Japanese artist Ryoji Ikeda first exhibited at 180 The Strand back in 2017 with his strobe light floor installation ‘Test Pattern [N° 12]’ and now he’s back for his biggest European show to date. The immersive exhibition will feature a new version of ‘Test Pattern’ as well a tunnel of strobe lighting, giant speaker sculptures, and an installation that’s designed to mimic the experience of entering a black hole.
FEEDING THE CURIOUS SINCE 2010
EXHIBITIONS
Don’t miss out on the best exhibitions in London. From the latest blockbuster art shows to up and coming artists, find the best exhibitions in London here.
Highlights
There are some incredible exhibitions in London at the moment. Current highlights include a major exhibition on the ultimate accessory – handbags – at the V&A, the largest collection of privately owned Banksy works in the world and Turner’s Modern World at Tate Britain, which explores how J.M.W Turner captured the advances and inventions of the Industrial Revolution, like steam boats and railway engines, in his work, as well as the big political events of his day.
Tracey Emin has been a fan of Edvard Munch (you know him for The Scream) since she was 18 and she’s exploring her love for the Expressionist painter with this exhibition at the Royal Academy. She’s selected oils and watercolours by Munch to sit alongside over 25 of her own works, including paintings, neons and sculptures that explore the loneliness of the soul, so you can see how he has been an inspiration for her.
Alice in Wonderland has captured people’s imaginations ever since the tale was first published 157 years ago, and this major exhibition at the V&A explores the origins and adaptations of Alice over the years. The Design Museum is diving into the world of sneakers with their major exhibition Sneakers Unboxed: Studio to Street. You’ll be able to see how kicks evolved from specific athletic activities to cultural symbols and check out some of biggest collabs and high-fashion takes on trainers.
During the pandemic David Hockney captured the season of spring by producing new works on his iPad from his home in Normandy, and now a year after they were made, the pieces are going on show at the Royal Academy
RYOJI IKEDA
OUR FUTURE PLANET
19th May 2021 – 4th September 2022
Exhibition Rd, South Kensington, London SW7 2DD, UK
The Science Museum is hosting a major exhibition on carbon capture and storage, which will be open in the run up to COP26. Our Future Planet will showcase some of the cutting-edge tech and nature-based solutions being developed to hep remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and reduce the impact of climate change, and explore how carbon can be held in storage or used to create everyday items like toothpaste or vodka. Objects on display include the Climeworks Direct Air Capture machine, the first prototype mechanical tree that absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere, and apparatus from the UK’s BIFoR FACE experiment, which models the impact of climate change on forest ecosystems.
SNEAKERS UNBOXED | STUDIO TO STREET
The Design Museum is diving into the world of sneakers with their major exhibition Sneakers Unboxed: Studio to Street. You’ll be able to see how kicks evolved from specific athletic activities to cultural symbols and check out some of biggest collabs and high-fashion takes on trainers. The exhibition will also explore the design processes behind some of the most inventive shoes on the market, including the Adidas FutureCraft robot and Puma’s work with Biorealize, and the resale market with data visualisations from Stock X. Naturally there’ll be a lot of shoes on display but there’ll also be visual work from the likes of Jamel Shabazz, Grace Ladoja, Simon Wheatley and Reuben Dangoor on show too.
NATURALLY BRILLIANT COLOUR
17th May - 26th September 2021
Kew Gardens, Richmond TW9 3LL, UK
Prepare to see the brightest colours ever created at Kew Gardens this summer at new major exhibition Naturally Brilliant Colour. Cutting-edge tech Pure Structural Colour, developed by the Lifescaped lab, can synthetically produce any shade of colour from the natural world in its most vivid form and the Kew team are really bigging it up, saying it has to been seen to be believed. As well showcasing Pure Structural Colour and featuring a large-scale kaleidoscope with an ever-changing projected image, the exhibition will explore the origins of colour and how botanical artists like Robert John Thorton and Julia Trickey have depicted colours found in nature.
EPIC IRAN
Epic Iran at the V&A will explore one of the greatest civilisations in history and showcase over 5000 years of Iranian art, design and culture. Over 300 objects across sculpture, ceramics, textiles, photography and film from the Persian Empire to the 1979 Revolution and beyond will be on display, reflecting the myths, traditions and religions that have been central to Iranian culture and identity for thousands of years.
ELECTRIC CITY
26th May - 31st July 2021
Gracechurch St, London EC3V 1LT, UK
OPENING HOURS
- Monday: Open 24 hours
- Tuesday: Open 24 hours
- Wednesday: Open 24 hours
- Thursday: Open 24 hours
- Friday: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
- Saturday: Closed
- Sunday: Closed
Walthamstow’s neon paradise God’s Own Junkyard is heading to the City and taking over Leadenhall Market with an immersive exhibition spread across multiple units and installations. Electric City will showcase some of God’s Own Junkyard pieces created especially for movies, like Greenwich Village signs recreated for Pinewood studios for Eyes Wide Shut, neon items from Judge Dredd, and pieces from Batman, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Dark Knight and Tomb Raider.
DAVID HOCKNEY | THE ARRIVAL OF SPRING
23rd May - 26th September 2021
Burlington House, Piccadilly, Mayfair, London W1J 0BD, UK
During the pandemic David Hockney captured the season of spring by producing new works on his iPad from his home in Normandy, and now a year after they were made, the pieces are going on show at the Royal Academy. The 116 works have been ‘painted’ on an iPad and then printed on paper, larger in size than the screen they were made on so you can see his strokes in greater detail.
JEAN DUBUFFET | BRUTAL BEAUTY
17th May - 22nd August 2021
Silk St, Barbican, London EC2Y 8DS, UK
OPENING HOURS
- Monday: 9:00 AM – 11:00 PM
- Tuesday: 9:00 AM – 11:00 PM
- Wednesday: 9:00 AM – 11:00 PM
- Thursday: 9:00 AM – 11:00 PM
- Friday: 9:00 AM – 11:00 PM
- Saturday: 9:00 AM – 11:00 PM
- Sunday: 11:00 AM – 11:00 PM
The Barbican is hosting the first major UK exhibition on French artist Jean Dubuffet in over 50 years. Brutal Beauty will feature more than 150 of his works from four decades, spanning portraits, lithographs, enamel paintings and giant canvases, alongside works from his own collection of Art Brut. As well as highlighting his experimentation with tools and materials, the exhibition will also showcase how he rebelled against conventional ideas of beauty and work to capture life in a more authentic way.
CONTEXT PLZ
6th - 20th May 2021
112 Westbourne Grove, London W2 5RU, UK
OPENING HOURS
- Monday: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
- Tuesday: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
- Wednesday: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
- Thursday: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
- Friday: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
- Saturday: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
- Sunday: 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Maddox Gallery Westbourne Grove is showing British artist Sebastian Chaumeton’s latest collection Context Plz, which is a modern reinterpretation of The Twelve Labours of Hercules. Chaumeton re-imagines the Greek myths using cartoon characters and memes to explore the world of internet culture and the effects of social media. As well as the canvases on show, he’ll also be in the gallery across six days, painting two large Greek amphoras (large vessels with handles) and taking requests from the public on what they want to see on each one.
THE ART OF BANKSY
A massive Banksy exhibition is coming to London featuring 80 of the artist’s original works. The Art of Banksy, which has toured from Melbourne to Miami, is not authorised by the artist and therefore not curated in collaboration with him (not really Banksy’s style is it?) so all the pieces on show are loans from private collectors. In fact, the exhibition will display the world’s largest collection of privately owned Banksy works. Prints, screenprints, sculptures, canvasses and other unique pieces from 1997 – 2008 will be on show, ranging from the iconic ‘Girl and Balloon’ ‘Flower Thrower’ and ‘Rude Copper’ to artworks rarely seen by the public.
ALICE | CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER
Alice in Wonderland has captured people’s imaginations ever since the tale was first published 157 years ago, and this major exhibition at the V&A explores the origins and adaptations of Alice over the years. Over 300 objects will be on display in the immersive show, from Lewis Carroll’s original handwritten manuscript, Disney illustrations and Tim Burton sketches to photographs from Annie Leibovitz and Tim Walker to clothes by Vivienne Westwood. Ready to go down the rabbit hole?
TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
Whizz around the world without leaving King’s Cross at the Travel Photographer of the Year exhibition. The free display in Coal Drops Yard features the winning images from the 2020 entrants, ranging from intimate animal portraits to reportage of life under siege in Syria, and you can check it out anytime of day or night.
Photo credit: Paul Sansome/www.tpoty.com
TRACEY EMIN / EDVARD MUNCH | THE LONELINESS OF THE SOUL
Tracey Emin has been a fan of Edvard Munch (you know him for The Scream) since she was 18 and she’s exploring her love for the Expressionist painter with this exhibition at the Royal Academy. She’s selected oils and watercolours by Munch to sit alongside over 25 of her own works, including paintings, neons and sculptures that explore the loneliness of the soul, so you can see how he has been an inspiration for her.
WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
The 56th Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition is being hosted at the Natural History Museum. The display features awarded images selected from almost 50,000 entries and it showcases the beauty and diversity of the natural world, with everything from Atlantic puffins to Alaskan bears to Kenyan hippopotamuses depicted in the photographs.
BAGS | INSIDE OUT
The V&A is celebrating the ultimate fashion accessory; the bag. Over 300 pieces, from the 16th century to today, will be on display including Winston Churchill’s dispatch box, Margaret Thatcher’s Asprey handbag, a Fendi baguette featured in Sex and the City, a Hermes Kelly, and a Lady Dior. The exhibition not only explores how bags are made but what they come to represent.
LYNETTE YIADOM-BOAKYE | FLY IN LEAGUE WITH THE NIGHT
Tate Britain is hosting the first major exhibition on British artist and writer Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, with around 80 works spanning 2003 to the present day on display. Yiadom-Boakye is known for her portraits of fictitious people, which she creates from found images and her imagination, and she gives her pieces poetic titles as writing is also central to her artistic practices.
YAYOI KUSAMA | INFINITY MIRROR ROOMS
After her pumpkin-filled Infinity Room caused lengthy queues at the Victoria Miro gallery in 2016, Yayoi Kusama returns with another major exhibition, this time at the Tate Modern. Two of her installations – the large Infinity Mirrored Room – Filled with the Brilliance of Life and Chandelier of Grief, which gives the illusion of endless rotating chandeliers – this year. The rooms will be presented alongside a small collection of photographs, some of which will be going on display for the very first time.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS | THE FIGHT FOR WOMEN'S RIGHTS
We’ve come a long way in terms of women’s rights but we’ve still got a long way to and the British Library is shining a light on that with this major exhibition. It explores the roots of feminist activism in the UK; the way contemporary activists work online and offline to fight causes like period poverty, abortion rights and support for refugee women; and how inequality manifests itself differently depending on race, class, gender identity and sexuality. Women like Cornelia Sorabji, the first woman to study law at Oxford University, and Hope Powell, the first British woman to gain the highest European football coaching license, are profiled in the exhibition alongside by works by Khadija Saye, Jo Spence,Sisters Uncut and Southall Black Sisters.
TURNER'S MODERN WORLD
This exhibition at Tate Britain explores how J.M.W Turner captured the advances and inventions of the Industrial Revolution, like steam boats and railway engines, in his work, as well as the big political events of his day. Major Turner pieces from around the world have been brought together for the show, including The Fighting Temeraire and Rain, Steam and Speed, so it’s a must for any Turner fans.
FANTASTIC BEASTS | THE WONDER OF NATURE
You’ve read the books, seen the films and now you can step inside the world of Fantastic Beasts with this exhibition at the Natural History Museum. Inspired by the wizarding world, this display explores the wonders of the natural world that have inspired myths and legends for centuries.
ZANELE MUHOLI
Tate Modern is hosting the first major UK exhibition on visual activist Zanele Muholi. The non-binary photographer has been documenting the lives of the Black LGBTQ+ communities in South Africa for twenty years, capturing their love, empowerment and strength alongside the trauma they have often endured. The exhibition includes over 260 of Muholi’s photographs from across their career, including the self-portrait series Somnyama Ngonyama that explores themes of labour, sexual politics and racism.
