This month’s Cultural Diary is filled with more events and activities to enjoy at home, from literary and architecture festivals to hands-on workshops and art history talks. Plus a bundle of brand-new initiatives to delight and inspire, including one tool that turns us all into curators and another that pinpoints trees in London neighbourhoods. So kick back with a coffee (or something stronger) and join us for the latest who, what, where on the web.

LFA Digital
The world’s biggest annual architecture festival is going digital this year – with stay-at-home events and activities taking place throughout June, and physical installations and performances to follow in the autumn. The line-up includes panel discussions and podcasts, virtual tours and audio guides, and drawing workshops and architectural therapy. It may not be what the organisers originally had planned, but the London Festival of Architecture’s digital edition is happily available to viewers and listeners around the globe.

I See You
The latest exhibition to open in Victoria Miro’s new virtual gallery brings together old and new works by female artists portraying male subjects. Running from 2 June to 4 July, I See You features a mix of family members and fictional characters painted by Njideka Akunyili Crosby, María Berrío, Maria Lassnig and others. Alice Neel’s ‘Richard with Dog’ (1954) depicts the artist’s oldest son, a boy on the brink of becoming a man, while Sarah Ball’s ‘Timothy’ (2020) is lifted from a recent series featuring folk the artist stumbled across on Instagram. An exploration of what it means to see and be seen, the show also reverses the direction of the traditional ‘male gaze’.

The London Art Salon
Founded by Ali Cohen and Julia Musgrave in 2013 with the aim of turning stuffy lectures into laid-back social gatherings, The London Art Salon caters for everyone from novices to aficionados – anyone eager for a fresh outlook. For the time being the programme consists of snappy half-hour events via Zoom. Join author and art historian Dr Marie-Anne Mancio for informal seminars on art history’s double acts – from David Hockney and Pauline Boty to Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera – and the key concepts powering contemporary art.

Abstract Mark Making: Interiors & Architecture
Independent design studio AEAND has been offering fortnightly online workshops throughout lockdown in an effort to help us unwind, be inspired and get creative at home. On 6 June founder Alessandra Erica is hosting a lesson in creating abstract illustrations inspired by interiors and architectural shapes and forms. Join the live session via Instagram or watch the video in your own time until 16 June and get to grips with textural mark-making, perspective, colour and line.

Lit Fête: A Virtual Celebration of Writers and Writing
From images to the written word. On 9 June, The Paris Review is hosting a free webcast to celebrate the winners of its 2020 awards: Jonathan Escoffery, Leigh Newman and Richard Ford. Also making an appearance are some of the literary magazine’s contributors, as well as special guests including American actress and film-maker Greta Gerwig and her film-maker husband Noah Baumbach. (If you haven’t already seen it, add Baumbach’s Marriage Story to your to-watch list, as well as anything and everything made by or featuring Gerwig. You won’t regret it.)

The Assistant
Curzon Home Cinema has been keeping film fans sated throughout lockdown and our latest recommendation is Kitty Green’s The Assistant, a pared-back drama that follows a day in the life of a junior aide to a predatory entertainment mogul in New York. Julia Garner shines as the downtrodden college graduate, the first one in the office and the last one out, trudging through tedious yet demanding tasks – including cleaning the private lair of her bullying, philandering boss. A #MeToo-era film inspired by true stories of women working in TV and film.

Curations
Ever wondered what it’s like to curate an exhibition? Well, thanks to Art UK, it’s a job that’s now available to anyone anywhere. Curations is a new, free-to-use tool that invites you to devise your own virtual exhibition from art collections across the nation. For inspiration, check out the groups of artworks published so far, from painted pets and rural ruins to Cornish landscapes and London bridges. 

TreeTalk
There’s nothing like being shut up inside to boost your appreciation of the great outdoors, and this leafy new resource is here to help. TreeTalk encourages Londoners to pay more attention to their surroundings and to explore the many tree species – magnolia, crêpe myrtle, sycamore, silver lime – dotting their local parks and streets. Type in your address and the green-thumbed team will generate a walking tour of trees in your neighbourhood, transforming metropolitan London into an urban forest.

Planted Unearthed
Another scheme seeking to reconnect urbanites with nature comes courtesy of Planted Cities, a design event dedicated to promoting a cleaner and greener vision of city living. Its physical launch may have been pushed back to next May, but in the meantime you can enjoy Planted Unearthed – an online forum featuring interviews with experts in the fields of sustainability, design, architecture and food.

Nicer Tuesdays Online
Launched in 2012 by It’s Nice That, the website and biannual magazine devoted to great artists, designers and illustrators, Nicer Tuesdays is a monthly series that invites four speakers to chat for ten minutes on a new or timely creative project. Since lockdown the series has leapt online, opening it up to viewers beyond its usual audience in east London’s Oval Space. The next live-streamed gabfest will take place on the last Tuesday in June.

Saturday Taster Sessions by Kana London
Until we’re able to gather again safely, Ana Kerin’s ceramics studio is offering its Saturday Taster Sessions via Zoom – as well as a special Friday-night slot, since we’re all staying in. This series of virtual classes invites you to try out basic hand-building techniques, including pinching and mould-pressing. Visit the website to see what materials you need to make a pinch pot, a breakfast bowl or anything else that tickles your fancy.

Queer Correspondence
And finally, proving that it’s possible to forge connections without going digital, London’s Cell Project Space has launched Queer Correspondence – a new mail-art initiative that links writers, artists and photographers with their audience via the Royal Mail. From June to December, the not-for-profit gallery’s subscribers and residents local to its physical space in Tower Hamlets can sign up for free to receive a different artwork or written text through their letterbox each month. Depending on funding, a limited number of editions might also be distributed to subscribers who live further afield.