From alfresco opera to record making art, here’s our pick of the best things to do in London this weekend.
RECORDS
Secret 7” – the anonymous charity record-sleeve sale that marries leading artists with legendary musicians. Seven best-selling musicians have their singles pressed on a seven-inch vinyl record, with a run of 100 each. Artists from around the world are invited to create an original sleeve design for each one. The records go on sale for a flat rate of £50. Until you hand over the money, you don’t know what track or whose artwork is on your chosen sleeve. It could be Aretha Franklin’s ‘One Step Ahead’, or maybe Miles Davis’s ‘Miles Runs the Voodoo Down’. There’s a chance its sleeve is a one-of-a-kind artwork made by a big-name artist. Whatever you get, your £50 will go towards Help Refugees. See all the sleeves for free at Now Gallery’s exhibition this weekend.
ART
Photo London Digital, new visual art platform Kovet.Art will be showcasing works from its inaugural Kovet.Art exhibition, Delineating Dreams. Kovet.Art will show defining works by Tom Faber, Loreal Prystaj, Candice Jewell and Giovanna Petrocchi. The selection is grounded in dream-like explorations of the subconscious. Each artist questions concepts of the body and the natural landscape, using transformative and multi-disciplinary ways of working to subvert what is known and familiar, inviting us to dream of possible new futures.
OKTOBERFEST
BOXPARK is celebrating Oktoberfest for the first time this year, with a Bavarian-themed socially-distanced party at its Croydon venue this weekend. The weekend long Oktoberfest celebrations – in partnership with Czech brew Staropramen – will features live performances by Premier Oompah, alongside the host DJ Disco Disco, as well as traditional Bavarian games, stilt walkers, lederhosen steins of Staropramen and Bavarian-style eats from the local street-food traders. Tickets are £20, including a jug of beer and guaranteed entry for two people.
MARKET
Pop into the ViewTube Farmers Market this Saturday, 10 October at Snoozebox Olympic Park to sample lots of delicious, organic produce. Enjoy award-winning vegan chocolate from Gemini Chocolate, organic sourdough bread from Celtic Bakers, seasonal vegetables from Brambletye Fruit Farm, vegan cheeses from I am Nut Ok, raw local honey from Bermondsey Street Bees and lots more. 10% off tea/coffee at Snoozebox while you’re dropping by. From 12pm – 4pm
SILVER LINING
Silver Lining, a first-time collaboration between critically acclaimed MTArt Agency’s represented artists Ania Catherine, Dejha Ti and poet, filmmaker and actress, Greta Bellamacina, is a public art installation that aims to bring to life Sofitel’s much loved ‘Joie de Vivre’ (the Joy of Life) philosophy and inspire passers-by to look for the silver lining in life as they navigate this new era. Found nestled between Haymarket and Piccadilly, Silver Lining will be a metaphorical ‘welcome back’ to the capital created by award-winning LA-based artists Ania Catherine and Dejha Ti, featuring shimmering ribbons of silver interwoven with a powerful, hope-filled verse from Bellamacina’s inspirational poem.
ICE SKATING
Ally Pally’s ice rink is now open seven days a week, with public sessions, learn-to-skate and professional classes and ice hockey sessions. Described as the closest you can get to the feeling of flying, skating is a great way for friends and families to get moving all year round. In line with Covid-secure guidelines, there will be five times fewer people on the ice per session than usual. Open 11am-5.30pm week days and 11am-6pm at weekends. Tickets from £9 for adults, £8 for ages 16 and under, and under 5s from £6.
CAKETAILS
To celebrate the launch of its new limited-edition whisky, A Tale of Cake, Glenmorangie is serving up innovative Cake-Tails (cocktails inspired by cake) at the Fount Bar at Selfridges on Oxford Street. A Tale Of Cake celebrates the joy of a cake moment in a sweet and indulgent single malt Scotch whisky, and the Fount Bar is embracing this with cake-inspired cocktails such as the Tale of Cake Old Fashioned. You can also get a complimentary slice of Layered Pineapple Cake when you enjoy a dram of the new Glenmorangie whisky or a cake-inspired Glenmorangie cocktail (first-come, first-served basis).
OPERA
The Master Shipwright’s House in Deptford – home and office of the master shipwright since 1513 and the oldest upstanding building of the former Deptford Royal Dockyard – is hosting an open-air performance of Henry Purcell’s Baroque opera Dido and Aeneas. The opera recounts the love of Dido, Queen of Carthage, for the Trojan hero Aeneas, and her despair when he abandons her. One of the earliest known English operas, it owes much to John Blow’s Venus and Adonis, both in structure and in overall effect, and is one of Purcell’s foremost theatrical works. Enjoy the production in the historic private garden by the Thames, with a selection of stews and wines available to keep you toasty. Tickets from £25.
