Your Friday morning essential read. Five local feel-good highlights, including exclusive special offers and events. Prepared with love by the team at Camdenist

 LIVE: All go for all new KOKO 

It's been an exciting week for Camden's cultural landscape, with the huge announcement of the long-awaited

reopening of KOKO

, complete with an enviable line-up of bands, DJs and solo artists in the initial weeks. We speak to the Founder of this incredible new space, Olly Bengough, for a taster of what's in store, including rooftop dining, all-day pizza, a radio station, private members club and incredible second live performance space up above the iconic main auditorium that was discovered during the fraught years of renovations.

 ART: Damien Hirst's sharks swim into town 

Over twenty of artist Damien Hirst's most famous works will be on show locally from this Thursday at the

Gagosian

 gallery in Britannia Street, King's Cross. 

Natural History

 features his iconic 

sheep, cow's organs, doves, a zebra and that giant shark in an unsettlingly clinical commentary on life and death, where morgue meets zoo. It's the artist's 

first exhibition totally dedicated to his formaldehyde sculptures, and includes his most famous early works like the fourteen-foot tiger shark-in-a-tank (pictured above). As he says of the work, "I wanted a shark that’s big enough to eat you, and in a large enough amount of liquid so that you could imagine you were in there with it." So it's time to dive in.

 MUSIC: Funk, ambient and free opera 

Dance tonight away

 (

from a comfy seat) at

Spiritland

, where DJ Aswad, AKA Studio Funk, is playing funk, soul, electro and boogie later. Or head there for laidback weekend vibes when

The Chill Out Tent

 returns with their new fortnightly session of ambient, Balearic and downtempo tunes, the ultimate soothing Bloody Mary accompaniment this Sunday. Meanwhile nearby, Tuesday sees the

Royal Opera

 turn

St Pancras

Station into its stage, performing

free micro-operas

 to celebrate International Women's Day. 

 VISIT: From street to sheep 

If you prefer painted animal rather than Damien Hirst's preserved ones (above), make sure you visit ABOTZ's first solo exhibition, which has just opened at Camden Open Air Gallery on Camden High Street. The artist, who was born and raised in NW London, has created an 'artwrld' of colourful graffiti inspired by his nostalgia for the cartoon characters from his childhood. Get your paws on his limited edition merch too, available in the store as well as online. 

 EAT: Get deliciously smashed in Queen's Crescent 

Smashed is the new resident kitchen at Malden Rd's lovely pub The Gipsy Queen. They crush dry aged beef on a hot griddle to create the 'Maillard reaction', with the resulting wafer-thin patties and lacy crust the perfect home for their delicious sauces including peanut butter herb mayo, blueberry hot sauce and apple chilli jam. Veggie and vegan burgers are available, plus a selection of ice cream sandwiches from Happy Endings, too. 

 THIS WEEK'S ONE-CLICK POLL As the new KOKO / Camden Palace prepares to open as a world class live music venue on our doorsteps - what do you feel about heading there? 

LAST WEEK WE ASKED:

With World Book Day dominating for parents and teachers everywhere, when was the last time you got properly lost in a book?

Read on, as most of you are still getting stuck in to a good tomb or two - even if some of that is on a screen...

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