ith access to hundreds of cultural institutions, we Londoners are spoilt for choice when it comes to a fun day out. But sometimes the capital’s embarrasment of riches means a tricky choice of where to go.
Do you disappear into the National Gallery for an afternoon, pop by some of the independent galleries in Marylebone, explore east London’s exciting offerings, or wander round the Tate?
To help, we’ve narrowed it down to five top picks we’re sure you’ll enjoy. We might have chosen the exhibitions because they’ve been particularly well-reviewed, or because they’re hilarious, weird, provocative, moving or thrilling. They might be on the list because they’re about to close, or because they’ve just opened.
Look no further every week: here’s our pick of five extraordinary exhibitions to see in London right now.
Carrie Mae Weems: Reflections for Now, Barbican
Untitled (Woman and Daughter with Make Up), from Kitchen Table Series, 1990
/ Carrie Mae Weems. Courtesy of the artist, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York / Galerie Barbara Thumm, BerlinWidely considered to be one of the most influential American artists working today, Carrie Mae Weems is celebrated for her exploration of identity, power, desire and social justice through work that challenges representations of race, gender, and class. Highlighting her diverse and radical practice, this first major UK survey brings together an outstanding selection of photographs, films, objects and installations spanning over three decades, most of which have never been seen before in the UK.
The Standard gave it five stars describing it as, “conceptually precise, formally spare, it’s breathtaking stuff.” Happily, tickets are still available.
Barbican, to September 3; barbican.org.uk
Life Is More Important Than Art, Whitechapel Gallery
Mark Wallinger, Threshold to the Kingdom, 11 min, 12 seconds, video stills, 2000
/ Courtesy the artist © Mark Wallinger © Tate ImagesThis beautiful exhibition is about the joy that can be found in everyday life – and the way that art both props up and enriches it. Given that we are living through what feels like a particularly testing time, the gallery reflects on art’s place in the world and asks, are there more pressing concerns?
“While addressing geopolitics, capitalism, community and individuality, it does so through numerous emotional registers,” said The Standard. “This is the show’s ultimate strength.” The exhibition’s artists include Osman Yousefzada, Mark Wallinger, Mitra Tabrizian, Rana Begum, Sarah Dobai and Susan Hiller.
Whitechapel Gallery, to September 3; whitechapelgallery.org
Lines in the Sand, Incubator
Ukrainian families crush onto trains heading out of Kyiv, March 2022
/ Lynsey AddarioLines in the Sand looks at the impact of borders by bringing together the works of photo-journalist Lynsey Addario, artists John Richard and Charlie Gosling and sculptor Antrea Tzourovits. The artists’ very different works counterbalance each other – Addario’s photos of packed trains in Kiev, for example, are placed nearby John Richard’s images of tranquil waters, creating a show that jolts in its rhythm.
Incubator, to September 10; incubatorart.com
Tomás Saraceno In Collaboration: Web(s) of Life, Serpentine Gallery
Installation view of Spider/Web Pavilion 7 at the 58th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia
/ Courtesy the artist Photography by Studio Tomás SaracenoArgentine artist Tomás Saraceno explores ecosystems in this eye-opening exhibition that puts spiders front and centre, using the insect’s web as an example of the extraordinary abilities of other species and the intelligence of the natural world. Through the use of interactive sculptures and an immersive film installation, the show posits that a human reconnection with our environments is much in order.
Serpentine Gallery, to September 10; serpentinegalleries.org
Paula Rego: Crivelli’s Garden, National Gallery
Paula Rego’s Study for Crivelli’s Garden 1990
/ National GalleryHaving hung for 30 years in the National Gallery’s restaurant, seen only by the hungry eyes of the diners (a fate that Mark Rothko refused to submit his work to with the Seagram Murals), the gallery’s refurb has liberated the late Paula Rego’s fantastic paintings, the result of two years as the NG’s associate artist, and got it back on full public display, alongside preparatory studies and the 15th century altarpiece by Carlo Crivelli that inspired it.
“As so often, Rego brings an almost hallucinatory vision to her subject matter,” said the Standard. “She creates a world rooted in the here and now but propels us into the realms of the imagination.”
National Gallery, to October 29; nationalgallery.org.uk