We’re back with our first Hot List of 2025! If you’re on the hunt for the hottest events in London over the coming days, look no further. We’ve done the legwork for you and compiled a list of events currently on our radar—experiences we believe you shouldn’t miss if you’re ready to kick off the new year with something different.
FILM & PLAY PARTY
BRUCE LABRUCE: THE VISITOR
UNDISCLOSED LOCATION
11 January 19:00
Klub Verboten and A/POLITICAL present an immersive porn cinema experience and play party: The UK premiere of Bruce LaBruce’s The Visitor – a hardcore porn remake of Pasolini’s Theorema (1968).
Expect a night at the cinema like no other. This event aims to revive the participatory culture of historical porn theatres, particularly gay cruising spaces, while reimagining the premiere format – transforming passive observers into active participants, mirroring the transformative journey in The Visitor. LaBruce, the ever-provocative disruptor and cult filmmaker, is known for live acts that challenge the borders of art, sexuality, and politics.
Expect a live conversation with Bruce LaBruce & special guest followed by a film screening of The Visitor. The official Verboten afterparty includes a ‘Film Set’ play area plus a dedicated Verboten playspace.
All information and tickets here.
EXHIBITION & PANEL TALK
ALEXANDRIA'S GENESIS BY DIAN JOY: MYTHS AND MEMETICS
AREBYTE
Canning Town I 11 January 15:00 - 18:00
A public programme curated by Reforum in conjunction with Dian Joy’s solo-exhibition, Alexandria’s Genesis.
In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, mythmaking has transformed from its ancient origins into a form of digital folklore—shape-shifting through its inherently contagious nature afforded by social media.
Through a dynamic mix of panel talk, roundtable, and workshop, the event unpacks digital folklore, exploring how myths mutate through memetics and copypasta. Moderated by Alya Kanibelli, digital culture experts and artists will interrogate post-digital identity formation and social contagion—revealing the blurred boundaries between fact, fiction, and collective imagination.
Book your tickets here.
PARTY
THE CAVE CLUB BOWIE SPECIAL
MOTH CLUB
Hackney Central I 10 January 23:00
For their annual tribute, the Cave Club celebrates the music of David Bowie, his friends, inspirations and collaborators. Hear the hits, space oddities, rare cuts and LP favourites all played on original vinyl.
Get your tickets here, they're selling fast.
PHOTOGRAPHY
FAMILY PORTRAIT. WILD AT HEART, BOUND BY LOVE.
PHOTOBOOK CAFE
Old Street I 14 January 18:00 - 21:00
A Playful Tribute to ‘80s Studio Portraits and Pet Love.
The brainchild of London-based, German-Czech photographer Jakub Gessler, Family Portrait was born out of the first COVID lockdown, when Gessler was inspired to take a self portrait with his cat after going down an internet spiral of 80s studio portraits and prom photos. What began as a personal project capturing portraits of friends with their beloved pets soon blossomed into a larger endeavour with over 160 portraits, driven by the simple desire to put a smile on people’s faces and to remind them that life doesn’t always need to be so serious.
MUSIC
MAJORIS MUSIC: BRING YOUR OWN VINYL
CAFE 1001
Shoreditch I 14 January 18:00 - 22:00
Majoris Music is back at Café 1001, making our Tuesdays less boring and reviving the vinyl listening experience. Grab your favourite record and hear it played on Café 1001’s Hi-Fi sound system.
PERFORMANCE
ŁUKASZ TWARKOWSKI: THE EMPLOYEES
SOUTHBANK CENTRE
Southwark I 16 January - 19 January
This visually stunning dark satire – perfect for fans of Kubrick – combines theatre, film and installation. Łukasz Twarkowski makes his hotly anticipated London debut with this adaptation of the dystopian sci-fi epic by Olga Ravn, nominated for the International Booker Prize 2021.
The story of The Employees unfolds in an undetermined near future, on a spaceship carrying people and humanoid robots, with Earth having been annihilated.
The story is told through the fragmentary scraps of reports left by the spaceship crew. Under these extreme conditions, a closed community is forced to confront questions about the differences between the human and the non-human, and the very essence of consciousness, posing the question: are the brain and the mind the same thing?
Performed in Polish with English subtitles.
Tickets here.
PERFORMANCE
MIME LONDON
VARIOUS LOCATIONS
14 January - 2 February
MimeLondon returns for its second edition, continuing the legacy of the London International Mime Festival known for its wordless, multi-disciplinary approach, featuring circus-theatre, puppetry, animation, object theatre, mime, live art, and physical theatre.ondon returns for its second edition, celebrating wordless, multi-disciplinary performances, including circus-
Full programme and tickets here. Tickets selling fast, some shows are already sold-out!
POETRY & MUSIC
SPIT NIGHTS: POETRY X IMPROV JAZZ
THE MINISTRY
Borough I 18 January 19:00
An evening featuring the talents in poetry and jazz, Spit Nights offers a relaxed platform for poetry, spoken word, and music, showcasing how entertaining andmovingthey can be using nothing but words.
Get your tickets here.
FILM & LIVE MUSIC
LA HAINE LIVE SOUNDTRACK BY ASIAN DUB FOUNDATION
SOUTHBANK CENTRE
Southwark I 19 January 18:00
Asian Dub Foundation celebrates cult movie La Haine with a live soundtrack.
Steve Chandra Savale, Jamil Jammaz Ahmed and Brian Fairbairn are respectively guitar, bass and drums of legendary Asian Dub Foundation, a band that has always been politically and socially motivated.
The film, more prescient than ever now, stars Vincent Cassel and portrays the tension in Paris’ banlieue, after the killing of a local man by French police. The rawness of the film has made it a real cult classic, and a strong match for Asian Dub Foundation’s message.
theatreuppetry, animation, object theatre, mime, live art, and physical theatre.
