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: Friday, 5th January 2024?
Displayed in date order by how soon they close.
This winter, more twinkling and fantastical than ever before, Christmas at Kew returns. (Ending Soon Sun, 5th Jan)
Kew Gardens
Created in close collaboration with the artist, Elizabeth Peyton: Aire and Angels, explores the development of Peyton’s unique art from the 1990s to the present day. (Ending Soon Sun, 5th Jan)
National Portrait Gallery
All of the paintings and engravings in Hogarth's series have been united for the first time to examine his complex views on morality, the society and the city. (Ending Soon Sun, 5th Jan)
Sir John Soane's Museum
The Museum of Architecture brings its hugely popular Gingerbread City exhibition to Somerset House. (Ending Soon Sun, 5th Jan)
Somerset House
Free
Museum of the Moon
A huge floating "Moon" will fill a darkened room and it's oddly exciting to see (Ending Soon Sun, 5th Jan)
Natural History Museum
Free
Rebel Sounds
Discover artists who have risked their lives in times of conflict for the music they love. (Ending Soon Sun, 5th Jan)
Imperial War Museum
A series of striking photographs of science in action will soon go on display at the Science Museum as part of the Royal Photographic Society’s inaugural Science Photographer of the Year competition. (Ending Soon Sun, 5th Jan)
Science Museum
£9
The Moon
To celebrate 50 years since NASA’s Apollo 11 mission landed the first humans on the Moon, the UK’s biggest exhibition dedicated to Earth’s nearest celestial neighbour. (Ending Soon Sun, 5th Jan)
National Maritime Museum
Jide Odukoya’s photographic series shows Nigeria abuzz through the lens of traditional Nigerian weddings. (Ending Soon Sun, 5th Jan)
Horniman Museum
Discover what it was like to go to a show in eighteenth and nineteenth century Britain (Ending Soon Sun, 5th Jan)
Foundling Museum
Free
What Remains
The exhibition explores why cultural heritage is attacked during war and the ways we save, protect and restore what is targeted. (Ending Soon Sun, 5th Jan)
Imperial War Museum
Free
Imminence 2019
This light and sound installation will invite the public to experience and reflect on animated scenes depicting the consequences of climate change as they unfold beneath their feet. (Ending Soon Fri, 10th Jan)
Bloomberg Building
£7.70
Es Devlin Memory Palace
An 18-metre-wide sculpture fills the entire gallery space, with mirrored planes multiplying its dimensions to enable a reimagining of time and space. (Ending Soon Sun, 12th Jan)
Pitshanger Park
A striking series of works emphasising the importance of glaciers and our changing global climate. (Ending Soon Sun, 12th Jan)
Horniman Museum
Currently enjoying a resurgence in practice and teaching, this display is a timely celebration of drawing. (Ending Soon Sun, 12th Jan)
The British Museum
This exhibition presents the rich variety of objects from Java and Sumatra collected by Sir Stamford Raffles, the British colonial official who founded modern Singapore. (Ending Soon Sun, 12th Jan)
The British Museum
An exhibition of the life and leadership of a great Australian and one of the most remarkable and highly decorated womens’ leaders of the First World War, Dame Maud McCarthy, Matron-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders, 1914-1919. (Ending Soon Sun, 12th Jan)
Oxford House
Discover the remarkable world of codebreaking, ciphers and secret communications in use by British and foreign governments. (Ending Soon Sat, 18th Jan)
Science Museum
An exhibition of original Cuban propaganda posters and magazines. (Ending Soon Sun, 19th Jan)
House of Illustration
A journey into the world’s most iconic cabarets, cafés and clubs in modern art through the lens of pioneering artists. (Ending Soon Sun, 19th Jan)
Barbican Centre
ON EDGE aims to open conversation around the causes of and responses to anxiety today through art, design, psychology and neuroscience. (Ending Soon Sun, 19th Jan)
Science Gallery London
An exhibition that combines art, design, psychology and neuroscience to highlight positive and creative responses when dealing with anxiety. (Ending Soon Sun, 19th Jan)
Science Gallery London
The Art of Innovation explores the relationship between science and art over the past 250 years, and how it has helped to interpret, study and explore the world around us. (Ending Soon Fri, 24th Jan)
Science Museum
£18
Bridget Riley
Spanning 70 years of Riley’s work, this exhibition offers visitors an unparalleled opportunity to experience powerful and engaging works by one of the most important artists of our time. (Ending Soon Sun, 26th Jan)
Hayward Gallery
This exhibition features a large-scale installation and paintings that draw on the scientific concept known as string theory. (Ending Soon Sun, 26th Jan)
White Cube Bermondsey
The first-ever exhibition devoted to the portraits of Paul Gauguin. (Ending Soon Sun, 26th Jan)
The National Gallery
Charting the history of cultural and artistic interactions between East and West, this exhibition explores the impact the Islamic world has had on Western art for centuries. (Ending Soon Sun, 26th Jan)
The British Museum
Uncover the secrets of Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece 'The Virgin of the Rocks' in this new immersive exhibition. (Ending Soon Sun, 26th Jan)
National Gallery
See more than 50 paintings, prints and drawings in which this modern master of British art turns his unflinching eye firmly on himself. (Ending Soon Sun, 26th Jan)
Royal Academy of Arts
The first exhibition in the UK to fully explore the relationship between the English Arts and Crafts movement and the Bauhaus, the ground-breaking German art school. (Ending Soon Sun, 26th Jan)
William Morris Gallery
This major exhibition is the first-ever to focus on the untold story of the women of Pre-Raphaelite art. (Ending Soon Sun, 26th Jan)
National Portrait Gallery
Artists Anna Alcock, Hannah Ford, Miyuki Kasahara, Alke Schmidt and Sandie Sutton respond to this crisis with new work that draws on research into the causes of the decline of pollinators. (Ending Soon Sun, 26th Jan)
Vestry House Museum
£16.50
Rembrandt's Light
A major exhibition exploring the artist’s mastery of light through 35 of his greatest paintings, etchings and drawings. (Ending Soon Sun, 2nd Feb)
Dulwich Picture Gallery
£18
William Blake
Experience Blake’s visionary art in his largest show in a generation. (Ending Soon Sun, 2nd Feb)
Tate Britain
Industrial design studio PriestmanGoode explores the issue of waste in travel. (Ending Soon Sun, 9th Feb)
The Design Museum
These photographs, often taken by monks and housed within monasteries, depict day-to-day life for both the monastic and lay communities. (Ending Soon Sun, 9th Feb)
The British Library
Explore the underbelly of our digital world in this exhibition revealing the powerful, and often hidden, forces at play in artificial intelligence. (Ending Soon Sat, 15th Feb)
Barbican Centre
The little known story of one of the capital’s most intriguing cemeteries is revealed for the first time in this exhibition. (Ending Soon Sun, 16th Feb)
Brent Museum
£14
24/7
An exhibition exploring the non-stop nature of modern lives.
(Ending Soon Sun, 23rd Feb)
Somerset House
This small display considers the historical creation of single-use and repurposed objects and presents an artistic response to plastic waste washing up in Pacific islands. (Ending Soon Sun, 23rd Feb)
The British Museum
Discover how architects, artists and designers are responding today to some of the most urgent ecological issues of our times. (Ending Soon Sun, 23rd Feb)
Royal Academy of Arts
See how fairies and elves have been imagined from the early Victorian period to the 1970s. (Ending Soon Sun, 23rd Feb)
Heath Robinson Museum
£18
Moving to Mars
The exhibition features immersive environments, about 200 objects about a future live on Mars. (Ending Soon Sun, 23rd Feb)
The Design Museum
This exhibition showcases often unseen and recently acquired items to tell the history of the Child family of bankers and their rise to fame and fortune. (Ending Soon Sun, 23rd Feb)
Osterley Park and House
£14
Buddhism
Explore the origins, philosophy and contemporary relevance of Buddhism, from its beginnings in India in the 6th century BC to having 1 billion followers worldwide today (Ending Soon Tue, 25th Feb)
The British Library
A family-friendly exhibition bringing together young rebels from children’s literature (Ending Soon Sun, 1st Mar)
The British Library
The infographics created by sociologist and activist W.E.B. Du Bois in 1900 were a remarkable development in data visualisation and a direct challenge to institutional racism. (Ending Soon Sun, 1st Mar)
House of Illustration
From Botticelli to Michelangelo, the exhibition reveals how Bomberg’s rebellious, youthful works drew inspiration from the paintings he most admired in the Gallery. (Ending Soon Sun, 1st Mar)
The National Gallery
From Helen of Troy’s abduction to the deception of the Trojan Horse and the fall of the city, tread the line between myth and reality in this exhibition. (Ending Soon Thu, 5th Mar)
The British Museum
Free
Play Well
Why do we play? How important is it for all of us, young or old? What does it mean to play well? (Ending Soon Sun, 8th Mar)
Wellcome Collection
An exhibition about the man, the Christmas he created, and how he fell out of love with the season he helped to create. (Ending Soon Wed, 18th Mar)
Charles Dickens Museum
As we approach another major turning point in automotive design, this exhibition looks at the role of the car in shaping the world we live in today. (Ending Soon Wed, 18th Mar)
Victoria and Albert Museum
This exhibition visits each stage of the production process; from design to construction, sourcing and alterations, to dressing, repairs and laundering. (Ending Soon Wed, 18th Mar)
The National Theatre
Intrinsically bound to German identity and the upheaval that followed the First World War, Notgeld is a fascinating microcosm of public feeling in post-war Germany. (Ending Soon Wed, 18th Mar)
The British Museum
This exhibition shines a spotlight on the subject we’d all rather avoid, from ancient societies to modern day medicine. (Ending Soon Wed, 18th Mar)
The Octagon Gallery
This is the first UK exhibition of works by Indian master painters commissioned by East India Company officials in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. (Ending Soon Wed, 18th Mar)
Wallace Collection
£13.50
George IV: Art & Spectacle
This exhibition presents George IV's life through the art that enriched his world. (Ending Soon Wed, 18th Mar)
The Queen's Gallery
Free
Heritage display
A small heritage gallery in the basement of the Guildhall currently has three documents on display. (Ending Soon Wed, 18th Mar)
Guildhall Art Gallery and Roman Amphitheater
Hidden London - The Exhibition takes people on an immersive journey of some of London’s most secret spaces belonging to the oldest subterranean railway in the world (Ending Soon Wed, 18th Mar)
London Transport Museum
Free
Kara Walker
The Tate Modern hall is filled with a 13-metre tall working fountain inspired by the Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace, London. (Ending Soon Wed, 18th Mar)
Tate Modern
This display brings together a wide range of palaeoart, from nearly 200 years ago to the present day. (Ending Soon Wed, 18th Mar)
Natural History Museum
A display celebrating The Clash’s iconic London Calling – an album that rocked the music scene, serving as an anthem for London, Londoners and music lovers globally. (Ending Soon Wed, 18th Mar)
Museum of London
Explore one of the most audacious crimes of the 20th Century and the subsequent investigation, alongside other stories of crime through the post. (Ending Soon Wed, 18th Mar)
The Postal Museum
A display exploring the unique and largely untold history, heritage and culture of the Krio people of Sierra Leone. (Ending Soon Wed, 18th Mar)
Museum of London Docklands
Explore the contrasting worlds of Japan’s urban future and rural traditions in WOW’s new digital art installation. (Ending Soon Wed, 18th Mar)
Japan House
Japan House presents two installations by WOW looking at both the urban future and timelessness of rural Japan. (Ending Soon Wed, 18th Mar)
Japan House London
The fifty-fifth Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition will immerse you in the breathtaking diversity of the natural world. (Ending Soon Wed, 18th Mar)
Natural History Museum
This immersive experience charts their music, lyrics, creative process and influence as one of the most iconic pop bands of the modern age. (Ending Soon Sat, 23rd May)
O2 Arena / Millennium Dome