London On The Cheap: In The Dark

By paulcox Last edited 182 months ago
London On The Cheap: In The Dark

piccadillyintherain.jpg

It's still January out there, and when it's not it'll only be February. We're not out of the long dark nights yet, not by a long shot. You need the flickering lights of culture and knowledge to keep you warm. In all modesty, let us be your Prometheus.

Friday: Battersea Arts Centre are opening their doors tonight, allowing us to wander through back rooms and rehearsal rooms to discover scratch performances, installations, and chatty artists. Pay what you can, suggested at £5.Saturday: TfL are tired of carrying you around all day, and are holding a full weekend of workshops in using your own two feet. They know it's going to be cold and probably muddy, but that's the fun of a Winter Wander. See the website for 40 guided walks between Tube stops across Greater London.Sunday: The Alternative Press Fair, "a celebration of pens, pencils, and photocopiers," is on today at the St. Aloysius Social Centre in Somers Town. Find some cheap-and-cheerful comics and zines and breathe in the DIY spirit.Monday: The Royal Institution's Fiction Lab is a monthly book club devoted to science in fiction and fiction by scientists. This week Jennifer Rohn of Lablit.com leads the café-based discussion on Poppy Adams's The Behaviour of Moths. If you've read it, just show up; if not, a January weekend is the perfect time to curl up with a book.

Tuesday: Some good events tied in with the British Library's Taking Liberties exhibition on today. In between checking out the exhibition — which we highly recommend — you can sit in on a panel discussion on the importance of hate speech (with Germaine Greer, Francesca Klug, Rex Bloomstein and Peter Tatchell; £6/£4 concs), hear a gallery talk on the what-ifs of an alternate 17th century, and see Lois Tucker's Glitch, a black comedy act of the near future.

Wednesday: Join the war of the sexes at the Dana Centre tonight, and do your part for the team in a series of (very scientific) battles to find out what stereotypes you can manage to live up to. We recommend showing up in embarrassingly gender-appropriate attire to get in the spirit.Thursday: It's Late at the Museum in Docklands, and the launch of the new exhibition LandFall, an exploration of the Atlantic Ocean and those who have crossed it. Along with free entry tonight offers the world premiere performance of Dreamwinds, a new composition for chamber orchestra and voice by Dominique Le Gendre.Image courtesy of Mike King via the Londonist flickrpool.

Last Updated 29 January 2009