HOT LIST: 22/01/2025
- Cornelia Falknäs
- Jan 15
- 5 min read
Updated: Jan 22
We're back with our weekly list of hot arts and culture experiences happening soon that we think Londoners shouldn't miss. This time, our carefully curated picks include several exciting screenings, a choral recording session, a discussion on photography as a tool for resistance and more. Don't let the cold keep you inside, there's so much culture to enjoy if you step out, and we're helping you find it!
DRAG PERFORMANCE
GLAMROU: DRAG MOTHER
SOHO THEATRE
Tottenham Court Road | 20 January to 25 January
A tale of two mothers. Renowned Iraqi queen Glamrou, and renowned Iraqi queen, Glamrou’s mother, fight for the spotlight with their competing narratives of WHAT REALLY HAPPENED.
Come get lost in this drag hall of mirrors, where one queen’s truth is another queen’s fiction. Featuring live music, live comedy and live delusion, the Muslim drag sensation is here to activate your Freudian wounds. With a stiletto.
Find the programme of shows and tickets here.
FILM
RUN LOLA RUN
PRINCE CHARLES CINEMA
Leicester Square | 24 January 12:00
The film Run Lola Run from 1998 returns to Prince Charles Cinema in a 4K restoration. Lola (Franka Potente) answers a red phone the same color as her punk rock hair. It’s her boyfriend Manni (Moritz Bleibtru), a small time courier for a big time gangster. He is at a pay phone with a big problem. His boss is coming to pick up 100,000 Deutsche Marks in twenty minutes, and Manni doesn’t have it. With Manni’s life on the line, Lola takes off running through the streets of Berlin to reach him and somehow pick up 100,000 marks along the way, making split-second decisions and encountering acquaintances, family, and strangers.
Told in three variations with three endings, Run Lola Run is a fast-paced, kinetic exploration of destiny, set to a pumping dance music soundtrack and interspersed with animated interludes, flashbacks, and flashforwards that remind us of life's limitless possibilities.
Book your tickets here.
MUSIC
BRIEF ENCOUNTERS X REFERENCE POINT 07
REFERENCE POINT
Temple I 24 January 20:00-23:30
Brief Encounters organise multi-medium events focused on leftfield, club adjacent sound and live performance. For their seventh edition at the cultural centre Reference Point, bookshop by day and bar by night, they will feature special guest 00ab, live performances from Rosier and Manny Noir, and DJ sets from Paigon Bard and RJ.
You can find tickets here.
TALK
THROUGH THE LENS OF TIME: AJAMU X AND J.G. BASDEW IN CONVERSATION
TATE BRITAIN
Pimlico I 25 January 16:30-18:00
Hear a discussion on photography as a tool for resistance and connection as part of the exhibition The 80s: Photographing Britain. Ajamu X and J.G. Basdew will reflect on the activism and creative output of the 1980s, emphasising how intergenerational dialogue fosters understanding, solidarity, and new approaches to addressing contemporary social challenges. They will be joined by photographers Campbell Addy and Stephen Isaac-Wilson. Together, they will explore the ongoing influence of the 1980s on their practices and discuss how contemporary photography continues to engage with activism, identity, and cultural legacy.
Find more information and buy tickets here.
FILM
THE INCREDIBLY TRUE ADVENTURE OF TWO GIRLS IN LOVE
LA CAMIONERA
Homerton I 26 January 15:00-18:00
With iconic meme page @quirkeduphackneylesbian, Brixton Community Cinema is back for its first event of the year and first ever outing north of the river, screening Maria Maggenti's The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love, a chaotic coming-of-age romance that captures the thrill and awkwardness of two girls - one a rebellious misfit, the other a wealthy overachiever - figuring it all out for the first time, at none other than London's only FLINTA-owned Lesbian bar, La Camionera.
[Please note, this event is reserved for individuals who identify as FLINTA (Female, Lesbian, Intersex, Trans and Agender)]
Get your tickets here.
CONCERT
B O D I E S
EARTH
Dalston I 28 January 19:00-22:30
Having recently sold out both Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie and Berlin’s Philhamonie concert halls, B O D I E S show no signs of slowing down. The Berlin-based 8-piece vocal ensemble’s concerts are touching, adventurous and above all transcendent. Featuring eight exceptional voices and no instruments, B O D I E S delivers a performance about what it means to be made of matter. Musically spanning indie and neo-classical with a strong ear for melody, it’s no exaggeration to state they have a sound all their own.
More information and tickets here.
SCREENING
ENTER THE VOID
PRINCE CHARLES CINEMA
Leicester Square I 28 January 20:25
Gaspar Noé’s Tokyo-set film from 2008 is a mesmerising audio-visual trip - an electrifying showcase of his distinctively provocative style. The hypnotic first-person journey through the city’s neon-lit underworld makes Enter the Void a raw and immersive cinematic experience. An American drug dealer living in Tokyo is betrayed by his best friend and killed in a drug deal. His soul, observing the repercussions of his death, seeks resurrection.
Tickets here.
ART SHOW OPENING
TANAT TEERADAKORN: NATIONAL OPERA COMPLEX
GASWORKS
Vauxhall I 29 January 18:30 - 20:30
A new commission and the first solo exhibition in Europe by Bangkok-based multi-disciplinary artist, musician, DJ and graphic designer, Tanat Teeradakorn. Exploring the parallel histories of Thailand and the UK through references to pop culture, revolution and monarchy, the exhibition will contain an immersive installation mimicking a tourist city souvenir stand, replete with products illustrating instances of refusal and resistance. Inside the stand, a new audio and video work will fuse TikTok-style viral dance routines with Thai folk dance and opera, continuing the artist’s ongoing research on cross-cultural sounds
All details here.
CHORAL RECORDING SESSION
THE CALL: FINISSAGE
STONE NEST
Leicester Square I 30 January 19:00
Join artists Holly Herndon, Mat Dryhurst and Serpentine’s Arts Technologies team for a final choral recording celebrating the closing days of their exhibition, The Call. In developing The Call, the team toured the UK, working with 15 different choirs to record a training data set for a suite of choral AI models. The choirs sang from a songbook specifically composed for AI training.
During this informal recording session, London Contemporary Voices and audience members are invited to sing from Herndon and Dryhurst’s songbook and record a final session that will be added to the choral dataset. The event includes songs and exercises performed from the songbook, insights into the songbook’s AI design, and stories from the recording tour. People who do not wish to participate can watch from the gallery at Stone Nest.
You can find all information and tickets here.
theatreuppetry, animation, object theatre, mime, live art, and physical theatre.
