This week's best things to do in London, from ice-sculpting festivals to a battle at Barbican

After an exceptionally mild December, the London Ice-sculpting Festival provides a late opportunity to experience a blast of wintry activity. Held across Montgomery Square, Canada Square and Jubilee Place Shopping Mall in Canary Wharf, the festival sees eight teams from around the world carve spellbinding structures from huge chunks of ice. Inspired spectators who want to try ice sculpting for themselves can sign up to 20-minute master classes on the day, where, it seems, you’ll be taught to chisel a block of ice into something resembling a husky dog. Anyone else disappointed with this year’s meagre snowfall can make their way to Montgomery Square where the public is invited to make snowmen and snowcastles in an area covered with real snow.
When: Jan 13-14. Times for specific events vary so check the website in advance.
Where: Montgomery Square and Canada Square Park, Canary Wharf, London E14 5AX
Tube: Canary Wharf
How much: free to watch. Master classes are free too, but you must sign up for them on the day and in person.

Hear voices at the London A Cappella Festival

The relatively new London A Cappella Festival may require some introduction but hopefully needs little explanation. Celebrating all forms of a cappella, the event is partially curated by five-time Grammy-winning vocal group the Swingle Singers and will showcase ensembles who specialise in choral, jazz, beatbox, and more. Acts from around the world will take to the stage at Kings Place, with local favourite London Vocal Project likely to attract a large crowd. Look out, as well, for Cottontown Chorus, a British barbershop group with 56 members, and a performance by the Single Singers themselves. Anyone inspired by the festival can also attend workshops and panel discussions. For a reminder of how superfluous instruments can be when performers can actually sing, have a listen to the Swingle Singers footage above.
When: Jan 12-14.
Where: Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9AG
Tube: King’s Cross St. Pancras
How much: prices vary

Spare a few minutes for the London Short Film Festival

LSFF2012 Trailer w/ The Strumpettes from London Short Film Festival on Vimeo.

Evolved from the Halloween Short Film Festival which used to take place at the ICA, the London Short Film Festival has been going strong for nine years now and has developed two aims: to celebrate short films generally and to showcase the most progressive and interesting independent films being produced in the UK. It looks like this year’s programme will be another success, with scores of screenings, parties and live music performances scheduled to take place over its duration. Especially recommended are ‘London Lives’ at the Museum of London Docklands on Thursday, which features a number of short films that show a London that can be both beautiful and brutal, and Wednesday’s retrospective of renegade filmmaker Sean Conway at the ICA. There’s also a rather sombre look at the plight of the ‘disenfranchised male’ and plenty of expert-led workshops if you’re looking to break into film yourself.
When: until Jan 15
Where: throughout London
How much: prices vary

See two brilliant artists go head to head at Barbican's Survivor

Antony Gormley, left, and Hofesh Shechter discuss Survivor at Barbican.

Another first for London, Survivor is the result of a collaboration between choreographer-turned-composer Hofesh Schechter and sculptor Antony Gormley. At its core is a recital of Shechter’s score by 30 musicians, but Gormley has crafted a complementary visual landscape that transforms the Barbican stage into an extension of the performance. What, exactly, is scheduled to happen remains under wraps but given the talents involved this is an occasion that has attracted a lot of interest; as it takes place over three nights only this one could well be a sell-out.
When: Jan 12-14
Where: Barbican Theatre, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS
Tube: Barbican
How much: £16-£34

London 2012 Olympics: Ticket resale site remains in the cold as officials battle to make the start line

The setback overshadowed a meeting of David Cameron and his Cabinet at the handball arena that was meant primarily to discuss developments in the legacy plan.

Locog officials say they want to iron out all glitches before they relaunch the resale site, which allows customers the chance to offload unwanted Olympic tickets at face value. But it has emerged that Locog, before they launched their site, had rejected guidance from one of the ticketing industry’s leading figures, Joe Cohen, the chief executive of Seatwave and a former senior executive with Ticketmaster for Europe.

Seatwave has offered real time buying and selling of tickets for more than five years. Cohen said Locog lacked accountability because its ticket site was a monopoly and he urged 2012 organisers to allow other ticket sellers to become involved.

“It comes back to accountability,” he said. “Locog doesn’t have to worry about customers coming back or if they go down the road to another seller. They are insular and opaque.”

Behind the scenes, Olympic sponsor Ticketmaster has been furious that Locog has pinpointed it as the culprits.

Some resale sites have a window of time between tickets being made available and when they are able to be bought. But having the tickets listed, offered for sale and purchased at the same time overwhelmed the 2012 site. Talks between Locog and Ticketmaster have continued around possibly providing a system with a time delay.

“We are looking to get the system as perfect as possible and we are looking into all of the issues,” said a Locog spokesman. “The website will be suspended until some of these issues are resolved”.

Hundreds of tickets were uploaded and sold during the initial hours of the resale system last Friday before the high levels of traffic prevented people from accessing the system to upload any tickets. Prospective buyers also found out that tickets they believed they were purchasing were unavailable at the final point of payment.