned by his father, and the relationship that the boy develops with a local hairdresser, this film is actually a lot more audience friendly than it might sound, or its pre-history dictates. At its core (and denouement) is a sweet, heart-rending softness that it is impossible to not fall for. The Dardennes brothers have a quality of working with non-professional child actors to great effect (see: Rosetta), but this the first film by the duo to take a more traditional approach to film storytelling, not as overly reliant on natural lighting and handheld cameras as some of their previous work, and in Cécile de France demonstrate the first time they've worked with a bona fide international star actress. She, like the rest of the film, is wonderful and it should be top of your list to do this bright, sunny weekend.

The Kid with a Bike is on limited release from today.