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.
This exhibition highlights the Library’s acquisitions during a challenging few years. (Ending Soon Thu, 22nd Dec)
Lambeth Palace Library
£8
Inspired!
This exhibition examines ways in which visual artists have taken inspiration from the literary arts – poetry, plays, novels, and also music. (Ending Soon Fri, 23rd Dec)
Guildhall Art Gallery and Roman Amphitheater
Free
Treasures
Spanning centuries, the unexpected treasures on display in the Art Deco library include hand-drawn illustrations, curious texts and beguiling bindings. (Ending Soon Fri, 23rd Dec)
Museum of Freemasonry
£13
Helen Saunders
The Courtauld Gallery presents the first monographic exhibition devoted to British abstract artist Helen Saunders in over 25 years. (Ending Soon Sat, 31st Dec)
Courtauld Institute of Art
An exhibition exploring the Elstree Extension through the Northern Heights that was suspended during World War 2, and never restarted. (Ending Soon Sat, 31st Dec)
Elstree and Borehamwood Museum
£15.38
The Gingerbread City
This year’s exhibition presents not just one edible city but five miniature cities across five different climate zones: Polar, Continental, Temperate, Dry and Tropical. (Ending Soon Mon, 2nd Jan)
Motcomb House
This display brings together items reflecting the varied interests and achievements of the polymath Charles Jennens. (Ending Soon Tue, 3rd Jan)
Foundling Museum
The display shows the most exciting new toys to come to the market throughout the 20th Century – those at the top of every child’s Christmas list. (Ending Soon Fri, 6th Jan)
Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising
One of the most original and eccentric artists of the 18th century, Henry Fuseli, is the subject of a new exhibition at The Courtauld. (Ending Soon Sun, 8th Jan)
Courtauld Institute of Art
The first major survey of Carolee Schneemann’s work in the UK, tracing her diverse, transgressive and interdisciplinary expression over six decades. (Ending Soon Sun, 8th Jan)
Barbican Centre
Fred Tschida’s seven rotating sculptures trace half of a vase design – set to rotate, they create a luminous three-dimensional vessel. (Ending Soon Sun, 8th Jan)
Southbank Centre
Free
Fred Tschida: Sphere
Fred Tschida’s spinning, glowing work is recreated at a technically ambitious scale. (Ending Soon Sun, 8th Jan)
Southbank Centre
A geodesic dome with a single energy-efficient light bulb at its centre casts multicoloured light in every direction. (Ending Soon Sun, 8th Jan)
Southbank Centre
New research into IWM’s photography archive demonstrates just how keenly The Queen’s role as monarch has been shaped by her wartime experiences. (Ending Soon Sun, 8th Jan)
Imperial War Museum
With more than fifty paintings, covering over forty years of Homer’s career, the great American Realist painter confronted the leading issues facing the United States. (Ending Soon Sun, 8th Jan)
National Gallery
Free
Winter Past
The museum's Rooms Through Time, restyled to reveal how winter has changed London homes through the last 400 years (Ending Soon Sun, 8th Jan)
The Museum of the Home
A free exhibition dedicated to celebrated British photojournalist Bill Brandt (1904-83). (Ending Soon Sun, 15th Jan)
Tate Britain
An exhibition of TV and film costume designs sketches from the Ann and John Bloomfield collection. (Ending Soon Sun, 15th Jan)
BFI Southbank
‘Discover Manet and Eva Gonzalès’ is the first in a series of exhibitions that look at a single painting from fresh and unexpected perspectives. (Ending Soon Sun, 15th Jan)
National Gallery
£10.50
Radical Empathy
A collaboration between award-winning writer, Yomi Ṣode, and artist and photographer, Akytom, this display questions where we place empathy.
(Ending Soon Sun, 15th Jan)
Foundling Museum
The oldest document held in the City of London Corporation’s extensive archives will go on rare public display. (Ending Soon Thu, 19th Jan)
Guildhall Art Gallery and Roman Amphitheater
An exhibition marking the centenary of the Everest expeditions in the 1920s explores how Captain John Noel’s films shaped the popular image of the mountain (Ending Soon Fri, 20th Jan)
Royal Geographical Society
A display of photographs taken between 1857 and 1970, capturing the archaeological site of Hampi. (Ending Soon Sun, 22nd Jan)
British Library
The New Black Vanguard features 15 international Black photographers contributing to a new vision of the Black figure and reframing representation in art and fashion. (Ending Soon Sun, 22nd Jan)
Saatchi Gallery
This exhibition celebrates the completion of the British Museum's digitisation project and showcases the extraordinary variety of printmaking (Ending Soon Sun, 22nd Jan)
British Museum
A celebration of the huge contribution made to music and culture by Black British musical families, curated by the Black Music Coalition. (Ending Soon Wed, 25th Jan)
Barbican Library
Free
Futures Past
Futures Past takes the viewer on an immersive journey through the excavated ruins of the future filled with digital and sculptural works. (Ending Soon Sat, 28th Jan)
arebyte Gallery
This exhibition celebrates the essence of Japanese craftsmanship through the story of an enduring woodworking heritage cultivated in the densely forested Hida region of Gifu Prefecture. (Ending Soon Sun, 29th Jan)
Japan House London
To mark the anniversary of Tutankhamun's discovery, the British Museum has commissioned a work by Egyptian graffiti artist Nofal O. (Ending Soon Sun, 29th Jan)
British Museum
This outdoor photographic exhibition celebrates how Marble Hill has been enjoyed by the local community since becoming a public park. (Ending Soon Tue, 31st Jan)
Marble Hill House
A video projection each evening showing the moment in 1814 when an elephant walked across the frozen Thames. (Ending Soon Tue, 31st Jan)
Dirty Lane Gate
This exhibition uses the unique collections of Tower Hamlets Archives as a lens through which to explore the borough’s history of producing food. (Ending Soon Sat, 4th Feb)
Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives
£12.50
Museum of the Moon
Luke Jerram returns to the Old Royal Naval College with his incredible artwork Museum of the Moon. (Ending Soon Sun, 5th Feb)
Old Royal Naval College
Visit the Woven Cities display to see the brand-new London Woven Crest alongside the crests from Amsterdam and Rome. (Ending Soon Sun, 5th Feb)
Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising
Free
In Plain Sight
An exhibition exploring the different ways we see and are seen by others. (Ending Soon Sun, 12th Feb)
Wellcome Collection
£19
Making Modernism
The first major UK exhibition devoted to pioneering women working in Germany in the early 1900s. (Ending Soon Sun, 12th Feb)
Royal Academy of Arts
He built an empire that stretched across the world. Rode across the sky on a flying chariot. And descended to the bottom of the sea in a glass bell. Or did he? (Ending Soon Sun, 19th Feb)
The British Library
A major exhibition to mark the 200th anniversary of the decipherment of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. (Ending Soon Sun, 19th Feb)
The British Museum
Delve into the dreamlike relationship between Surrealism and design in this century-spanning celebration of surrealist objects of desire. (Ending Soon Sun, 19th Feb)
The Design Museum
Through some of our country’s most provocative artists, this exhibition presents an alternative perspective on modern Britain. (Ending Soon Sun, 19th Feb)
Somerset House
Free
This is England
See portraits of the full England football squad and manager by artist Matt Small. (Ending Soon Sun, 19th Feb)
Guildhall Art Gallery and Roman Amphitheater
Explore newly uncovered stories of African and Asian children in the care of the eighteenth-century Foundling Hospital. (Ending Soon Sun, 19th Feb)
Foundling Museum
Free
Turner on Tour
For the first time in a century, two ground-breaking paintings by Turner are coming home for a special exhibition. (Ending Soon Sun, 19th Feb)
National Gallery
From Lucian Freud to Kiki Smith, life drawing to minimalism and etching to collage, this exhibition spans an intriguing range of styles and techniques used in art on paper from 1960 to today. (Ending Soon Sat, 25th Feb)
British Museum
Tate Britain celebrates the return of Yiadom-Boakye's 2020 major survey which was sadly cut short by lockdown (Ending Soon Sun, 26th Feb)
Tate Britain
Rebel Rebel, the first major UK commission by Iranian artist Soheila Sokhanvari, celebrates and commemorates feminist icons from pre-revolutionary Iran. (Ending Soon Sun, 26th Feb)
Barbican Centre
Free
The Lost Rhino
This virtual rhino will be roaming in a digital world within the Museum’s Jerwood Gallery as part of a new art exhibition from artist Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg. (Ending Soon Tue, 28th Feb)
Natural History Museum
An installation of six large-scale clay columns inspired by traditional architectural practices in Chile, by Swedish-Chilean artist Anton Alvarez (Ending Soon Tue, 28th Feb)
100 Bishopsgate
The Cost of Living Crisis has the whole of England feeling like we're living in a madhouse so we’re looking back to the master of wacky solutions W. Heath Robinson himself! (Ending Soon Wed, 1st Mar)
Cartoon Museum
At the heart of Ilford Limited is analogue photography and this display shows the beauty of Ilford film as a tool to experiment, make portraits and capture people’s stories. (Ending Soon Sat, 11th Mar)
Redbridge Museum
Explore Fassett’s world with some of his own original artworks as well as works inspired by him from international quilters and makers. (Ending Soon Sat, 11th Mar)
Fashion and Textile Museum
£22
Cezanne
Tate Modern presents a once-in-a-generation exhibition of paintings, watercolours and drawings by Paul Cezanne. (Ending Soon Sun, 12th Mar)
Tate Modern
A display of over 1100 works by the Lithuanian artist and celebrated composer Mikalojus Konstantina, widely credited as Lithuania’s greatest artist. (Ending Soon Sun, 12th Mar)
Dulwich Picture Gallery
£16.50
Anthony Daley: Son of Rubens
Abstract Expressionist painter Anthony Daley will present a new body of work, which explores his career-long fascination with the work of 17th century Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens. (Ending Soon Sun, 19th Mar)
Dulwich Picture Gallery
The life and work of renowned 19th-century naval surgeon and physician, Sir William Beatty, is explored in all its fascinating – and often grisly. (Ending Soon Sat, 25th Mar)
Discover Greenwich Visitor Centre
This show exhibits new 3-D photography from Brian May’s latest publication ‘Stereoscopy Is Good For You: Life in 3-D’. (Ending Soon Sat, 25th Mar)
Proud Galleries
The historical map collections at London Metropolitan Archives show the development of the city in incredible detail, from the late sixteenth century to the present day. (Ending Soon Wed, 29th Mar)
London Metropolitan Archives
From tradeswomen, to community organisers, faith leaders, artists, and shopkeepers; this exhibition showcases and celebrates the many women who contribute to life in Bethnal Green (Ending Soon Fri, 31st Mar)
Oxford House
The exhibition brings iconic and unknown archival documents to life, including the original Treason Act and the Monteagle Letter that tipped off the Gunpowder Plot. (Ending Soon Thu, 6th Apr)
The National Archives
£16
Maria Bartuszová
Delicate, evocative plaster sculptures inspired by the natural world (Ending Soon Sun, 16th Apr)
Tate Modern
An exhibition of cartoons about Boris Johnson. (Ending Soon Sun, 16th Apr)
Cartoon Museum
Free
Chinese and British
An exhibition about the history and impact of the Chinese community in the UK, and to understand what it really means to be Chinese and British. (Ending Soon Sun, 23rd Apr)
British Library
This exhibition explores The Poppy Factory’s fascinating history and displays artefacts which chart the story of this unique local charity. (Ending Soon Sat, 29th Apr)
Museum of Richmond
Thamesmead Codex celebrates the voices and local community of Thamesmead, London (Ending Soon Sun, 7th May)
Tate Modern
A new series of fresco paintings by Hannah Quinlan and Rosie Hastings (Ending Soon Sun, 7th May)
Tate Britain
Explore a forest of towering woven sculptures (Ending Soon Sun, 21st May)
Tate Modern
This display, marking the 200th anniversary of the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs, celebrates the female UCL teachers and students who were core to ancient language teaching in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. (Ending Soon Sat, 27th May)
Free
War Games
The UK’s first exhibition to explore what video games can tell us about conflict. (Ending Soon Sun, 28th May)
Imperial War Museum
The V&A's first exhibition to celebrate the colourful and dynamic popular culture of South Korea, following its early origins to its place on the global stage today. (Ending Soon Sun, 25th Jun)
Victoria and Albert Museum
Free
Yinka Ilori
Dive into the colourful world of artist/designer Yinka Ilori through installations, patterns and graphics that aim to shape and inspire a joyful and playful experience. (Ending Soon Sun, 25th Jun)
The Design Museum
Discover the natural world in all its wonder and diversity at the newly redesigned Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition (Ending Soon Sun, 2nd Jul)
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
Astronomy Photographer of the Year is an annual competition featuring the world’s greatest space photography. (Ending Soon Sun, 13th Aug)
National Maritime Museum
Free
Road to Recovery
This exhibition follows the challenging journeys of rehabilitation and recovery taken by soldiers who have suffered a life-changing physical or mental injury. (Ending Soon Mon, 28th Aug)
National Army Museum
This display celebrates the glittering world of musical theatre, exploring the evolution and craftmanship of iconic musicals (Ending Soon Mon, 27th Nov)
Victoria and Albert Museum
This exhibition explores the worldwide effort to develop vaccines at pandemic speed. (Ending Soon Sun, 7th Jan)
Science Museum
Free
Slavery & the Bank
This exhibition explores the history of transatlantic slavery through its connections with the Bank of England and the wider City of London. (Ending Soon Fri, 26th Jan)
Bank of England Museum
How do you develop a vaccine quickly and effectively to combat a global pandemic? (Ends on Sun, 12th May)
Science Museum
This exhibition follows the lives of British soldiers in Germany over the past 75 years. (Ends on Wed, 21st Aug)
National Army Museum
