A new year means a new array of events and exhibitions to choose from when filling up your cultural calendar, but some of them pique our interest a little extra. We're revealing the shows that are already on our agenda for the coming months that we think you really shouldn't miss.
PERFORMANCE
WET MESS: TESTO
BATTERSEA ARTS CENTRE
Clapham Junction | 11 February to 22 February
In TESTO, Wet Mess messifies transitions, testosterone and the edges of drag. Combining movement with pre-recorded interviews, expect surreal spectacles, dykey desires, and a choreography of guttural sexuality as Wet Mess pinches at the dull flesh of life where the magical is in the mundane and made up shit becomes real.
Find all information and get your tickets here.

EXHIBITION
THE FACE MAGAZINE: CULTURE SHIFT
NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY
Charing Cross | 20 February to 18 May
The Face Magazine: Culture Shift celebrates iconic fashion images and portraits from The Face, a trail-blazing youth culture and style magazine that has shaped the creative and cultural landscape in Britain and beyond.
From 1980 to 2004, The Face played a vital role in creating contemporary culture. Musicians featured on its covers achieved global success and the models it championed – including a young Kate Moss – became the most recognisable faces of their time. The magazine also launched the careers of many leading photographers and fashion stylists, who were given the creative freedom to radically reimagine the visual language of fashion photography and define the spirit of their times. This exhibition will bring together the work of over 80 photographers and feature over 200 photographs – a unique opportunity to see many of these images away from the magazine page for the first time.
More information here.

EXHIBITION
LEIGH BOWERY!
TATE MODERN
Southwark I 27 February to 31 August
Leigh Bowery’s short but extraordinary life left a distinct, undeniable mark on the art world and beyond. From his emergence in the nightlife of 1980s London through to his later daring and outrageous performances in galleries, theatres, and the street, Bowery fearlessly forged his own vibrant path. He reimagined clothing and makeup as forms of painting and sculpture, tested the limits of decorum, and celebrated the body as a shape-shifting tool with the power to challenge norms of aesthetics, sexuality and gender.
Embracing performance, club culture and fashion design, Bowery created some of the most iconic images of the 1980s and 90s that continue to resonate. This eclectic and immersive exhibition is a rare chance to experience many of Bowery’s ‘Looks’, and will provide a fresh insight into the creative scenes in London, New York and beyond. Moving from the club to the stage, to the gallery and beyond, step inside Bowery’s dynamic creative world that blurred the lines between art and life.
Find out more here.

CONTEMPORARY DANCE
(LA)HORDE / BALLET NATIONAL DE MARSEILLE: AGE OF CONTENT
SADLER'S WELLS EAST
Stratford I 14 March to 16 March
Pulsating with sexuality, Age of Content turns its gaze on the internet era. Blurring the lines between virtual bodies and reality, the dancers draw their inspiration from the surreal brilliance of Fosse, fused with the TikTok generation. 18 dancers from Ballet national de Marseille move through a video game: past Instagram filters, viral dances, and action movie stunts. Trapped in an alternative metaverse, somewhere between an aircraft hangar and a club setting, the dancers come face to face with their avatars.
Twerking, hip-centric jazz, vogueing, and postmodern dance: LA(HORDE) builds to an insatiable climax with you as the voyeur. Erupting into a fight scene worthy of the best action films, (LA)HORDE explores the entanglement of our post-internet lives.
Get all the information and your tickets here.
EXPERIMENTAL PERFORMANCE
THE JUDGEMENT HALL FESTIVAL
ST BARNABAS CHURCH & ALGHA'S PLANTROOM
Dalston & Hackney Wick I 15 March to 16 March
The Judgement Hall Festival returns, as an underground movement in London and a pocket of resistance in the age of surveillance capitalism, bringing you two days of avant-garde heavy music, cinematography and performing arts with a focus on site-specific performances. They will enter the Neo Byzantine chamber of St Barnabas Church, alongside the Second World War Heritage Site Algha’s Plantroom. To mark the occasion, they present to you their heaviest ever curation of special one-off performances.
See the line-up and get your tickets here.

DJ SET
LAURENT GARNIER 3 HOUR EXTENDED SET
FOLD
Canning Town I 15 March 23:00
A true pioneer of dance music and master on the decks, Laurent Garnier has held legendary status within the scene for decades - an honour not many reach in their lifetime. From playing the Haçienda in it's hay day to shaking up Parisian nightlife at La Luna, the Palace and Rex Club - Garnier’s music and influence has spread globally from raves and warehouses, to some of the biggest festivals and clubs in the world. Now, he makes his debut at East London's revered FOLD.
Find out more and buy your tickets here.

THEATRE
EURIPIDES LASKARIDIS: RELIC
THE CORONET THEATRE
Notting Hill Gate I 2 April to 5 April
Renowned Greek director and performance artist Euripides Laskaridis, returns to The Coronet Theatre with Relic, an outrageous and engaging solo performance that takes playful theatrical risks to test the limits of our acceptance of the incongruous and unfamiliar.
Relic is what survives from the past. A thing left behind, be it a memory, an object, a language or being. Sly facets of cabaret, vaudeville and slapstick make magic out of the mundane.
Laskaridis immerses himself in ideas of transformation and ridicule that shift restlessly between the peculiarly poignant and the utterly bizarre.
You can find out more and book tickets here.

BALLET
ENGLISH NATIONAL BALLET: THE FORSYTHE PROGRAMME
SADLER'S WELLS
Angel I 10 April to 19 April
Turn up the volume for the best of choreographer and dancer William Forsythe. Following an acclaimed run, the exhilarating piece is back to bring pure happiness into our lives! Combining ballet classicism and athleticism with the music of Barry White, Natalie Cole, Khalid and more, it will leave you “tipsy with delight” and “cheering and breathless with joy”.
English National Ballet will also perform Herman Schmerman (Quintet), a classic showcase of Forsythe’s signature style not seen in the UK for nearly 30 years. Created for five dancers, the most intricate steps appear to spring naturally out of the performers, who relish the challenge of surprising the audience, and each other, at every turn. The electronic music soundtrack is by Thom Willems, a long time collaborator of Forsythe’s.
All information and tickets here.
MUSIC PERFORMANCE
DANIEL BRANDT: WITHOUT US + TRISTAN PERICH & ENSEMBLE 0: OPEN SYMMETRY
BARBICAN
Barbican I 24 April 19:30
Composer, drummer, and filmmaker Daniel Brandt performs music from his new solo album, Without Us, alongside a short film with the same title, filmed in Athens in 2023. The full project – album, film, and live performance – culminates in an 'apocalyptic rave' that explores our collective anxieties and challenges in a multi-dimensional way.
French contemporary music ensemble Ensemble 0 opens the evening with new expansive project work by the New York-based composer Tristan Perich. Open Symmetry is about precision and energy – a piece that slowly develops, with musical fragments lengthening, harmonies merging, overlapping and washing over like soothing waves.
All details and tickets here.

ELECTRONIC MUSIC
RIVAL CONSOLES
HERE AT OUTERNET
Tottenham Court Road I 8 May 19:00
Rival Consoles is a London-based composer and producer using analogue equipment to create his left-field electronic music. His intricate ambient production style “yields deftly layered headphone music” according to Pitchfork, as well as thoughtful melodies and flourishes of breakbeat. He played at the London Coliseum as part of fabric’s collaboration with the English National Opera, and has created scores for Black Mirror.
Find out more and buy tickets here.

theatreuppetry, animation, object theatre, mime, live art, and physical theatre.