What’s on in London this week: 23 February - 1 March 2026
Discover our pick of events in London this week: 16 - 22 February 2026.
Indie Night: February
Southbank Centre launches Indie Night this week, a new quarterly series celebrating independent publishers and the writers they champion. Hosted by Okechukwu Nzelu and Eliza Clark, the intimate live event brings together fiction and non-fiction, pairing established authors with emerging voices. Each evening features four readings followed by an in-conversation discussion, highlighting the vital role independent presses play in shaping contemporary literature. The inaugural edition welcomes Deepa Anappara, Khairani Barokka, Vigdis Hjorth and Tim MacGabhann, marking the start of an ongoing programme dedicated to bold, distinctive writing and the independent spirit behind it.
Ahead of the series launch, we caught up with Ted Hodgkinson, Head of Literature & Spoken Word at the Southbank Centre. Click here for the full interview.
Date: 25 February 2026 (next event: 3 June 2026). Location: Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX. Price: from £15 + £3.50 booking fee. Book now
Indie Nights, a new quarterly series celebrating independent publishers and writers, opens at the Southbank Centre on 25 February 2026. BAM Audience. Image credit India Roper- Evans.
Half Six Fix at the Barbican – Rachmaninoff with Gianandrea Noseda
Half Six Fix at the Barbican is back this week, celebrating Rachmaninoff’s First Symphony. Once a troubled premiere, this early masterpiece comes alive under Principal Guest Conductor Gianandrea Noseda, with the London Symphony Orchestra bringing the symphony’s ominous opening, lively second movement, and triumphant brass finale to vivid life.
Date: 25 February 2026, 6.30 pm. Location: Barbican Centre, Silk St, London EC2Y 8DS. Price: £15 - £35. + £4 BF. Book now
Contemporary Applied Arts at Collect 2026
Contemporary Applied Arts (CAA) will showcase sixteen of its makers at the Craft Council’s international art fair, Collect. Presented under the theme In Conversation, the display explores dialogue across generations, disciplines, materials, and the relationship between object and space. Jewellery is highlighted as both wearable and conceptually rigorous, alongside ceramics, metalwork, textiles, and furniture, creating a dynamic conversation across mediums and price points. Bringing together established and emerging voices, the presentation reflects continuity, innovation, and the evolving nature of contemporary craft. Participating makers include Kate Bajic, Hendrike Barz-Meltzer, Flora Bhattachary, John Creed, Carolyn Genders, Barbara Gittings, Josef Koppmann, Nancy Main, Agalis Manessi, Marlene McKibbin, Laura Ngyou, Louise O’Neill, Matthew Pare, Anna Silverton, Gizella K Warburton, and Tessa Wolfe-Murray, celebrating craftsmanship, creativity, and the accessibility of applied arts.
Website: caagallery.org.uk Instagram: @caagallery
Date: 26 February – 1 March 2026 (Preview: 25–26 February). Location: Somerset House, London – East Wing E20, Strand, London WC2R 1LA. Price: from £32. Book now
Carolyn Genders, Liquorice and All Sorts I, II and III. Ceramic Vases
Maggots by Farah Najib
Maggots, written by Tony Craze Award winner Farah Najib, is a sharp and unsettling exploration of loneliness, systemic failure, and fragile community ties. As a foul stench spreads through their building and infestations worsen, a group of isolated tenants are forced together when the housing association and pest control refuse to help. Through shared storytelling, the play examines suspicion, neglect, and what we owe our neighbours when crisis begins to erode the privacy of their lives. Directed by Jess Barton and produced by Jessie Anand Productions, the cast includes Sam Baker Jones, Safiyya Ingar, and Marcia Lecky.
Date: until 28 February 2026. Running time: 1 hour 5 minutes. Location: Bush Theatre, 7 Uxbridge Road, Shepherd’s Bush, London W12 8LJ. Price: £15 - £20. Book now
An evening with Dame Mary Berry
Dame Mary Berry will be in conversation with Alex Clark as she reflects on her remarkable life at 90 and introduces her new book My Gardening Life. She shares her lifelong passion for gardening, offering personal anecdotes, practical guidance, and insights into her favourite plants, blooms, and gardens. Berry also reveals how gardening has shaped her life, inspired her cooking, and brought joy through both triumphs and challenges.
Date: 25 February 2026, 7.30 pm. Location: Queen Elizabeth Hall, Belvedere Rd, South Bank, London SE1 8XX. Price: from £20 (+ £3.50 booking fee). Book now
Dame Mary Berry. Britt Willoughby
Soho Calling 2026
Soho Calling returns for its fourth edition on 25 February 2026, celebrating the energy and legacy of Soho, the beating heart of London’s music culture. Bringing together 30 exciting emerging artists, the multi-venue festival takes over some of the district’s most iconic stages, including The 100 Club, 21Soho, Phoenix Arts Club, The Social, B.R.A.T., Anotherland and Third Man Records. Showcasing the next wave of talent across a packed night of live performances, Soho Calling continues the area’s tradition of championing groundbreaking new music.
Date: 25 February 2026. Location: Various venues across Soho, London. Price: Festival tickets £34.30; individual venue tickets from £14.87–£16.93. Book now
From the Lips to the Moon at Cafe OTO
From the Lips to the Moon returns to Cafe OTO for an electrifying long-form improvisation of music and words, led by composer and live-electronic musician Pouya Ehsaei and performer-writer Tara Fatehi. This edition features a stellar lineup including Tim Etchells, Cassie Kinoshi, Elliot Galvin, and Ghazal Mosadeq, including live electronics, improvisation, poetry, and experimental soundscapes. The night creates an intimate and transformative space where dark fantasy, experimentation, and unexpected encounters unfold, continuing the series’ reputation as a driving force in London’s experimental performance scene.
Date: 28 February 2026, 7.30 pm. Location: Cafe OTO, 18–22 Ashwin St, London E8 3DL. Price: £16 (£14 advance / £8 members). Book now
Photo by Jack Batchelor
London Handel Festival 2026
The London Handel Festival presents Handel’s music in a five-week programme, From Heavenly Harmony, exploring his ability to express human emotion and lift audiences through performance. Highlights include the return of Arcangelo as Principal Ensemble in Residence with Artistic Adviser Jonathan Cohen, a new production of Tamerlano by the Handel Opera Studio, and a Festival debut from the Gabrieli Consort and Players under Paul McCreesh. Returning ensembles include The English Concert, Opera Settecento, and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. The festival also features family events, a youth singing project, and relaxed performances, marking the start of the path towards the Festival’s 50th anniversary.
Date: 18 February – 28 March 2026. Location: Various venues across London. Price: Check individual events for ticket details. london-handel-festival.com
The Earth, Wind & Fire Experience by Al McKay
Celebrate the legendary funk, soul, and disco hits of Earth, Wind & Fire in a show created by the band’s former guitarist, Grammy Award-winner Al McKay. The performance features classics like After The Love Has Gone, Let’s Groove, Can’t Let Go, and September, performed by an all-star line-up including Tim Owens, DeVere Duckett, Claude Woods, and former Earth, Wind & Fire member Gregory Moore.
Date: 24 February 2026, 7.30 pm. Location: Royal Festival Hall, Belvedere Rd, South Bank, London SE1 8XX. Price: from £34.50 (+ £3.50 booking fee). Book now
Cinema
Speaking Aloud / Conversation’s Over: Feminist Self-Portraits and Autobiographical Experiments
Speaking Aloud / Conversation’s Over explores feminist self-representation through film, featuring newly digitised works from the London Community Video Archive alongside moving-image pieces by Utako Koguchi, Chick Strand, CAMP, and Yace Sula. The programme examines autobiography, dialogue, and overlapping voices, creating a space where introspection meets exchange and personal reality is voiced to both oneself and others. Through diaristic and experimental filmmaking, it celebrates diverse approaches to authorship and self-portraiture.
Date: 28 February 2026, 4.00 pm. Location: Cinema 3, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS. Price:£14 + BF. Book now
Speaking Aloud / Conversation’s Over, exploring feminist self-representation through film, will be on show at the Barbican this week.
Arts & Culture
Opening this week
Tracey Emin: A Second Life
A Second Life is the largest survey of Dame Tracey Emin’s career, spanning over 40 years and featuring more than 90 works across painting, sculpture, video, neon, textiles, and installation. Developed in close collaboration with the artist, the exhibition traces Emin’s intensely personal exploration of trauma, identity, the female body, and resilience, from early autobiographical pieces to iconic installations like My Bed (1998), alongside powerful recent works created after illness. It reflects on Emin’s “first life” while celebrating her “second life” as a testament to survival, creativity, and renewal.
Date: 26 February – 31 August 2026. Location: Tate Modern, Bankside, London SE1 9TG. Price: from £20 / Free for members. Concessions available. £5 for Tate Collective. Book now
Tracey Emin, I whisper to My Past Do I have Another Choice 2010. © Tracey Emin.
Beatriz González
A landmark retrospective of Colombian artist Beatriz González opens this week at the Barbican Art Gallery, showcasing her six-decade career with over 150 works, including many never before seen in the UK, across painting, sculpture, print, and installation. Drawing on newspaper clippings, religious imagery, and fragments of Western art, González transforms familiar visuals into poignant and playful commentaries on violence, displacement, and power. The exhibition offers a compelling exploration of how everyday images shape memory, meaning, and cultural understanding.
Date: 25 February – 10 May 2026. Location: Barbican Art Gallery, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS. Price: £19. Concessions available. Book now
Rose Wylie at the Royal Academy of Arts
Rose Wylie OBE RA takes over the Main Galleries at the Royal Academy of Arts in her largest UK survey to date. Known for her figurative paintings and character-driven narratives, Wylie draws inspiration from art history, classical literature, celebrity culture, and current affairs. The exhibition captures modern life with energy and wit, reflecting on events from the Blitz to football matches and gallery openings, and features both iconic works and previously unseen, newly created pieces.
Date: 28 February – 19 April 2026. Location: Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BD. Price: £21–£23. Concessions available. Book now
Rose Wylie, Snowwhite (3) with Duster, 2018. Oil on canvas in two parts, 183.5 x 320 cm. Photo: Jo Moon Price. © Rose Wylie. Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner
Ângela Ferreira: Slits are Girls
Slits are Girls is a new commission by Ângela Ferreira at The Showroom that examines punk as a site of political and cultural resistance. The exhibition draws connections between early UK punk, exemplified by The Slits, and South African punk through National Wake, using photographs, sculptures, and architectural references to trace how revolutionary ideas travel and evolve. Interventions by the Black Industrial Research Group, alongside sonic performances by Dubmorphology, create a dynamic space that highlights punk’s role as a force for social critique and cultural experimentation.
Date: 27 February – 7 June 2026. Location: The Showroom, 63 Penfold Street, London NW8 8PQ. Price: Free. theshowroom.org
Ângela Ferreira: Drawing of The Slits, 2025. Based on a photograph by Julian Yewdall, 1977 in Daventry Street London, NW1, where the band rehearsed in a squat. Left to right: singer Ari Up, drummer Palmolive and guitarist Kate Korus. [Missing from original photo: Tessa Pollitt, bass and Viv Albertine, who would replace Kate Korus on guitar]
Last chance to see
Joy Gregory: Catching Flies with Honey
Don’t miss the first major retrospective of British artist Joy Gregory, a pioneering figure in experimental photography since the 1980s. Exploring race, gender, identity, and diaspora, her work spans analogue and digital photography, installation, performance, and textiles, drawing on her Jamaican-British heritage. The exhibition features iconic series including Objects of Beauty, Memory & Skin, and The Blonde, alongside a new commission connecting Kalahari communities with Afro-Caribbean histories.
Date: Until 1 March 2026. Location: Whitechapel Gallery, 77-82 Whitechapel, High Street, London, E1 7QX. Price: from £15. Concessions available. Book now
Joy Gregory, Autoportrait, 1989 - 1990. Installation Photography. Photo © Above Ground Studio (Matt Greenwood)
Artist talk
Speaking Futures – John Akomfrah × Julianknxx
Artists John Akomfrah and Julianknxx come together for a special evening exploring film, sound, and archive as tools for telling human stories and questioning societal structures. In conversation for the first time, they discuss memory, oral history, and the development of their distinctive visual languages. The event includes short screenings followed by a live discussion chaired by Dominique Heyse-Moore, Senior Curator of Contemporary British Art at Tate Britain. This is part of the ICA’s Speaking Futures × Diasporas Now, a year long programme of cross-cultural exchange and knowledge sharing.
Date: 25 February 2026. Location: ICA London, The Mall, London SW1Y 5AH. Book now
Julianknxx (left), photo by Marc Hibbert; John Akomfrah (right).
#FLOFavourites: Pick of the Week
Free event of the week
Dubmorphology Performance at Slits are Girls
IKLECTIK presents, Black Industrial / Noise Event 2: Dubmorphology, 16 August 2023
During the opening of Ângela Ferreira’s exhibition Slits are Girls, Dubmorphology will present a sonic performance drawing on Punk and its entanglements with multiple political and cultural histories. The performance will form the first stage of an intervention by the Black Industrial Research Group (BIRG), which will evolve throughout the run of the show as an expanded field of research and critique, montaging sound and visual elements projected onto Ferreira’s installation. Dubmorphology, founded in 2007 by Trevor Mathison and Gary Stewart, create site-specific works that explore social and political themes through archival and personal sonic and visual materials, often using fractured montage, dub, and musique concrète techniques. BIRG, an informal collective established in 2022, produces collaborative events, concerts, and discussions, and has partnered with institutions such as Goldsmiths CCA, IKLECTIK, and Henie Onstad Art Center.
Date: 26 February 2026. Time: 6.30–8.30pm. Location: The Showroom, 63 Penfold Street, London NW8 8PQ. Price: Free. Book now
Art news of the week
More details revealed for Lubaina Himid’s British Pavilion exhibition at Venice Biennale 2026
Lubaina Himid CBE RA. Image courtesy of the British Council. Image credit Adama Jalloh
The British Pavilion at the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia 2026 will present Lubaina Himid CBE RA’s major solo exhibition, Predicting History: Testing Translation. The exhibition addresses ideas of belonging, home, and migration through large multi-panel paintings, layered narratives, and a surreal soundscape created with artist Magda Stawarska. Himid’s work reflects on the tension between past and present, drawing on storytelling, historical research, and performance to challenge Eurocentric narratives and highlight overlooked Black figures in Western history.
Click here to discover more.
Food of the week
The Aubrey at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park
The Aubrey Brunch. Image credit @lateef.photography
The Aubrey at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park has introduced a new weekend brunch with a Japanese twist, and we went to try it for ourselves. The izakaya-style restaurant offers a menu that reimagines brunch through Asian influences, featuring standout dishes such as a lobster soufflé omelette with butter-poached lobster, lobster bisque, smoked ikura, Japanese scallions, nori, bonito flakes and shichimi. Other highlights include Shredded BBQ Beef and Kimchi Fried Rice, A5 Wagyu Tataki with Yorkshire pudding and truffle ponzu, and inventive takes on favourites like Tokyo Eggs Royale and Matcha French Toast. The drinks menu is equally impressive, with an exceptional range of non-alcoholic options, particularly the sparkling teas, which are well worth ordering.
Brunch is served Saturday and Sunday, 12 noon – 5pm.
Location: The Aubrey, Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, 66 Knightsbridge, London SW1X 7LA. Website: mandarinoriental.com; Instagram: @theaubreylondon
Cause of the week
Young Enterprise Trade Fair 2025 at Old Spitalfields Market
Image courtesy of Old Spitalfields Market
More than 200 teenage entrepreneurs will take over Old Spitalfields Market on 24 February 2026 for a one-day live trading competition in partnership with Young Enterprise, the UK’s leading charity supporting young people in business. A total of 49 student-run teams, who have been developing and managing their own companies since autumn alongside their studies, will trade from 10am to 3:30pm in the iconic London market, selling products directly to customers just like established stallholders. The event will be judged by former Apprentice contestant Mia Collins, alongside industry experts from Delta Air Lines, Wells Fargo and Amazon, with awards including Best Trade Stand, Best Customer Service and Best Social Impact. The takeover reflects a growing surge in youth entrepreneurship, with 58% of young people in the UK exploring starting a business and 35% already running side hustles, highlighting a significant shift away from the traditional jobs market. This one-day event is the perfect opportunity to support the next generation of entrepreneurs and witness the competition in action.
Date: 24 February 2026. Time: 10am - 3.30pm. Location: Old Spitalfields Market, 16 Horner Square, London E1 6EW.
For more information about the event or the competition, visit oldspitalfieldsmarket.com and young-enterprise.org.uk.
