From powerful new theatre productions to delicious Lunar New Year dining opportunities, here’s everything to bookmark for a fabulous February
Exhibitions
Tracey Emin: A Second Life at Tate Modern, London: 26 February – 30 August 2026
This month marks the opening of a major survey of the inimitable British artist Tracey Emin at Tate Modern, replete with many of her most career-defining works and some never seen before. Emin shot to fame in the 1990s as one of the Young British Artists challenging the very nature of what art could be through raw, conceptual and frequently sensational works. Her most famous early installation, My Bed – featuring Emin’s real bed, strewn with dirty sheets and surrounded by personal detritus – will be on display, alongside video works, textiles, neons, writing, sculptures and the paintings that now dominate her practice. Revealing Emin as one of the most important artists working today, the exhibit will celebrate the extraordinary ways in which she has channelled her own life into her art, breaking boundaries and challenging convention at every turn.
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At the ICP, be sure to catch the latest iteration of Latitudes, a programme developed by Fondation d’entreprise Hermès in partnership with the New York photography institution and the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson in Paris. Aiming to shed light on artists from underrepresented international scenes, the initiative puts out an open call for submissions in a chosen country – this time, Côte d’Ivoire – offering the winning photographer a grant to produce a new series, with subsequent exhibitions in New York, Paris and their home country. The current winners are Nuits Balnéaires, whose beguiling work in photography, film and poetry creates “a parallel space-time beyond the constraints of geography”, and François-Xavier Gbré, whose thought-provoking photographic practice “draws on the language of architecture as a witness to memory and social change”.
Graciela Iturbide: Eyes to Fly With at C/O Berlin: 7 February – 10 June, 2026
Since the late 60s, Mexican photographer Graciela Iturbide has dedicated herself to documenting the people and communities that make up her native country. Her distinct visual language lyrically combines observation with personal reflection, offering up new perspectives on Mexican culture and the role of women in Mexican society. Now, a major retrospective at C/O Berlin, created in close collaboration with the image-maker herself, will bring together some 250 works from across Iturbide’s career, exploring the extraordinary range of her work and its role in shaping Mexico’s image for more than half a century.
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30 Years of Hamburger Bahnhof at Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin: February 27, 2026 – May 2, 2027
February sees Hamburger Bahnhof kickstart a year-long programme of exciting exhibitions and events in honour of its 30th anniversary, beginning with a show by the Italian artist Giulia Andreani, whose figurative, monochromatic works repurpose personal memorabilia and archival photographs through paint to address forgotten histories. Titled Sabotage, the exhibit will see Andreani’s probing paintings presented alongside works from Berlin’s state museums. This is the first step in the Berlin institution’s bid to “reinterpret historical collections through a contemporary lens” over the course of its celebratory programme, which includes exhibitions from Shilpa Gupta, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Sophie Calle and more.
Art x Fashion at The Museum at FIT, New York: 18 February – 19 April, 2026
Artists and fashion designers have a long and fascinating history of collaboration and mutual inspiration – and an exhibition at the Museum at FIT will soon offer illuminating insight into this symbiotic relationship. The show will feature 140 objects – including garments, accessories, textiles, photographs and original artworks – selected from MFIT’s permanent collection, “presenting fashion and art each as parallel, potent expressions of social, intellectual and creative forces”. Expect to see exceptionally artful creations by everyone from Martin Margiela, Rei Kawakubo, Hussein Chalayan and Iris van Herpen to Charles Frederick Worth, Paul Poiret and Elsa Schiaparelli.
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Thresholds of Becoming at Esea Contemporary, Manchester: 21 February – 17 May, 2026
This year, Easea Contemporary in Manchester will celebrate its 40th birthday. The non-profit organisation, which is dedicated to increasing the visibility of contemporary art practices from East and Southeast Asian communities and diasporas, is marking the occasion with a dedicated exhibition, opening later this month. Thresholds of Becoming will spotlight the work of six artists – Nicole Coson, Xin Liu, Charmaine Poh, Minoru Nomata, Yang Yongliang and Yin Aiwen – whose practices “probe the architectures of transition and the fragile ecologies of the in-between”. According to the show’s curator, Xiaowen Zhu, the resulting dialogue will “position mutation and instability not as failures, but as generative states through which new worlds might be glimpsed”.
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We are all familiar with Lucian Freud’s fleshy, wonderfully expressive mode of painting, but less well known is his work on paper – something the National Portrait Gallery’s upcoming exhibition is keen rectify. Platforming Freud’s master draughtsmanship in all its forms – from pencil, pen and ink to charcoal and etching – Lucian Freud: Drawing into Painting will probe the British artist’s enduring fascination with the human face and figure through drawings made between the 30s and the early 21st century. An accompanying selection of paintings will highlight “the dynamic dialogue” between Freud’s practice on paper and on canvas.
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Aki Sasamoto: Grilled Diagrams at Studio Voltaire, London: 4 February – 19 April, 2026
This month, the Japan-born, New York-based artist Aki Sasamoto will enjoy her UK first solo exhibition, serving up a major site-specific installation centred around an oversized griddle at London’s Studio Voltaire. Sasamoto’s work in performance, dance, installation and video explores “the tension between disorder and control”, inviting viewers to retune their perceptions of the everyday. The artist will activate her Studio Voltaire installation via a series of scheduled performances: live acts of drawing or choreography that will see Sasamoto manipulate ingredients across the griddle’s surface to playful and poetic effect.
Bruce Silverstein Gallery’s current exhibition brings together the work of André Kertész and MC Escher, two revered artists born within four years of one another, who each “uniquely and independently redefined how visual reality is perceived”. The Hungarian photographer achieved this through works that employed unconventional vantage points, reflection, distortion and radical cropping, while the Dutch draughtsman explored similar modes of perception, geometry and illusion by hand. Through their pioneering vantage points, both artists revealed “order and chaos not as abstract opposites but as interdependent conditions through which reality is structured and transformed”.
Renowned contemporary art collector Eileen Harris Norton has dedicated her life to upholding the work of women artists, artists of colour and those hailing from her native California through both collecting and philanthropy. Honouring the 50th anniversary of her very first acquisition, a new exhibition at Hauser & Wirth’s downtown Los Angeles gallery space will present over 80 works that speak to Harris Norton’s “prescient vision and commitment to social justice and learning”. Among the notable names featured are Kerry James Marshall (the show takes its title from the painter’s delicate 1990 work, Destiny Is a Rose), Felix Gonzalez-Torres, David Hammons, Glenn Ligon, Adrian Piper, Betye Saar and Kara Walker, among others.
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Alvaro Barrington: On the Road (TMS) at Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg: 24 January – 21 March, 2026
In his current solo exhibition at Thaddaeus Ropac Salzburg, rising art star Alvaro Barrington presents a new series of works titled Cutout Paintings, peppered with Carnival masquerade characters originating from Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago. Blending painting, collage and appliqué, the energetically charged artworks celebrate Caribbean Carnival traditions as “vibrant celebrations of cultural fusion … expanded geographically by diasporic communities”. “There’s an inherent optimism in these works,” the artist explains. “In these uncertain times, I wanted to create paintings that were joyful, playful and about coming together.”
Events & Performances
There’s nothing like a trip to the theatre to ameliorate a dreary winter’s evening, and February has plenty of new productions to inspire. First, and perhaps most anticipated of all, there’s Kip Williams’ visionary, multimedia take on Dracula, starring AnOther Magazine cover star Cynthia Erivo in every one of the play’s 23 roles, including that of the bloodthirsty count. Billed as an “intoxicating, blood-pumping reimagining of the immortal gothic horror”, the show will run at the Noël Coward Theatre from 7 February – 30 May.
At the Old Vic, don’t miss a new production of Tom Stoppard’s acclaimed 1993 play Arcadia, showing until March 21. Set in an English country house, the story jumps between the early 19th century and the present day, following a teenage mathematical genius and the adults who surround her, and two modern-day scholars attempting to piece together the truth behind the scandal that engulfed her. Then there’s the UK premiere of Deep Azure, a potent meditation on love, grief and justice, penned by the late, great actor Chadwick Boseman, and arriving at Shakespeare’s Globe from 7 February – 11 April. Taking inspiration from the real-life events of university student Prince Jones and influenced by the poetry of Shakespeare, it centres on a young woman whose fiancé is killed by the police.
The world premiere of Evening All Afternoon from award-winning US playwright Anna Ziegler, arrives at the Donmar Warehouse on 14 February for a two-month run. Witty and tender, it traces a woman’s heartfelt bid to connect with her future stepdaughter as the world shifts beneath their feet. Dance aficionados, the London premiere of Pina Bausch’s penultimate work, Sweet Mambo, is headed to Sadler’s Wells from 11-21 February. Created in the Tanztheater style the German choreographer made famous, the production is a stirring expressionist work that “explores our inner motivations and lays bare the sweetness and severity of life”. While opera fans should make their way to ENO stat, for a new contemporary staging of Mozart’s wonderfully comedic opera Così Fan Tutte, running from 6-21 February. Set during a holiday on Coney Island, it sees two sisters and their lovers put to the test by the cunning Don Alfonso.
Film
This month’s best new film releases include My Father’s Shadow, the intimate debut feature from British-Nigerian filmmaker Akinola Davies Jr, which follows two young brothers as they spend a rare day with their father exploring Lagos. All That’s Left Of You, by Palestinian American actor, writer and director Cherien Dabis, is a complex and heartbreaking drama that traces the story of a Palestinian family across three generations, from the Nakba in 1948 to the all-too-familiar present. Kristen Stewart’s celebrated directorial debut The Chronology Of Water, also arrives on UK screens this month. Adapted from Lidia Yuknavitch’s memoir of the same name, it chronicles a young woman’s escape from her abusive childhood into the world of competitive swimming, and the journey of love, grief and self-discovery that ensues.
In the electrifying comedy-drama If I Had Legs I’d Kick You from US filmmaker Mary Bronstein, Rose Byrne dazzles as a woman on the brink, battling to cope with her daughter’s mysterious illness, an absent husband, an unsupportive therapist and a missing person to boot. The President’s Cake by Iraqi director Hasan Hadi is a funny and frequently painful study of “the cruelty brought by extreme scarcity and a lawless leader”, told through the lens of a nine-year-old girl chosen to bake the cake for her class’s mandated celebration of tyrant Saddam Hussein’s birthday. Arriving just in time for Valentine’s Day, Emerald Fennel’s fresh take on Wuthering Heights looks set to deliver fabulous costumes, frenzied desire and a hefty dose of unhinged behaviour as Catherine and Heathcliff’s fated love story unfolds against the brooding Yorkshire moors.
High on the list of February’s must-see documentaries is André Is An Idiot, the story of André Ricciardi, a self-proclaimed “idiot” for skipping the colonoscopy that could have saved his life. Made by director Tony Benna, whom Ricciardi approached to capture his final years, the film is a whimsical blend of documentary and stop-motion puppetry that serves as a riotous lesson in facing death with humour and creativity. Max Keegan’s powerful feature debut, The Shepherd and the Bear, takes us deep into the French Pyrenees, where the reintroduction of wild bears in a traditional shepherding community has sparked fierce conflict. While Fukushima, from British director James Jones, offers the “definitive account” of Japan’s 2011 nuclear crisis, triggered by a devastating earthquake and the subsequent tsunami that breached Fukushima nuclear plant’s 10-metre-high seawalls. Part cautionary tale, part testament to human resilience, it makes for unforgettable viewing.
Food & Drink
Looking for excellent new dining opportunities? Today, Cafe Kowloon, a new restaurant specialising in modern Cantonese cuisine, opens its doors in London Fields, bringing the spirit of Hong Kong to east London. Nestled behind Wonton Charlie’s noodle bar – you’ll need to pass through to reach it – the cafe consists of a family-style dining space, dotted with lazy Susans for communal feasting. Drawing on different facets of the Hong Kong culinary scene, from street food stalls and cha chaan tengs (greasy spoons) to dim sum houses to single-dish restaurants, the menu includes such tantalising dishes as grilled curry fish ball skewers, chargrilled secreto char siu, and Hong Kong French Toast.
We also recommend taking a trip to south Tottenham where a new Italian-Polish pop-up concept is currently in situ at neighbourhood restaurant and wine bar Pasero until February 28. Led by chefs Agata and Girogio, Solan is a project shaped by the duo’s memories of home in Poland and Italy, combined with their experience in some of Europe’s most influential kitchens, including the three Michelin-starred restaurants Osteria Francescana and Noma. Guests can expect to sample bigos croquettes made with cabbage, smoked sausage and apple mostarda; gofry and baccalá (a squid-ink waffle with whipped cod, fermented mushroom); pierogi with boar ragu, mushroom cream, bilberries, pickled walnuts and much, much more.
This week, chef Dominic Taylor will open a permanent iteration of his popular dining concept, The Good Front Room, serving up his fresh, modern interpretations of Caribbean classics in Dalston Square. “[I was] inspired by my great-aunt Myrtle and the sacred front rooms found in so many Caribbean homes, spaces kept for special guests and layered with pride and memory,” Taylor explains. “As a grandchild of the Windrush generation, I feel a responsibility to carry the torch and keep our stories, recipes, and traditions alive.” At the new space, guests can tuck into a variety of small plates (think: the coco stack slider, Irish ‘proper’ chips, and maple, lime and chilli-glazed plantain), as well as larger sharing dishes including short rib brown stew, whole jerk chicken, and a seafood boil.
To ring in Lunar New Year, from 17-18 February, Brisbane’s modern Thai restaurant sAme sAme will deliver its signature dishes to UK diners for the very first time – at Noisy Oyster in Shoreditch. There, head chef Arté Assavakavinvong will turn his refined hand to a set menu of tradition-rooted Thai plates, featuring the best possible local seafood and fish, and communal, made-for-sharing dishes. These include Ion, a savoury rich coconut relish with crab, topped with Yarra Valley salmon caviar and served in the crab shell; a stir-fried dry red curry of ocean trout and makrut lime leaf, and grilled wagyu beef brisket with nahm dtok, mint, tamarind, and roasted rice dressing.
Meanwhile, Carousel on Charlotte Street will mark the Year of the Horse with a special, five-night guest chef collaboration with John Javier (of Caia) and Jackson Boxer (of Dove, Brunswick House and Henri), running from 17-21 February. The pair’s limited-time tasting menu will blend regional Chinese influences with contemporary techniques, with highlights including monkfish and prawn siu mai with trout roe, poached squid in superior broth with radish and egg custard, and deep-fried milk ice cream for pud.
Last but not least, surprise your Valentine with a sumptuous offering from Marchesi 1824, courtesy of the historic Italian pasticceria’s first ever concession, arriving in Harrod’s Chocolate Hall on February 9. There you can purchase everything from Marchesi 1824’s signature pralines and cremini to dragees and biscuits, and a deliciously rich exclusive – the Grand Cru Venezuela cocoa mass, made with the finest cocoa beans, sourced near Venezuela’s Lake Maracaibo. Satisfaction is guaranteed for lovers, gals and pals.
