What's on in London this week: 15 - 21 January 2024
Discover our pick of events in London this week: 15 - 21 January 2024.
Canary Wharf Winter Lights
Canary Wharf's Winter Lights festival is back for its eighth edition, offering an 11-day display of artworks and installations by international artists. The event features a mix of new pieces and beloved displays from past years, all accessible for free. Visitors can use a downloadable map to explore the artworks.
Date: 17 - 27 January 2024. Time: 5pm-10pm. Location: Canary Wharf. Price: Free.
Canary Wharf’s Winter Lights Festival. Photo by Matt Alexander/PA.
Eataly x Plant Club vegan masterclass
Plant Club, the first Italian gluten-free and plant-based restaurant, is partnering with Eataly’s cooking school, La Scuola, for exclusive Italian vegan and gluten-free masterclasses this week in celebration of Veganuary. These classes will showcase the art of Italian aperitivo and gluten-free reginetta pasta crafting by Chef Antonio Alderuccio, Plant Club’s Founder. The collaboration emphasises the rich flavours of vegan Italian cuisine and supports the growing trend of mindful dining choices.
Date: 16 and 17 January 2024. Location: Eataly, 135 bishopsgate London EC2M 3YD. Price: £70. Book now.
Steve Pretty (and friends): On The Origin of the Pieces
Hackney Colliery Band's bandleader, Steve Pretty, will host a live recording of his podcast, On The Origins Of The Pieces, at Wilton's Music Hall on 20 January. Exploring the mysteries of sound, the performance features special guests like Professor Chris Lintott and harpist Valeria Clarke. The show combines new work premieres with stripped-down highlights from the band's catalog.
Date: 20 January 2024. Time: 7.30. pm. Location: Wilton's Music Hall, 1 Graces Alley, London E1 8JB. Price: from £13 - £25. Book now.
Steve Pretty, will host a live recording of his podcast, 'On The Origins Of The Pieces,' at Wilton's Music Hall on 20 January.
HEART, Brixton House
Jade Anouka, known for His Dark Materials and Cleaning Up, brings her hit debut production, HEART, to London. Accompanied by live music from Grace Savage, this gig-theatre piece explores love, loss, and self-discovery through poetry. Celebrating human resilience and connection, HEART is a universal story beyond Anouka's identity, offering a raw and honest exploration of the human experience.
Date: until 3 February 2024. Location: Brixton House, 385 Coldharbour Ln, London SW9 8GL. Price: from £18. Book now.
Othello
Othello opens this week at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, as part of the venue's 10th Anniversary Season. This intimate and candlelit production explores the story of Othello, a celebrated figure, grappling with the challenges of reputation, marriage to Desdemona, and the pervasive toxic systems that threaten his world. Set in modern-day London, this rendition of Othello draws parallels to contemporary issues faced by successful Black individuals, making it a poignant and relevant adaptation for our times.
Date: 19 January – 13 April. 2023. Location: Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, 21 New Globe Walk, Bankside, London SE1 9DT. Price: Galleries (Seating) £62 – £25, Standing £5. Book now.
Othello opens this week at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse.
Family Ties – The Schumanns and The Mendelssohns
The London Philharmonic Orchestra will spotlight the intertwined musical legacy of the Mendelssohns and Schumanns at the Queen Elizabeth Hall this week. Conductor Natalia Ponomarchuk will guide the journey from the Mendelssohns' Berlin home to Scottish landscapes, and pianist Alexander Melnikov will explore the bond between Clara and Robert Schumann, showcasing their devotion to music, art, and each other.
Date: 19 January 2024. Time: 7.30pm. Location: Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Rd, London SE1 8XX. Price: £15 - £49. Book now.
London Art Fair
The London Art Fair returns this week, featuring 120 galleries with a mix of new and established names in modern and contemporary art. This year, in support of regional museums the fair will host Charleston's exceptional collection of art, textiles, and ceramics, paying homage to influential 20th-century artists, writers, and thinkers. Curated sections like Encounters and Photo50 highlight emerging talents, and a new Prints and Editions section focuses on limited edition.
Date: 17- 21 January 2024. Location: The Business Design Centre, 52 Upper Street Islington London N1 0QH. Price: from £20.59. Book now.
London Art Fair returns to the Business Design Centre this week.
London Short Film Festival
The 21st London Short Film Festival is back this week, celebrating filmmakers across independent cinemas in the capital. With 500 selected films from 5000 submissions, the festival offers new dramas, documentaries, comedies, and animations, along with Q&As and speed-pitching sessions. Don't miss this chance to enjoy quality cinema and discover emerging talent in London.
Date: 19 – 28 January 2023. Location: Various throughout the city. Website: shortfilms.org.uk.
Small Museums in London
Explore London's cultural history by visiting lesser-known museums, like The Hunterian and those dedicated to figures like Florence Nightingale. Click here for our guide to 20 of the best small museums in London and uncover a fresh perspective on London's cultural legacy.
Museum of the Home - exterior of 18th century, Grade 1 listed almshouses. Photo by Jayne Lloyd.
Arts & Culture
OPENING THIS WEEK
Bloomberg New Contemporaries
Camden Art Centre hosts the return of New Contemporaries after 20 years, featuring 55 UK artists chosen by Helen Cammock, Sunil Gupta, and Heather Phillipson. The exhibition explores care, identity, and climate justice through a variety of mediums and personal narratives. Established in 1949, New Contemporaries continues to nurture emerging talents, aiding their transition into professional pathways.
Date: 19 January – 7 April 2024. Location: Camden Art Centre, 1 Arkwright Road, London, NW3 6DG. Price: Free. Website: camdenartcentre.org.
Efrat Merin, 'Turn Back Time', 2023. Cold encaustic on poly-cotton canvas. Image courtesy of the artist. Bloomberg New Contemporaries. Camden Arts Centre.
Miles Takes: MOMENTS
MOMENTS, a curated art show by Gone Rogue for ME London, opens this week, featuring the vibrant abstract works of emerging artist Miles Takes. The exhibition explores the interplay of shapes, colours, memories, and emotions, directly linked to the architecture of the Marconi Lounge.
Date: 18 January – March 2024. Location: ME Hotel, 335 – 226 Strand, WC2R 1HA.
Yoko Matsumto
Yoko Matsumoto's debut UK solo exhibition showcases her expressive and disciplined abstraction through a series of paintings and works on paper spanning from the mid-1980s to the present day. The exhibition, organised in collaboration with Hino Gallery, offers a glimpse into the artist's unique artistic journey.
Date: 18 January – 9 March 2024. Location: White Cube Mason's Yard, 25 – 26 Mason's Yard, London SW1Y 6BU.
Kenji Lim Spend Time Not Thinking About Tomorrow digital image detail IMT Gallery.
Spend Time Not Thinking About Tomorrow
IMT Gallery showcases artist Kenji Lim's diverse expressions in Spend Time Not Thinking About Tomorrow. The exhibition features sculpture, video, digital collage, installation, and painting, exploring landscapes, culture, myth, and philosophy. Lim challenges conventional Western perspectives, urging viewers to embrace alternative viewpoints bridging human and other-than-human realms.
Date: 19 January - 24 March 2024. Location: IMT Gallery, Unit 2, 210 Cambridge Heath Road, London, E2 9NQ. Price: Free. Website: imagemusictext.com.
Neil Stokoe
Saatchi Yates presents a posthumous solo exhibition of Neil Stokoe's works, spanning the 1960s to the 1990s. Once considered an overlooked figure in the art world, Stokoe's reclusive practice only came to light after his retirement in 2002. The exhibition, the first since his 2019 passing, showcases fourteen major paintings, revealing the evolution of his invigorating style—from psychologically charged interiors in the 1960s to experimental works influenced by Pop Art in the 1980s and 1990s.
Date: 17 – 25 January 2025. Location: 14 Bury Street St. James's London SW1Y 6AL. Price: Free.
Sola Olulode. You in the Middle of the World, 2023. Copyright The Artist.
Sola Olulode: Islands of the Blessed
Sola Olulode's exhibition, Islands of the Blessed, at Berntson Bhattacharjee, envisions an LGBTQI+ paradise inspired by parks and gardens. Influenced by Caribbean landscapes, Olulode explores love and mythology through vibrant, gender-ambiguous figures. The works skillfully integrate Nigerian histories and textile traditions, showcasing Olulode's mastery of dyeing techniques. This exhibition beautifully captures the complexities of the human experience and offers a vibrant tapestry of Black Queer representation.
Date: 18 January – 17 February 2024. Location: Berntson Bhattacharjee Gallery, 45 Berners St, London W1T 3NE. Price: Free. Website: bbgallery.art.
Andy Warhol Beyond the Brand
This week, Halcyon Gallery will open an exhibition dedicated to the iconic works of Andy Warhol. This showcase promises to delve into the prolific career of the renowned artist, offering a comprehensive exploration of Warhol's distinctive and influential artistic contributions. From his iconic pop art pieces to lesser-known works.
Date: 18 January – 24 March 2024. Location: Halcyon Gallery, 148 Bond St, London W1S 2RL. Price: Free.
#FLOFAVOURITES: THIS WEEK
Robert Mapplethorpe: Subject Object Image
Celebrating 24 years of collaboration, Alison Jacques and The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation present a solo exhibition, 'Subject Object Image,' featuring works spanning 20 years of the iconic artist's life. The collection explores Mapplethorpe's groundbreaking and provocative photography, covering subjects, from still life with everyday objects to nude portraits. The exhibition also includes rare colour photographs of flowers and classic portraits of New York artists from the 1970s and 80s.
Date: until 20 January 2024. Location: Alison Jacques, 22 Cork St, London W1S 3NG. Price: Free. Website: alisonjacques.com.
Robert Mapplethorpe: Subject Object Image at Alison Jacques London. January 2024. Photo by MTotoe.
Tjbee Beekman : Drift
Drift is Tjebbe Beekman's fourth solo exhibition with GRIMM and his first in the UK. The show explores painting as a philosophical process, reflecting on societal dynamics and power. Beekman takes an intuitive approach, focusing on the process of painting itself, resulting in textured works referencing art history and recent experiences in Rome. The paintings evoke conflict and protest, explore still life and historical motifs. Beekman's art communicates timeless human emotions and stories, inviting reflection on power dynamics, order and chaos, glory and shame.
Date: 11 January - 24 February 2024. Location: 2 Bourdon Street, London, W1K 3PA. Price: Free. Website: grimmgallery.com.
Roby Dwi Antono, MENARI MENTARI, 2023.
Roby Dwi Antono: TUK
Roby Dwi Antono's latest exhibition TUK is open at Almine Rech. The exhibition inspired by becoming a father to his daughter, Laut, in July 2023, Roby reflects on the complexities of parenthood. Using raw strokes and vibrant colours, he departs from detailed landscapes to express emotions. Drawing from childhood memories in Ambarawa, central Java, Indonesia, his art offers a genuine glimpse into his world, serving as a metaphorical "Tuk" and inviting reflection on personal experiences.
Date: 11 January – 17 February 2024. Location: Almine Rech, Broadbent House, Grosvenor Hill, London W1K 3JH. Price: Free. Website: alminerech.com.
Diana Copperwhite, Neural, 2023, Oil on canvas, 223 x 335 cm. © Diana Copperwhite. Photo by Antonio Parente.
Diana Copperwhite: Onomatopoeia
Flowers Gallery presents Diana Copperwhite's inaugural solo exhibition, featuring new paintings that expand her exploration of abstraction. Inspired by her background in chemistry and physics, Copperwhite envisions the canvas as a "notational system," using distinct streaks of colour to create autonomous yet diagrammatic forms.
Date: 10 January - 17 February 2024. Location: Flowers Gallery, 21 Cork Street London W1S 3LZ. Price: Free. Website: flowersgallery.com.
ART EXHIBITIONS ENDING THIS WEEK
The Credit Suisse Exhibition: Frans Hals
Discover the largest Frans Hals exhibition in over thirty years at the National Gallery, featuring fifty masterpieces co-curated with Rijksmuseum and Gemäldegalerie. See iconic works, including The Laughing Cavalier.
Date: 30 September 2023 – 21 January 2024 Location: The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN Price: from £20. Concessions available. Book now.
Militia Company of District XI under the Command of Captain Reynier Reael, known as ‘The Meagre Company’, 1633 (completed by Pieter Codde, 1637). © Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
David Hockney: Drawing from Life
Explore David Hockney's six-decade career at the National Portrait Gallery's Drawing from Life. View intimate portraits, including over thirty new 2021-2022 pieces.
Date: 2 November 2023 - 21 January 2024. Location: National Portrait Gallery, St Martin's Place, London, WC2H 0HE. Price: from £21/ £23.50. Book now.
If Not Now, When? Generations of Women in Sculpture in Britain, 1960 – 2023
Celebrate the artistic contributions of 29 female sculptors spanning from the 1960s to the present at the Saatchi Gallery. The exhibition explores time, women's roles, and societal issues, offering a message of hope and change.
Date: 15 November - 22 January 2024. Location: Saatchi Gallery, Duke of York's HQ, King's Rd, London SW3 4RY. Price: from £10. Concessions available. Book now.
Wrapped Reichstag, Christo and Jeanne-Claude.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Boundless
Witness the largest retrospective of artist duo Christo and Jeanne-Claude at the Saatchi Gallery. Explore their iconic projects spanning six decades, including 'The Gates' in Central Park.
Date: 15 November 2023 - 22 January 2024. Location: Saatchi Gallery, Duke of York’s HQ, London, SW3 4RY. Price: from £12. Book now.
Armet Francis: Beyond The Black Triangle
Experience over 40 years of Jamaican-British photographer Armet Francis' documentation of the African diaspora at Autograph.
Date: until 20 January 2024. Location: Autograph, Rivington Place, London EC2A 3BA. Price: Free. Website: autograph.org.uk.
Carnival Sound System, London. Armet Francis: Beyond The Black Triangle. Autograph London.
Lucy Stein: La Muñeca
Discover Lucy Stein's multidisciplinary art at Hales Gallery, exploring psychoanalysis, feminist theory, and personal narratives.
Date: 23 November 2023 – 20 January 2024. Location: Hales Gallery,Tea Building, 7 Bethnal Grn Rd, London E1 6LA. Price: Free. Website: halesgallery.com.
Cinema
Poor Things [35mm]
This week at Barbican, catch the 35mm screening of Poor Things, a dark comedy directed by the acclaimed Yorgos Lanthimos, based on Alasdair Gray's novel and starring Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe. The film follows a young woman's resurrection in Victorian society.
Date: until 18 January 2024. Location: Cinema 1 Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London, EC2Y 8DS. Price: £13 + booking fee. Book now.
Poor Things, starring Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe will be on show at the Barbican this week.
#FLOFavourites: Pick of the Week
FREE EVENT OF THE WEEK
London Farmers’ Markets
London has an abundance of fabulous markets, including much loved farmers' markets. The farm-to-fork scene is the perfect place to find the cities finest local produce. Click here for our guide to London's best farmers' markets.
London Farmers’ Markets. Photo by Wendy Wei.
Food of the week
Archway Battersea
Archway Battersea. January 2024. © LFirestone.
Archway, a relatively new addition to London’s food scene and located beneath a railway arch in Battersea, is a charming restaurant and wine bar that stands out for being refreshingly gimmick-free. The visit is worthwhile not just for its delightful interiors but for the overall simplicity and charm it offers.
Click here for our full review.
Location: Archway Battersea, Arch 65 Queen's Circus, Nine Elms, London SW8 4NE. Instagram: @archwaybattersea.
Interview of the Week
In conversation with Revolv Collective
Rowan Lear, a sudden branching, 2021, Image Courtesy of the Artist.
Ahead of London Art Fair, we spoke with Revolv Collective, curators of this year's Photo50 exhibition, Grafting: The Land and the Artist. Founded in 2017 by Krasimira Butseva and Lina Ivanova, Revolv Collective is a space for collaboration and knowledge sharing. The group, including Lina Ivanova, Laura Bivolaru, Alexander Mourant, Victoria Doyle, and Lucas Gabellini-Fava, is dedicated to professional growth and supporting emerging artists.
Click here to read the full interview.
Cause of the week
Be Enriched
Be Enriched Food Charity.
Be Enriched, a South London charity, is dedicated to alleviating social isolation through food-focused initiatives. The charity's projects include Community Canteens, where volunteers prepare nutritious meals using surplus food at three locations weekly. The Food Bus, a mobile greengrocers and community space, addresses food insecurity in various areas. Additionally, Kids Clubs offer school holiday provisions for low-income families, providing food, fun, and friendship. The charity welcomes support in the form of donations and new volunteers.
Click here for more information on volunteering with Be Enriched.
Website: be-enriched.org. Instagram: @be_enriched.
Upcoming Events
Imagine Children’s Festival
Akram Khan's family-friendly Chotto Desh. © Camilla Greenwell.
The Southbank Centre's Imagine Children’s Festival returns in February, offering over 130 events for families during the half-term break. With performances, interactive installations, and engaging sessions by renowned artists, the festival caters to kids aged 0 to 11. Highlights include Motionhouse’s Starchitects, Akram Khan's family-friendly Chotto Desh, and interactive installations like The Sticky Dance.
Date: Wednesday 7 February – Saturday 17 February 2024. Location: Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road South Bank, London SE1 8XX.