A selection of ten excellent exhibitions to visit in a month with three bank holidays to enjoy.
Celebrating Seven Decades of Quo
Barbican Library, City of London
(Note: exhibition closes on 22nd May)
Free
A celebration of one of the UK’s most enduring rock bands. Curated by FTMO (the Official Status Quo Fan Club) and Status Quo fan and record collector, Andy Campbell.
War Games
Imperial War Museum, Lambeth
Free
The exhibition delves into one of today’s most popular storytelling mediums and seeks to challenge perceptions of how video games interpret stories about war and conflict through a series of titles which, over the last forty years, have reflected events from the First World War to the present.
Kumihimo: Japanese Silk Braiding by Domyo
Japan House, Kensington
Free
Discover the past, present and possible futures of kumihimo, an intricate, decorative braided cord from Japan, in the first major UK exhibition exploring this ancient yet contemporary Japanese art.
Coronations & Celebrations
Fan Museum, Greenwich
Adults: £5 | Concessions/Children: £3
Come and see centuries of royal fans from across the continent: from a special, printed, English fan marking the restoration of Charles II almost 400 years ago, to the contemporary fans made by The Fan Museum in honour of the late Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee.
Hallyu! The Korean Wave
V&A Museum, South Kensington
Adults: £20 | Young people 12-26: £13 | Under 12: Free
From K-Pop costumes to K-drama props and posters, alongside photography, sculpture, fashion, video and pop culture ephemera, the exhibition invites visitors to delve into the phenomenon known as ‘hallyu’ – meaning ‘Korean Wave’. Hallyu rose to prominence in the late 1990s, rippling across Asia before reaching all corners of the world and challenging the currents of global pop culture today.
Highgrove in Harmony: Exploring A Royal Vision
The Garrison Chapel, Chelsea
Free
Discover His Majesty The King Charles III’s 43 years at Highgrove through Highgrove in Harmony: Exploring A Royal Vision. Learn about the story of Highgrove’s transformation through newly-uncovered archival photographs and early design plans.
The Big City: London painted on a grand scale
Guildhall Art Gallery, City of London
Free (donations requested)
The display celebrates monumental painters of the capital and showcases some of the largest paintings in the Gallery’s collection. A unique opportunity to view so many of these huge masterpieces together in one space.
Clothing this Naked Earth: Politics and the Planet
LSE Library, Aldwych
Free
This exhibition brings together some of the stories that offer answers to this question; from the Keep Britain Tidy campaign (founded by chair of the National Federation of Women’s Institutes Elizabeth Brunner), to the extraordinary series of women’s protests held at Greenham Common in the 1980s and 90s.
Style & Society: Dressing the Georgians
The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace
Adults: £17| Young Person (18-24): £11 | Child (5-17)/Concessions: £9 | Under 5: Free
The display brings together over 200 works from the Royal Collection, including paintings, prints and drawings by artists such as Gainsborough, Zoffany and Hogarth, as well as rare surviving examples of clothing and accessories.
Hackney 300,000 BC
Hackney Museum, Hackney
Free
The exhibition provides a rare glimpse into pre-historic Hackney when the borough resembled a south African savannah, with hippos, lions and mammoths roaming the landscape, and where a now extinct people, the Neanderthals, lived.
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