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: Tuesday, 28th May 2024?
Displayed in date order by how soon they close.
Fifty years on from the release of David Bowie’s album, this exhibition delves into the creation of its iconic ‘lightning bolt’ cover portrait by Brian Duffy. (Ending Soon Sun, 28th May)
Southbank Centre
Free
Chelsea in Bloom
The streets of Chelsea will be transformed with floral creations adorning the frontages of over 80 businesses, shops and restaurants. (Ending Soon Sun, 28th May)
Various locations
Free
Crypto ZR: Arrival
The "Arrival" project will present the systematic work of "Crypto ZR" incorporating internet discussions regarding crypto art, attributed to the discussion on language, civilisation, and communication in the film “Arrival". (Ending Soon Sun, 28th May)
Saatchi Gallery
For the first time, the entire Morandi collection from Italy’s Magnani-Rocca Foundation will be shown together in the UK. (Ending Soon Sun, 28th May)
Estorick Collection
In his first solo exhibition with Vigo, the artist's androgenous and striking forms are directly reminiscent of the accentuated designs of fairground rides, a nod to Godsk's upbringing in the world of the Danish funfair. (Ending Soon Sun, 28th May)
Wellington Arch
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
£16
Peter Doig
A major exhibition of new and recent works by Peter Doig – including paintings and works on paper created since the artist’s move from Trinidad to London in 2021. (Ending Soon Mon, 29th May)
Courtauld Institute of Art
In this exhibition Baharier is also showcasing a number of portraits of disabled people who have changed society. (Ending Soon Wed, 31st May)
The Foundry
This exhibition will take visitors back in time to a more magical period of retro-futuristic glitz, glamour and adventure, showcasing classic comic artwork based on the worlds of Gerry Anderson. (Ending Soon Sun, 4th Jun)
Cartoon Museum
A display of ceramics by Simon Pettet inside the remarkable Dennis Severs House. (Ending Soon Sun, 4th Jun)
Dennis Severs House
An exhibition exploring Pan-African cinema and its relationship with Black British cinema and culture. (Ending Soon Sun, 4th Jun)
Raven Row
This exhibition brings together intimate depictions of gardens and greenhouses, public parks and favoured plant specimens by artists of the interwar years. (Ending Soon Sun, 4th Jun)
Garden Museum
A free outdoor exhibition of photography, art and history from the archives and collections of St Bartholomew’s Hospital, held by Barts Health NHS Trust Archives. (Ending Soon Tue, 6th Jun)
Guildhall Art Gallery and Roman Amphitheater
The first major UK exhibition to explore the exceptional talents of the Renaissance master Donatello, arguably the greatest sculptor of all time. (Ending Soon Sun, 11th Jun)
Victoria and Albert Museum
Discover the past, present and possible futures of kumihimo, an intricate, decorative braided cord from Japan, in the first major UK exhibition exploring this ancient yet contemporary Japanese art. (Ending Soon Sun, 11th Jun)
Japan House London
Artist Nalini Malani, our first National Gallery contemporary fellow, presents new ways of seeing well-known works of art. (Ending Soon Sun, 11th Jun)
National Gallery
This exhibition looks again at one of the best-known faces in the National Gallery: Quinten Massys’s 16th-century depiction of an old woman, a painting known as ‘The Ugly Duchess’. (Ending Soon Sun, 11th Jun)
National Gallery
Discover the Black artists from America’s South who created some of the most spectacular and ingenious works of the last century. (Ending Soon Sun, 18th Jun)
Royal Academy of Arts
The exhibition explores how Jews arrived in Britain, and fought for the right to acquire land and the political rights and social status that came with it (Ending Soon Sun, 25th Jun)
Gunnersbury Park Museum
The Front Door Photography Exhibition is part of the Disability and the Home project exploring the idea of the home in relation to the lived experience of disabled people. (Ending Soon Sun, 25th Jun)
The Museum of the Home
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
A special one-room display celebrates through photographs the unique connection The Queen had with her corgis. (Ending Soon Sun, 25th Jun)
Wallace Collection
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
Taking over The Curve, you’re invited to become a part of the art, built on site using objects foraged from some of the UK’s cultural institutions and exhibitions. (Ending Soon Mon, 26th Jun)
Barbican Centre
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
A display of a beautifully crafted model of a festival float, set on a wheeled carriage, that was donated to the British Museum in 1908. (Ending Soon Sun, 2nd Jul)
British Museum
Free
No Place Like Home
The collaborative exhibition features a group of Vietnamese diasporic artists presenting works about the theme of home through the Vietnamese cultural lens. (Ending Soon Tue, 11th Jul)
The Museum of the Home
The exhibition showcases Feliks Topolski’s lifelong commitment to reportage. (Ending Soon Sat, 15th Jul)
Topolski Studio
An exhibition exploring the crucial role that Freud’s collection of antiquities played in his development of the concepts and methods of psychoanalysis. (Ending Soon Sun, 16th Jul)
Freud Museum
This exhibition shines a spotlight on the aristocratic habit of collecting valuable objects to create what were known as Cabinets of Curiosities, which developed in the courts of Northern and Southern Europe during the Renaissance. (Ending Soon Wed, 19th Jul)
Strawberry Hill
£16.50
Ai Weiwei: Making Sense
Ai Weiwei's exhibition focuses on design with a mix recent works and commissioned pieces, inviting us into a meditation on value and humanity, art and activism. (Ending Soon Sun, 30th Jul)
The Design Museum
Come face-to-face with one of history’s most inspirational and revered figures in the first major UK art exhibition to explore Saint Francis of Assisi’s life and legacy. (Ending Soon Sun, 30th Jul)
National Gallery
The display celebrates monumental painters of the capital and showcases some of the largest paintings in the Gallery’s collection. (Ending Soon Sun, 30th Jul)
Guildhall Art Gallery and Roman Amphitheater
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
This exhibition looks at the origins of the war and the work of the British Army to assist Ukraine since 2014. (Ending Soon Tue, 1st Aug)
National Army Museum
This one-room display celebrates through photographs the unique connection The Queen had with corgis throughout her life. (Ending Soon Sun, 6th Aug)
Wallace Collection
What do we find in the LSE Library and Women’s Library archives and special collections if we look for the earth? (Ending Soon Tue, 8th Aug)
LSE Library
Astronomy Photographer of the Year is an annual competition featuring the world’s greatest space photography. (Ending Soon Sun, 13th Aug)
National Maritime Museum
Luxury and power: Persia to Greece moves beyond ancient Greek spin to delve into a more complex story of luxury and power in ancient Iran, Athens, and the world of Alexander. (Ending Soon Sun, 13th Aug)
British Museum
The first major UK exhibition by one of today's most compelling artists and filmmakers. (Ending Soon Sun, 20th Aug)
Tate Britain
In this immersive genre-defying exhibition you will embark on a once in a lifetime adventure through the cosmos to explore visions of the future through the science of today. (Ending Soon Sun, 20th Aug)
Science Museum
£9.50
Finding Family
Explore new perspectives on what family is and can be, through this exhibition that showcases the ongoing power of art to challenge and question the world around us. (Ending Soon Sun, 27th Aug)
Foundling Museum
See how documenting the animal world has resulted in some of humankind’s most awe-inspiring art, science and sound recordings. (Ending Soon Mon, 28th Aug)
British Library
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
Explore the powerful work of two groundbreaking modern artists. (Ending Soon Sun, 3rd Sep)
Tate Modern
£17
The King's Stamp
Discover the story of definitive stamps, from the very first design to today. (Ending Soon Sun, 3rd Sep)
The Postal Museum
This new exhibition develops a fertile dialogue between Caro’s sculpture and the unique character of Soane’s building. (Ending Soon Sun, 10th Sep)
Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery
This exhibition brings together around 30 of Morisot’s masterpieces from international collections to reveal the artist as a trailblazer of the movement. (Ending Soon Sun, 10th Sep)
Dulwich Picture Gallery
Free
Milk
This exhibition explores our relationship with milk and its place in politics, society and culture. (Ending Soon Sun, 10th Sep)
Wellcome Collection
£12.60
The Offbeat Sari
A major exhibition celebrating the contemporary sari. (Ending Soon Sun, 17th Sep)
The Design Museum
See an edition of Shakespeare's First Folio on display at the National Maritime Museum, celebrating 400 years since its publication. (Ending Soon Sun, 24th Sep)
National Maritime Museum
£22
The Rossettis
A major exhibition devoted to the radical Rossetti generation (Ending Soon Sun, 24th Sep)
Tate Britain
The exhibition explores De Morgan’s unique practice of making gold drawings, showcasing 13 artworks. (Ending Soon Sun, 1st Oct)
Leighton House Museum
In a global first, the resilience and innovation of 19th-century China is revealed in a major new exhibition. (Ending Soon Sun, 8th Oct)
British Museum
This exhibition explores what the Georgians wore, from the practical dress of laundry maids to the glittering gowns worn at court. (Ending Soon Sun, 8th Oct)
The Queen's Gallery
This exhibition explores our devotion to four-legged friends across the centuries. (Ending Soon Sun, 15th Oct)
Wallace Collection
This exhibition peers through the London fog to explore the circumstances that created this problem and how Dickens was inspired by the phenomenon. (Ending Soon Sun, 22nd Oct)
Charles Dickens Museum
Photographer Philip Cunningham's exhibition of people, places and community activism in 1970s East London. (Ending Soon Fri, 27th Oct)
Oxford House
£9
Brick Dinos
A 1.5 metre long model of a Polacanthus, an armoured 125-million-year-old dinosaur found in the UK, will be on show for the first time as part of the Brick Dinos exhibition. (Ending Soon Sun, 29th Oct)
Horniman Museum
£28
Crown to Couture
Crown to Couture sees contemporary couture worn by high profile celebrities including Lizzo and Lady Gaga, displayed alongside historic costumes. (Ending Soon Sun, 29th Oct)
Kensington Palace
This exhibition tells the story of the Mall Studios, an artists’ enclave in Hampstead where Barbara Hepworth, Ben Nicholson, Henry Moore and Herbert Read changed the face of 20th Century British Art. (Ending Soon Sun, 29th Oct)
Isokon Gallery
A display exploring the underrepresented history of Indian indenture in the British Caribbean. (Ending Soon Sun, 19th Nov)
Museum of London Docklands
Free
The Polar Silk Road
Gregor Sailer's photography exhibition explores the new Arctic trade routes opening due to melting ice cap. (Ending Soon Fri, 24th Nov)
Natural History 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 brings together a group of new and existing sculptures to explore Black women’s labour across histories and geographies. (Ending Soon Mon, 1st Jan)
Tate Britain
This exhibition explores the worldwide effort to develop vaccines at pandemic speed. (Ending Soon Sun, 7th Jan)
Science Museum
This exhibition will invite visitors to further their understanding of the Troubles through the multiple perspectives of individuals affected by the conflict. (Ending Soon Sun, 7th Jan)
Imperial War Museum
Four times heavier than Dippy the Diplodocus, 12 metres longer than Hope the blue whale and making its European debut, prepare to meet titanosaur and learn all about life as the biggest dinosaur. (Ending Soon Sun, 7th Jan)
Natural History Museum
From across the sea, an art revolution is coming. Discover the art of the Van de Veldes at the Queen's House (Ending Soon Sun, 14th Jan)
Queen's House
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
This free installation invites visitors to orient themselves in the buildings and their complex, fascinating histories in an exciting new display at the heart of the Barbican’s Foyers. (Ending Soon Fri, 5th Apr)
Barbican Centre
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