Speaking for Ourselves

Events in London

» Whats On

14/04/2025

Events in London

Talks and discussions

Monday 26 January

* The breakdown of international order, Xenia Wickett, Kirsty Sutherland, Leila Molana-Allen, 7pm, from £5.94, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place W2. Info: Frontline

* Presencia and Resistencia, readings, performance, and conversation by Juana Adcock, Leo Boix, Yara Rodrigues Fowler, and Monika Radojevic celebrating British Latinx voices and Wasafiri 124, guest co-edited by Karina Lickorish Quinn and Leo Boix + video presentation of Peruvian poet Raúl Cisneros reading in Quechua, 7pm, £12, British Library, 96 Euston Road, NW1. Info: Library

* Governing the algorithm: embedding gender equality in Europe’s digital future, Josie Christodoulou, June Lowery-Kingston, David Nemer, Jurriaan Parie, Dora Meredith, 5 - 6.30pm, online. Info: Overseas Development Institute

Tuesday 27 January

* Climate resilience in a changing world, discussion of strategies for resilience, sustainable planning, and innovative solutions to protect people and landscapes from environmental uncertainty, 7 - 8.30pm, £5 - £12, students free, Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, SW7 2AR. Info: RGS

Wednesday 28 January

* Modern Peru: A New History, book launch with editors Paulo Drinot and Alberto Vergara, 1 - 2.30pm, 51 Gordon Square WC1H 0PN. Info: Modern Peru

* Can we derail Corporate Courts, James O’Nions, 6.30 - 8.15pm, Brady Community and Arts Centre, 192-196 Hanbury Street, E1 5HU. Info: London Assembly

* Sparks: Igniting new ideas, new annual event highlighting innovative, evidence-based ideas for tackling some of the big issues of 2026, Moinul Zaber, Anabel Marin, Gerry Bloom, Lyla Mehta, 4 - 5.30pm. Info: Institute of Development Studies

Thursday 29 January

* Bretton Woods at 80 – reforming global economic governance, Mark Malloch-Brown, Patrick Achi, 5 - 6.30pm, Overseas Development Institute, 4 Millbank, SW1P 3JA and online. Info: ODI

* America Now! American Empire - Past, Present, Future, Will Norman, Adam Burns and Hilary Emmett, 6.30 - 7.30pm, free, British Library, 96 Euston Road, NW1. Info: Library

Friday 30 January

* Entropy and the Death Drive: Why humanity can’t stop destroying itself, Roger Hallam, 6 - 8pm, £20, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place W2 1QJ. Info: Frontline

Saturday 31 January

* Ai WeiWei on Censorship, 7.30pm, £30 - £85, Central Hall Westminster. Info: FANE

Sunday 1 February

* Philharmonia Debates... Music & Exile, panel discussion on music’s role in preserving cultural identity for exiled or migrant communities, 5.45pm, free, Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road SE1 8XX. Info: Philharmonia

Monday 2 February

* Why immigration policy is hard, Alan Manning, 6.30pm, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, WC1

* Shoah with Sue Vice, to celebrate the new edition of the BFI Classic, Barry Langford, Libby Saxton and Vice consider director Claude Lanzmann’s work as an influence on films that witness genocide and the Holocaust, 6.30pm, £15, British Film Institute

Exhibitions

* Emergency Exits: The Fight for Independence in Malaya, Kenya and Cyprus, how post Second World War “Emergencies” , as they were termed by the UK, shaped Britain, its former territories and the modern world, Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road SE1 6HZ until 29 March. Info: IWM

+ Exit wounds of Empire

* Hawaiʻi: a kingdom crossing oceans, a celebration of art and history, £14/ £16, British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1B 3DG until 25 May. Info: Hawai’i

* A Greenland shadow over a wonderful Hawai’i exhibition

* Thirst: In Search of Freshwater, from ancient Mesopotamia to modern-day Nepal and Singapore, the exhibition combines art, science, history, technology and indigenous knowledge to deepen understanding of our relationships with freshwater, free, Wellcome Collection, 183 Euston Road, NW1 2BE until 1 February 2026. Info: Wellcome

+ Thirst: an exhibition bridge over troubled water

* Botanical Tales and Seeds of Empire & Flora Indica: Recovering the lost histories of Indian botanical art, The Singh Twins examine the global mythologies of plants and the histories of Empire + Flora Indica – work by historical Indian botanical artists, admission with Kew entry fee, Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art, Kew Gardens until 12 April

+ The Singh Twins light up the links between empire and botany

+ The Singh Twins spotlight Kew’s role in the business of Empire

* Mil Veces un Instante (A Thousand Times In An Instant), Mexican artist Teresa Margolles’ cuboid on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square is a memorial to trans people worldwide

* Nigerian Modernism, Nigerian artists working before and after the decade of national independence from British colonial rule in 1960, Tate Modern, Bankside SE1 9TG until 10 May. Info: Tate

* A Story of South Asian Art: Mrinalini Mukherjee and Her Circle, artists who have shaped the trajectory of Indian Modernism, £17, Royal Academy, Burlington House, Piccadilly W1J until 24 February. Info: RA

* I Still Dream of Lost Vocabularies, examination of political dissent and erasure through the idea of collage, Sabrina Tirvengadum, Sunil Gupta, Qualeasha Wood, Jess Atieno, Sheida Soleimani, free, Autograph, Rivington Place, EC2A 3BA until 21 March. Info: Exhibition

* The Land Carries, work by three international artists: Ahmed Akasha (UK), Dina Nur Satti (US) and Yasmin Elnour (Bahrain) responding to material in the Petrie Museum of Egyptian and Sudanese Archaeology, 1 - 5pm, Petrie Museum, University College London, Malet Place, WC1E 6BT until 16 May. Info: Sudan exhibition

* Posters to the Olive Tree of Exile, Turkish artist Yusuf Aygeç explores themes of exile, memory and resistance through the symbolic presence of the olive tree, bearing witness to the voice of the Palestinian people, P21 Gallery, 21-27 Chalton Street, NW1 1JD, until 30 January. Info: P21

* Collecting and Empire, trail making connections between archaeology, anthropology and the British Empire, British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1. Info: British Museum

* British Library, installation of 6,328 books marks the contributions of migrants to UK, Tate Modern, Bankside, SE1. Info: Installation/ 7887 8888

* Target Queen, large-scale commission by British-Indian artist Bharti Kher, Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre

* Charlie Phillips - Somewhere, Somehow, work by the Jamaican immigrant who became one of Britain’s greatest photographers, Riverside Studios, 101 Queen Caroline Street W6 9BN until 9 March. Info: Riverside

* Tixinda, A Snail’s Purple, exhibition about a sea snail whose ink can be milked to produce a purple pigment known as Tyrian or Royal purple, by British-Mexican artist Melanie Smith and Patricio Villarreal Ávila, Peltz Gallery, 43 Gordon Square, WC1H 0PD, until 11 March. Info: Pellz

Performance

* Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, the lives of two US Marines, an Iraqi translator and a Bengal tiger collide, £12 - £57, Young Vic, 66 The Cut, SE1 8LZ until 31 January. Info: Young Vic

+ ‘Did he who made the lamb, make thee?’ The tiger replies

* Safe Haven, based on true events by a former British diplomat in Iraqi Kurdistan, two diplomats and a refugee struggle to convince the British government to intervene after Saddam Hussain is forced to end his invasion of Kuwait, £15 - £29, Arcola Theatre, 24 Ashwin Street, E8 3DL until 7 February. Info: Arcola

+ How last minute diplomacy averted a genocide

* A Grain of Sand, one-woman show written and directed by Good Chance’s deputy artistic director Elias Matar. Drawing on real children’s testimonies, it tells the story of a Gazan girl in search of her family and the mythical Palestinian “Anqaa”, £12 - £39, Arcola Theatre, Ashwin Street E8 3DL until 31 January. Info: Arcola

+ 29, 31 January, Q&A with Elias Matar and performer Sarah Agha

+ The voices of Gaza’s children, and a call for collective action

Monday 26 January

* Up to Here and Beyond, first UK performance of Jasmijn Apte’s new live journalism project “on the artificial rescue of the northern white rhino” - bringing together journalism, theatre, interaction and music, 1 - 2pm, City University, Northampton Square, EC1V 0HB. Info: City

from Thursday 29 January

* Palestine: Peace de Resistance, comedian Sami Abu Wardeh tests whether resistance can be funny, from £19.50, Park Theatre, Clifton Terrace, N4 3JP until 7 February. Info: Park

* The Ophiolite, when Takis dies in Britain, a bitter feud erupts over where he should be buried. For his Cypriot family, ancient tradition must be respected; for his English wife, a promise he made in life is binding, Theatro Technis, 26 Crowndale Road, NW1 1TT until 29 February. Info: Theatro Technis

from Friday 30 January

* Legendary, a “ritual-musical” by Cheeyang Ng, where a queer Asian immigrant transforms myth, memory and identity into a new origin story, £16.50, The Other Place, 12 Palace Street, SW1E 5JA until 1 February. Info: The Other Place

Film

* Coexistence, My Ass!, comedian Noam Shuster Eliassi (a former UN diplomat) uses humour to expose hard truths about the relationship between Israel and Palestine, Curzon Bloomsbury until 29 January

* The Voice of Hind Rajab, dramatisation of events in January 2024 when Red Crescent volunteers receive an urgent call: a six-year-old girl trapped in a car under fire in Gaza begs for rescue, Barbican; Cineworld at O2, Wandsworth; Picturehouses Greenwich, Ritzy; Vues Finchley Road, Islington; ICA until 31 January

* Black Water, follows Lokhi and her family in southern Bangladesh, where rising sea levels mean Lokhi has to relocate from the flood-prone southern coastline to the capital, Curzon Bloomsbury until 26 January

* It Was Just An Accident, Jafar Panahi’s award-winning Iranian black comedy thriller is a powerful indictment of state-sponsored terror and a moving drama of individuals seeking to rebuild their lives after being subject to it, Lexi, until 29 January

+ Twice-jailed Panahi spins a moral tale for our authoritarian times

* Ai WeiWei’s Turandot, the artist and dissident debuts as an opera director with a radical reinterpretation of Puccini's classic, building a piece that challenges the global crises of our times, Curzon Bloomsbury until 29 January

* No Other Choice, one man’s desperation to secure a new job finds him exploring unique ways to eliminate his competitors, in South Korean director Park Chan-wook’s madcap thriller, Cineworlds Wandsworth. West India Quay; Picturehouses Central, Clapham, Crouch End, Ealing, East Dulwich, Finsbury Park, Greenwich, Hackney, Ritzy, West Norwood; Odeons Camden, Greenwich, Luxe Haymarket, Luxe Lee Valley, Luxe Swiss Cottage, Tottenham Court Road, Wimbledon; Vues Finchley Road, Fulham Broadway, Islington, North Finchley, Shepherd’s Bush, Westfield London, Westfield Stratford City

* London Short Film Festival, until 1 February. Programme includes 28 Jan, East London, Bangladesh & Tales of Becoming; 30 Jan, Palestine Looks Back, six films. Info: Festival

Monday 26 January

* In the Mood for Love, sleek suits and richly colourful dresses help define the beauty and elegance of Wong Kar Wai’s Hong Kong-set masterpiece, 2.30pm, National Film Theatre

* Bend It Like Beckham, Gurinder Chadha’s feel-good sports comedy is a smart, funny and uplifting tale of ambition, identity and friendship + discussion with artists Athen Kardashian and Nina Mhach Durban, 8.20pm, National Film Theatre

Thursday 29 January

* Salt of This Sea, US-based Soraya decides to travel to the country of her ancestry when she discovers that her grandfather’s savings have been frozen in a Jaffa bank account since his 1948 exile. But her simple plan turns out to be a complicated undertaking. Part of season celebrating Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir, 6.10pm, £10, Lexi

* My Father’s Shadow, two young brothers explore Lagos with their estranged father during the 1993 Nigerian election crisis, witnessing both the city's magnitude and their father's daily struggles as political unrest threatens their journey home + Q&A with Akinola Davies Jnr, 7pm, Ritzy

+ A father’s shadow - and the shadow of a Nigerian coup

Friday 30 January

* Bride and Prejudice, Kenya-born British filmmaker Gurinder Chadha’s inspired take on the classic Jane Austen novel makes the most of culture clashes to deliver a supremely entertaining portrait of cultural difference, 6.10pm, National Film Theatre

* In Frame: Gurinder Chadha, on the cultural impact of her films, 8.50pm, National Film Theatre

from Saturday 31 January

* Three Films by Jafar Panahi, genre-busting The Mirror (1997); This is Not a Film, how do you make a film when your government has imposed a 20-year directing ban on you? This is the director's brilliant and brave answer, filmed under house arrest in Iran (2011), until 4 January; and the Golden Bear-winning Taxi Tehran (2015).

TV and radio

Sunday 25 January

* Palestine Action - The truth Behind the Ban, inquiry into why on earth PA has been banned as a terrorist organisation, 2.20am, Channel4. This programme was to be broadcast last Friday (so this repeat presumably will not be broadcast) but was withdrawn at the last moment “due to circumstances beyond our control … We will broadcast the film in the coming weeks”. That explanation is meaningless and further explanation is awaited.

* On Rama’s Bridge, Nandina Das looks at memory, displacement and myth at the points in India and Sri Lanka where the two nations nearly touch, 7.15pm, Radio3

Monday 26 January