What's on in London this week: 29 January - 4 February 2024
Discover our pick of events in London this week: 29 January - 4 February 2024.
Kew Garden Orchid Festival 2024
Entering its 28th year, Kew Gardens' 2024 Orchid Festival explores the biodiversity of Madagascar. Opening this week at the Princess of Wales Conservatory, the festival presents floral displays inspired by Madagascar's landscapes. Recognising Kew's conservation efforts through the Madagascar Conservation Centre since 1986, the event includes recreations of iconic features and displays of unique orchids. Visitors can enjoy Malagasy music, authentic cuisine, and Orchid After Hours, offering exclusive night sessions with music, dance, talks, and culinary demonstrations.
Date: 3 February – 3 March 2024. Location: Princess of Wales Conservatory, Kew, Richmond, London, TW9 3AE. Price: Entry to Orchids is included when purchasing a ticket to Kew Gardens. From £22 /£5.50 adult/child. Concessions available. Book now.
Kew horticulturists creating the Orchid festival. © RBG Kew.
Gwyneth Goes Skiing
Due to high demand, Awkward Productions has extended the dates for Gwyneth Goes Skiing at London’s Pleasance Theatre. The show humorously recounts the infamous 2016 collision between Gwyneth Paltrow (played by Linus Karp) and Terry Sanderson (played by Joseph Martin) on the slopes of Deer Valley. The production includes speculation, limited verbatim lines from court transcripts, and original music by Leland from RuPaul’s Drag Race.
Date: 30 January - 15 February 2024. Location: The Pleasance Theatre, Carpenters Mews, North Road, London N7 9EF. Price: from £18. Book now.
St John x Fortnum & Mason. Photo by Matthew Hague.
St John x Fortnum & Mason
This week will see the historic 317-year-old department store on Piccadilly host St John in its in-house Field restaurant space, as St John's original restaurant in Smithfield undergoes renovations. The iconic wooden chairs and tables from the Smithfield location will be relocated to Fortnum & Mason, recreating the restaurant's distinctive dining room. Head Chef Steve Darou will be at the helm in this special residency, marking the first-ever restaurant residency at the prestigious Fortnum & Mason.
Date: 2 – 22 February 2024. Location: Fortnum & Mason,181 Piccadilly, St. James's, London W1A 1ER. Website: stjohnrestaurant.com.
Life at St Martin in the Field
Luxmuralis presents Life, an immersive sound and light installation at St Martin’s, following the success of last year's Space. This captivating experience takes visitors on a journey through earth, sea, and sky, allowing reflection on personal and planetary life within a 24-hour period. Spectacular projections on the exterior and a sensational light show within the Church interior celebrate the natural world.
Date: 30 January - 3 February 2024. Time: 5:30 to 9:45 pm. Location: St Martin-in-the-Fields,Trafalgar Sq, London WC2N 4JJ. Price: £8, with under 16s at £5. Pre-booking is recommended due to limited on-the-day tickets.
Luxmuralis presents Life at St Martin in the Field.
Lobby Lates at One Hundred Shoreditch
This week, Lobby Lates returns to One Hundred Shoreditch with a weekly music night every Thursday and Friday from 7 pm. Enjoy £10 cocktails and diverse sounds, including big bass energy on Thursdays (R&B, hip-hop, reggae-remixes) and a mix of house, pop, and '90s icons on Fridays. The opening night on Thursday, features hip-hop legend DJ LeDoe, DJ Dipsy Manizao, and resident DJ Maz. As firm regulars at the former occupants of the building, Ace Hotel, we have a soft spot for this Shoreditch location….
Date: from 1 February 2024. Location: One Hundred Shoreditch,100 Shoreditch High St, London E1 6JQ. Website: onehundredshoreditch.com.
Body Movements Winter Edition 2024
Body Movements, the UK’s original queer festival, returns this week in Hackney Wick, uniting club culture with 27 crews from the LGBTQIA+ community. Featuring both established icons and emerging talents, the festival promises a day of music, art, and celebration. This edition marks the end of its multi-venue format, as it prepares for a new outdoor venue in August. Don't miss this unique celebration of queer club culture!
Date: 3 February 2024. Location: Grow, 98c Wallis Road, London, England, E9 5LN. Price: from £40. Book now.
Body Movements, the UK’s original queer festival returns this week.
Bureau Restaurant Supper Club
Bureau Restaurant's first supper club of the year launches this week, featuring adapted classics from "The Prawn Cocktail Years" by Hopkinson and Bareham. Chefs Sean and Matt will revive '50s-'70s British cuisine with dishes like garlic mushrooms and Black Forest Gateau.
Date: 2 February 2024. Location: Bureau, Design District 13 Soames Walk Greenwich Peninsula, London, SE10 0AX. Price: £60. Book now.
FutureQueer
FutureQueer graces the new Kings Head Theatre Cabaret space this week, with performances throughout LGBTQ+ History Month. This production offers an imaginative glimpse into a queer future, centred around Donna Summer's iconic anthem 'I Feel Love.' Written and performed by the critically acclaimed Alexis Gregory, FutureQueer promises to be a funny, hard-hitting, and provocative experience, infused with campy humour. Set in 2071, the show explores themes of queer survival, pop culture, and LGBTQ+ future migration, delivering a moving and irreverently funny performance suitable for audiences of all generations.
Date: 4 February - 2 March 2024. Location: King's Head Theatre, 115 Upper St, London N1 1QN. Price: £10 - £15. Book now.
Light Festivals London
Light Festival at Battersea Power Station 2024.
While Canary Wharf's Winter Lights festival has concluded, Battersea Power Station's annual light festival is back, featuring artworks by artists such as Masamichi Shimada and Freerk Wilbers. Read more about it here.
Arts & Culture
Opening this week
Entangled Pasts, 1768–now: Art, Colonialism and Change
Entangled Pasts, 1768–now: Art, Colonialism and Change at the Royal Academy of Arts will showcase over 100 artworks spanning 250 years, exploring art's entanglement with colonial histories.
Date: 3 February - 28 April 2024. Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BD. Price: £22. Book now.
Installation view of the ‘Navigation Charts’ exhibition at Spike Island, Bristol, 2017, showing Lubaina Himid RA, Naming the Money, 2004.
Abraham Kritzman & Daniel Silver : Choir
Choir, a dual exhibition at Elizabeth Xi Bauer Gallery, introduces Daniel Silver's distinctive sculptures, repurposing Greco-Roman statuary, and Abraham Kritzman's large-scale relief paintings influenced by global travels.
Date: 2 February – 30 March 2024. Location: Elizabeth Xi Bauer Gallery. Fuel Tank 8-12, Creekside, London SE8 3DX. Price: Free.
Barbara Kruger; BARBARA KRUGER: THINKING OF YOU, I MEAN ME, I MEAN YOU Installation view, The Art Institute of Chicago - AIC, Chicago, September 19, 2021–January 24, 2022 Courtesy the artist and Sprüth Magers Photo: The Art Institute of Chicago.
Barbara Kruger: Thinking of You. I Mean Me. I Mean You
Thinking of You. I Mean Me. I Mean You presents Kruger's impactful exploration of visual culture and societal themes at Serpentine South and Outernet Arts.
Date: 1 February – 17 March 2024. Location: Serpentine South Gallery, London W2 3XA. Price: Free. Website: serpentinegalleries.org.
Legion life in the Roman army
Legion life in the Roman army at The British Museum delves into Rome's military legacy through the eyes of soldiers, showcasing artifacts and insights into daily life, battles, and the transformation of soldiering into a career.
Date: 1 February – 23 June 2024. Location: The British Museum, The Sainsbury Exhibitions Gallery, Great Russell St, London WC1B 3DG. Price: from £22. Concessions available. Book now.
Gold coin - oath-taking scene between two soliders © The Trustees of the British Museum.
#FLOFAVOURITES: THIS WEEK
Apocalypse Now
Tristan Hoare's first exhibition of 2024, Apocalypse Now, explores the theme of apocalypse through contemporary art. Against a backdrop of global challenges and cultural interpretations, the exhibition presents the visions of various artists, including Naoya Inose and Christabel MacGreevy.
Date: 25 January – 1 March 2024. Location: Tristan Hoare, 6 Fitzroy Square, London W1T 5HJ. Price: Free.
DREAMING OF HOW IT'S MEANT TO BE by Jeffrey Gibson at The Stephen Friedman Gallery. Photo by MTotoe
Jeffrey Gibson: DREAMING OF HOW IT'S MEANT TO BE
The Stephen Friedman Gallery presents DREAMING OF HOW IT'S MEANT TO BE, a solo exhibition by Jeffrey Gibson, blending his Choctaw-Cherokee heritage with contemporary influences. The showcase features multimedia pieces, sculptures, punching bags, and paintings on paper, highlighting Gibson's vibrant, geometric abstractions and use of traditional artisanal techniques like beadwork and quilting. The exhibition previews Gibson's upcoming solo pavilion at the 60th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia, and explores themes of hybrid identities and the power of dreaming to envision alternative realities.
Date: 19 January - 24 February 2024. Location: The Stephen Friedman Gallery, 5–6 Cork Street, London, W1S 3LQ. Price: Free. Website: stephenfriedman.com.
Neil Stokoe
Saatchi Yates presents Neil Stokoe's posthumous solo exhibition, showcasing works from the 1960s to the 1990s. Despite being part of the Royal College of Art's 'Golden Circle', Stokoe remained largely unknown until now. The exhibition features fourteen major paintings capturing the evolution of his style, from psychologically charged interiors to experimental pieces influenced by Pop Art.
Date: 17 January - 25 February 2024. Location: Saatchi Yates, 14 Bury St, St. James's, London SW1Y 6AL. Website: saatchiyates.com.
Floss by Olivia Bax is on show at Holtermann Fine Art until 16 March 2024. Photo by MTotoe.
Olivia Bax: Floss
Holtermann Fine Art presents Olivia Bax's second exhibition, showcasing mobile sculptures displayed on custom-built furniture alongside wall works, including the sculpture after which the exhibition is titled: Floss. With whimsical forms and rolling components, Bax questions the nature of sculpture, inviting viewers to explore its evolving language.
Date: 20 January – 16 March 2024. Location: Holtermann Fine Art,30 Cork St, London W1S 3NG. Price: Free. Website: holtermannfineart.com.
Everyday Monument
Everyday Monuments on show at the Saatchi Gallery features the works of three emerging UK artists: Catriona Robertson, Jacob Talkowski, and Alaric Hammond. Through innovative use of everyday materials, they breathe new life into items typically overlooked or discarded, infusing them with power and significance. Their creations prompt reflection on our habitual interactions with objects, technology, and architecture, urging viewers to reconsider the materials and objects encountered in daily life beyond the confines of a gallery setting.
Date: 19 January – 10 March 2024. Location: Ground Floor in Gallery 3, Saatchi Gallery, Duke of York's HQ, King's Rd, London SW3 4RY. Price: Free.
Everyday Monuments on show at the Saatchi Gallery features the works of three emerging UK artists: Catriona Robertson, Jacob Talkowski, and Alaric Hammond. Photo by MTotoe.
Cinema
The Holdovers
In The Holdovers, an unpopular teacher, rebellious student, and grieving cook find themselves stranded at school over Christmas. Directed by Alexander Payne, this feel-good comedy follows their unlikely bond as they navigate the holiday. Nominated for multiple Oscars, including Best Picture, The Holdovers promises humour and heart in equal measure.
Date: until 31 January 2023. Location: Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London, EC2Y 8DS. Price: £13 + booking fee. Book now.
The Holdover will be on show at The Barbican Cinema.
Pop-ups & Venues
Costa Unbeliva-bar
Costa Coffee is currently hosting a pop-up event at the Brunswick Centre until 10 February to celebrate the launch of its new drinks. Tickets are £10 but are refunded upon entry. Attendees receive a complimentary full-sized drink upon arrival and can enjoy games, prizes, and the opportunity to sample the new range of Hot Milkshakes.
Date: until 10 February 2024. Location:The Brunswick Centre,Bernard Street, London, WC1N 1BS.Price £10 deposit refunded upon arrival. Book now.
#FLOFavourites: Pick of the Week
FREE EVENT OF THE WEEK
Science Museum Lates: Chinese New Year
Celebrate the Lunar New Year and the Year of the Dragon at the Science Museum Lates.
Celebrate the Lunar New Year and the Year of the Dragon at Science Museum Lates this week! Explore the Zimingzhong exhibition on Chinese clockwork, enjoy lion and dragon dances, Chinese drumming, and New Year’s arts and crafts. Dive into the history of timekeeping, from quantum physics to time travel. Experience a silent disco, discussions on time perception, an IMAX 70mm screening of Inception, 2024 science predictions, Lunar New Year poetry, and musical clock performances.
Date: 1 February 2024. Time: 6.30pm – 10pm. Location: Science Museum, Exhibition Rd, South Kensington, London SW7 2DD. Price: Free, with VIP tickets available for £12. Book now.
Food of the week
Chatsworth Bakehouse
Chatsworth Bakehouse in Crystal Palace.
Chatsworth Bakehouse in Crystal Palace, founded by Sian & Tom in October 2021, emerged from the closure of Tom's pop-up restaurant during the pandemic. Despite its brief existence, the bakery has gained acclaim for its delicious focaccia, sourdough, and an array of sweet treats. People eagerly wait in long queues (yes, they are quite popular); it's worth it, especially on days when they have truffle focaccia!
Location: 120a Anerley Road, Crystal Palace, SE19 2NA. Instagram: @chatsworthbakehouse.
Art News of the Week
UK public invited to take part in largest-ever exhibition of the nation’s hobbies
Hetain Patel © Sam Bush.
Artangel presents The Hobby Cave, the UK's largest hobby exhibition, inviting the public to showcase their passions. Led by artist Hetain Patel, this ambitious project aims to celebrate the diverse range of hobbies across the nation, from costume making to wood carving, robotics to origami. Featuring thousands of handcrafted objects loaned by hobbyists, the exhibition explores how individuals express identity and creativity through their pastimes
Click here to discover how you can submit details about your hobbies.
Cause of the week
Girlguiding
Girlguiding empowers girls through fun, friendship, challenge, and adventure, inspiring them to discover their best selves and make a positive impact in their community. With over 300,000 girls participating as Rainbows, Brownies, Guides, and Rangers, they provide inclusive spaces where every girl can thrive, free from judgment and gender stereotypes. Through listening to girls' voices and adapting to their needs, they offer a range of activities and opportunities for personal growth. Supported by a dedicated network of volunteers, Girlguiding continues to evolve, providing training and support to empower both girls and leaders alike.
Click here for more information on how you can make a difference by volunteering directly with girls or offering your expertise in various supporting roles.
Website: girlguiding.org.uk.
Upcoming event
Zheng Bo: Bamboo as a Method
Artist Zheng Bo will showcase Bamboo as Method 格竹 at Somerset House's Edmond J. Safra Fountain Court in February.
Hong Kong artist Zheng Bo will showcase Bamboo as Method 格竹 at Somerset House's Edmond J. Safra Fountain Court in February. The installation transforms the courtyard into a bamboo garden, encouraging contemplation and reconnecting visitors with nature. Participants can draw on selected bamboo leaves, which are later deposited for decomposition, creating a loop of creativity and ecology. Zheng Bo aims to blur the boundaries between humans and nature, inviting reflection on the lessons nature offers when we slow down. The title pays homage to Ming Dynasty thinker Wang Yangming's pursuit of enlightenment through the investigation of the nature of things.
Date: 22 February - 28 April 2024. Website: somersethouse.org.uk.