Things To Do In London This Weekend: 2-3 March

All weekend

WONDER: Barbican Weekender explores wonder through art and neuroscience with “two brainy days of dance, theatre, music and art for all ages”. Full programme here, all activities free, runs all weekend (note: last chance to get inside Rain Room too but queues are likely to be epic so get there early).

GONDOLA: Boarding Card, is a cardboard performative sculpture in the making, a half size Venetian gondola, that when completed will operate on water. Watch the sculptor at work in the Electrician’s Shop at Trinity Buoy Wharf. You can also see his fully working Icecreammanvan and some of his painting. While you’re there, visit the lighthouse, Container City (pictured) and the Faraday Effect. Boarding Card is free, just turn up, open Saturday and Sunday 12-5pm.

TIGERS: Go and see giant tigers made of electrical tape, tiger art and track wild tigers at Tiger Tracks at St Pancras International, organised by Save Wild Tigers. Free, just turn up, until 21 March.

PHOTOGRAPHY: An exhibition marking the centenary of fashion photographer, Norman Parkinson, opens at the National Theatre with glamorous portraits and extraordinary shots from his entire career. Free entry, opens at 10am till late.

ROBOTS: Kinetica Art Fair brings robots and technoart to Ambika P3 in Marylebone for "an annual showcase of art that moves, shines, buzzes, whirls, twinkles and makes you go ‘ooooh’." Tickets £16, book or just turn up, open 10am-8pm/Sunday closes at 6pm.

BOOK FEST: It's the final few days of Jewish Book Week at Kings Place. It's free entry to wander round the book stalls and there are still tickets available for events, including Six-Word Memoirs, featuring Craig Taylor of Londoners fame for £9.50.

OZ FEST: The BFI Return to Oz season begins - choose from the Wizard of Oz (1939 or 1925) or The Patchwork Girl of Oz this weekend.

RETROSPECTIVE: Also at BFI Southbank begins the Pier Paolo Pasolini season.

CHURCH ODDITY: Beautiful, historic Shoreditch Church hosts an exhibition by BA Illustration and Interaction & Moving Image students from London College of Communication. For one weekend, St Leonard's is transformed into "a shrine to the curious, abnormal and unconventional". Church Oddity is open Saturday 11-6pm, Sunday 1-5pm.

Saturday 2 March

SELF-PUBLISH: Publish and be Damned celebrates innovative and left-field self-publishers, featuring around 50 publications that operate outside the mainstream. Browse the fair and watch artist videos for free, join talks and workshops (£5) and in the evening, listen to readings and DJs in the bar. Open from 11am till late.

CRAFT: Balham Craft Fair returns to the Bedford pub with textiles, clothing, bunting, bags, cards and more. Free entry, just turn up between 12-5pm.

SHORTS: Future Shorts Festival screens at the British Library (as part of its Spring Festival). Tickets £5/£3 concessions, prebook, runs 3-5pm.

DRON: Experience bizarre and experimental performance at Hundred Years Gallery off Kingsland Road E2. Flange Zoo "a troop of musical mythical animals" perform soundscapes, Rude Mechanicals produce "strange songs, sounds and looks" and you can create communally with digital artist, Andor Merks. Free, just turn up, from 6.30pm.

COMEDY: Islington's Union Chapel fills with laughter for The Pajama Men Live at the Chapel including the incomparable antics of Adam Riches. Tickets £18/£16 concessions, prebook, starts 7.45pm.

Sunday 3 March

GODLESSNESS: The third Sunday Assembly focuses on lending a hand and helping out in the community. There are two sittings, morning and afternoon at The Nave, St Paul’s Road, N1. Free, just turn up, 11am and 1.30pm.

BOOK SWAP: Feed & Read pops up in Bearspace Gallery, Deptford. Free entry, take a book to swap or buy one for £2. Just turn up, between 12-4pm.

BIG NOISE: The Big Noise raises money for the Big Issue Foundation and starts its year off with a mini-arts fest Speakeasy in Hackney with short films, spoken word artists and acoustic acts. Tickets are £5 in advance, £6 on the door, from 3-9pm.

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Rain Room image by M. Ryan Photography via the Londonist Flickrpool.