Welcome to the IanVisits alternative guide to London.
Lectures, talks, heritage events, organised walks and other random geeky miscellany.
This is quite an old listings page, did you want: Saturday, 12th October 2024?
Displayed in date order by how soon they close.
£14
California
While California’s mid-century modernism is well documented, this is the first exhibition to examine its current global reach. (Ending Soon Sun, 15th Oct)
The Design Museum
This exhibition offers glimpses into LGBTQ histories, experiences and lives by examining objects from around the world, (Ending Soon Sun, 15th Oct)
The British Museum
This display highlights recent acquisitions of posters, prints, drawings, photographs and artists’ books. (Ending Soon Sun, 22nd Oct)
The British Museum
The creative encounter between artists and sitters is explored in this exhibition featuring portrait drawings by some of the outstanding masters of the Renaissance and Baroque periods. (Ending Soon Sun, 22nd Oct)
National Portrait Gallery
Free
Town-House
A showcase of projects which demonstrate lessons learnt in adapting and reconfiguring London’s terraces in an ever growing city. (Ending Soon Wed, 25th Oct)
The Building Centre
The exhibition explores a largely unknown and under-rated body of Dickens’s work that speaks plainly to social justice with energy and relevance—both then and now. (Ending Soon Sun, 29th Oct)
Charles Dickens Museum
View rarely seen excavation photographs and discover the sites that were uncovered during the post-ware rebuilding of London. (Ending Soon Sun, 29th Oct)
Paternoster Square
An exhibition of animals that have been recreated using a variety of familiar machine parts and gadgets to reveal how their real life counterparts see, eat, hunt and hide. (Ending Soon Sun, 29th Oct)
Horniman Museum
Free
Trauma
Come face-to-face with a Roman skull uncovered during excavations in the Walbrook Stream. (Ending Soon Sun, 29th Oct)
Guildhall Art Gallery and Roman Amphitheater
70 years of Concrete Quarterly explores the social and architectural history of concrete architecture and engineering over the past 70 years, (Ending Soon Mon, 30th Oct)
The Building Centre
A historical journey that shows you some of the longest, deepest and most advanced tunnels in the world. (Ending Soon Tue, 31st Oct)
Institution of Civil Engineers
Free
BLOOD: Life Uncut
Revealing the captivating, visceral power of blood to expose, shock and save lives, the exhibition highlights the scientific and symbolic nature of blood. (Ending Soon Wed, 1st Nov)
Copeland Gallery
The exhibition features examples of many well-known cartoon strips from newspapers and magazines from the past 100 years. (Ending Soon Sun, 5th Nov)
Cartoon Museum
An exploration of melancholia in European art and culture. (Ending Soon Fri, 10th Nov)
King’s College London
The exhibition presents a spectacular selection of eighteenth-century Venetian art, with Canaletto's greatest works. (Ending Soon Sun, 12th Nov)
The Queen's Gallery
Free
Plywood
More than 120 objects have been brought together in an exploration of how the often-overlooked product has helped create the modern world. (Ending Soon Sun, 12th Nov)
Victoria and Albert Museum
This exhibition examines the British arrival in Helmand province, Afghanistan, and the decisions that shaped the way the conflict escalated and the lessons learnt. (Ending Soon Sun, 26th Nov)
Imperial War Museum
See drawings from Charles Kingsley's The Water Babies. (Ending Soon Sun, 26th Nov)
Heath Robinson Museum
This exhibition looks at the early pioneers of Roman London archaeology and the discovery of Roman London over three centuries. (Ending Soon Fri, 1st Dec)
Guildhall Library
Explore the history of the Wrens in Greenwich. New interviews and research offer a rare female perspective into the fascinating history of the Old Royal Naval College. (Ending Soon Sun, 3rd Dec)
Old Royal Naval College
This is the exhibition on Balenciaga in the UK and marks the 100th anniversary of the opening of his first fashion house. (Ending Soon Tue, 5th Dec)
Victoria and Albert Museum
An exhibition that provides a glimpse of the challenges and joys of theatrical life since the days of Elizabeth I. (Ending Soon Thu, 7th Dec)
London Metropolitan Archives
A display of paintings, drawings and models by the likes of Dame Zaha Hadid, Amanda Levete, Julia Barfield and Patty Hopkins. (Ending Soon Sat, 9th Dec)
School of Architecture
This exhibition provides snapshots of everyday lives as the metropolis expanded and new communities emerged over the centuries. (Ending Soon Fri, 15th Dec)
UCL Main Library
Free
Reformation
Focussing on London through the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, this exhibition traces the impact of the Reformation on culture and society. (Ending Soon Fri, 15th Dec)
Senate House Library
This exhibition tells stories of the boring beasts that have changed the world. (Ending Soon Sat, 16th Dec)
Grant Museum of Zoology
A free exhibition of photos and memorabilia covering Sir Simon Rattle’s musical life to date. (Ending Soon Fri, 22nd Dec)
Barbican Music Library
Free
Falling Shawls
Falling Shawls is a floating textile installation that artist Outi Pieski describes as a ‘drawing in air’. (Ending Soon Sun, 31st Dec)
Southbank Centre
An international cast of street artists have teamed up with fan maker extraordinaire, Sylvain Le Guen in a bid to reinvigorate the craft of fan making. (Ending Soon Sun, 31st Dec)
The Fan Museum
Free
The Forum of Rome
David Roberts’ painting The Forum, Rome forms the centrepiece of a new display which explores why the forum was so important in the Roman world, (Ending Soon Mon, 1st Jan)
Guildhall Art Gallery and Roman Amphitheater
This display explores the fascinating story of the Hall’s design through a variety of historic models, photographs and casts. (Ending Soon Sun, 7th Jan)
Victoria and Albert Museum
The first London exhibition of Spanish art from The Bowes Museum in County Durham, including works by Goya and El Greco. (Ending Soon Sun, 7th Jan)
Wallace Collection
An exhibition exploring the unsolved mystery of Sir John Franklin's fatal last journey into the Arctic. (Ending Soon Sun, 7th Jan)
National Maritime Museum
Free
John Akomfrah Purple
An immersive six-channel video installation addressing climate change, human communities and the wilderness. (Ending Soon Sun, 7th Jan)
Barbican Centre
Celebrate the golden era of toys and games, made in the borough by famous names such as Spears Games and Lesney Matchbox and played with by generations of local children. (Ending Soon Sun, 7th Jan)
Enfield Museum
An exhibition that looks at how policy and development help support Londoners to live and work across a multi-centred city. (Ending Soon Thu, 11th Jan)
The Building Centre
Comprising of over 200 objects, this exhibition considers the role of graphic design in constructing and communicating healthcare messages. (Ending Soon Sun, 14th Jan)
Wellcome Collection
This exhibition explores the story of the Scythians – nomadic tribes and masters of mounted warfare, who flourished between 900 and 200 BC. (Ending Soon Sun, 14th Jan)
The British Museum
This exhibition remembers the centenary of this battle and the massive medical and human impact of the wounds sustained during and beyond WW1. (Ending Soon Mon, 15th Jan)
Science Museum
This exhibition celebrates outstanding women in medicine, past and present. (Ending Soon Fri, 19th Jan)
Royal College of Physicians Museum
Free
(Un) Common Currency
Display exploring alternative currencies past and present – from 17th century trade tokens to today’s Brixton Pound. (Ending Soon Sun, 21st Jan)
Museum of London
The first major exhibition of production designs by celebrated political cartoonist Gerald Scarfe (Ending Soon Sun, 21st Jan)
House of Illustration
The first large-scale exhibition in the UK of the work of American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. (Ending Soon Sun, 28th Jan)
Barbican Centre
This exhibition uses art, archaeology, and modern material culture to explore how seduction, sensuality, and sex have been represented through time. (Ending Soon Tue, 30th Jan)
A.G. Leventis Gallery
Fifty new drawings of contemporary buildings – constructed during the second half of the 20th century but in an ostensibly 'Georgian' style - will be on display for the first time. (Ending Soon Sun, 11th Feb)
Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)
Free
Art of Recovery
A temporary exhibition showcasing sculptures created by wounded, sick and injured service personnel and their families. (Ending Soon Fri, 23rd Feb)
Bethlem Museum of the Mind
Explore the secrets behind Michael’s storytelling through his original drafts, adaptations, scripts and unpublished manuscripts. (Ending Soon Sun, 25th Feb)
V&A Museum of Childhood
The exhibition explores Starley’s developments, still reflected in bicycles today, and celebrates his legacy. (Ending Soon Sun, 25th Feb)
Vestry House Museum
Together the V&A and the Royal Opera House present a landmark exhibition exploring the vivid story of opera from its origins in late-Renaissance Italy to the present day (Ending Soon Sun, 25th Feb)
Victoria and Albert Museum
£11.50
Whales: Beneath the surface
More than 100 specimens from the Museum's collection will be on display together for the first time, (Ending Soon Wed, 28th Feb)
Natural History Museum
The nursing workforce is diverse, with healthcare workers representing a huge variety of backgrounds and experiences. This exhibition celebrates the contributions of some of the people whose work and lives have too often been overlooked. (Ending Soon Sat, 10th Mar)
Royal College of Nursing Library & Heritage Centre
A display of rarely-seen records, players and recorders, exploring how technology has transformed our listening experience. (Ending Soon Sun, 11th Mar)
The British Library
Take a journey through the remarkable history of Indian innovation and discovery. (Ending Soon Sat, 31st Mar)
Science Museum
An ambitious survey of the technological and artistic development of photography in India. (Ending Soon Sat, 31st Mar)
Science Museum
Dive into the unknown story of London’s lost canals created from the 1680s to the 1830s. (Ending Soon Sat, 31st Mar)
Canal Museum
Discover how van Eyck’s 'Arnolfini Portrait' was one of the beacons by which the Pre-Raphaelites forged a radical new style of painting (Ending Soon Mon, 2nd Apr)
The National Gallery
An exhibition revealing the story behind the Museum’s most treasured possession. (Ending Soon Sun, 15th Apr)
Sir John Soane's Museum
A new exhibition surveying the variety of postcards from all periods relating to Fulham Palace and exploring what they reveal about its history. (Ending Soon Sun, 15th Apr)
Fulham Palace
A display of more than 200 original illustrations of the nature of the British Isles. (Ending Soon Fri, 2nd Nov)
Natural History Museum
