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, 20th December 2024?
Displayed in date order by how soon they close.
A chance discovery of thousands of photographs in a council’s archives has brought back to life a local community’s fight for survival. (Ending Soon Mon, 20th Dec)
Morley College
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
£22.50
Christmas lights at Kenwood
The grounds of Kenwood House will this year become a magical wonderland with an incredible illuminated Christmas light trail. (Ending Soon Sun, 2nd Jan)
Kenwood House
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
£26.50
Christmas at Kew
The annual after-dark festivities with family and friends, as you discover sparkling tunnels of light, dancing waterside reflections, and trees drenched in jewel-like colour on your way to the panoramic Palm House light display. (Ending Soon Sun, 9th Jan)
Kew Gardens
Come and explore this first of its kind exhibition, mapping the growth of theatre captioning through the work of deaf-led charity Stagetext. (Ending Soon Sun, 9th Jan)
Barbican Centre
£14.70
The Gingerbread City 2021
The Gingerbread City invites leading architects, engineers, landscape architects and designers to create a futuristic city made entirely of gingerbread. (Ending Soon Sun, 9th Jan)
Motcomb House
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
Step into the vibrant world of Peru and discover how people have thrived for millennia in one of the most complex and challenging environments on the planet. (Ending Soon Sun, 20th Feb)
The British Museum
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
The opening display will feature highlights from The Courtauld’s remarkable collection of British drawings and watercolours. (Ending Soon Sun, 27th Feb)
Courtauld Institute of Art
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
Showcasing previously unseen material from Paul McCartney’s personal archive, this display celebrates the life and art of one of the world’s most successful songwriters and performers. (Ending Soon Sun, 13th Mar)
The British Library
How William Hogarth and artists across Europe captured the new modernity of the 18th century (Ending Soon Sun, 20th Mar)
Tate Britain
This exhibition follows the pioneering Russian scholar of Ismaili studies, Wladimir Ivanow (1886 – 1970) across the Muslim world. (Ending Soon Thu, 31st Mar)
The Aga Khan Centre
This exhibition combines photographs taken by Shirley Baker of dogs in everyday settings, as well as at dog shows, providing an insight to her affection and admiration for man’s best friend. (Ending Soon Fri, 1st Apr)
The Kennel Club
A landmark group exhibition spanning a whole ocean and half a century (Ending Soon Sun, 3rd Apr)
Tate Britain
£14.50
Amy: Beyond the Stage
Celebrate the legacy and creativity of one of the greatest musicians of our time, Amy Winehouse. (Ending Soon Sun, 10th Apr)
The Design Museum
Explore how windows take on cultural significance and surprisingly shape all our views on the world in an exhibition by the Tokyo-based Window Research Institute. (Ending Soon Sun, 10th Apr)
Japan House
Free
Kehinde Wiley
Kehinde Wiley is an American artist best known for his portraits that render people of colour in the traditional settings of Old Master paintings. (Ending Soon Mon, 18th Apr)
National Gallery
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
Free
Hair: Untold Stories
This exhibition puts the substance before the style and unlocks the untold stories of hair. (Ending Soon Sun, 19th Jun)
Horniman Museum
£16
Lubaina Himid
Tate Modern presents Himid’s largest solo exhibition to date, incorporating new paintings and significant highlights from across her remarkable career. (Ending Soon Sun, 3rd Jul)
Tate Modern
Life in a cup presents a fascinating beverage story and explores the traditions that make coffee a way of life in parts of the Islamic world. (Ending Soon Sun, 18th Sep)
The British 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
