Best Summer Exhibitions in London
It's that time of year again; exam seasion is (hopefully!) now over and the summer weather is finally starting to appear. If you're like me and have a bit more free time on your hands nowadays, you might be debating what the best ways to spend your summer are - in which case, one of my favourite things to do is check out art exhibitions! 
The Tate Modern has two fantastic exhibitions on this summer: ‘Do Ho Suh: Walk the House’ and ‘Leigh Bowery!’ Whilst I would recommend going to both, you could always choose the one that interests you most - South Korean artist Do Ho Suh’s installation work allows you to move through replica, fabric ‘homes’, whilst the Leigh Bowery retrospective explores the queer artist's contributions to the arts across fashion, music and photography. Tickets are available for £5 for 16-25 year olds once you join Tate Collective, but if you don’t feel like splashing the cash, there's also a lot of free artwork on display throughout the museum.
On top of that, from the 20th of June onwards the National Portrait Gallery will be exhibiting ‘Jenny Saville: The Anatomy of Painting’. Jenny Saville is one of my all time favourite painters as a BA Fine Art and Art History student, so I have to admit this is probably the exhibition I'm most excited to see this summer. Her paintings primarily depict the female form in ways that makes the audience question their traditional perceptions of beauty - and since this exhibition will have over 40 works from throughout her career, it'll be one of the largest collections of her art to go on display. Visitors aged 25 and under can attend this exhibition for free (the standard fee is £21), but it's recommended that you book a ticket in advance on the NPG website.
If you're less interested in traditional ‘art’ exhibitions and want something a bit different, the Wellcome Collection has some great options. ‘1880 THAT: Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader’ is a free exhibition which takes a closer look at sign language, deaf communities and deaf education, whilst ‘Thirst: In Search of Freshwater’ (starting June 26th) explores the historical importance of freshwater through the world. If you haven't been already, I'd definitely recommend visiting the Wellcome Collection - not just does it have an awesome library that's perfect for studying in, but it has tons of science/health-related objects available to view through their archives.
Last but not least is Somerset House’s London Design Biennale, which is currently on and running until June 29th. I'm planning to study an MSc in User Experience Design next year, so this is a big one on my list of must-sees: the LDB showcases a wide range of designs and innovations from across the world and has a regular programme of events and workshops to take part in. Full price tickets are typically £27, but anyone aged 16-25 can purchase a ticket for only £10.
Of course, this isn't all of the exhibitions going on across London this summer - but I hope it acted as a good starting point for anyone currently stuck on what to do! As always, if you have any recommendations of your own, feel free to leave them down below.
Eve (Kingston Rep).
The Tate Modern has two fantastic exhibitions on this summer: ‘Do Ho Suh: Walk the House’ and ‘Leigh Bowery!’ Whilst I would recommend going to both, you could always choose the one that interests you most - South Korean artist Do Ho Suh’s installation work allows you to move through replica, fabric ‘homes’, whilst the Leigh Bowery retrospective explores the queer artist's contributions to the arts across fashion, music and photography. Tickets are available for £5 for 16-25 year olds once you join Tate Collective, but if you don’t feel like splashing the cash, there's also a lot of free artwork on display throughout the museum.
On top of that, from the 20th of June onwards the National Portrait Gallery will be exhibiting ‘Jenny Saville: The Anatomy of Painting’. Jenny Saville is one of my all time favourite painters as a BA Fine Art and Art History student, so I have to admit this is probably the exhibition I'm most excited to see this summer. Her paintings primarily depict the female form in ways that makes the audience question their traditional perceptions of beauty - and since this exhibition will have over 40 works from throughout her career, it'll be one of the largest collections of her art to go on display. Visitors aged 25 and under can attend this exhibition for free (the standard fee is £21), but it's recommended that you book a ticket in advance on the NPG website.
If you're less interested in traditional ‘art’ exhibitions and want something a bit different, the Wellcome Collection has some great options. ‘1880 THAT: Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader’ is a free exhibition which takes a closer look at sign language, deaf communities and deaf education, whilst ‘Thirst: In Search of Freshwater’ (starting June 26th) explores the historical importance of freshwater through the world. If you haven't been already, I'd definitely recommend visiting the Wellcome Collection - not just does it have an awesome library that's perfect for studying in, but it has tons of science/health-related objects available to view through their archives.
Last but not least is Somerset House’s London Design Biennale, which is currently on and running until June 29th. I'm planning to study an MSc in User Experience Design next year, so this is a big one on my list of must-sees: the LDB showcases a wide range of designs and innovations from across the world and has a regular programme of events and workshops to take part in. Full price tickets are typically £27, but anyone aged 16-25 can purchase a ticket for only £10.
Of course, this isn't all of the exhibitions going on across London this summer - but I hope it acted as a good starting point for anyone currently stuck on what to do! As always, if you have any recommendations of your own, feel free to leave them down below.
Eve (Kingston Rep).
(edited 8 months ago)
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