TempleGet Up, Stand Up Now, this summer’s major exhibition at Somerset House, is a celebration of Black creativity in Britain and beyond over the past half century, from Horace Ové and the Windrush generation to young Black talent today. Around 100 artists, including Lubaina Himid, Gaika, Steve McQueen, Althea McNish, Dennis Bovell, Jenn Nkiru and more, will have their work presented together for the first time.
12th June - 15th September 2019
Waterloo 
WaterlooKiss My Genders at the Hayward Galley brings together over 30 international artists and over 100 artworks that explore gender identity, including trans, non-binary and intersex identities, and gender expression through performance and drag. A range of mediums will be on show, including new and site-specific pieces from Chitra Ganesh, Hannah Quinlan & Rosie Hastings and Jenkin van Zyl.
12th June - 8th September 2019
Queen's Road PeckhamOpen Space has taken over Peckham’s AMP Gallery with an ‘art cafe’ where everything is both a piece of art and a functional object. The exhibition centres around food, drawing on the practice of Portuguese artist and co-curator of the exhibition, Inês Neto dos Santos. The food menu draws on sustainability and the rest of the cafe features biomorphic stencilled dining tables, hand sculpted ceramic crockery, specially designed cutlery, bespoke wallpaper and even paintings made using corn and exotic fruits on the walls.
Until 30th June 2019
Aldgate EastThe Whitechapel Gallery is hosting the debut survey of renowned Iraqi-American artist Michael Rakowitz, to coincide with the display of his Lamassu sculpture for the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square. The exhibition features his most important works, including ‘The invisible enemy should not exist’, life-size recreations, made using packaging, of reliefs formerly located at the Northwest Palace of Nimrud and destroyed by ISIS in 2015, which is part of his ongoing attempt to recreate every cultural artefact destroyed during the Iraq War.
4th June - 25th August 2019
London Bridge London BridgeThe Science Gallery is exploring the building blocks of the universe with this exhibition based on dark matter, which makes up 95% of the universe. The display features artworks that question the unseen and tackle the fundamental principles of physics, including an animation installation that reflects on physics in cartoons, a perpetually changing liquid crystal painting that is shaped by algorithms reading Twitter feeds of protest movements, and an installation that translates dark matter simulations into sound patterns.
6th June - 26th August 2019
Bond StreetManolo Blahnik is teaming up with the Wallace Collection to present a personally selected edit of his designs, shown amongst the masterpieces at the Wallace Collection. Blahnik has often used the Wallace Collection as source of inspiration so this exhibition is a great chance to see some of his greatest shoes and designs, including ones he did for Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette, next to pieces of different disciplines that he has used as references.
10th June - 1st September 2019
South KensingtonFOOD: Bigger than the Plate at the V&A explores how food goes from farm to table, how we experience and enjoy it, and how we can help create a more sustainable food future. The exhibition features over 70 projects, split into four sections – Compost, Farming, Trading and Eating – with exhibits including an urban mushroom farm using coffee grounds from the museum cafe to grow mushrooms, which’ll then be served on the menu; cheese made from human bacteria; and a new range of sausage designs to make eating protein more sustainable. As well as brand new installations, the show will also feature historic prints, ceramics and illustrations from the museum’s collection.
18th May - 20th October 2019
Westbourne ParkMagnum photographer Werner Bischof is renowned for his work on 1950s America and for his use of colour, but his death at age 38 meant that much of his work was not seen during his lifetime. This exhibition at David Hill Gallery features a mix of both colour and black & white photographs that document his travels around the States.
7th June - 26th July 2019
Blackfriars BlackfriarsThe Tate Modern is hosting the first ever retrospective of Natalia Goncharova ever held in the UK, exploring her diverse range of inspirations and works, with most of the pieces on show never having been seen here before. Goncharova was a leader of the Russian avant-garde, producing everything from futurist body art to huge religious paintings as well as designed costumes for the Ballet Russes in Paris.
6th June - 8th September 2019
Kensington OlympiaThe Design Museum is hosting Stanley Kubrick: The Exhibition, which has been touring the world and it’s jam-packed with archive pieces, original props and costumes, rare photographs, and some objects that have never been on display in the UK before. You can relive iconic scenes from the likes of A Clockwork Orange, The Shining and Eyes Wide Shut, and the exhibition also explores Kubrick’s fascination with design and his relationship with England as a filming location – the Vietnam battlefields for Full Metal Jacket, the orbiting space station for 2001: A Space Odyssey and the War Room in Dr Strangelove were all created here.
26th April - 15th September 2019
Aldgate EastBetween 2006 and 2016 over half of London’s LGBTQ+ venues closed and this exhibition looks at how redevelopement is changing the queer scene in London. Featuring archival material as well as original works from the likes of Tom Burr, Prem Sahib, Ralph Dunn, Evan Ifekoya and Hannah Quinlan & Rosie Hastings, the show looks over the history of London’s queer spaces, explore what makes a queer space and how these places relate to the LGBTQ+ community.
2nd April - 25th August 2019
Charing Cross Charing CrossThe National Portrait Gallery is hosting major retrospective on US photographer Cindy Sherman. The exhibition covers Sherman’s work from the mid-1970s up to the present day, looking at the way she explores appearance and identity. Over 150 pieces will be on display, including the Untitled Film Stills, 1977-80, which has not been on display in the UK before.
27th June – 15th September 2019
TempleRunning for the duration of the major Get Up, Stand Up Now exhibition at Somerset House, Hennessy: For The Culture explores the grime and hip-hop scenes and its place in mainstream culture, looking at why Hennessy has become so synonymous with these genres of music. Lloyd Bradley, Olivia Rose and Hattie Collins have worked on the installation, which takes you through London’s black music scenes from the 160s to now and features contributions from Skepta, Jammer, Julie Adenuga, Dizzee Rascal, Stormzy, Giggs, Wiley, Kano, Ms Banks, Twin A & Twin B, Novelist and Lady Leshurr.
12th June - 15th September 2019
Oxford CircusBetween The Lines at Maddox Gallery celebrates the relationship between the written word and the visual, and the way that language and image can be combined to add a real depth of meaning to an artwork. The exhibition features pieces that all feature words in some way, from the likes of Tracey Emin, Andy Warhol, The Connor Brothers, David Shrigley, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Ed Ruscha.
5th - 26th June 2019
South KensingtonIt’s a celebration of the sixties at the V&A as the museum hosts a major retrospective of revolutionary fashion designer Mary Quant. Credited with popularising the mini skirt, Mary Quant changed the face of the British high street. Over 200 garments and accessories, including unseen pieces from her personal archive as well as original items loaned from the public will be on display.
6th April 2019 - 16th February 2020
North GreenwichSara Shakeel is putting on her most ambitious work to date at NOW Gallery (which also happens to be her first UK exhibition) as part of its Young Artist Commission. The Great Supper sees her transform the space into a 3D banqueting scene full of her signature crystals. The bejewelled long dining table and family meal is designed to spark conversations around food, family and the simple pleasures in life.
15th May - 23rd June 2019
Holborn Russell SquareThe British Museum is hosting the largest exhibition on manga ever held outside of Japan. This mega show explores the origins and history of manga through to its global appeal, showcasing the breadth of the themes that the art form covers. It’s all brought to life with immersive elements like a cosplay section, where you can dress up and browse around a recreation of an old Tokyo manga bookshop, and a photo booth where you can have your portrait “manga-fied”.
23rd May - 26th August 2019
South KensingtonLuke Jerram’s touring artwork Museum of the Moon, a six-metre model featuring incredibly detailed NASA imagery of the moon with ambient moonlight and soundscape, is residing in the Natural History Museum to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
Credit: Trustees of the Natural History Museum/ Dare & Hier Media
17th May - 1st January 2020
Holborn Russell SquareHe’s most famous for The Scream but this exhibition at the British Museum delves deeper into the life and work of Edvard Munch, known as Norway’s answer to Vincent van Gogh. In the largest show of his prints in the UK for 45 years, you’ll be able to discover how Munch drew inspiration from his bohemian travels across Europe, how he mastered printmaking and how he became on the first proper ‘modern’ artists.
11th April - 21st July 2019
Ealing Broadway Ealing BroadwaySir John Soane’s Pitzhanger Manor has recently been restored and for the inaugural exhibition, the gallery has gone all out by hosting a series of sculptures by Anish Kapoor, some of which have never been seen in Britain before. With their use of mirrors and light, the sculptures are designed to challenge the idea of form and space by disorienting the viewer and they celebrate the architecture of the space in a new way.
Until 18th August 2019
PimlicoThis exhibition at Tate Britain will be the largest display of Van Gogh’s paintings in the UK for almost ten years, and it’ll explore his relationship with Britain and the art he was inspired by here. As well as including some of his most famous works, like Shoes, Starry Night on the Rhône and Sunflowers, the exhibition will also feature works by British artists who were influenced by Van Gogh.
27th March - 11th August 2019
Piccadilly Circus Green ParkOver 1200 artworks have been hand-picked from 16000 entries by painter Jock McFadyen for this year’s Summer Exhibition at the RA. A range of mediums are on display this summer, including pieces by Jeremy Deller, Wolfgang Tillmans, Tracey Emin, Mat Colishaw, Phyllida Barlow and Frank Bowling.
10th June - 12th August 2019
BarbicanThe Barbican is hosting a major ‘festival-style’ exhibition on AI, exploring the developments in AI, both creative and scientific, as well as our relationship with the technology. As you’d expect it’s interactive, so you can get hands-on with pieces and installations from the likes of MIT, Massive Attack, Es Devlin, teamLab and more. London’s first-ever robotic bartender will also be in residence. Created by Makr Shakr, Toni, with its two mechanical arms, can prepare and serve a drink in seconds, by shaking, stirring and muddling with dancer-like movements. You can select a pre-made recipe or have Toni mix you up a custom bev.
16th May - 26th August 2019
Forest Hill Forest HillA coral reef, an ancient Egyptian pyramid, the International Space Station an two Horniman icons are just some of the 50 models created entirely out of half a million LEGO at the Brick Wonders exhibition at the Horniman Museum.
Until 27th October 2019
South KensingtonChristian Dior: Designer of Dreams, based on the major Paris exhibition of the same name, will be the largest exhibition on Dior ever held in the UK. The exhibition will cover 1947 to the present day, with over 500 objects going on display. As well as 200 rare haute couture pieces, including the Dior dress that Princess Margaret wore on her 21st birthday, there’ll be photos, make-up, perfume, magazines and Dior’s personal possessions to peek at, and the exhibition will trace the evolution of the house through the artistic directors that have followed Dior, from Yves Saint Laurent to John Galliano to Maria Grazia Chiuri.
2nd February - 1st September 2019
Russell Square Goodge StreetThe UK’s first major exhibition of postcard art is being held at the British Museum. The World Exists To Be Put On A Postcard: Artists’ Postcards From 1960 To Now is made up of over a 1000 donated pieces from curate Jeremy Cooper, and it features works from Andy Warhol, Gilbert & George, Yoko Ono, Rachel Whitehead and Guerrilla Girls, many on show for the first time.
7th February - 4th August 2019
BarbicanThis exhibition at the Barbican, the first major one on her in Europe for more than 50 years, celebrates the life and work of Lee Krasner. She was an important abstract expressionist artist in her own right, a fact that has often been overshadowed by her marriage to Jackson Pollock, and this show of almost 100 pieces, many of which are being seen in the UK for the first time, highlights her energy and invention.
30th May - 1st September 2019
Mornington CrescentThis major exhibition at Jewish Museum London explores the role of money in Jewish life and tackles the myths surrounding the association of Jews with money, from biblical times up to the 21st century. A range of manuscripts, prints, ceremonial objects, literature, film and art will be on display, including Rembrandt’s Judas Returning the Thirty Pieces of Silver, which is rarely seen in the UK, and a new video piece from Jeremy Deller.
19th March - 7th July 2019
Blackfriars Blackfriars Mansion HouseTo coincide with the anniversary of the end of WWI, the Tate is hosting a year-long (and FREE) exhibition of art from Weimar Germany, where expressionism gave way to more unsettling and emotional imagery. Works by the likes of Otto Dix, George Grosz, Albert Birkle and Jeanne Mammen will be on display and a lot of the pieces included aren’t normally on public display so it’s one not to miss…luckily you’ve got plenty of time to see it.
30th July 2018 - 14th July 2019
Blackfriars Blackfriars Mansion HouseThis year the Artist Rooms at the Tate are dedicated to Jenny Holzer, with works from across her 40-year career on display. She’s known for her text-based works and pieces from her Truisms and Diagrams series as well as her Redaction Paintings and LED installations. A painting created with NY graffiti artist Lady Pink will also be on display for the first time in the UK. Entry to the rooms is free and it’s gonna be open for a year, so it’s defo one to pop into next time your in the Tate.
23rd July 2018 - summer 2019
Piccadilly CircusThe famous Body Worlds exhibition, created by Dr Gunther von Hagens and featuring real body parts preserved with plastination, is on display in Piccadilly. The 200 exhibits cover the reproductive, nervous, cardiovascular, respiratory, locomotive and metabolic systems in an insane amount of detail, so if you want to get a true insight into what happens inside the human body, this is place to come.
