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: Thursday, 6th June 2024?
Displayed in date order by how soon they close.
The Royal Society of Sculptors is showcasing the work of Naomi Blake FRBS with an outdoor exhibition on the sculpture terrace. (Ending Soon Sun, 6th Jun)
Royal Society of Sculptors
Visit the Transport Museum's Acton Depot this May half term for seven days of exploration and fun for all the family. (Ending Soon Sun, 6th Jun)
Transport Museum Acton Depot
A herd of 50 handcrafted life-size elephants are roaming around Chelsea. (Ending Soon Sun, 6th Jun)
Duke of York Square
Paul Catherall comes back to the gallery for this major exhibition celebrating the postwar architecture of Coventry and London. (Ending Soon Sun, 6th Jun)
Eames Fine Art Gallery
Included in the exhibition are memories from those who remember the Second World War in Harrow. (Ending Soon Sun, 6th Jun)
Headstone Manor Museum
The winning images from the 2020 Travel Photographer of the Year awards are on display in an outdoor exhibition. (Ending Soon Thu, 10th Jun)
Coal Drops Yard
This exhibition explores a century of refugee experiences, from Nazi Germany’s persecution of Jews and the Kindertransport, to the Calais Jungle and the treacherous Mediterranean crossings. (Ending Soon Sun, 13th Jun)
Imperial War Museum
This is an opportunity to not only stand in front of the painting but immerse yourself in its world and the artistry that built it. (Ending Soon Sun, 13th Jun)
National Gallery
This exhibition is a unique opportunity to view over 200 works from The Covid Letters, displayed in the Museum’s exhibition gallery and interspersed throughout the historic collections. (Ending Soon Sun, 13th Jun)
Foundling Museum
An outdoor photo exhibition of historical photographs, prints and maps from football in London. (Ending Soon Tue, 15th Jun)
Guildhall Art Gallery and Roman Amphitheater
This exhibition explores the power of the writer’s image, tracing his image through artist interpretations, radical rethinking in popular culture and new digital technologies and re-imaginings. (Ending Soon Wed, 16th Jun)
Charles Dickens Museum
An open-air exhibition documenting the overland journey photographer Christopher Wilton-Steer undertook in 2019 following the historic trade route. (Ending Soon Wed, 16th Jun)
Granary Square
An exhibition around the roof garden above the Elizabeth line station of large geometric coloured shapes. (Ending Soon Sat, 19th Jun)
Crossrail Place Roof Garden
Global gathering of designers with installations and presentations across Somerset House. (Ending Soon Sun, 27th Jun)
Somerset House
This exhibition follows the lives of soldiers in Germany over the past 75 years. (Ending Soon Thu, 1st Jul)
National Army Museum
This monumental sculpture by Luke Jerram amazes audiences as it rotates slowly while suspended in mid-air, an exact scale replica of Earth made using NASA imagery. (Ending Soon Thu, 1st Jul)
Old Royal Naval College
Ben's series of twenty paintings on display alongside Simon Costin’s iconic MOBF collection. (Ending Soon Sun, 4th Jul)
The Crypt Gallery
Explore the history of the Krio people of Sierra Leone and discover the dress, architecture, language, lifestyle and tradition of their community. (Ending Soon Sun, 4th Jul)
Museum of London Docklands
A solo exhibition of new and archival works that spotlight Black Queer legacies in Britain by Ajamu X. (Ending Soon Sun, 11th Jul)
Cubitt Artists
This exhibition showcases the innovative work of Japanese textile designer Sudō Reiko, who is renowned for pushing boundaries of textile production and championing new methods of sustainable manufacturing. (Ending Soon Sun, 11th Jul)
Japan House
A new outdoor exhibition, Gunnersbury Park Museum celebrates the life and work of Ealing Studios stills photographer Roy Gough. (Ending Soon Sun, 11th Jul)
Gunnersbury Park Museum
Taking inspiration from Bloomberg’s location in the City of London, Dant’s epic sepia ink drawing encapsulates 2,000 years of the everyday life and times of Budge Row, the famous once-lost thoroughfare now reinstated as Bloomberg Arcade. (Ending Soon Sat, 17th Jul)
London Mithraeum
An exhibition about plans for a redevelopment of the Truman Brewery site by the local opposition group to the plans. (Ending Soon Sun, 18th Jul)
Annetta Pedretti's House
This exhibition celebrates the Company’s history and its crafts of joinery and woodcarving, to mark the 450th anniversary of the granting of the Company’s Royal Charter in 1571. (Ending Soon Sun, 18th Jul)
Guildhall Art Gallery and Roman Amphitheater
The South African artist’s first solo exhibition in the UK takes inspiration from indigenous dance. (Ending Soon Sun, 25th Jul)
Hayward Gallery
See the artist’s first solo museum presentation in the UK in over a decade, featuring the UK premiere of a ‘breathtakingly beautiful’ new feature-length film. (Ending Soon Sun, 25th Jul)
Hayward Gallery
A collection of limited edition prints and original drawings including maps that salute London’s Theatres, Lost Rivers and bustling London Squares. (Ending Soon Sat, 31st Jul)
St Martin-in-the-Fields
The richly decorated Victorian Leadenhall Market has been filled with neon lighting from Gods Own Junkyard. (Ending Soon Sat, 31st Jul)
Leadenhall Market
Free
Ryoji Ikeda
A subterranean exploration of sound and light, the show takes viewers on a sensory journey through 180 Studio’s labyrinth-like spaces. (Ending Soon Sun, 1st Aug)
180 Studios
In this landmark exhibition, Tracey Emin selects masterpieces by Edvard Munch to show alongside her most recent paintings. (Ending Soon Sun, 1st Aug)
Royal Academy of Arts
The fifty-sixth Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition will immerse you in the breathtaking diversity of the natural world. (Ending Soon Sun, 1st Aug)
Natural History Museum
An exhibition that promises to fulfil your curiosity with the ethereal and ghostly, as well as offering a little something out of the ordinary as we emerge from lockdown. (Ending Soon Fri, 6th Aug)
The College Of Psychic Studies
An annual exhibition showcasing the world's greatest space photography. (Ending Soon Sun, 8th Aug)
Royal Observatory Greenwich
Speaking to architects, public sector workers and young people, artist and filmmaker Ayo Akingbade creates moving image work that forges conversations on urbanism, gentrification, power and resilience. (Ending Soon Sun, 15th Aug)
Whitechapel Gallery
Calero’s display invites us to think about the act of collecting, about what we choose to surround ourselves with in our homes and the importance and presence of the natural world. (Ending Soon Sun, 15th Aug)
Whitechapel Gallery
This display weaves together a rich tapestry of artistic expression from artists born in, or connected to, countries from Iran to Morocco. (Ending Soon Sun, 15th Aug)
The British Museum
For the first time in over two hundred years, Peter Paul Rubens’s two great masterpieces of landscape painting will be reunited as part of an exhibition at the Wallace Collection. (Ending Soon Sun, 15th Aug)
Wallace Collection
Unearth the mystery of the largest ever Bronze Age hoard discovered in London. (Ending Soon Sun, 22nd Aug)
Museum of London Docklands
An exhibition celebrating French artist Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985), one of the most singular and provocative voices in postwar modern art. (Ending Soon Sun, 22nd Aug)
Barbican Centre
Discover the murder that shook the Middle Ages in this dramatic exhibition about the life, death and legacy of Thomas Becket. (Ending Soon Sun, 22nd Aug)
The British Museum
This exhibition explores a century of model making, and tells the story of the lacemakers, locomotive drivers and engineers who built the modern world from their kitchen tables. (Ending Soon Sun, 29th Aug)
Science Museum
This definitive retrospective charts her ground-breaking career from the 1920s to the 1990s. (Ending Soon Sun, 29th Aug)
Whitechapel Gallery
Discover the pioneering story of photography from the 1840s to today, told through stunning still lifes of plants and botany. (Ending Soon Sun, 29th Aug)
Dulwich Picture Gallery
This is a rare opportunity to see one of Poland’s most loved works of art. (Ending Soon Mon, 30th Aug)
National Gallery
The first exhibition in 20 years to explore the pioneering aesthetics and lasting legacy of this influential association of artists, designers and craftspeople. (Ending Soon Tue, 31st Aug)
William Morris Gallery
A display celebrating dub reggae and its influence on the capital. (Ending Soon Sun, 5th Sep)
Museum of London
A special exhibition of dazzling Tudor treasures celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Field of Cloth of Gold (Ending Soon Sun, 5th Sep)
Hampton Court Palace
Outdoor art exhibition by Malwawi-born artist Samson Kambalu, who has been creating flags throughout lockdown that explore ideas of national and individual sovereignty and links to emancipatory movements such as Pan-Africanism. (Ending Soon Sun, 5th Sep)
Southbank Centre
£8.80
Turner’s English Coasts
This exhibition focuses on the artist’s engagement with English marine and coastal subjects at a pivotal time in his career when he was living at Sandycombe Lodge. (Ending Soon Sun, 5th Sep)
Turners House
This curated selection of artworks, on display for a limited time only, shines a new light on the experiences of ordinary people forced into new patterns of living by Nazi air raids. (Ending Soon Sun, 12th Sep)
Churchill War Rooms
£18
Epic Iran
Epic Iran explores 5,000 years of Iranian art, design and culture, bringing together over 300 objects from ancient, Islamic and contemporary Iran. (Ending Soon Sun, 12th Sep)
Victoria and Albert Museum
£14
Freud & Pandemic
This topical exhibition explores the similarities between Freud’s experience of the Spanish Flu and 2020’s COVID-19 pandemic, its impact on mental health and the response by psychoanalysts. (Ending Soon Sun, 12th Sep)
Freud Museum
A collection of work exploring artists’ responses to the Battle of Britain and the Blitz. (Ending Soon Sun, 12th Sep)
RAF Museum
This landmark exhibition brings together major works by Turner from Tate and other collections, including The Fighting Temeraire 1839 and Rail, Steam and Speed 1844. (Ending Soon Sun, 12th Sep)
Tate Britain
An exciting new force in painting, Michael Armitage draws from Titian, Goya, Manet and Gauguin to explore East African culture and folklore. (Ending Soon Sun, 19th Sep)
Royal Academy of Arts
Embrace the wonderfully weird world of plant biodiversity through newly commissioned interactive art installations using music, sound and colour. (Ending Soon Sun, 19th Sep)
Kew Gardens
An exhibition about the 20th century’s most influential floral decorator, Constance Spry. (Ending Soon Sun, 26th Sep)
Garden Museum
Made in the spring of 2020, during a period of intense activity at his home in Normandy, this exhibition charts the unfolding of spring, from beginning to end, and is a joyous celebration of the seasons. (Ending Soon Sun, 26th Sep)
Royal Academy of Arts
£17.50
Naturally Brilliant Colour
Experience colour like never before in an exhibition that celebrates the spectacular shades of the natural world. (Ending Soon Sun, 26th Sep)
Kew Gardens
£29
Van Gough Alive
This summer, Kensington Gardens will host Van Gogh Alive, an immersive “experience” based around the life and work of the Dutch artist. (Ending Soon Sun, 26th Sep)
Kensington Gardens
Discover the story of Ai-Da, the world’s first convincing humanoid robot capable of creating artworks. (Ending Soon Wed, 29th Sep)
The Design Museum
Original artworks and illustrations from his booklets, inspired by the art in the Painted Hall, will be on display. (Ending Soon Thu, 30th Sep)
Old Royal Naval College
Free
Making Paradise
An exhibition exploring the concept of Eden through Art & Islamic Garden Design (Ending Soon Thu, 30th Sep)
The Aga Khan Centre
The largest solo museum exhibition to date in London of the internationally recognised French artist JR, featuring some of his most iconic projects from the past fifteen years. (Ending Soon Sun, 3rd Oct)
Saatchi Gallery
Free
Falling Birds
A series of X-ray photographs and poetic texts highlighting extinction and the alarming decline in bird species around the world. (Ending Soon Sun, 10th Oct)
Horniman Museum
This exhibition explores the true story of Rome's fifth emperor informed by new research and archaeological evidence from the time, challenging the biased historical accounts written after Nero’s death that have shaped his legacy. (Ending Soon Sun, 24th Oct)
The British Museum
Step up and discover the footwear phenomenon that has challenged performance design, inspired subcultures and shaken the world of fashion. (Ending Soon Sun, 24th Oct)
The Design Museum
Free
Agatha Christie
An exhibition on perhaps the Isokon’s most renowned resident: Agatha Christie. (Ending Soon Sun, 31st Oct)
Isokon Gallery
Free
Asante Goldweights
A display of Asante treasures from Ghana, shedding light on 19th-century collecting and the British Empire. (Ending Soon Sun, 31st Oct)
Victoria and Albert Museum
Come face-to-face with the kings and queens who have shaped British history for over 500 years (Ending Soon Sun, 31st Oct)
National Maritime Museum
Free
West Indian Soldier
Discover the shared military heritage between the UK and the Caribbean in this special exhibition exploring the role of West Indian soldiers in the British Army. (Ending Soon Sun, 31st Oct)
National Army Museum
A new photographic art display exploring contemporary relationships with spiritualism, reality and surrealism, through a Black British lens. (Ending Soon Sun, 7th Nov)
Horniman Museum
Free
Beuys’ Acorns
In response to the climate emergency, artists Ackroyd & Harvey have installed Beuys’ Acorns, a group of 100 oak trees, on Tate Modern’s South Terrace (Ending Soon Sun, 14th Nov)
Tate Modern
Free
Remember the Future
This group exhibition and artist led research project unearths and interrogates our connection with our habitats and ecosystems, both global and local. (Ending Soon Sun, 14th Nov)
Orleans House Gallery
£24.50
The Art of Banksy
The Art of Banksy holds the world’s largest collection of privately owned Banksy art. (Ending Soon Sun, 21st Nov)
Belgo
Discover where the real world and the Wizarding World intertwine. (Ending Soon Thu, 25th Nov)
Natural History Museum
This display reflects on the role of humour in debates around identity, empire and power over the past two hundred years. (Ending Soon Thu, 25th Nov)
Victoria and Albert Museum
This display of artworks and manuscripts explores the life and interests of Joseph Banks (1743-1820) through some of his extraordinary collections. (Ending Soon Thu, 25th Nov)
Natural History Museum
This exhibition examines the pivotal role of women as both artists and as behind-the-scenes organisers within the Surrealist movement in Britain in the 1930s. (Ending Soon Sun, 12th Dec)
Whitechapel Gallery
Free
Departures
An exhibition exploring 400 years of emigration from Britain from the Mayflower to the present day through personal narratives, contemporary art and a range of media. (Ending Soon Sun, 19th Dec)
Migration Museum
An installation exploring two important social questions: who are our buildings and shared spaces for and how do they affect us? (Ending Soon Thu, 23rd Dec)
Barbican Centre
Exploring its origins, adaptations and reinventions over 157 years, this immersive and theatrical show charts the evolution of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland from manuscript to a global phenomenon beloved by all ages. (Ending Soon Fri, 31st Dec)
Victoria and Albert Museum
An outdoor exhibition marking the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the seat of Poland’s diplomatic post in London at 47 Portland Place. (Ending Soon Fri, 31st Dec)
Embassy of the Republic of Poland
Sixty-five paintings that usually hang in the Picture Gallery at Buckingham Palace and are widely acknowledged to be among the highlights of the Royal Collection have been brought together in a gallery exhibition for the first time. (Ending Soon Fri, 31st Dec)
The Queen's Gallery
Explore the fascinating world of primates in this immersive family friendly exhibition. (Ending Soon Sun, 2nd Jan)
Horniman Museum
This exhibition explores the intimate relationship between fashion designer and royal client. (Ending Soon Sun, 2nd Jan)
Kensington Palace
This exhibition celebrates and explores the iconic role the postcard has played in connecting people for more than a century and a half. (Ending Soon Sun, 2nd Jan)
The Postal Museum
£12
Bags: Inside Out
From designer handbags to despatch boxes, vanity cases to military rucksacks, this exhibition explores our longstanding fascination with the bag. (Ending Soon Sun, 16th Jan)
Victoria and Albert Museum
Free
Our Future Planet
An exhibition that offers a first look at the technologies being developed to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, to help mitigate the worst impacts of climate change. (Ending Soon Thu, 10th Feb)
Science Museum
£7.70
Soane Restored
Soane Restored reveals the fascinating story of how Pitzhanger – special as an almost intact example of Sir John Soane’s work – was returned to its original vision. (Ending Soon Fri, 18th Feb)
Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery
