Your January Agenda

Brains : Love

01 January 2020

Your January Agenda

Image from canarywharf.com

Hello 2020! Post-Christmas, it’s easy to let the January blues dampen our mood, but the welcome of a new decade is bringing some much needed excitement into a seemingly dull month. January hasn’t got a good rep in terms of being a month of fun, moods are low, complaints about the weather are at a high, and our bank accounts are in dire need of a pick me up.

Thankfully, 2020’s offerings of cultural affairs are definitely designed to please the mardy. With a lighting spectacle at Canary Wharf, a talk on Prada at the V&A and the new Picasso and Paper exhibit at the Royal Academy of Arts, there’ll be something to put a smile on your face.

Canary Wharf Winter Lights
If you’re missing the buzz and spectacle of Christmas lights, this will give you the lift you need. Opening on the 16th of January, Canary Wharf will be hosting their sixth year of Winter Lights, where 25 light installations will be illuminating the London sky. Featuring artworks from previous years along with new works never seen in the UK before, spend your winter evenings strolling around the suggested routes, and pop into the Winter Light Bites street food hub to get a snack along the way.

Image from canarywharf.com

The Winter Lights throughout Canary Wharf will be running from the 16th - 25th of January, open from 4pm - 10pm.

Prada Catwalk Talk at the V&A
If February is synonymous with fashion month for women, January is synonymous with it for men. With London kicking off the antics the first weekend, (look to what we learned from the boys last season) we’ll be expecting the same array of talent spread across Milan and Paris.

But for the many that won’t be able to make it to Milan to see one of the coveted shows of the season, Prada, the V&A has taken it upon themselves to educate the masses on why the brand is so renowned. On January 23rd, join author of ‘Prada Catwalk’ and Editor-In-Chief of AnOther Magazine, Susannah Frankel, in a discussion about how the brand turned into one of the biggest luxury retailers today.

Image from Vogue Runway

The talk will take place at 7pm on the 23rd of January, in The Lydia & Manfred Gorvy Lecture Theatre at the V&A, tickets can be brought at vam.ac.uk.

Picasso and Paper at the RA
We’re all aware of Picasso’s painting style, as the master of Cubism, his painting techniques can be spotted as his even before you’re told it’s him. Which makes this new exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts looking into Picasso’s use of paper all the more interesting.

Spanning over the artists 80 year career, the exhibit features over 300 pieces of art that used paper as a tool to be drawn on, as well as experimented with, exploring how the artist used everything from napkins to wallpaper. Have a first-hand look into Picasso’s creative processes, through unseen documentary footage of the artist at work, while personal letters and photographic collaborations with Dora Maar will give insight into his personal life. You’ll be tearing at yourself if you miss it.

Image from royalacademy.org.uk

The Picasso and Paper exhibition is running from 25th of January to the 13th of April. Open daily between 10am - 6pm, you can buy tickets at royalacademy.org.uk.