Exhibition
See How Food Can Express Heritage at SPACE Ilford
Photographer Kenneth Lam is hosting his first solo exhibition A seat at our table at SPACE Ilford, inviting audiences to explore the dishes and memories of their own cultural identities. Taking inspiration from classical still life and the the stories of Redbridge residents, Lam explores the table as a symbol of home and the way food can express heritage and be used as a common language between cultures.
Polly Braden Is Documenting the Result of Ukrainian Displacement
Around six million Ukrainians are now displaced as a result of the Russian invasion of the country on 24th February 2024. Photographer Polly Braden has been documenting the lives of some of the women and children who have now been scattered across Europe and you can see her work at the Foundling Museum. Leaving Ukraine showcases the journeys that these women have had to undertake, the care they still have to provide for their families, the impact that the war has had on their lives and the way it is shaping their futures through photos, film and aural testimonies.
The Design Museum Is Hosting an Exhibition All About Barbie
After the cultural phenomenon that was the Barbie movie – a release that had the whole world talking – the Design Museum is hosting a major retrospective on everyone’s favourite doll. Three years in the making, the exhibition will retrace nearly seven decades of history to tell the story of the iconic brand, with a particular focus on its design, in celebration of its 65th birthday. The show is being presented in collaboration with Mattel Inc. which has granted the Museum special access to extensive Barbie archives, meaning that there’ll be a lot of rare and unique items on display. These will appear alongside other key loans and acquisitions, all of which will come together to explore the story of Barbie, as well as fashion, architecture, furniture and vehicle design. A rare first edition Barbie from 1959 will feature among the dolls on display, as well as a one-of-a-kind Talking Barbie prototype and the best-selling Totally Hair Barbie
Explore the History of the Barking Abbey Community at the Women's Museum
Female artists Meera Shakti Osborne, Lesley Asare, and Sarina Mantle are featured in An Idea of a Life exhibit at the Women’s Museum. The exhibit showcases the history of communities led by the Abbess and nuns from c.666AD to the early 16th Century near Barking Abbey and will show their everyday history. It will also include objects excavated from the area that demonstrated how women were connected to significant historic places.
DAVID BOWIE - A LONDON DAY
As David Bowie was preparing to release his 18th studio album Black Tie White Noise, photographer Kevin Davies was commissioned to shoot promotional images for the record, and so he spent a day in December 1992 shooting Bowie in Clerkenwell. Once selected images had been approved for press use, all the films, contact sheets and prints went into storage, where they remained untouched until 2020. Now Davies is showcasing a selection of photographs taken on that day at the Fitzrovia Chapel with the David Bowie – A London Day exhibition. As well as depicting the musical icon in his prime, the images also serve as an exploration of the analogue photography process.
Step Inside the Surreal World of Rong Bao
Step into the surreal and playful world of Chinese artist Rong Bao at the Saatchi Gallery. The RCA graduate’s debut exhibition Rong Bao Is Me is a showcase of her sculptural practice, where she transforms familiar objects into mischievous, sensorial and interactive artworks. Her installations stretch our perception of the physical and foster a sense of fun as a pushback against the norms of society.
Check Out the World's Largest Collection of Bansky Works from 1998 - 2008
The Art of Banksy first landed in London in the spring of 2021 after touring the world, popping up in cities from Melbourne to Miami, and following another international jaunt, it returned to the capital in 2023. After closing at the start of this year, the exhibition is on its way back for a third run, this time opening in a new space in Soho. The show 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 official Banksy works from 1997 – 2008. This time around, over 150 pieces will be on show, including the iconic ‘Girl and Balloon’ ‘Flower Thrower’ and ‘Rude Copper’ as well as artworks from Dismaland, ones that reference the war in Ukraine and some going on public display for the first time.
The Photographers' Gallery Is Hosting a Bert Hardy Retrospective
The Photographers’ Gallery is looking back on the four-decades-long career of Bert Hardy this spring with this Photojournalism in War and Peace exhibition. This retrospective covers his work at Picture Post magazine, including his portrayal of post-war life in Britain and the way he revealed the social conditions and working-class lives of the time. His photographs taken during the Blitz, the liberation of Bergen-Belsen and the war in Southeast Asia will also be on show alongside archival material like press passes, diaries, and correspondence.
KEW ORCHID FESTIVAL
The annual orchid festival is back at Kew and this year’s theme is Madagascar, which, thanks to its incredible biodiversity, is home to some of the world’s rarest plant species. You can get a little taste of Madagascar’s varied landscapes and native wildlife across the different zones inside the Princess of Wales Conservatory. As well as an array of orchid displays, there’ll be a range of plant sculptures on show, including giraffe weevils and ring-tailed lemurs, and an exhibition of Malagasy photographer Tina Waibel’s work.
FLOW AT OUTERNET
See the history of Western art translated into dance with <FLOW> at Outernet. Created by design studio d’strict, <FLOW> moves from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, Impressionism and beyond through the movement of digital ‘giants’ who gradually break out of their constraints and into freeform dance, showing how the world has transformed. As well as playing on Outernet’s floor-to-ceiling screens, the display is accompanied by a bespoke score from Australian composer Tristan Barton.
Zheng Bo is the latest artist to be given Somerset House’s courtyard commission and they’re turning the space into a bamboo garden. Bamboo as Method is an expression of Zheng’s eco-queer approach and looks to redistribute the power that humans are assumed to have over nature. Made of 300 locally sourced bamboo, the garden will give visitors a chance to disconnect from the hustle of normal life and immerse themselves in nature by spending time sketching one of the ten different species of bamboo. Biodegradable paper will be provided for the drawings, which will then be composted into the soil to fertilise the garden, to complete the cycle of creativity and ecology.
BARBARA KRUGER | THINKING OF YOU. I MEAN ME. I MEAN YOU.
American artist Barbara Kruger is getting her first institutional solo show in the capital for more than 20 years at Serpentine South, and her first time back showing at the gallery since 1994. Thinking of You. I Mean Me. I Mean You. will feature installations, moving image pieces and soundscapes, including some of her iconic works like ‘Untitled (I shop therefore I am)’ and ‘Untitled (Your body is a battleground)’ that have recently been reworked to incorporate video. As well as the works on show at Serpentine, you’ll also be able to see her pieces displayed on the screens at Outernet on Tottenham Court Road.
Frank Auberbach's Charcoal Head Portraits Are Being Displayed as a Group for the First Time
Frank Auerbach: The Charcoal Heads at The Courtauld Gallery marks the first time that the artist’s post-war portrait heads drawn in charcoal have been displayed together as a group. The large-scale drawings are from early in Auerbach’s career, produced in the 1950s and early 1960s, with his process of working and reworking, breaking and patching the pieces reflecting the time period, where people were remaking their lives after the destruction wrought by the war. In the exhibition, the charcoal drawings will be presented alongside the paintings he produced of the same sitters.
Dive Into Croydon's Musical Heritage at This Exhibition
To celebrate Croydon’s time as the London Borough of Culture, the Museum of Croydon is hosting the Rewind: This is Croydon’s Music exhibition. Croydon has a rich musical heritage, with dubstep icons Skream and Benga hailing from the area, as do The Damned’s Captain Sensible, Desmond Dekker, Kirsty MacColl and Nadia Rose. The show will explore this musical diversity with objects, photographs, stories and more relating to record stores, music shops and venues in the borough and the artists and producers who created and performed music in Croydon.
See What It Was Like to Be Part of the Roman Army at the British Museum
This major exhibition at the British Museum explores what it was like to be part of the Roman army, one of the most elite fighting forces of all time. Legion: Life in the Roman Army features stories of men from across the empire who became Roman soldiers and the impact this had on their daily life and on their families. These are told through more than 200 objects, including letters; military objects like the world’s only intact legionary shield, the oldest, most complete Roman segmental body armour, and preserved trumpets and swords from Pompeii; and other items, like the remains of a soldier from Herculaneum who is reunited with his belt and equipment for the first time outside Italy.
Chinese Clockwork Treasures Are on Show at the Science Museum
More than 20 clockwork treasures collected by Chinese emperors in the 1700s are coming to the Science Museum from the Palace Museum in Beijing. The Zimingzhong 凝时聚珍 : Clockwork Treasures from China’s Forbidden City exhibition will explore the luxury goods trade and the early cultural exchanges between London, Guangzhou and Beijing and spotlight the intricate craftsmanship required to make such ornate and technical clocks. This show marks the first time these pieces have been displayed together in the UK, with most of them never having been outside of China before, and with a pay-what-you-can ticket price, you could see them for as little as a quid.
Look Back at the Last 60 Years of Contemporary Sculpture at the Hayward Gallery
The Hayward Gallery is looking back over the past 60 years of contemporary sculpture with its major exhibition When Form Comes Alive, exploring how artists interpret movement, flow and growth. Featuring works from 21 international artists, the show presents these dynamic and energetic sculptures that physically bloom across the space in contrast to the increasing digitisation of our everyday life, reminding us that the world is always shifting and transforming.
An Immersive LEGO Exhibition Is Here
The Art of The Brick, appropriately opening on Brick Lane, will feature more than 90 LEGO sculptures – that amounts to over a million bricks – that reinterpret some of the most recognisable artworks on the planet, including Michelangelo’s ‘David’, Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’, Da Vinci’s ‘Mona Lisa’, Gustav Klimt’s ‘The Kiss’ and Edvard Munch’s ‘The Scream’. The exhibition is the work of artist Nathan Sawaya, who is also displaying some of his original pieces in the show, like a giant version of his ‘Yellow’ sculpture and ‘Perniciem’, which showcases endangered species in their natural environments. The works will be accompanied by 3D video mapping and a musical score, and there’ll also be a play and build area where you’ll be able to make your own LEGO creations.