Developments in digital technologies are having a huge impact on all kinds of creativity - from music to architecture - and this weekend, the intersection of tech and dance is being explored at the exciting debut edition of the Digital Body Festival.

The three-day event, 15th–17th Nov, kicks off this Friday at Hackney Bridge, as a new platform for world-class artists, thinkers and emerging talent to showcase work across multiple digital formats, all of which enable wild new forms of physical expression and experience.

It’s being put on by the Hackney Wick-based Alexander Whitley Dance Company, who have pulled together a mind-boggling programme of dynamic performances, workshops, exhibitors and live conversations across the whole weekend.

Get tickets and discover the full line-up

Win a pair of tickets to the Digital Body Festival!

The Wick has teamed up with our friends at this week’s big dance-meets-tech event to offer readers the chance to win 2 x full weekend passes. Simply tag your mates names into the below Instagram post - the more friends you tag, the more chances to win. Full Ts&Cs on the post…

🔴 Next up at Casings Way’s Indra Gallery is Seoul Sisters: A London Pop-up. The collective, founded by two sisters to support queer and POC artists will include art, tattoos, tooth gems, henna, vintage and handmade fashion, jewellery, pottery, prints, nails and live performances throughout. It runs this Sat & Sun, 16th - 17th Nov.

👯‍♂️ Runt of the Litter returns to Oslo House tomorrow night, Thurs 14th Nov, with outlandish, boundary-pushing performances from artists including macarbre cabaret duo Venus Raven and Tainted Saint, multidisciplinary political poet and Sexquisite Events founder Maedb Joy and loads more. Pay what you can on the door.

🚑 Tomorrow (Thurs 14th) there’s also a special event at London College of Fashion, exploring the connections between textiles, creativity and wellbeing. LCF After Dark: Collective Care sees a whole host of events centred around the ongoing exhibition, including knit-in workshops where you can enjoy everything from a clothes-mending drop-in to embroidery as meditation. Live music and dance performances, a pop-up shop and even free refreshments and cakes make it sound like a top free local event.

🥫 Yes We Can is a new exhibition curated by Hackney Wick’s own Teddy Baden, featuring work by over 80 of renowned street artists, who have all customised their exhausted spraycans, many of which are for sale. It’s showing daily at Green Lanes-based Atom Gallery, until 30th Nov.

📽️ UCL’s School for the Creative and Cultural Industries Cinema Club is hosting a rare free screening on the Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves 90s classic Point Break, complete with an introduction to the themes of masculinity, homosocial bonding, games and play by Professor Tim Beasley-Murray. It’s at One Pool St Cinema on Wed Nov 20th.

📼 Number90 kick off a brand new monthly houses event series with a rare 3-hour headline set by Awesome Tapes on Fri 20th Nov. As a DJ, he brings his acclaimed Awesome Tapes From Africa blog to life with sets blending folkloric pop, left-field dancefloor gems and thumping hip-hop bangers.

🥊 The Color Factory’s dancefloor turns into a full-fledged boxing ring on Wed 20th Nov as the 12×3 Fight Night 2024 takes over, showcasing the East London boxing gym’s finest pugilists laying it all on the line. (There’s a £5 discount already applied to the ticket link).

🦃 Reserve your spot now for a full-on American-style Thanksgiving party, with a Johnny Cash tribute act, preparing to rock out at The Lord Napier Star on Thurs 28th Nov. Kitchen residents Red Dog will bring the hickory wood-smoked Texan BBQ menu for maximum taste authenticity, too.

🫘 Healthy, zero-waste homemade food service, Gaia Pulses, deliver a selection of three delicious, nutrition-packed stews and salads direct to your door every 1-2 weeks. The meals come by bike and in fully reusable containers, plus there are extras you can order like locally baked bread, organic kimchi and olives. Not only that, but The Wick readers can currently get 50% OFF your first order using the code WickBeans at the checkout.

🍛 While we're on the topic of healthy home-cooked food, Omega Works-based neighbourhood meal pick-up service The Tastery is celebrating having made 100 curries for locals since starting back in the dark days of lockdown. To mark the milestone, this Friday’s South African Bobotie (beef or lentil) will cost only a fiver for one night only.

🪩 The Bath House hosts weekly Ecstatic Dance Evening Sessions every Wednesday night, and have some guest debuts from the wider Ecstatic Dance world appearing this month, with Sea Gypsee from Cardiff tonight, Nov 13th followed by TATA, founder of Camden’s Tribal Heart on Wed 20th.

🍂 This Saturday, Nov 16th, see the first in a series of three free creative sessions run by the current Trowbridge Gardens ReRooted Residency Artist, Anita. The Let’s Be Eco-Logical Printing Workshops will teach planet-friendly creative processes and socially engaged practices. The first week explores print-making with leaves and flowers found in the garden outside.

🍯 Discover the art of Nerikomi pottery at Cone8 Ceramics with a taster class that unlocks the secrets of this ancient Japanese technique, characterised by its intricate patterns and vibrant colours. The process involves layering and manipulating different colored clays to create stunning designs that you can take home, this Fri 15th Nov.

📺 Join the CDT’s latest free webinar [ReRoute KX] Investment Series: Transitioning from Grant to Private Funding on Tues 19th Nov, where British Design Fund expert Damon Bonser will address how SMEs can make the right funding choices to help them grow. This knowledge exchange series, hosted by circular economy hub The Loop, is open to all.

🧵 Local community creativity champions Caramel Rock and youth boxing, martial arts and personal development organisation Fight For Peace have come together for a new series of Fight For Peace after school club on Mondays and Wednesdays, where locals can learn sewing essentials, pattern cutting and fashion design fundamentals.

📉 Grow Local London are hosting a 30-min free webinar supporting small businesses in Understanding your financials, with NatWest. Lets their expert improve your confidence and decision-making around company finance this Thursday lunchtime, 14th Nov.

🖋️ The Good Growth Hub and a collection of the world’s leading design agencies are running a three-month training, with a £500 bursary and Macbook Pro provided for the duration of the course. Flipside 2025 is open to 19-30-year olds living locally who are committed to a career in design. Applications now open until 24th Nov.

🎤 There’s another chance to join a two-day song writing camp with The Inscape coming up across the weekend of 23-24th November in the studios at Grow. The Wick newsletter readers who use the code ‘CREATIVEWICK’ when booking get an exclusive 10% off too.

👩‍🎓 Loughborough University London is inviting local organisations to explore research collaborations with their masters students as part of the upcoming Collaborative Dissertation project. It gives you access to rigorously supervised research, and you can find out more about it either in person (on the Here East campus) or online at a special event on Wed Nov 27th. Register your interest here.

♻️ Hackney’s next Zero Waste Hub event Sat 23rd Nov 11am - 3pm at Gainsborough Primary School where you can both give and take pre-loved items, and get help repairing your clothes, bikes, and electricals. You only need to book clothes/electrical repair (on the link above).

🗣️ Local residents meetup Hackney Wick Town Hall has announced a new partnership with the the Community Development Trust that aims to give greater power to the community over decisions that matter in the neighboourhood.

🏢 UCL are keen to work with a an East London-based freelance Communications Consultant to help tell the stories of their latest Trellis public art projects, helping develop a multi-platform comms plan ensuring the exhibition and associated events meet targets when they open in March next year. Deadline 24th Nov.

🖼️ UCL are also looking to hire a Designer to create a range of physical design assets for Trellis, such as banners, wayfinding signage and information panels, as well as digital assets for marketing use. Deadline 24th Nov.