Tate’s fourth Triennial exhibition, curated by Nicolas Bourriaud who co-founded the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, opens at Tate Britain in February 2009. It explores a new concept, defined by him as ‘the Altermodern’. The term describes art made in today’s global context which is a reaction against standardisation and commercialism. A series of one-day events, or Prologues, are taking place in the lead up to the show, to introduce and provoke debate on the Triennial’s themes. Each Prologue includes films, performances and talks.

Prologue 1 presents art which reflects the decline of postmodernism. A film by Navin Rawanchaikul investigates identity in the manner of Bollywood film, Spanish philosopher Jordi Vidal’s filmic essay pursues avenues into contemporary thought, British artist Tris Vonna-Michell presents a new performance and critic Okwui Enwezor pulls all the strands together to debate the Altermodern. Look out for details of future Prologues featuring Tom McCarthy, TJ Demos, Carsten Höller, Christian Marclay, and Bob and Roberta Smith happening in June, October and January.

Free, no bookings taken.

In 1957, the ICA held An Exhibit, a show that took the organising of space and the visitor’s movement through the show as its content. This architectonic art exhibition was followed, six years later, by Archigram’s Living City, which resembled more an art exhibit than an architectural project. In 1982, the ICA’s interest in the relationship between art and architecture was further developed with the conference Art and Architecture, which addressed the role of art in public environments.

Today, the possibilities offered by the interplay of art and architecture continue to capture the art world’s imagination, with both the Serpentine Pavilion and the Turbine Hall installation being highlights in the art calendar. Such projects raise questions about the connections between curating and socio-political concerns about constructing and distributing space. Is there a politics of movement? If there is, how should the curator mediate the relationship between the human body, the art space and the physical dimensions occupied by the art object? Should the curator be responsible for the ergomomics of an exhibition? Should the curator be concerned with the physical experience of the audience at all?

Speakers: Dr Andrea Phillips, director, Curating Architecture research project, assistant director MA curating at Goldsmiths; artists Cornford & Cross; Celine Condorelli, whose practice is concerned with architecture as support and interface, developing critical models towards exhibition making and public space; and Secret Agent Bristly Pioneer, The Space Hijackers. Chair: Clare Carolin, senior tutor, curating contemporary art MA, Royal College of Art

£10 / £9 Concessions / £8 ICA Members.

Renzo Piano introduces The New York Times Building, the 52-storey glass skyscraper housing the new headquarters of the newspaper. In contrast to the usual Manhattan office building, clad in mirrored or tinted glass, Piano’s elegant structure is clear glass. Sited in Times Square, the building invites interaction with the street: its lobby forms a public walkway between streets, and internal staircases flow along the side facades, allowing passers-by a view inside.

£7 (£5 concessions), booking recommended

David Levy, an expert on artificial intelligence, comes to the ICA to argue that we are headed inexorably towards a society where human affection and human desire are extended into psychological and physical relationships with robots. Love and sex with robots, he argues, is a natural extension of the relationships which we have already cultivated first with pets, then with virtual pets, then with virtual avatars in Second Life.

David Levy is president of the International Computer Games Association, winner of the Loebner Prize for conversational computer software, and author of Love and Sex with Robots. After a short talk, he will be in conversation with Dr Petra Boynton, sex researcher and broadcaster. Chair: Bill Thompson, journalist and technology critic.

£10 / £9 Concessions / £8 ICA Members.

Herzog & de Meuron, architects of Tate Modern, present the National Stadium for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. With an almost circular footprint, the bowl-like stadium, which seats 91,000, containing a network of bars, restaurants, hotels and shops, is expected to become a vital, urban space with a future beyond the Olympics.

£7 (£5 concessions), booking recommended

Tom McCarthy will be reading his latest short story “Kool Thing, or Why I Want to Fuck Patty Hearst”. The reading is part of the London Short Story Festival. This piece will feature in the forthcoming anthology Fiction Inspired by Sonic Youth (Serpent’s Tail, 2008).

Free entry.

Architect Norman Foster has designed some of our most iconic buildings and his most recent work - Beijing Airport - is the largest and most advanced airport building in the world. He talks to Rowan Moore about this ground-breaking project.

£8, concessions available. Book on the V&A website.