Cover Image by El Hardwick
Our weekly Hot List is back, with late nights at museums, exciting exhibition openings, an art auction, a sex positive film festival and more. If you want to see or do something new, just take your pick from our selection of the hottest cultural events happening in London over the next week.
MUSEUM LATE
FRIDAY LATE: WILD DIGITS
V&A SOUTH KENSINGTON
South Kensington I 29 November 18:30 - 22:00
Featuring games, performances and interactive installations, this Friday Late, curated as part of V&A’s inaugural Digital Art Season, reimagines what digital technology can bring into our lives. Using technology in radical ways, artists disrupt the impact of Internet culture, artificial intelligence, surveillance and algorithms. In these imaginative spaces, experience new worlds where we co-create with robots, co-live with other species and rewild natural habitats. On the night you will be able to play and interact with gaming where we can reclaim narratives, foster empathy, and take back agency to redesign digital futures.
Find all information here.
EXHIBITION
NDAYÉ KOUAGOU: A MESSAGE FOR EVERYBODY
GATHERING
Piccadilly Circus I 29 November to 22 February
Ndayé Kouagou is an artist and performer based in Paris, and his practice begins with self-authored text, which is expanded upon through performance, film, textiles, sculpture and installation. Through this, Kouagou manipulates the language of aphorism espoused by online influencers and self-help gurus. Using screens, plexiglass, resin and aluminium, Kouagou presents the viewer with elliptical statements and open-ended, existentially leading questions, simulating the meandering dialogue that dominates platforms like TikTok and Instagram. Surface and depth, humour and sincerity, clarity and confusion are granted equivalent significance in Kouagou’s work as he playfully explores the forms and effects of mediated communication.
Find more information here.
MUSEUM LATE
TATE MODERN LATES: ELECTRIC DREAMS
TATE MODERN
Southwark I 29 November 18:00 - 22:00
An evening exploring Tate Modern's current exhibition Electric Dreams through music, artist-led workshops, talks, films and more. Among other things, there will be DJ sets programmed by Global Roots, a social space, a live tarot reading, virtual reality, and an audiovisual performance.
It's all free, but some events taking place on the night require a free ticket, so see the full programme and get tickets here.
EXHIBITION
ELSA ROUY: A SCREAMING OBJECT
GUTS GALLERY
Hackney Downs I 29 November 18:00 - 21:00
A Screaming Object is a solo presentation of ambitious, boundary-pushing new work by London-based artist Elsa Rouy. Her works are provocative, they interrogate perceived notions of gender, sex and feeling and they intrude and stick themselves irreversibly onto the psychology of their viewers. In this new work, Rouy continues to explore and navigate the unsettling boundary between hellish, visceral brutality and soft, tender beauty. The result is a complicated, transgressive and labyrinthine emotional landscape in which the repressed, troubling elements of the human subconscious are explored. The exhibition is accompanied by an original score composed by Oscar Defriez. This soundtrack provides an all-encompassing, unsettling sensory experience and serves to accent the harrowing drama of the colossal central painting.
Find all details here.
SHORT FILMS
LONDON PALESTINE FILM FESTIVAL CLOSING NIGHT: FROM GROUND ZERO
GENESIS CINEMA
Mile End I 29 November 18:30
From Ground Zero brings together 22 short films created by talented filmmakers from Gaza. The initiative was born against the backdrop of conflict and provides a platform for young artists to express themselves through their craft capturing the diverse experiences of life in the Palestinian enclave. Using a mix of genres including fiction, documentary, docu-fiction, animation and experimental cinema, From Ground Zero presents a rich diversity of stories that reflect the sorrow, joy and hope inherent in Gazan life.
For From Ground Zero’s UK premiere, London Palestine Film Festival has organised 4 simultaneous screenings across London, and there are still tickets left for the one at the Genesis cinema. Book yours here.
ART AUCTION & PARTY
FILTHY FOX AUCTION CLUB
THE OLD CHURCH
Stoke Newington I 30 November 17:00 - 23:00
The Filthy Fox Auction Club is an artist-run auction club aiming to challenge the traditional boundaries of London’s art market. Fed up with traditional galleries' exclusivity and high prices, FFAC was c,reated to connect emerging artists with a new generation of collectors and make it easy for anyone to invest in original art. Going into its third edition, they introduce 13 early career artists and their 33 artworks right off London’s art schools. Before the auction, there will be a performance, and the night continues after the auction with an afterparty featuring several DJs.
Find all information and get your free ticket here.
LISTENING EXPERIENCE
DEVON TURNBULL'S LISTENING ROOM
180 STUDIOS
Temple I Until 22 December
As part of The Vinyl Factory's Reverb exhibition, you can experience Hi-Fi Listening Room Dream No.1, created by and programmed with New York artist Devon Turnbull. It provides a meditative space within the exhibition to listen to vinyl with an evolving programme of unheard music, including exclusive test pressings and studio outtakes.
The Reverb exhibition has been extended until 22 December, so take your chance to visit the listening room while it's still there, and get tickets here for special events.
SEX POSITIVE FILM FESTIVAL
RIOT FESTIVE FILM FEST, MARKET + SOCIAL
PECKHAM LEVELS
Peckham Rye I 1 December 14:00
The queer sex positive rave Riot Party joins forces with Berlin-based collective Putikinio in collaboration with La Sur Real Film Festival to bring you a day of film screenings featuring art house short films focused on fetish, sex work, kink and more, as well as an independent makers market, a panel talk platforming trans voices, and spaces to socialise over a glass of mulled wine.
Find out more and get your ticket here.
SCREENING
DEEPER INTO MOVIES: ISSEY MIYAKE MOVES
CRATE BREWERY
Hackney Wick I 2 December 20:00
A documentary on the late Issey Miyake, one of the world’s leading fashion designers, screened at a canal-side brewery in Hackney Wick. The film explores his design studio and factory and spotlights his garments on the runway. Issey’s use of pleats and twists has opened up a whole new world of possibilities in fabric by exploiting texture and wrinkles. The process of folding and twisting the fabrics by hand, then baking them, is captured on film. Miyake talks about his background, training, and some of his favorite projects, such as designing costumes for William Forsythe’s Frankfurt Ballet and outfits for Lithuania’s 1992 Olympic team.
Find more information and get tickets here.
ONE-WOMAN SHOW
KAYTLIN BAILEY: WHORE'S EYE VIEW
THE PEN THEATRE
South Bermondsey I 3 December to 7 December
Whore’s Eye View is a comedic mad dash through 10,000 years of history from a sex worker’s perspective. Equal parts stand-up comedy, history lecture and personal storytelling Kaytlin Bailey unpacks the oldest profession by weaving together the wisdom of lived experience with a compassionate, clarion call for progress.
All details and tickets here.
ART PERFORMANCE & DJ
WRECKED EXOTICS
PECKHAM AUDIO
Peckham I 3 December 19:00 - 23:30
The phrase Wrecked Exotics comes from the name of a lo-fi website that archived photographs of luxury sports cars involved in dramatic and absurd collisions. Held in a nightclub, the event invites performers to respond to this phrase.
The event is a fundraiser for the Goldsmiths Fine Art MFA degree show taking place this summer.
All details and tickets here.
ZINE LAUNCH
PULP ZINE LAUNCH
PHOTOBOOK CAFE
Old Street I 3 December 18:00 - 21:00
Pulp is a new print project by Megan Wallace exploring the erotic through essay, poetry and visual art, bringing together diverse perspectives to unravel themes of intimacy, queerness and vulnerability and unpack how they play out in contemporary relationships. To celebrate the launch, we will be bringing together a range of contributors from the zine for a pop-up exhibition and readings, alongside a DJ set.
All details here.
