Our honest Jack White exhibition review of These Thoughts May Disappear at Newport Street Gallery. Derivative, forced, and a rare Cool Factor 1/5.
July 10, 2026Comments are off for this post.
Jack White Exhibition Review: These Thoughts May Disappear
May 31, 2026Comments are off for this post.
Flare-Up Goldsmiths CCA Review: London’s First Crip Art Survey
Last updated: 31 May 2026
By Tristan · Arts, exhibitions and creative culture
This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are the author's own and do not constitute professional advice.
This article contains affiliate or referral links. If you click through and sign up I may earn a commission or referral bonus at no extra cost to you. It does not affect my editorial view.
Cool Factor: 5/5
I went to Flare-Up at Goldsmiths CCA on a hot day in late May, and I left certain it is one of the shows everyone should see this year. This Flare-Up Goldsmiths CCA review is my first-hand account of the most ambitious group show on illness, disability, neurodivergence and Deafness that a London institution has yet staged. Nineteen artists. One former Victorian bathhouse, its galleries carved out of the old water tanks and plant rooms. A premise built on the flare itself: the symptom that intensifies, the burst of light, the surge of sound.
Curated by Natasha Hoare and Mariana Lemos, Flare-Up runs from 21 May to 16 August 2026 at Goldsmiths CCA in New Cross, and entry is free throughout. What follows is what I actually saw and felt walking the galleries, a short explainer on crip art for anyone new to the term, the works that floored me, an honest account of what did not quite land, and why it still earns a full Ice cold score from me.
Read more
May 3, 2026Comments are off for this post.
Katharina Grosse at White Cube Bermondsey Review
Last updated: 3 May 2026
By Tristan · Arts, exhibitions and creative culture
This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are the author's own and do not constitute professional advice.
Cool Factor
★★★★★
5 out of 5 – Ice cold
Katharina Grosse at White Cube Bermondsey is, hand on heart, the most spectacular free exhibition currently on in London. I Set Out, I Walked Fast opened on 22 April 2026 and runs until 31 May, and it delivers something genuinely rare: a show that is immersive, generous, and varied enough that you walk back out onto Bermondsey Street feeling slightly rearranged. We visited this week, and we have a lot to say about it.
Read more
April 30, 2026Comments are off for this post.
Ruba Nadar at Pipeline: ‘I Saw Myself Playing on The National Team’ Review
Last updated: 30 April 2026
By Tristan · Arts, exhibitions and creative culture
This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are the author's own and do not constitute professional advice.
This article contains affiliate or referral links. If you click through and sign up I may earn a commission or referral bonus at no extra cost to you. It does not affect my editorial view.
Cool Factor
★★★★☆
4 out of 5 – Stone cold
The best reason to climb several flights of stairs on a weekday afternoon is the possibility of a genuine discovery. Ruba Nadar's first solo exhibition at Pipeline Contemporary is exactly that. Running until 23 May 2026, I Saw Myself Playing on The National Team is a debut that announces an artist with real conviction, curated by someone who, show by show, is becoming one of the more interesting voices on London's emerging art scene.
Read more
April 27, 2026Comments are off for this post.
Amalia Pica: Daisy Chain at Herald St Review
Last updated: 27 April 2026
By Tristan · Arts, exhibitions and creative culture
This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are the author's own and do not constitute professional advice.
This article contains affiliate or referral links. If you click through and sign up I may earn a commission or referral bonus at no extra cost to you. It does not affect my editorial view.
Cool Factor
★★☆☆☆
2 out of 5 · Lukewarm
Amalia Pica: Daisy Chain arrives at Herald St as the Argentine-British artist's fourth solo show with the Bethnal Green gallery. On paper, it sounds genuinely promising. Community, memory, coded language, and a monumental installation of interconnected watercolour paintings winding around the main space. In practice, though, the Amalia Pica Daisy Chain exhibition is a quietly pretty experience that leans more heavily on sentiment than on substance.
Read more
April 10, 2026Comments are off for this post.
Chiharu Shiota & Yin Xiuzhen Hayward Gallery Review 2026 – Worth It?
Last updated: 10 April 2026
By Tristan · Arts, exhibitions and creative culture
This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are the author's own and do not constitute professional advice.
This article contains affiliate or referral links. If you click through and sign up I may earn a commission or referral bonus at no extra cost to you. It does not affect my editorial view.
Our Chiharu Shiota Hayward review covers two concurrent exhibitions at the Hayward Gallery on London's Southbank: Threads of Life and Yin Xiuzhen's Heart to Heart. For £19 you get entry to both shows, and honestly, that felt like a steal. One of these exhibitions left us speechless. The other left us a little lukewarm. Together, they make for a genuinely memorable afternoon.
Cool Factor: Chiharu Shiota — 5/5 | Yin Xiuzhen — 3/5
Read more
April 6, 2026Comments are off for this post.
Hurvin Anderson at Tate Britain Review – A Landmark Exhibition
Last updated: 6 April 2026
By Tristan · Arts, exhibitions and creative culture
This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are the author's own and do not constitute professional advice.
This article contains affiliate or referral links. If you click through and sign up I may earn a commission or referral bonus at no extra cost to you. It does not affect my editorial view.
Cool Factor: 5/5
The Hurvin Anderson Tate Britain exhibition is one of the most rewarding shows to open in London in years. Bringing together more than 80 paintings that span three decades of work, this major retrospective is a proper feast for the eyes. From lush Caribbean landscapes to intimate barbershop interiors, Anderson's colour-drenched canvases pull you in and refuse to let go. It runs until 23 August 2026, and if you only see one exhibition this year, make it this one.
Read more
March 31, 2026Comments are off for this post.
Tracey Emin: A Second Life at Tate Modern Review (2026)
Last updated: 31 March 2026
By Tristan · Arts, exhibitions and creative culture
This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are the author's own and do not constitute professional advice.
This article contains affiliate or referral links. If you click through and sign up I may earn a commission or referral bonus at no extra cost to you. It does not affect my editorial view.
Cool Factor: 4/5
This Tracey Emin Tate review covers A Second Life, the largest ever survey of Dame Tracey Emin's work now showing at Tate Modern until 31 August 2026. Spanning over 100 works across 40 years, it is ambitious, deeply personal and, at times, genuinely difficult to look at. It is also one of the best exhibitions in London right now. The textile works alone justify the £20 ticket, and seeing My Bed in person still hits differently after all these years. However, the sheer pulling power of Emin's name means crowds can make the experience feel more like rush hour than a gallery visit.
Read more
March 2, 2026Comments are off for this post.
Rose Wylie at the Royal Academy Review: A Look at the London Exhibition
By Tristan · Arts, exhibitions and creative culture
This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are the author's own and do not constitute professional advice.
This article contains affiliate or referral links. If you click through and sign up I may earn a commission or referral bonus at no extra cost to you. It does not affect my editorial view.
The Rose Wylie Royal Academy exhibition places one of Britain’s most distinctive painters within the formal context of Burlington House. Rather than framing Wylie as an outsider voice, the exhibition situates her practice within a lineage of British painting that values scale, gesture and visual directness. The result is not a retrospective spectacle but a measured presentation that clarifies the structural intelligence beneath her deliberately awkward surface language.
As with other focused RA exhibitions, the strength of the show lies in pacing. The galleries unfold in a steady sequence, allowing Wylie’s visual vocabulary to accumulate gradually.
Read moreFollow us: Instagram
Copyright 2026 CoolCuration | Privacy Policy | Cookie Policy | Affiliate Disclosure | Cool Factor
-----------
We are proud supporters of a safer more private internet via encouraging people to use Brave browser and are actively taking on Spammers as part of ProjectHoneypot. This site is hosted on servers that run on 100% renewable energy in the UK thanks to GreenWebHosting.
This site contains affiliate links, including to Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. We may earn a commission if you make a purchase or sign up for a service via these links, at no extra cost to you. All offers and promotions are accurate at the time of publication but are subject to change or withdrawal by the businesses featured. We cannot guarantee their continued availability. Read our full affiliate disclosure.
Reviews and opinions on CoolCuration reflect the personal experience of our writers at the time of publication. They are not professional endorsements and your experience may differ. Scores use our Cool Factor rating system and are given independently of any commercial relationship.
All content on CoolCuration is provided for informational and entertainment purposes only. It does not constitute financial advice, investment recommendations or an endorsement of any product or service. We are not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority and do not offer personalised financial guidance. You should always do your own research or consult a qualified financial advisor before making any financial decisions.