Free things to do in London this week

  The Southbank Centre is shining a light on some great artworks this winter – literally. In its annual Winter Lights exhibition, the institution will be bringing a selection of pieces to the streets surrounding the venue. Everything on display uses light and colour to dive into topics like identity, environment and tech, making it both an attention-grabbing and thought-provoking exhibit. Among the works you’ll be able to see at this free exhibition are ‘We Rise By Lifting Others’ by Marinella Senatore, which highlights the power of collectivity and community, and Jakob Kvist’s ‘Dichroic Sphere’, a geodesic dome that is illuminated by only one single energy-efficient light bulb, but is still lit up in various colours. Why not combine your visit with a trip to Southbank Centre’s Winter Market? Find out all about London’s other massive festive light shows. 

Alvaro Barrington is letting you in. He’s opening his arms, opening the doors to his childhood home, opening the windows into his memories.  To walk into the London-based artist’s Duveen commission is to walk into the Grenadian shack he grew up in. The sound of rain hammering on the tin roof echoes around the space as you sit on plastic-covered benches; you’re safe here, protected, just like Barrington felt as a kid with his grandmother. You’re brought into her home, her embrace. In the central gallery, a vast silver dancer is draped in fabrics on an enormous steel pan drum. This is Carnival, this is the Afro-Carribean diaspora at its freest, letting loose, dancing, expressing its soul, communing. You’re brought into the frenzy, the dance, the community. But the fun soon stops. The final space houses a dilapidated shop, built to the dimensions of an American prison cell, surrounded by chain link fencing. Its shutters creak open and slam shut automatically. This is a violent shock, a testimony to the dangers facing Black lives in the West: the police, the prison system, the barely concealed injustice.  After all the music and refuge of the rest of the installation, here, it’s like Barrington’s saying: ‘You want this? You want the carnival, the music, the culture? Then acknowledge the pain, the fear, the mistreatment, the subjugation too.’ I don’t think the paintings here are great, but painting’s not Barrington’s strong suit. He excels when he’s collaborating, sampling,...

Find out what the UK's most promising fine art graduates have been up to in this annual showcase of up-and-coming talent from across the UK, which is now in its 75th year. Featuring 33 exhibitors selected by renowned artists Liz Johnson Artur, Permindar Kaur and Amalia Pica, the exhibition launched in Plymouth in autumn 2024, before arriving at the Institute of Contemporary Art in January 2025.

The bright lights of Canary Wharf's towers are quite the spectacle after dark, but the business district will glow brighter than usual in January thanks to the addition of sparkling illuminations created by artists from around the world. The Winter Lights festival returns for its ninth edition with a new set of dazzling artworks, installations and interactive experiences, plus some old favourites from previous years. There’ll be 11 immersive illuminations dotted across the area, including some intriguing sounding sculptures like a ‘towering stack of bathtubs pulsing with light and sound’, an orbiting pylon emitting a ‘tornado’ of light, luminous saris fabric, an iridescent mirage on Montgomery Square and a 20m-wide sink hole encircled by light. There’ll be sweet treats and hot drinks to warm you up between the installations. 

Europe’s largest brick building is no stranger to sparkling spectacles. The Grade II-listed Art Deco masterpiece has appeared in Hitchcock films and is on the cover of one of the most iconic albums of the last generation: Pink Floyd’s ‘Animals’. Now it’s playing backdrop again, and glowing up the gloomy London winter evenings in the process, as a series of shining light installations designed by international artists pepper the building for its annual Light Festival. Look out for an interactive musical light sculpture inspired by the pollination process in plants, an ‘Aurora’ designed exclusively for the station’s Art Deco Turbine Hall, and another interactive installation in the shape of a horse on a spring which lights up when ridden. 

Celebrate Scotland’s national poet Robert Burns by donning a kilt and pounding the streets of London. This 10k run will begin at the Robert Burns Statue in Victoria Embankment Gardens and take in many Scottish themed sights before ending up at a Scottish themed venue. Sign up in advance. Find more Burns Night events in London

Gift stalls, face painting, paper lantern-making workshops and even a Chinese-themed Punch and Judy show are just some of the activities on offer at Twickenham’s free Chinese New Year celebrations, which take place the weekend before the Lunar New Year. Head down to Patch Academy on York Street to get involved after the main event; a colourful dragon dance starting at Twickenham Green at 1pm, before wending its way down  The parade will continue down Heath Road, King Street, London Road and Church Street, stopping by the Twickenham Riverside at around 3.30pm.