We Londoners are spoiled for choice when it comes to choosing how to spend our free time, with hundreds of cultural organizations at our disposal. The dilemma of where to go in the capital comes from the city’s abundance of excellent options.
Do you spend the afternoon at the Tate, the National Gallery, a handful of Marylebone’s independent galleries, or the intriguing offerings of east London?
To make choosing easier, we’ve selected five excellent options that we know you’ll love. The exhibitions may have been selected for their high critical acclaim, or because they are exceptionally funny, unusual, controversial, emotional, or exhilarating. They could be included because they are closing soon or opening soon.
Every week, we’ll save you time by highlighting five of the best current exhibitions in London.
A Cold Wind and a Warm Welcome, by Klara Kristalova
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Klara Kristalova, Shield, 2023 / Courtesy of the Artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York, Hong Kong, Seoul, and London
At Cromwell Place, Swedish sculptor Klara Kristalova displays her newest works. The artist’s unusual characters are inspired by mythological and fantastical tales. In this work, she expands upon her previous attempts to create a unified universe for ecological, fantasy, and humanity.
To September 9; Cromwell Place; cromwellplace.com
Lines in the Sand, Incubator
March 2022, Ukrainian family cram onto trains leaving Kyiv / Lynsey Addario
Photographer Lynsey Addario, painters John Richard and Charlie Gosling, and sculptor Antrea Tzourovits all contribute to Lines in the Sand, an exhibition that examines the effects of borders via their respective mediums. Addario’s photographs of crowded trains in Kiev, for example, juxtaposed next to John Richard’s images of placid waterways, create an exhibition that jolts in its rhythm because of the contrast between the two extremes.
On view at Incubator through September 10 (further information at incubatorart.com).
The Waiting Room by Sarah Sze
Bal, Thierry
U.S. artist Sarah Sze has transformed the long-vacant first-class waiting area at Peckham Rye Station into “extraordinary, intricate sculptural environments” for her latest exhibition. Art Angel (the London-based arts organization behind Rachel Whiteread’s House and Mika Rottenberg / Mahyad Tousi’s Remote) presents a new exhibition by the American artist who examines technology and information via the use of everyday things. A steel cage with moving projectors, flashing visuals, and film sequences projected upon its walls.
Through September 16 at Peckham Rye Station, presented by artangel.org.uk.
Metamorph by Niko Koronis
Carpenters Workshop Gallery London and Niko Koronis, Courtesy of the Artist
With the help of artists and architects including Sir David Adjaye, Sir Christopher Le Brun, Ingrid Donat, Michèle Lamy, and Rick Owens, Ladbroke Hall has been restored and will soon open to the public as one of West London’s premier art destinations. It features a garden sanctuary and a restaurant, and its upcoming cultural program spans music, theater, film, dance, art, and collectible design.
The work of Niko Koronis, an architectural designer with a Ph.D. from London’s Architectural Association, is now on display in the gallery’s newest location, the East Wing Carpenters Workshop. Koronis, a former Fellow at London’s Central Saint Martins and a researcher at Helsinki’s Alvar Aalto Foundation, displays a collection of items in Metamorph that all investigate the transformation of Belgian black marble’s surface through polishing and other treatments.
On view at the London gallery carpentersworkshopgallery.com till September 24.
“Herzog & de Meuron”
Kevin Mak, M+, Hong Kong (2012-present).
The lack of the real subject matter (buildings are difficult to display) might make an exhibition on architecture somewhat dull. The Swiss firm behind Tate Modern (both halves), the Laban Centre, and the spectacular Elbphilharmonie edifice in Hamburg is the subject of this virtual reality investigation into the firm’s working method, which reveals a lofty goal.
Up till October 15 at the Royal Academy; royalacademy.org.uk.