Do Ho Suh: Walk the House, Tate Modern review - memories are made of this

★★★★ DO HO SUH: WALK THE HOUSE, TATE MODERN Memories are made of this

Home sweet home preserved as exquisite replicas

A traditional Korean house has appeared at Tate Modern. And with its neat brickwork, beautifully carved roof beams and lattice work screens, this charming dwelling looks decidedly out of place, and somewhat ghostly. Go closer and you realise that, improbably, the full-sized building is made of paper. It’s the work of South Korean artist Do Ho Suh (main picture).

Noah Davis, Barbican review - the ordinary made strangely compelling

A voice from the margins

In 2013 the American artist, Noah Davis used a legacy left him by his father to create a museum of contemporary art in Arlington Heights, an area of Los Angeles populated largely by Blacks and Latinos. But his Underground Museum faced a problem; it didn’t have any art to put on display and none of the institutions approached by Davis would loan him their precious holdings.

Eyck, BBC Philharmonic, Storgårds, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - theremin takes centre stage

★★★★ EYCK, BBC PHILHARMONIC, STORGARDS, BRIDGEWATER HALL Theremin takes centre stage

A rare visitor for the UK premiere of Kalevi Aho's 'Eight Seasons'

The theremin is still a relatively rare visitor to concert halls, particularly in a solo role, but Carolina Eyck is changing that. Her instrument, invented by Lev Termen just 100 years ago, is a relatively simple piece of kit – a tone generator controlled by the player’s hands, which never touch it but rather appear to be conjuring sound out of thin air.

CD: Tove Lo - Sunshine Kitty

★★★★ CD: TOVE LO - SUNSHINE KITTY Forthright relationship-centred lyricism

Forthright relationship-centred lyricism combined with elegant electronic pop to winning effect

Swedish singer Tove Lo appeared at a time when female physical sexuality was being used as a raw, blunt weapon in pop, when porno chic reached an apex in music videos. Half a decade ago was the time of Nicki Minaj’s “Anaconda” and Miley Cyrus’s “Wrecking Ball”, thus Lo’s overt displays of sexual bravado seemed part of the same and she had big hits with songs such as “Habits (Stay High)” and “Talking Body”.  Her output since, however, has proved her sensual agenda to be more than a passing foible.

Album of the Year: Jane Weaver – The Silver Globe

ALBUM OF THE YEAR: JANE WEAVER – THE SILVER GLOBE Jane Weaver has taken gold – and done so with clear distance between her and the rest of the pack

Jane Weaver has taken gold – and done so with clear distance between her and the rest of the pack

2014 has seen a fair few late lunges for the line in the race to be my best album of the year (a contest fought more for prestige and honour than hard cash in all honesty). I’m a mild-mannered sort, and hate disappointing the recording artists clearly hanging on my every word for validation, but Theo Parrish, Spectres and Craig Bratley will have to settle for commendations along with Goat, The War on Drugs, Peaking Lights and Klaus Johann Grobe this time. Jane Weaver’s The Silver Globe has taken gold – and done so with clear distance between it and the rest of the pack.

Best of 2014: Dance & Ballet

BEST OF 2014: DANCE & BALLET A dozen unforgettable events from a rich year

A dozen unforgettable events from a rich year

You usually know a good piece or performance when you see one, but sometimes you only identify a great one as such significantly after the fact. What better way to test a work's durability, then, than by seeing what remains of it in the memory after six or 12 months? I admit this "best of" exercise is pretty subjective, but 2014 was such a rich year for dance that I've had to be ruthless: an item only makes my list if I still feel excited when I recall it.

Best of 2014: Top 13 Films, 5-1

BEST OF 2014: TOP 13 FILMS, 5-1 The countdown concludes with our top five film picks

The countdown concludes with our top five film picks

Continuing on from yesterday where great British comedy sat alongside Turkish slow cinema in our countdown of the best films from 13-6, here are our top five films of 2014. Another diverse selection which celebrates ambitious and immersive storytelling, technical prowess and breathtaking sights.

5. Inside Llewyn Davis (dirs. Ethan Coen, Joel Coen)

Best of 2014: TV

BEST OF 2014: TV Prog Rock, detectives, two world wars and the young Batman were among 2014's highlights

Prog Rock, detectives, two world wars and the young Batman were among 2014's highlights

Apologies in advance to fans of The Missing, The Honourable Woman, The Fall, Game of Thrones or House of Cards, none of which feature in the list below, but might well have done. So might The Good Wife, Ripper Street and Peaky Blinders. The fact is, in our teeming everything-everywhere world now boosted by Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, iTunes, Now TV and many more, whittling a whole year down to a handful of nuggets requires the wisdom of Solomon, the patience of Job, and the devious brain of a superhacker.

Best of 2014: World Music

BEST OF 2014: WORLD MUSIC Best of the year, quite a lot of which was by revolutionary women

Best of the year, quite a lot of which was by revolutionary women

The most extraordinary bunch of global musicians I met this year were the groups who were singing on the barricades during the Ukrainian Revolution on the Maidan Square, foremost among them the all-female Dakh Daughters, who describe themselves as "freak cabaret". The video below is well worth a look as they sing in front of massed ranks of police and army to an exhilarated crowd (the music comes in after five minutes):


 

Best of 2014: Art

BEST OF 2014: ART It was a year of remembrance - so who were the artists we couldn't forget?

It was a year of remembrance - so who were the artists we couldn't forget?

We commemorated the centenary of the start of the First World War and we celebrated the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The year also marked a 70th anniversary for the D-Day landings. So it was oddly fitting that the London art calendar was most notable for the invasion of heavyweight Germans; namely, four postwar artists whose sense of the weight of German history is writ large in their work.