Various venues

A citywide mega-exhibition involving dozens of galleries from around the world, Condo is the best thing that happens in the London art world every January. The idea is that commercial galleries from over here invite galleries from over there to share their spaces for a month. The 2026 edition sees 50 international galleries showing across 23 spaces. They include Sadie Coles HQ hosting Sans Titre from Paris, The Sunday Painter hosting Jhaveri Contemporary from Mumbai, Hollybush Gardens hosting Galerie Tschudi from Zurich, Public hosting Pruyectos Ultravioleta from Guatemala City and loads, loads more. It’s a chance to see what contemporary art from all around the world looks like, and also to judge London’s art hipsters flocking between venues on their terrible choices in jackets and winter footwear. 

Happy Dry Jan! In the past those two words have signified a dull month of self-discipline, with mango and passionfruit J2O being the most exciting non-alcoholic beverage on offer. But over the last few years that’s all changed. The ‘no and low’ drinks market is now huge and London now has a vast spread of sober events happening throughout January. Among them is the brand new G0.0D Week festival. The nine-day fest will involve zero-alcohol masterclasses and tastings, restaurant hopping tours, live music and a one-night-only street food bonanza at Market Place St Paul’s. 

The National Gallery, Royal Academy of Arts and National Portrait Gallery are just three of the numerous West End art institutions taking part in this year’s Art After Dark. Spanning one week in February, the art and music focussed programme includes a DJ takeover at the National Gallery, live performances at  BOX Piccadilly and Haymarket Hotel and an after hours gallery crawl through the West End. The centrepiece of the whole thing is a towering art installation named ‘Rise and Shine’ by London-based artist Lakwena Maciver. Her trippy 7m tall stack of disco lightboxes will stand in the middle of Piccadilly Circus channelling the energy of 80s and 90s London nightlife.   

For 24 years, Kinoteka has been highlighting the creativity and magic of Polish cinema in London, taking over some of the most-respected cinema locations with offerings from the Slavix country. This year will be no different so get down to the likes of BFI Southbank, the ICA and more to discover some new cinematic treasures. The festival has a tradition of putting on retrospectives of great Polish directors, and in 2026 it’s the turn of Andrzej Wajdas. The opening gala on February 4 will show Wajdas's classic 1958 film Ashes and Diamonds from a 35mm print, and there’ll be Q&As, talks and an exhibition celebrating him in the following weeks. Other programme highlights include the UK premiere Agnieszka Holland's Kafka biopic Franz at BFI IMAX, a screening of The Good Boy starring Stephen Graham and Andrea Riseborough from Corpus Christi director Jan Komasa and a showing of award-winning documentary Trains from Maciej J. Drygas.