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, 23rd July 2024?
Displayed in date order by how soon they close.
Free
Dolls
An exhibition of dolls created during the lockdown by the artist John Lee Bird. (Ending Soon Sun, 23rd Jul)
Ugly Duck
£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
Free
Mars: War and Peace
A huge floating replica of the planet Mars, by Luke Jerram has been installed inside St John the Baptist Church. (Ending Soon Sun, 30th Jul)
St John the Baptist Church
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
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, 1st Aug)
St Bartholomew's Hospital Square
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 outdoor display presents the stories of Londoners of African, Caribbean, Asian and Indigenous heritage who lived and worked in the city between 1560 and 1860. (Ending Soon Tue, 1st Aug)
Aldgate Square
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
An exhibition of works from Damien Hirst’s latest paintings series shown in public for the first time. (Ending Soon Fri, 18th Aug)
Phillips auction house
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
The first UK exhibition for this renowned Basque artist, whose varied work often explores the relationship between nature and culture, and draws on personal, political and cultural histories. (Ending Soon Sun, 27th Aug)
Raven Row
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
Free
Our NHS at 75
An exhibition of the 75 shortlisted entries into a photography competition to mark the 75th anniversary of the NHS. (Ending Soon Thu, 31st Aug)
FUJIFILM House of Photography
Free
Architects' Houses
This exhibition celebrates five London houses all of which (like the Soane Museum) have been designed by the architects who lived and, in some cases, still live in them. (Ending Soon Sun, 3rd Sep)
Sir John Soane's Museum
Explore the work and career of Carrie Mae Weems in this first major UK exhibition dedicated to one of the most influential American artists working today. (Ending Soon Sun, 3rd Sep)
Barbican Centre
The exhibition highlights the ways in which artists are helping to reframe and deepen our psychological and spiritual responses to the climate crisis. (Ending Soon Sun, 3rd Sep)
Hayward Gallery
Explore the powerful work of two groundbreaking modern artists. (Ending Soon Sun, 3rd Sep)
Tate Modern
A selection of lesser-known works from The Courtauld’s collection of Post-Impressionist art is on display this summer. (Ending Soon Sun, 3rd Sep)
Courtauld Institute of Art
SHAPESHIFTERS features the artwork of London-based tattoo artists with a mix of prints, originals, and photography. (Ending Soon Sun, 3rd Sep)
The Last Tuesday Society / Viktor Wynd's Museum of Curiosities
£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 exhibition explores complex relationships between land, its materiality and memory in modern and contemporary artistic practice. (Ending Soon Sun, 3rd Sep)
Courtauld Institute of Art
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
The first exhibition focusing on the magnificent garden paintings of Jean Esme Oregon Cooke RA (1927-2008). (Ending Soon Sun, 10th Sep)
Garden Museum
Free
Milk
This exhibition explores our relationship with milk and its place in politics, society and culture. (Ending Soon Sun, 10th Sep)
Wellcome Collection
Discover more than 100 works of art from the 16th century to the present from Europe, North America and Australasia. (Ending Soon Sun, 10th Sep)
British Museum
An acclaimed artist working with ceramics, Bouke de Vries’ latest work will respond to William Hogarth’s A Rake’s Progress, and be displayed in the Museum’s Foyle Space. (Ending Soon Sun, 10th Sep)
Sir John Soane's Museum
This rail-themed booth display is complete with a working Japanese station vending machine. (Ending Soon Thu, 14th Sep)
Japan House London
A family exhibition exploring the science of our gardens and the natural world. (Ending Soon Thu, 14th Sep)
Garden Museum
An exhibition offering an unprecedented look at 150 contemporary photographers tracking the visual threads of humankind’s ever-changing, extraordinarily complex life across the globe. (Ending Soon Sun, 17th Sep)
Saatchi Gallery
Explore a magical world of fairy tales, as seen through the eyes of two iconic illustrators. (Ending Soon Sun, 17th Sep)
Heath Robinson Museum
£12.60
The Offbeat Sari
A major exhibition celebrating the contemporary sari. (Ending Soon Sun, 17th Sep)
The Design Museum
Free
Maria Prymachenko
The exhibition showcases paintings by Ukrainian folk artist Maria Prymachenko, shown for the first time in the UK having been preserved by the artist's family for more than fifty years. (Ending Soon Wed, 20th Sep)
Saatchi Gallery
An exhibition capturing the history of Queen through Sir Brian May's own Stereoscopic (3-D) camera lenses. (Ending Soon Sat, 23rd Sep)
Proud Galleries
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
£0
BLACK VENUS
An exhibition examining the historical representation and shifting legacy of Black women in visual culture. (Ending Soon Sun, 24th Sep)
Somerset House
An exhibition of works by Brian Clarke, who is widely regarded to be the most important artist working in stained glass today. (Ending Soon Sun, 24th Sep)
Newport Street Gallery
A free display of new design research responding to the climate crisis. (Ending Soon Sun, 24th Sep)
The Design Museum
This summer, the magnificent outfits worn by King Charles III and Queen Camilla during their Coronation will be on show in Buckingham Palace as part of the annual summer opening. (Ending Soon Sun, 24th Sep)
Buckingham Palace
£22
The Rossettis
A major exhibition devoted to the radical Rossetti generation (Ending Soon Sun, 24th Sep)
Tate Britain
£10.24
Colours festival
This exhibition will present artworks from 40 established and emerging artists from all over the world. (Ending Soon Sat, 30th Sep)
Camden market Hawley Wharf
The exhibition explores De Morgan’s unique practice of making gold drawings, showcasing 13 artworks. (Ending Soon Sun, 1st Oct)
Leighton House Museum
An unprecedented exhibition, revealing – for the first time – extraordinary photographs taken by Paul McCartney. (Ending Soon Sun, 1st Oct)
National Portrait Gallery
This display showcases drawings, paintings, sculpture and decorative arts that are not what they seem. (Ending Soon Sun, 8th Oct)
Courtauld Institute of Art
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
The narratives featured in the exhibition will prompt visitors to consider what new possibilities emerge when they are invited as readers to become a part of the story themselves. (Ending Soon Sun, 15th Oct)
British Library
Curated in close collaboration with the architects, this exhibition is a rare opportunity to see the inner workings of what The New York Times dubbed “one of the most admired architecture firms in the world.” (Ending Soon Sun, 15th Oct)
Royal Academy of Arts
This exhibition explores our devotion to four-legged friends across the centuries. (Ending Soon Sun, 15th Oct)
Wallace Collection
Visit this re-creation of Wren’s St Paul’s working ‘office’ and experience the intensity of a significant moment in the Capital’s history, the rebuilding of London and the new St Paul’s cathedral after the 1666 fire. (Ending Soon Sun, 15th Oct)
Guildhall Art Gallery and Roman Amphitheater
An exploration of the life and career of Yevonde, the pioneering London photographer who spearheaded the use of colour photography in the 1930s. (Ending Soon Sun, 15th Oct)
National Portrait Gallery
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
Explore the vibrant diversity of Japanese graphic arts in this bold exhibition which bridges the worlds of fine art, commercial illustration and counterculture. (Ending Soon Sun, 22nd Oct)
Japan House London
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
This exhibition explores the relationship of Rego’s work titled Crivelli’s Garden to the 15th-century altarpiece that inspired it. (Ending Soon Sun, 29th Oct)
National Gallery
Seeing the Light represents an opportunity for the public to see some of Italy’s most well known and loved sites – Venice, Rome, Naples - through Turner’s eyes, in the unique setting of his then rural retreat in Twickenham. (Ending Soon Sun, 29th Oct)
Turners House
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
The Art of Banksy is the world’s largest collection of original and authenticated Banksy artworks showcasing more than 110 pieces including prints, canvases, unique works and ephemera, many of which are on display for the very first time. (Ending Soon Sun, 7th Jan)
The Art of Banksy exhibition
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
Bringing together 36 artists from different generations and geographies, this exhibition explores how photography and video have allowed artists to examine legacies of the past while imagining more hopeful futures. (Ending Soon Sun, 14th Jan)
Tate Modern
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 exhibition explores the dynamic relationship between contemporary painting and photography. (Ending Soon Sun, 28th Jan)
Tate Modern
Free
Genetic Automata
This is an ongoing body of video works by artists Larry Achiampong and David Blandy, exploring race and identity in an age of avatars, videogames and DNA ancestry. (Ending Soon Sun, 11th Feb)
Wellcome Collection
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
£20
DIVA
Expect an explosion of over the top fashions at the V&A Museum this summer, as it brings together a collection of outfits worn by celebrities under the title of "divas". (Ending Soon Sun, 7th Apr)
Victoria and Albert 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
