London art exhibitions you’ll be glad you didn’t miss

‘Untamed Assemblies’ panel discussion, Cell Project Space

This panel discussion marks the launch of Cell Project Space’s new research and event series and focuses on a crazy experimental festival that took place in Latvia in the 1990s that brought together fashion, visual arts, club culture, politics and drag. The panel and screening of archival footage takes place on Thursday 13th March in Bethnal Green. Free tickets available now! – Dora Densham Bond

Ongoing project, launch on Thursday 13th March, 6.30-8 pm at 258 Cambridge Heath Road, E2 9DA

Aaron Ford, ‘Meninx’, Xxijra Hii

Aaron Ford’s show dives deep into the rich, murky history of Tyrian Purple – once the ultimate status symbol of the Mediterranean elite. But Ford isn’t just interested in its regal past. Through luminous layers of blue and violet on glass, he traces the pigment’s entanglement with colonial legacies and power structures that still echo today. – Izzy Bilkus

Until 5th April 2025 at Enclave 4, 50 Resolution Way, London SE8 4AL

FREEWENDY w/ Akeem Smith on NTS

This week I’m going experimental and urging (forcing) you to listen to the outrageously cracked out NTS episode FREEWENDY W/ Akeen Smith. Say no more. #FreeWendyWilliams. – Billy Parker

Ron Mueck’s En Garde, Thaddaeus Ropac

If, by some unfortunate turn of events, I find myself knocking at the gates of hell, at least I’m now well prepared for its security detail. Ron Mueck’s En Garde (2023), a shiver-inducing trio of three-metre high black dog sculptures, are currently guarding the back gallery of Thaddeaus Ropac. To avoid any lingering nightmares, consider taking a friend. – Harriet Lloyd-Smith

Until 2nd April 2025 at 37 Dover St, London W1S 4NJ

‘Ensemble’, The Perimeter

Put down your history podcasts and head over to The Perimeter for an exhibition reimagining historical narratives through motifs of drama. Encore, encore! – Emma Ralph

Until 4th April 2025 at 20 Brownlow Mews, London WC1N 2LE

Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize, The Photographers’ Gallery

It’s an obvious choice, but a trip to TPG is always a good one (apparently they have the cheapest coffee in central?) and I usually always discover new work I love from the Prize. This year’s shortlisted artists are Cristina De Middel, Rahim Fortune, Tarrah Krajnak and Lindokuhle Sobekwa. And in true Plaster style, a visit to the gift shop after is a must. – Izzy Bilkus

Until 15th June 2025 at 16-18 Ramillies Street, London W1F 7LW

Anouska Samms, ‘Leftovers’, Greatorex Street

One of the best things about being a human is that we all disagree on what’s valuable, and what’s waste. A new show by British artist Anouska Samms, curated by Francesca Perry, presents a series of sculptural and textile works that explore domesticity and the tensions between industrial and handmade materials, from metal to human hair. The pieces, many of which were made in her bedroom, reflect on “ideas of hoarding, scarcity, transience and making do”. – Harriet Lloyd-Smith

3rd–6th April 2025 at 10 Greatorex St, London E1 5NF

Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy at Peckhamplex (specifically)

One memory that gives me the shivers is a lonely January evening spent watching Bridget Jones’s Diary after being aired in my house group chat, to the sound of my housemates blissfully giggling with their baes whilst I sobbed into a bag of Maltesers. Although painfully posh and with a totally unrealistic job in media where she can afford a flat in Borough Market, along with cringe-worthy characters like Hugh Grant’s bumbling buffoon / ‘sex god’ (really?), I digress, it’s a guilty pleasure that I love to cringe at. Watch it at Peckhamplex and treat yourself to a bag of pick n mix 😉 – Dora Densham Bond

Peckhamplex 95a Rye Lane, Peckham London SE15 4ST

Ivana Bašić, ‘Temptation of Being’, Albion Jeune

What does a body look like when it is vulnerable, fractured or in flux? Bašić unravels these questions with a series of delicate yet unsettling sculptures and drawings that hover between the organic and the mechanical, the human and the otherworldly. Wax, bronze, blown glass and steel form hybrid figures that seem to be caught mid-metamorphosis, their alabaster cores glowing like remnants of something once alive. I’m so excited to see her work in the flesh. – Izzy Bilkus

Until 17th April 2025 at 16-17 Little Portland Street, London W1W 8BP

‘Sorry about the mess’, curated by Babe Station

I’m not a mother (well, a cat mother), but many close friends provide a snapshot of its beauty, banality and challenges. In the unlikely setting of the sprawling, sterile former Meta offices, an all-mother group of writers and artists are exploring the complex relationship between motherhood and making art. The show is supported by Bow Arts and is the first curatorial project by Babe Station, an art and research project started by Millie Walton shortly after her son was born. With sculpture, installation, painting and text erupting from the hostile walls, there’s nothing apologetic about ‘Sorry about the mess’. – Harriet Lloyd-Smith

Until 30th March 2025 at 125 Shaftesbury Avenue, Stacey St, London WC2H 8HR

‘Lives Less Ordinary: Working-Class Britain Re-seen’, Two Temple Place

According to the press release of ‘Lives Less Ordinary’, depictions of the working class have been “reductive” and “distorted” through the lens of the middle classes throughout history. This show promises more authentic representations and features some of my fave artists exhibiting including Tish Murtha, Mark Leckey, Hannah Starkey and Hardeep Pandhal – visiting is a no brainer! See ya there. – Dora Densham Bond

Until 20th April 2025 at 2 Temple Pl, Temple, London WC2R 3BD

Cabaret, starring Marisha Wallace and Billy Porter, Kit Kat Club

I’m due an orchestral blast in the face. I saw the original cast of Rebecca Frecknall’s production of Cabaret starring Jessie Buckley and Eddie Redmayne three times for free (manifest, manifest, manifest). It reminded me that greatness can still be achieved in the theatrical wasteland of now. I then watched the production slip down the pan after a series of uninspiring and commercialist semi-star castings. West End it-girl Marisha Wallace (Sally Bowels) essentially cast both herself and Broadway legend Billy Porter (Emcee), double-handedly rescuing the production from the brink of extinction. It’s the closest you will get to #prewarberlinsleeze, even if it might be faintly infected by the ongoing aesthetic crimes of this decade, and the only current theatrical institution that comes anywhere close to what theatre should, and must be. To be frank, I’d pay £100+ just to have Marisha and Billy scream in my face. Add a dirty jazz band, pearl encrusted skeleton costume and a triple layered cake-tiered revolving stage and you’re laughing. I’m booking my ticket, are you? – Billy Parker

Until 24th May 2025 at the Playhouse Theatre, Northumberland Ave, London WC2N 5DE