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, 25th October 2024?
Displayed in date order by how soon they close.
An exhibition to celebrate the release of A Field Guide to Larking by Lara Maiklem, author of the bestselling Mudlarking: Lost and Found on the River Thames (Ending Soon Sat, 30th Oct)
Southwark Cathedral
Free
Smoke & Spiders
As dusk falls, the park will come to life with ghoulish greenery, giant spiders and the odd surprise to delight children and adults of all ages. (Ending Soon Sun, 31st Oct)
Jubilee Park
Five monumental views reunited for the first time in more than 250 years. (Ending Soon Sun, 31st Oct)
National Gallery
£17.50
Japan at Kew Gardens
Come to Kew Gardens this autumn to explore the fascinating plants, art and culture of Japan. (Ending Soon Sun, 31st Oct)
Kew Gardens
Discover the life and works of John Keats - Londoner, medic and poet - on the bicentenary of his death in 1821. (Ending Soon Sun, 31st Oct)
Aldgate Square
Featuring over 50 books, documents, film clips and original artworks, the exhibition explores Michael Bond’s creation of Paddington, from his arrival in the UK from Peru, to finding a new home, and his adventures in London. (Ending Soon Sun, 31st Oct)
The British Library
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
An exhibition of works by Zsolt Bodoni, a prominent Hungarian visual artist and painter who primarily works with oil and acrylic on canvas. (Ending Soon Wed, 3rd Nov)
David Kovats Gallery
A display of photographs of London from eight different perspectives, rejecting a single, monolithic view in favour of a fragmentary, multifarious mosaic. (Ending Soon Thu, 4th Nov)
The Building Centre
A model of Japan's newest 'bullet train' is on display inside Japan House for a few weeks. (Ending Soon Sun, 7th Nov)
Japan House
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
This exhibition explores the pioneering design strategy and lasting legacy of the historic Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games. (Ending Soon Sun, 7th Nov)
Japan House
The Kasama Potters project brings together thirty-four Japanese ceramicists from Kasama. (Ending Soon Mon, 8th Nov)
Islington Square
An exhibition of rarely seen paintings on paper from the final years of Mark Rothko’s life. (Ending Soon Fri, 12th Nov)
Pace Gallery
Free
On the Other Hand
An outdoor exhibition of sculpture that reasserts the liveliness of ordinary things. (Ending Soon Fri, 12th Nov)
Canada Square Park
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
This exhibition brings together a selection of watercolours, etchings and screenprints from throughout her life in the theme of growth (Ending Soon Sun, 21st Nov)
The Garden Museum
£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
This major exhibition is the first to focus on the importance of plaster in his work. (Ending Soon Sun, 21st Nov)
Tate Modern
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
Comprising 58 works, this show will be the first posthumous and largest exhibition of Kossoff’s paintings in a commercial setting to date. (Ending Soon Sat, 4th Dec)
Annely Juda Fine Art
Here, the artist presents the first ever UK exhibition spanning her life’s work – including live re-performances of iconic works, as well as brand new work for these galleries. (Ending Soon Sun, 12th Dec)
Royal Academy of Arts
An exhibition that reflects on the Building Centre's key activities from 1931 to the present day (Ending Soon Fri, 17th Dec)
The Building Centre
Free
Youth of Yesterday
Oxford House presents its latest exhibition, featuring photographs by
Phillip Cunningham of Bethnal Green in the 1970s. (Ending Soon Fri, 17th Dec)
Oxford House
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
The exhibition brings together rarely-seen original artwork and costumes, photographs, documents, audio and video to tell the story of Noël Coward's life. (Ending Soon Thu, 23rd Dec)
Guildhall Art Gallery and Roman Amphitheater
Tate presents a rare chance to experience two of Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Rooms. These immersive installations will transport you into Kusama’s unique vision of endless reflections. (Ending Soon Thu, 23rd Dec)
Tate Modern
An exhibition about a dentist and Freemason noted for his philanthropy. (Ending Soon Fri, 24th Dec)
Museum of Freemasonry
Heather Phillipson engulfs Tate Britain’s grand central galleries with colour, sound and motion (Ending Soon Wed, 29th Dec)
Tate Britain
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
Tambourines shake, wine spills, and half-naked figures whirl across the canvas in these paintings of revelry, dance and drama that are brought together in this first exhibition dedicated to Poussin and dance. (Ending Soon Sun, 2nd Jan)
National Gallery
This exhibition presents large scale photographs taken less than two months after the attacks, as the gravity of the 9/11 terror attacks left a new world in their wake. (Ending Soon Sun, 9th Jan)
Imperial War Museum
£18
Noguchi
An exhibition celebrating Japanese American sculptor Isamu Noguchi, one of the most experimental and pioneering artists of the 20th century. (Ending Soon Sun, 23rd Jan)
Barbican Centre
This exhibition celebrates the role of architectural models in shaping the spaces we live in. (Ending Soon Fri, 28th Jan)
The Building Centre
The exhibition brings together over a dozen of the artist’s best male portraits from collections across the world. (Ending Soon Sun, 30th Jan)
Wallace Collection
A selection of the finest prints from Lloyd's collection that reveal his admiration for the Alpine landscape and his interest in Swiss customs and mythology. (Ending Soon Sun, 30th Jan)
The British Museum
In a world-first, a group of rare drawings by Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai will go on display at the British Museum. (Ending Soon Sun, 30th Jan)
The British Museum
Documentary photography from the 70s and 80s (Ending Soon Fri, 4th Feb)
Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives
£0
Shilpa Gupta
The first major London exhibition by Mumbai-based artist Shilpa Gupta highlights the fragility of one’s right to expression whilst raising urgent questions of censorship, confinement and resistance. (Ending Soon Sun, 6th Feb)
Barbican Centre
Photographic exhibition of Londoners and Berliners during the pandemic, documenting their reality. (Ending Soon Fri, 11th Feb)
99 Bishopsgate
Light Years is a special four-part exhibition series in celebration of TPG’s 50th anniversary. (Ending Soon Sun, 13th Feb)
The Photographers' Gallery
Step back into a dangerous world of plots, espionage and treachery to explore the turbulent relationship between Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots in their own words. (Ending Soon Sun, 20th Feb)
The British Library
Discover how new design ideas are redefining our world and explore major new exhibits that capture the devasting impact of waste including a large-scale installation by Ibrahim Mahama. (Ending Soon Mon, 21st Feb)
The Design Museum
A collection of work exploring artists’ responses to the Battle of Britain and the Blitz as they represented evolving machinery, communications, and urban landscapes, shaped by what was an unprecedented ‘war in the air’. (Ending Soon Sun, 27th Feb)
RAF Museum
Gaze through the lens of some of the world's best wildlife photographers and marvel at the beauty of our planet. (Ending Soon Sun, 5th Jun)
Natural History Museum
Visit an 'abandoned' Tube station underworld and discover what secrets lurk beneath our busy streets in this Hidden London exhibition. (Ending Soon Mon, 31st Jul)
London Transport Museum