Free things to do in London this week

‘The sleep of reason produces monsters’. It’s a perpetually instructive aphorism that artists have repeatedly returned to. Francisco Goya used it to name one of his most well-known etchings from the late 18th century, depicting a character whose head rests on a desk, surrounded by shadowy creatures. Centuries later, in 2008, British artist Yinka Shonibare borrowed the image and title for another body of work. And now, the Turner Prize-winning artist Tai Shani’s new commission for Somerset House takes the ongoing sleep of reason as its starting point. In the grand Edmond J. Safra Fountain Court, she has installed a ten-metre-tall blue figure, who lays supine, gently breathing with closed eyes. We’re told that this ethereal, childlike giant has slept through ‘warnings of present and imminent catastrophes, political and social disaster and environmental collapse.’ Watching its stomach peacefully rising and falling, it’s easy to believe that ignorance is bliss.  Here is a deft balance of content and form Encased in an illuminated casket-like glass box, the figure – the dreamer – is clothed in white lace and mesh. Visitors are invited to step onto its plinth for a closer look at the beautiful hand- painted sculpture, which is both imposing and delicate. On one end, its feet are each the size of a toddler; on the other, flushed cheeks and pink lips give the impression of a fairy tale princess. The Sleeping Beauty parallel is emphasised by an otherworldly, subtly swelling...

To reach Life on the Land, the National Gallery’s exhibition on the nineteenth century French artist Jean-Francois Millet, you have to walk through rooms of the museum filled with centuries’ worth of grand portraits of society’s upper crust. On arrival, surrounded by dusky-toned renderings of outdoor labour, it might take a moment to adjust. Stoicism abounds here, its head bowed and its eyes averted. You won’t find any grandeur or pomp in this concise exhibition of 15 muted and unflashy works, but you’ll experience an intensity rarely achieved in the portraits of nobility portraits in the adjacent rooms. Millet’s images of peasants at work are rhythmic and visceral, unsentimental but deeply sensitive in their depictions of the beauty and harshness of a life working the land. The former can be found in the scenes’ wide horizons and the figures that punctuate them. The latter is best distilled in a detail of The Winnower (c. 1847–8), whose subject’s clogs are stuffed with hay to keep his feet warm. The exhibition’s centrepiece, L’Angelus (1859), is here on loan from the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. Like most of the stuff here, its ornate gilded frame feels incongruous with the painting itself, in which two shadowy figures stand statuesque in a twilit field, a basket of potatoes sitting on the ground between them. They could be staring at the ground, though their eyes, obscured by the enclosing darkness, might be closed. Just visible through lacy mist on the horizon is a church...

In the Hayward Gallery’s HENI Project Space, two Iranian-Canadian artists are having fun with language. Sculpture, video and found objects all find their place in this playful exhibition that juxtaposes words and images to show us the precarity of truth and meaning in today’s world. From a hyper-realistic sculpture to a repurposed electric motorway sign, Ghazaleh Avarzamani and Ali Ahadi find many ways to combine the quotidian with the uncanny.

During the big men’s sports tournaments, you can count on practically every pub in the city to broadcast matches and fill up with fans. When it comes to the upcoming Women’s Rugby World Cup, though, public places fans can gather at to watch matches remain relatively few and far between. But this year, there is at least one place where you’re guaranteed to catch every single game: the brand new Asahi Open Arms. The fan-focused pub, backed by Women’s World Rugby Player of the Year Ellie Kildunne, is taking residency at The Queen’s Head in Shoreditch for the duration of the tournament. Besides the live screenings, it promises to host grassroots events, like Q&As and exclusive launches. A full programme is on its way soon.

Part of an ongoing exhibition series of group exhibitions featuring artists not represented by the gallery, this show will see three painters – Koak, Ding Shilun and Cece Philips – fill Hauser & Wirth’s vast Savile Row space with windows into imagined interiors. All taking domestic architectures as their starting point, each artist’s work becomes a meditation on the psychology of space.

Drumsheds will have people sweating in a different kind of way this weekend. It’ll be welcoming Gymshark’s Lift: LDN – the ultimate event for anyone into lifting heavy things, whether you’re already absolutely swole or only just starting to grow a little baby bicep. For two days, across two floors, there’ll be training sessions, DJ sets, live competitions, talks, exclusive Gymshark garb and meet and greets to compare your quads with internet athletes like CBum, Whitney Simmons, Sam Sulek and Lily Lifts. 

Got the Notting Hill Carnival blues? Head to Camberwell, where the carni vibes are being kept alive for one more day. Back for a second year, Camberwell Carnival is an energetic ode to the Southwark community. Expect live music sessions, dance workshops, cultural parades, steel pans, global street food, panel discussions and free rum punch, all brought to you by the local people of Camberwell. Plus, it’s the borough’s first fully eco-powered festival.