Events in London

Events in London

Talks and discussions

Tuesday 25 August

* The Cauldron, Simon Sebag Montefiore delivers a fresh and unique history of the Middle East from 1900 up to the present day, 7 - 8.30pm, £10, Foyles, Charing Cross Road. Info: Foyles

* Exploring rangeland myths: Fire is the energy, Kevin Kirkman and Elliot Convery-Fisher explore the roots and legacy of myths about fire in rangeland, 11am - 12.30pm, online. Info:Institute of Development Studies

Wednesday 26 August

* 60 years of Struggle: Civil Rights, film on education, policing, health, migration and anti-racism + conversation with Gus John, 5.15 - 8.30pm, £30, Black Cultural Archives, Windrush Square SW2 1EF. Info: Black History Walks

Tuesday 1 September

* What now? Solidarity with Palestine in a might-makes-right era, Omar Barghouti and Aimee Shalan, 7-9pm, £3-£8, Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Green Road, E1 6LA. Info: Rich Mix

Exhibitions

* Moved to Care: Stories of Health and Migration, explores the contributions of migrants from across the globe to healthcare over the last 150 years, from the 19th century colonial legacy of missionary nurses to the Windrush Generation, free, 20 Cavendish Square, W1G OR until 2 November. Info: Royal College of Nursing

+ Migrant nurses: Looking after Britain’s health

* The Music is Black: A British Story, how Black British music has shaped British culture from 1900 to today through objects like Joan Armatrading’s childhood guitar, fashion worn by Little Simz and photographs, £22.50 weekdays, £24.40, V&A East, Queen Elizabeth Park, Olympic Park. Info: V&A East Museum

* The Arab Hall: Past and Present, the Hall in the 100-year-old Leighton House is a blend of 13th-century Damascus tiles and Victorian architecture. A new exhibition features contemporary art and a dedicated film, offering a deeper look at how Islamic art has influenced British spaces, £14, Leighton House, 12 Holland Park Road, W14 8LZ until 4 October. Info: Leighton House

* London Parks: An Exhibition, photographs by young asylum-seekers and refugees, free, Southbank Centre, Riverside Terrace, level 2, Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX until 30 August. Info: Parks

* Frida: The Making of an Icon, how Frida Kahlo became one of the most influential artists of all time, from her political activism to global Fridamania, £25, Tate Modern, Bankside SE1 9TC, until 3 January. Info: Tate

+ How the zeitgeist helped create Fridamania

* Project A Black Planet: The Art and Culture of Panafrica, 300 works including posters, paintings, journals, sculpture and film from Africa, Brazil, the Caribbean, North America and Western Europe from the 1920s to the present. Artists include Jude Kader Attia, Mariene Dumas, Inji Effiatoun, Sonia Gomes, David Hammons, Nicholas Hlobo, Claudette Johnson, Wilfredo Lam, Simone Leigh Ernest Mancota, Kawira Mwinchia, Abdias Nascimento. Grace Ndirutu, Magdalene Odundo, Chris Ofili, Colette Omogbai, The Otolith Group, Ingrid Pollard, Samir Rafi, Cauleen Smith, Tavares Strachan, £19, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, EC2 Y 8DS until 6 September. Info: Project A Black Planet

+ About 50 related events have been scheduled, including talks, films, workshops and music. Details here

+ Project Black Planet fights its way through a thicket of jargon

* Rising Voices, Contemporary Arts From Asia, Australia and the Pacific, work by more than 40 artists from 25 countries, £17, V&A Museum, Cromwell Road SW7 until 10 January. Info: V&A

+ Arresting voices of the Asia-Pacific

* The Land Carries, exploration of Sudanese history, culture and nationhood through contemporary art, free, 1-5pm, University College London Petrie Museum, Gower Street, WC1E 6BT until September. Info: Petrie

* Donald Locke: Resistant Forms, works by Guyanese-British ceramicist, sculptor and painter, free, Camden Art Centre, Arkwright Road NW3 until 30 August. Info: Art Centre

* Nhu Xuan Hua: Of Walking on Fire, reimagines archival photographs from her family’s time in Vietnam and Europe, building visual reconstructions that echo how memory in the diaspora can slip from view, free, Autograph, Rivington Place, EC2A 3BA until 19 September. Info: Autograph

* Anish Kapoor, sculptures and paintings by the Mumbai-born Indian-British artist, £22, Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX until 18 October. Info: Hayward.

* Fozia Ismail: A Song for the Xeedho – The Knot Makers, interactive installation that centres on the wedding basket made by Somali nomadic women that has become endangered due to the climate crisis, Whitechapel Gallery, 77-82 Whitechapel High Street, E1 7QX until 6 September. Info: Gallery

* Hybrid forms and live realities: the sculpture of Bharti Kher, the British Indian artist explores the body, womanhood, mythology and cultural identity, V&A Museum, Cromwell Road, until 24 January. Info: Exhibition

* Mil Veces un Instant (A thousand times in an instant), Mexican artist Teresa Margolies’ cuboid on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square is a memorial to trans people worldwide.

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

* 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

* Childhood in War, the UK’s first dedicated exhibition exploring how war affects and shapes young lives, Uk oriented but including contemporary stories and quotes from Afghanistan, Sudan and Ukraine, Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road, SE1 6HZ until 28 February. Info: War Museum

* Rudy Loewe: Intimacies of Care – Spaces of Grief and Possibility, the lived experience of Black people whose mental healthcare in the UK is shaped by racist discrimination, free, Wellcome Collection, 183 Euston Road, NW1 2BE until 7 February. Info: Wellcome

from Tuesday 25 August

* A Life of Navigation, Taiwanese artist Musquiqui Chihying explores our ambiguous relationship with both analogue and digital technologies through installation, video, photography, and sculpture, free, Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX, until 18 October. Info: Hayward

Performance

* The Story, when a white teacher is killed in a black neighbourhood, four journalists race to get the headline – at any cost. But when shocking new evidence pulls them into the dark heart of the case, they are each forced to confront what they’re prepared to risk to tell their version of the truth, National Theatre, South Bank SE1 9PX, until 24 October. Info: National

* Bitesize Festival, 50+ shows and events and a three-day short-film festival. Riverside Studios, 101 Queen Caroline Street W6 9BN, until 30 August. Info: Festival

Wednesday 26 August

* Colin Grant: What We Leave We Carry, stories of migration in celebration of Grant’s book, with Suzanne Harrington, an Irish writer who travelled with an ‘introductory’ sick note from her psychiatrist; Maria Jastrzębska, a Polish poet recounting partisan songs that poked fun at Hitler; Amanda Vilanova, a Puerto Rican actor gifted her mother’s jewellery to sell in an emergency; and Clementine Burnley, a Cameroonian psychotherapist who arrived as a student in ‘80s Glasgow inspired by ‘Kung Fu Fighting’, 7.45pm, from £23, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road SE1 8XX. Info: What We Leave

Tuesday 1 - Saturday 19 September

* Housemates 2026, six plays including 8 - 12 September, Pressure, a  journey through rebellion, revolution, and Caribbean resistance; 15 - 19 September,  Runner Girl; two shows for £30, three for £42 or four shows for £50; Brixton House, 385 Coldharbour Lane, SW9 8GL. Info: Brixton House

Film

* Gaza’s Twins, Come Back to Me, when Rania's newborn babies are evacuated from a hospital in northern Gaza to safety in the south, her family is suddenly torn apart, Curzon Bloomsbury until 27 August

* How To Feed A Dictator, five brutal regimes, from Iraq to North Korea, through the eyes of the personal chefs who served them Curzon Bloomsbury until 27 August

* Ish, set and filmed in the South Asian and Middle Eastern community in Luton, the film follows 12-year-old best friends, Ish  and Maram as they navigate childhood against a backdrop of political tension and personal loss. After a police stop and search, from which Ish flees, they wrestle to hold onto their friendship, ICA, the Mall until 26 August

+ The tug of home, the lure of the street

* Bouchra, wrestling with writer’s block for her first film, a queer Moroccan jackal living in New York starts having difficult yet overdue phone calls with her mother in Casablanca that begin influencing the project. Her emotional reckoning with her mother and herself becomes her path to expression in this weird film, ICA, The Mall until 27 August

+ A hen, a ghost in a vacuum cleaner and now talking canids

Monday 24 August

* Farming the Revolution, follows the year-long Indian farmers' protest of 2020, an outcry in response to newly enacted agricultural law, Curzon Bloomsbury

* While We Watched, gripping newsroom drama, following broadcast journalist Ravish Kumar as he fearlessly tackles misinformation and incompetent governance in India, Curzon Bloomsbury + 26 August

* Coup 53, documentary-meets-detective-story about the 1953 military coup in Iran led by British MI6 and backed by the CIA, 7pm + Q&A with Taghi Amirani, Lexi⁠

* Reggae Girlz, documentary about the Jamaican women's football team’s rise from obscurity to challenge giants France and Brazil in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, 6.30pm, Ritzy Brixton

Wednesday 26 August

* Dahomey, the repatriation of 26 artworks looted from the Kingdom of Dahomey, ICA

+ The talking statue at the centre of Africa’s restoration debate

* BHS: Notting Hill Carnival 60th Anniversary Short Films, 6pm + Q&A with Charmaine Simpsob, 9.15pm, Lexi

Thursday 27 August

* In the Mood for Love (Fa yeung ninwah), Wong Kar Wai delivers an exquisite melodrama about two married neighbours who gradually fall in love, 5.50pm, BFI Southbank

Friday 28 August

* Life Support, first-hand accounts and visceral footage of three international doctors in the Israeli attack on Gaza offer a rare chronicle of the daily struggles of healthcare workers as they navigate bombed-out hospitals, dwindling supplies, starvation and the overwhelming influx of casualties, 6.30pm, Castle

+ Phone calls from the Gaza apocalypse

* I Am Cuba (Soy Cuba), riveting camerawork meets revolutionary ideas in this utterly unique, hugely influential 1964 film, 8.20pm, BFI Southbank

from Friday 28 August

* Disciples, On the banks of the Ganges in Varanasi, two boys enter a revered Hindu school where lessons in ancient scripture blur into something more troubling, Curzon Bloomsbury + 30 August, 3 September

* Hanging by a wire, on the banks of the Ganges in Varanasi, two boys enter a revered Hindu school where lessons in ancient scripture blur into something more troubling, Curzon Bloomsbury until 3 September

* Bouchra, wrestling with writer’s block for her first film, a queer Moroccan jackal living in New York starts having difficult yet overdue phone calls with her mother in Casablanca that begin influencing the project. Her emotional reckoning with her mother and herself becomes her path to expression in this weird film, Cine Lumiere, until 4 September

from Sunday 29 August

* Bouchra, wrestling with writer’s block for her first film, a queer Moroccan jackal living in New York starts having difficult yet overdue phone calls with her mother in Casablanca that begin influencing the project. Her emotional reckoning with her mother and herself becomes her path to expression in this weird film, Cine Lumiere, until 4 September;

Sunday 30 August

* The Mole Agent, when a family becomes concerned about their mother’s well-being in a retirement home, an 83-year-old private investigator becomes a new resident, struggling to balance his assignment with increasing involvement in the lives of several residents, 5.30pm, £10, Lexi + 2 September

TV and radio

Saturday 22 August

* Kabul, continuation of the drama about the lives of an Afghan family at the time of the US withdrawal in 2021, 9pm, 9.50pm, BBC4

Monday 24 August

* Global Eye, international news magazine, 7pm, BBC2

* Monkey Man, revenge thriller initiated by a massacre in an Indian village, 11.55pm, BBC3

* How Did We Get Here: No World Order, series about contemporary events, 9.30pm, Radio4

* Book at Bedtime: Mr Sidhu’s Post Office, Amman Brar’s late father’s values as a subpostmaster and the Post Office scandal become entwined in his debut novel,10.45pm, Radio4

Tuesday 25 August

* Invisible Hands, the series about the people behind recent US foreign policy looks at Paul Wolfowitz, who played a key role in getting the US into war in Vietnam,9am, Radio4

* Human Intelligence, the series puts South Africa’s Bishop Desmond Tutu in the spotlight, 1.45pm, Radio4

* Crossing Continents, Brazil’s gambling problems, 9pm, Radio4

* Book at Bedtime: Mr Sidhu’s Post Office, Amman Brar’s late father’s values as a subpostmaster and the Post Office scandal become entwined in his debut novel,10.45pm, Radio4

Wednesday 26 August

* Rainbow Warrior, documentary about the bombing of a Greenpeace boat that was trying to stop French nuclear testing in the Pacific, 10pm, Sky International

* Book at Bedtime: Mr Sidhu’s Post Office, Amman Brar’s late father’s values as a subpostmaster and the Post Office scandal become entwined in his debut novel,10.45pm, Radio4

Thursday 27 August

* Book at Bedtime: Mr Sidhu’s Post Office, Amman Brar’s late father’s values as a subpostmaster and the Post Office scandal become entwined in his debut novel,10.45pm, Radio4

Friday 14 August

* Alexander Armstrong in Sri Lanka, anodyne travelogue, 8pm, Channel5

* Central Intelligence, anti-Vietnam war protests are the focus in this episode of the drama series about the CIA, 2.15pm, Radio4

* Book at Bedtime: Mr Sidhu’s Post Office, Amman Brar’s late father’s values as a subpostmaster and the Post Office scandal become entwined in his debut novel,10.45pm, Radio4

Thanks to volunteer Daniel Nelson (editor of Eventslondon.org) for compiling this list.