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, 28th September 2024?
Displayed in date order by how soon they close.
The exhibition enables visitors to explore documents, paintings and objects which demonstrate the profound changes in Parliament and democracy that occurred during the war years. (Ending Soon Thu, 28th Sep)
Palace of Westminster
An exhibition of abstract building reflection photographs taken over the last four years at Canary Wharf in London by Mike Curry. (Ending Soon Thu, 28th Sep)
The Greenwich Gallery
Through the portraits of victims and perpetrators, the exhibition explores the legacy of medical research under Nazism, and its impact on bioethics today. (Ending Soon Fri, 29th Sep)
Wiener Library
An exhibition following the living history of London’s boatyards, documented as part of the Working River project. (Ending Soon Fri, 29th Sep)
London Bridge Hive
The exhibition is made up of a series of panels exploring aspects of the war in the Middle East and its legacy, including a timeline of events. (Ending Soon Sat, 30th Sep)
Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology
Over 400 posters includes a collection of 1960-1970s Cuban propaganda and movie posters. (Ending Soon Sat, 30th Sep)
Antikbar
£16.50
Queer British Art 1861–1967
This exhibition marks the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of male homosexuality in England. (Ending Soon Sun, 1st Oct)
Tate Britain
The first international retrospective of one of the world's most iconic and influential bands. (Ending Soon Sun, 1st Oct)
Victoria and Albert Museum
Explore why artists and soldiers have painted scenes of conflict. (Ending Soon Sun, 8th Oct)
National Army Museum
An exhibition on Rome - a first step towards the re-threading of an important tradition (Ending Soon Sun, 8th Oct)
Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)
Learn about a key moment in the history of art, when emphasis on observation and realism was born. (Ending Soon Sun, 8th Oct)
The National Gallery
£15.50
Sargent: The Watercolours
The first major UK exhibition
of watercolours by the artist, John Singer Sargent since 1918. (Ending Soon Sun, 8th Oct)
Dulwich Picture Gallery
£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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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)
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
£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
A display of more than 200 original illustrations of the nature of the British Isles. (Ending Soon Fri, 2nd Nov)
Natural History Museum