We are delighted to have been invited to Hooper's Gallery for the opening night of its latest exhibition 'Dammerung - Eventide Visions of London' by artist Ebru Erülkü.

"London is transformed by Ebru Erülkü in a series of dramatic, beautiful, somewhat disquieting, images. These images cannot fail to have an impact either consciously or unconsciously upon any viewer familiar with London.

Erülkü's photographs take familiar scenes and scenarios into the fantastical by combining documentarystyle images with glimpses of absurd fictions. Her images conjure up the strange realities at the edges of our vision – vivid fictional clouds alter perceptions and link the viewer with London dynamic past and uncertain future. By breaking out from the confines of time and space, Erülkü unleashes a hitherto unexplored energy in our unconscious and our associations with reality and the familiar.
Using the camera and the technology on offer today in a flexible way, Erülkü achieves the transformation of metaphorical concepts into images.

The resulting pictures, in the form of photographs, which one could equally imagine as paintings, are woven together from everyday events and those that transcend the everyday. From what is observed and what is imagined, perhaps, too, from what is dreamed and what is wished for. Beyond this, a further field of interpretation is offered; it lies within that indefinable no-mans-land, somewhere between the normal and the absurd.

This body of work was started in 2004 and has been further developed for Erülkü's exhibition at Hooper's.

A new black and white series present a dream-like quality which crosses all boundaries of time and space. These images reverberate with the collective memories of London and defy the passage of time.

Erülkü works with an analogue camera and then digitises her material to enable her to alter light, adjust contrast or add to the image. She believes that, whatever the instrument, the reality of what is seen in front of the lens changes to the new reality of the created image. Both realities have their own integrity. She strives to represent what we see and fuse this with the possibilities of what we might see.

Cost: foc - complimentary drinks & canapés

Back due to popular demand is live Jazz at the infamous Pizza Express in Dean Street,

Bobo Moreno & Ewabb

Danish powerhouse vocalist Bobo Moreno is an extraordinarily versatile performer at home with R&B, rock, pop and jazz. On his latest album, ‘Out of this World’ (Stunt Records), he is joined by the Ernie Wilkins’ Almost Big Band, founded in Copenhagen in 1980 by late great composer and arranger. Wilkins’ legendary arrangements for artists such as Sarah Vaughan and Joe Williams are interpreted by Bobo and the Almost Big Band with swinging joie de vivre, emotional depth and reverential integrity. Standards include ‘How High the Moon’, ‘Angel Eyes’ and ‘On Green Dolphin Street’. Bobo Moreno (vocals), Benny Rosenfeld, Palle Bolvig, Thomas Fryland (trumpet),Peter Jensen, Lea Nielsen (trombone), Jan zum Vohrde (alto sax), Pernille Bevort, Jan Harbeck (tenor sax), Per Goldschmidt (baritone sax/bandleader), Nikolaj Bentzon (piano), Kaspar Vadsholt (bass) and Aage Tanggaard (drums).


Meet: 6.45pm

Cost: £75 (entrance fee, 3-course dinner, 1/2 bt wine, coffee/water).

La Petite Maison is a much-loved restaurant in Nice frequented by the likes of Elton John, La Hurley, rod Stewart & Roger Moore. Arjun Wany (co-owner of Suma & Roka), thought it would be a good idea to open a sister restaurant in London, where no doubt beautiful people will flock their in droves. .

LPM with it's traditional French Mediterranean cuisine has been garnering rave reviews from the likes of AA Gill (no mean feat) . 'Grazing' dishes are recommended to share, which means this will be a delicious, interactive dinner!

Dinner: 8.30pm

Cost: £82 (3 courses, 1/2 bt wine, service)

Britain has failed Zimbabwe

Speakers for the motion:

R W Johnson A South African Rhodes Scholar and for many years a Fellow in Politics at Magdalen College, Oxford. Academic author and journalist. Returned to South Africa in 1995 as director of the Helen Suzman Foundation which he ran for six years. Heavily involved in Zimbabwean affairs, he carried out the first (and only) proper political opinion surveys ever conducted there from1998 to 2002. His most recent book is ‘South Africa: The First Man, the Last Nation’.

Peter Godwin Prize-winning Zimbabwean writer and documentary maker. Former foreign correspondent for the Sunday Times. Author of ‘Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa’, a memoir about growing up in Southern Rhodesia in the 1960s and 1970s, as the former British colony collapsed to become Zimbabwe. His latest book ‘When A Crocodile Eats The Sun’ details the ebbing of his father's life, set to the backdrop of modern-day Zimbabwe's apocalyptic decline.

Tendai Biti MP Co-founder and Secretary-General of the Movement for Democratic Change opposition party in Zimbabwe. In 1988 and 1989, Biti led student protests against government censorship in academia. In March 2007, he was arrested after a prayer rally along with many other members of the MDC.

Speakers against the motion:

David Coltart MP Human rights lawyer and the Movement for Democratic Change's Secretary for Legal Affairs and Shadow Minister for Justice and Legal Affairs. Fights passionately in Parliament and the courts for justice and human rights in Zimbabwe.

John Makumbe Senior Lecturer in Political Science at the University of Zimbabwe. Co-author of ‘Behind the Smokescreen: The Politics of Zimbabwe’s 1995 General Elections’. Actively involved in civic action and a human rights campaigner of international reputation.

Chenjerai Hove Zimbabwean-born, widely published poet, novelist and columnist living in self-exile in Norway. In 1989 his novel, 'Bones', won the Africa Book of the Year, and in 2001 he was awarded the German-Africa Prize for Freedom of Expression and Social Justice by the German-Africa Foundation for his newspaper columns. Founding board member of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Association. Currently Guest Writer of the City of Stavanger in Norway.

The debate will be chaired by Richard Lindley Writer, author, a veteran television reporter and presenter having reported from every continent while working for ITN. He joined BBC Panorama where he was the first western television journalist to interview Saddam Hussein.

Meet: 6.30pm for 6.45pm start

Cost: £35

Venue: Hugo's, 51 Prince's Gate, SW7 2PH

Meet: If you can't make the debate but would like to join us for supper we will be there around 8.45pm.  Priority is always given to members booking both the debate and the supper.

Cost: £45

Annie Lennox, Cat Stevens,Corinne Bailey Rae, James Morrison, Marc Almond and others all unite for Peace One Day, a major concert for global peace on Peace Day, Friday 21 September 2007.

A host of star names will perform live and contribute through messages and films. Annie Lennox, Corinne Bailey Rae, James Morrison, Beth Orton and Marc Almond will all perform live, and they will be supported by video messages and specially filmed pieces by David Beckham, Jude Law, Lord David Puttnam and others.

Peace One Day began as a film project founded by British filmmaker Jeremy Gilley in 1999 to establish the first ever annual day of global ceasefire and non-violence. In 2001 the Day was unanimously adopted by UN member states as 21 September annually – Peace Day. In 2006, for the first time in the Day's history, Peace One Day successfully drove the initiative to instigate commitments to Peace Day in 200 countries, including all 192 UN member states, directly involving 27.6 million people. Jeremy Gilley has amassed an impressive list of high profile supporters through his work including Chris Martin, Sam Taylor Wood, Jonny Lee Miller, Simon Fuller, Sir Richard Branson, Kofi Annan and others.

Annie Lennox, who makes her first public appearance of the year at the event, comments:

‘Something that's of common interest to every man, woman and child on the planet must surely be the notion of 'Peace'. Without 'Peace' we cannot survive. Valentine's Day is on the 14 February. Christmas Day is on the 25 December. Peace Day has been established by the United Nations on the 21 September, and the whole world is invited to participate. This September 21 a special musical event will be taking place at the Royal Albert Hall to celebrate and commemorate the spirit of the occasion. I'm thrilled and delighted to be part of it, and to contribute to making 'Peace One Day' become an inspirational reality.'

Concert starts at 7.30pm

We are incredibly fortunate to be guided around the rapidly expanding City of London by acclained architect Ken Allinson, RIBA, AAdipl, who is also author of the highly regarded Guide to Contemporary Architecture published by Elsvier.

Meet: 11.00am
Walk:- 2+ hrs
Lunch: locally (pay on the day)

Cost: £90

Cocking a snook at the current obsession with chandeliers & flock wallpaper that has infected London bar land with mock baroque disease, Mahiki is a tikki lounge: those Polynesian-inspired rattan beach cabins that were all the rage in 1950s California. Owner Piers Adams recreates the vibe with commendable authenticity: to a soundtrack of Mel Torme, smiley South Sea waitresses deliver luscious pina coladas in scooped-out frozen pineapples & mai tais, zombies & sundry lethal punches in gloriously tacky voodoo-skull goblets.

Drinks, nibbles and a chance to mingle at one of London's hottest bars.

Meet: 6.30-9.30pm, 1 Dover Street

Cost: £25 / Non-members £55 (£25 refund if you subsequently become a member). Places strictly limited, email bookings@execeventsclub.co.uk for tickets