Discover our pick of events in London this week: 30 September - 6 October 2024.

London Cocktail Week

London Cocktail Week returns from 3 October 2024, offering 11 days of £8 signature cocktails across the city's top bars. As the world's largest cocktail festival, it celebrates London's vibrant drinks scene, featuring renowned spots like the Gothic Bar, Homeboy, Swift, and Nightjar, alongside neighbourhood favourites such as Funkidory and Hacha. In addition to curated cocktail tours, the event includes fun pop-ups, unique installations, and masterclasses from industry experts.

Date: 3 -13 October 2024. Location: Throughout London. Price: £20. Book now.

My English Persian Kitchen

My English Persian Kitchen is in its final week at Soho Theatre. This life-affirming play, written by Hannah Khalil and based on a story by Atoosa Sepehr, follows one woman's journey to rebuild her life after being forced to leave home with no hope of returning. Through the tastes and aromas of her mother’s kitchen, she recreates cherished dishes from her childhood while engaging in live cooking on stage. Starring Isabella Nefar (Salome, National Theatre), the production beautifully illustrates how food can help forge new connections and communities. Click here for our review of My English Persian Kitchen.

Date: until 5 October 2024. Location: Soho Theatre, Soho Upstairs, 21 Dean St, London W1D 3NE. Price: from £28. Book now.

Decorative Art Fair

The Decorative Art Fair returns to Battersea Park from 1- 6 October 2024, attracting designers, decorators, and collectors with 130 dealers offering fine and decorative furniture, accessories, lighting, textiles, and art from the 1700s to the 1970s. Known for its eclectic mix of glamorous, curious, and practical items, the Fair showcases a wide range of affordable to high-end pieces. With nearly 40 years of history, it is a key event for those seeking unique, one-of-a-kind finds in the worlds of interior design, antiques, and art.

Date: 1- 6 October 2024. Location: Evolution London (The Marquee) in Battersea Park. Price: Admission is £20 p/p on Opening Day (Tuesday 1 October) and £10 p/p thereafter (2 - 6 October), and includes free return on subsequent days. Book now.

András Schiff: Haydn, Schubert & Mozart

This week, Sir András Schiff will play, direct, and conduct the Philharmonia Orchestra in a performance featuring three classical masterpieces. He will perform Haydn’s lively and elegant concerto and Mozart’s emotionally rich concerto, directing from the keyboard as the composers themselves once did. In between these pieces, he will conduct Schubert’s enchanting and unfinished Symphony No. 8, creating a trio of exceptional works.

Date: 6 October 2024. Time: 7.30pm. Location: Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX. Price: from £15. Book now.

Barter and Bazaar: The Journey of Exchange

Join the British Museum this week for ‘Barter and Bazaar: The Journey of Exchange’, an evening event coinciding with the launch of their new exhibition, Silk Roads. This event explores the rich history of exchange along the Silk Roads, allowing attendees to participate in various activities, including origami, a new gallery trail, and storytelling from diverse cultures. The event is co-produced by the Youth Collective as part of the Young People's Programme.

Date: 4 October 2024. Time: 5.30pm - 8.30pm. Location: The British Museum, Great Russell St, London WC1B 3DG. Price: Entry is free and visitors can drop in anytime, with activities available on a first-come, first-served basis. You can book a free timed ticket for museum entry in advance. britishmuseum.org.

Lear: National Changgeuk Company of Korea

South Korea's leading creatives will present an innovative reimagining of Shakespeare's Lear as a traditional opera, showcasing Changgeuk—a theatrical form that blends music, dance, and drama rooted in Korean heritage. Directed and choreographed by Jung Young-doo, with renowned playwright Pai Sam-shik, the production features a visually striking set designed by Lee Tae-Sup. Music is provided by acclaimed composers Han Seung-seok and Jung Jae-il, known for his work on the Oscar-winning film Parasite. This powerful exploration of the human experience will open the 2024 K-Music Festival, presented by the National Changgeuk Company of Korea.

Date: 3 - 6 October 2024. Location: Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London, EC2Y 8DS. Price: £16 + BF. barbican.org.uk.

futuretense x SRA: Sofia Gillani + Naia

A free showcase at the Southbank Centre will feature avant-garde pop, jazz, and funk from rising stars Sofia Gillani and Naia as part of the futuretense series. Sofia Gillani began her musical journey at just nine years old with a lead role in Evita and has since gained recognition for her singles Water Run Dry and Levels, both featured on BBC Introducing. Naia brings a dynamic sound that blends jazz with neo-soul, funk, and Latin rhythms, reflecting their diverse backgrounds. This event, taking place in the Queen Elizabeth Hall Foyer and lasting approximately one hour, does not require a ticket.

Date: 5 October 2024. Time: 4pm  Location: Queen Elizabeth Hall Foyer, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX. Price: Free. southbankcentre.co.uk.

Black British Book Festival 2024

Celebrate emerging talent and discover new authors at Europe’s largest festival of Black literature, founded by Selina Brown in 2021. This family-friendly event showcases the work of Black British authors across all genres, featuring enlightening talks, panel discussions, children's reading sessions, and a major book fair. This year's lineup includes Grammy-winning rapper Eve discussing her memoir Who's That Girl?, Diane Abbott on A Woman Like Me, journalist Charlene White leading a session, and Big Manny’s talk Science is Lit. Activists Mikaela Loach, Tayshan Hayden Smith, and Kwajo Tweneboa will address important social issues, while Paul Brunson hosts a fireside chat on finding love.

Date: 5 October 2024. Time: from 10 am. Location: Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London, EC2Y 8DS. Price: £10. Book now.

Arts & Culture

Opening this week

Nicola L. 

Nicola L.’s groundbreaking artistic practice will be unveiled at Camden Arts Centre this week. The exhibition marks her first presentation in the UK and Europe, offering visitors a chance to experience her thought-provoking Pénétrables sculptures, interactive textile works, and documentation of impactful performances such as The Blue Cape and Red Coat. Her oversized furniture sculptures and feminist-themed series, including The Femme Fatale, highlight her exploration of equality and societal roles. Additionally, the exhibition features her influential moving image works, including feature films and documentaries, showcasing Nicola L.’s profound impact across diverse artistic disciplines.

Date: 4 October  - 29 December 2024. Location: Camden Art Centre, Arkwright Rd, London NW3 6DG. Price: Free. camdenartcentre.org.

Mike Kelley: Ghost and Spirit

The UK's first major exhibition of American artist Mike Kelley showcases his imaginative and provocative creations spanning from the late 1970s to 2012. Kelley's diverse body of work includes drawing, collage, performance, found objects, and video, highlighted by his groundbreaking 'craft' sculptures and multimedia installations like Day Is Done. Drawing from popular culture, literature, and philosophy, Kelley explores the interplay between societal roles, historical truths, and fictional personas from media. A decade after his death, Kelley's profound reflections on identity and memory remain impactful and relevant.

Date: 2 October 2024 – 9 March 2025. Location: Tate Modern, Bankside, London SE1 9TG. Price: £18 / free for members, Concessions available. tate.org.uk.

Sonia Boyce: An Awkward Relation

Sonia Boyce’s exhibition, An Awkward Relation, opening this week at Whitechapel Gallery, will run concurrently with The I and the You, which showcases the Brazilian artist Lygia Clark. This exhibition explores themes of interaction and participation through rarely seen works by Boyce, including pieces focused on hair and the multimedia installation We Move in Her Way (2017). A special section will pair works from both artists, highlighting their shared and distinct approaches. The title, An Awkward Relation, emphasises the complex dynamics between artists, their works, and audiences.

Date: 2 October 2024 - 12 January 2025. Location: Whitechapel Gallery, 77-82 Whitechapel High St, London E1 7QX.Price: from £15. whitechapelgallery.org.

Looks Delicious! Exploring Japan’s food replica culture

Explore the fascinating world of shokuhin sanpuru, the realistic food replicas displayed outside restaurants in Japan, at the upcoming exhibition opening at Japan House this week. The exhibition will feature specially made models from Iwasaki Group, showcasing dishes from all 47 prefectures, like Okinawan goya chanpuru and Ainu ohaw from Hokkaido. There’s also an interactive zone where you can create your own bento box of replica food.

Date: 2 October 2024 – 16 February 2025. Location: Japan House, 101-111 Kensington High St, Kensington, W8 5SA. Price: Free. japanhouselondon.uk.

Lygia Clark: The I and the You

#FLODown: The I and the You will be the first major UK public gallery survey of Brazilian artist Lygia Clark (1920–1988). Focusing on Clark’s work from the mid-1950s to the early 1970s, the exhibition highlights her role in the Brazilian Neo-concrete movement and her shift towards more experimental and participatory art. Featuring paintings, works on paper, and her iconic ‘Bichos’, the show illustrates how Clark’s art evolved to foster greater audience interaction. The exhibition will be presented alongside Sonia Boyce’s An Awkward Relation.

Date: 2 October 2024 - 12 January 2025. Location: Whitechapel Gallery, 77-82 Whitechapel High St, London E1 7QX. Price: from £15. whitechapelgallery.org.

MARY MARY

#FLODown: MARY MARY, presented by theCOLAB and the Artist's Garden, is an outdoor sculpture exhibition showcasing the work of nine female artists. Held on the roof terrace of the Artist's Garden, above Temple tube station, the exhibition features new and reimagined pieces by Rong Bao, Candida Powell-Williams, Alice Wilson, Lucy Gregory, and L R Vandy, alongside existing works by Olivia Bax, Frances Richardson, Holly Stevenson, and Virginia Overton. The exhibition seeks to challenge traditional perceptions of women's roles and contributions in the art world. Click here for more.

Date: 3 October 2024 - September 2025. Location: Artist’s Garden, Temple Place, London WC2R 2PH. Price: Free. thecolab.art.

Sammy Baloji

Goldsmiths CCA presents a solo exhibition by Sammy Baloji, featuring two new commissions and significant recent works displayed in the UK for the first time. The exhibition explores themes such as climate, tropical architecture, Belgian Art Nouveau, and the extraction of resources from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Highlights include Baloji’s 2023 film, Aequare. The Future that Never Was, which critiques the colonial and ecological impacts on the Congo's rainforest, and Shinkolobwe’s Abstraction (2022), which addresses Cold War uranium extraction from the DRC. The exhibition examines the legacy of colonialism, capitalism, and their entanglement with science and art.

Date: 4 October 2024 - 12 January 2025. Location: Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary, St James’s, New Cross, SE14 6ED. Price: Free. goldsmithscca.art.

Alexis Peskine: Forest Figures

Opening this week at October Gallery in London, Forest Figures is Alexis Peskine’s third solo exhibition, exploring African spirituality and the diversity of the diaspora. The exhibition features large-scale portraits created by hammering nails into wooden canvases and incorporating gold, silver, and palladium leaf, reminiscent of Congo Basin Minkisi figures. Drawing inspiration from Afro-Brazilian spirituality, Peskine uses natural elements such as cowrie shells and herbs to symbolise resilience and peace. Additionally, the exhibition includes photographic works and a segment from his film REVERSE, which retells colonial histories and celebrates the strength of Black figures.

Date: 3 October – 9 November 2024. Location: October Gallery, 24 Old Gloucester Street, London, WC1N 3AL.Price: Free. octobergallery.co.uk.

Holly Herndon & Mat Dryhurst: The Call

The Call, the first UK solo exhibition by Berlin-based artists Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst, will open at Serpentine North on 4 October. The exhibition will explore the intersection of artificial intelligence and collaborative artmaking, addressing societal concerns around AI while platforming musical ensembles from across the UK. By creating new vocal datasets and polyphonic AI models, Herndon and Dryhurst will highlight AI as a “coordination technology” akin to group singing, fostering communication and meaning. The exhibition will invite the audience to participate in this evolving relationship between human and machine voices.

Date: 4 October 2024 – 2 February 2025. Location: Serpentine North and The Magazine, West Carriage Drive, W2 2AR. Price: Free. serpentinegalleries.org.

#FLOFavourites: This week

Mia: Remains

Remains, a solo exhibition by Mia Graham at General Assembly, presents a series of new works exploring themes of decay and regeneration. Through the depiction of rabbits, birds, and human figures, Graham investigates the tension between life and death. The centrepiece, Shroud, is her largest painting to date, created during a residency in the Loire Valley. This work, along with others, captures moments of transition—such as a woman in repose, rabbits tied to folklore, and decomposing birds—highlighting the cyclical nature of life without morbidity, but with a focus on renewal and transformation.

Date: 18 September - 2 October 2024. Location: General Assembly, floor 1, 12 St George St, London W1S 2FB.Price: Free. generalassemblylondon.com.

Tarek Lahkrissi: SPIT

French artist Tarek Lakhrissi presents SPIT at NiCOLETTi, inspired by an incident in June 2024 when he is spat on and verbally attacked during Pride in Paris for carrying Palestinian and Algerian flags. The exhibition invites viewers into a dreamlike space that reveals tensions between light and darkness, desire and melancholy. Featuring a giant 3D-printed Angry Face With Horns emoji, glass sculptures of suns and kissing tongues, and drawings of queer figures, angels, and demons, SPIT analyses identity formation and social exclusion while exploring fiction and eroticism as tools for emancipation.

Date: 19 September – 2 November 2024. Location: NıCOLETTı , 91 Paul St, London EC2A 4NY. nicoletticontemporary.com.

Jasper Marsalis: m/'

Jasper Marsalis’ exhibition, m/', at Emalin features works in oil and found reflective materials, such as soldering metal, tin foil, and mirrored squares from disco balls. These materials reflect light, both as a subject and as part of the artwork, engaging the viewer by reflecting their image back. His sculptures, with their chiselled and hollowed surfaces, create a sense of tension and impermeability, echoing the reflective quality of the paintings.

Date: 26 September - 16 November 2024. Location: Emalin, 1 Holywell Lane, London. Price: Free. emalin.co.uk.

Olu Ogunnaike: Is the soil right?

Is the soil right? By Olu Ogunnaike is on display at Rose Easton, showcasing eight large mirrored steel charcoal prints. The exhibition is accompanied by a poem from James Massiah.

Date: 13 September 2024 - 26 October 2024. Location: Rose Easton, 223 Cambridge Heath Rd, London , E2 0EL. Price: Free.

Public Art

Esther Mahlangu: Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu

Serpentine will unveil a monumental mural by acclaimed Ndebele artist Esther Mahlangu, her first public artwork in the UK. Displayed in Kensington Gardens from 4 October 2024 and titled Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu, the mural celebrates community and interconnectedness. Born in 1935, Mahlangu is renowned for her vibrant geometric patterns, rooted in Ndebele heritage and painted using traditional techniques. Click here for more.

Date: 4 October – 28 September 2025. Location: Serpentine North , W Carriage Dr, London W2 2AR. serpentinegalleries.

Cinema

Kneecap (18) (AD)

This comedy-drama follows two young Irish-speaking rappers, Liam and Naoise, in Belfast who form a hip-hop trio with their Irish language teacher, JJ. Frustrated by societal pressure to abandon their native tongue, the trio starts rapping in Irish, gaining attention for their music and advocating for Irish language rights in Northern Ireland. Directed by Rich Peppiatt, this feature debut offers a humorous and heartwarming fictional retelling of the real-life trio. It’s a must-see on the big screen!

Date: until 3 October 2024.  Location: Barbican Cinema 1, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London, EC2Y 8DS. Price: £13 + BF. Book now.

#FLOFavourites: Pick of the Week

FREE EVENT OF THE WEEK  

Majazz Project: Palestinian Sound Archive

The Palestinian Sound Archive, part of the Majazz Project, showcases music, spoken word, and album artwork from historic Palestine, primarily from the 1960s-1990s. Founded by Mo’min Swaitat in 2020, the project revives and remixes vintage Palestinian and Arab albums, preserving a rich cultural heritage. Swaitat, drawing from his Bedouin musical roots, has amassed an extensive collection of cassettes, reels, and vinyl records featuring everything from Bedouin wedding recordings to revolutionary albums, poetry, and jazz. It will be displayed at the Royal Festival Hall, with listening sessions hosted by the Majazz Project.

Date: until 1 Nov 2024. Location: Archive Studio, Level 2, Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre. southbankcentre.co.uk.

Interview of the week 

In conversation with Eden Maseyk

We recently interviewed Eden Maseyk, co-founder of Helm, Brighton’s largest contemporary art gallery, which has quickly established itself as a thriving cultural hub.

Click here for the full interview.

Food of the Week

Milk Run

Milk Run, a bakery by Milk, opened in Tooting Bec, expanding from their popular café in Balham. The bakery offers a variety of pastries, including croissants and pain au chocolat, along with sourdough loaves and a small pantry of drinks and cupboard staples. Although primarily a bakery, it features seating for customers to enjoy coffee and pastries. Expect long waits on weekends, but their mouthwatering pastries are well worth it.

Location: 16-18 Ritherdon Rd, London SW17 8QD. Instagram: @milkrun.

Cause of the week 

STEM Ambassador

Being a STEM Ambassador offers the opportunity to change lives while enjoying the experience. As a volunteer, you help inspire and empower young people across the UK to explore their potential in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). Supported by STEM Learning and UK Research and Innovation, the programme connects passionate individuals with schools, colleges, and universities, showcasing real-life STEM careers and the limitless possibilities within STEM fields.

Click here for more information if you’re interested in becoming a STEM Ambassador.