London Design Festival 2026 runs 12 to 20 September. Twelve picks, what is free, what is ticketed, and the day that gets you nine.
A sealed Victorian strongroom under Chancery Lane, forty minutes of voices in the dark, and the moment they all start shouting at once. Free until 18 October.
Last updated: 9 September 2026. I checked every date, price and rule in this Bayeux Tapestry British Museum ticket guide against the museum's own pages on 6 September 2026.
By Tristan · Arts, exhibitions and creative culture
The two dates that matter
Members can book 1 January to 31 March 2027 from 6 October 2026. Everyone else gets the same three months on 21 October 2026.
Check availability at the British Museum
Exhibitions2026 edit
Sold out until January, and the queue was 80,000 people long
The Bayeux Tapestry British Museum display opens on 10 September 2026 and runs to 11 July 2027, and every slot up to 31 December has already gone. So the useful question is no longer where to buy a ticket. It is how to get one at all. The next public release lands on 21 October 2026, membership no longer buys a new joiner what it buys an existing member, and the National Art Pass does something different again.
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May 24, 2026Comments are off for this post.
Christo Air Review: Gagosian’s Lost Cloud Lands in London
Last updated: 23 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: 4/5
Some shows you walk through. This one you stand inside. Our Christo Air review covers the moment a lost 1968 idea finally turns real, suspended just above your head in a Mayfair gallery. Christo: Air opened at Gagosian on Grosvenor Hill on 21 May 2026, and it centres on a single, glowing cloud that the artist never lived to see built. Below, we unpack what genuinely works, what falls a little short, and whether this Christo Air review lands the show among the capital's must-see exhibitions this summer.
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May 19, 2026Comments are off for this post.
Olivia Guillot In between blinks at Glasshouse Review: 2026
Last updated: 19 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.
This Olivia Guillot Glasshouse review covers in between blinks, the debut London solo show from a French-British painter who has spent the last year on the Tracey Emin Artist Residency in Margate. The work is loud, confident and unmistakably alive. It is also, quite plainly, the start of something rather than the finished thing. So if you want to back a young painter early, this small Soho room is a good place to begin.
Cool Factor: 4/5
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May 18, 2026Comments are off for this post.
Milly Thompson Aroma Venus Review: A Posthumous Triumph at Amanda Wilkinson Gallery
Last updated: 10 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 post contains a small number of affiliate links in the related-content section at the bottom, none of which influence the review itself.
Cool Factor: 5/5 Ice cold
The Milly Thompson Aroma Venus show at Amanda Wilkinson Gallery is, hands down, the warmest, wittiest, most quietly furious thing I have walked into in London this year. It is also posthumous, so going in I was a bit nervous. I needn't have been. Aroma Venus is exactly the kind of glamorous, slippery, unapologetic exhibition Milly would have hung herself, and it left me beaming and slightly teary on Farringdon Road. If you have a free afternoon before 23 May 2026, just go.
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May 15, 2026Comments are off for this post.
David Zwirner London Review: Five Minimalist Masters 2026
Last updated: 15 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.
Five names, one Mayfair townhouse, and a quietly precise group hang. This David Zwirner London review covers Flavin, Judd, McCracken, Ryman, Sandback, on view at 24 Grafton Street until 22 May 2026. Although the artists are familiar, the way David Zwirner has threaded them together is genuinely fresh. So if you've ever wondered what colour itself can do as a material, this is the show to see.
Cool Factor: 4/5
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April 10, 2026Comments are off for this post.
Schiaparelli V&A Review: Fashion Becomes Art at the V&A London
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.
We went into the Schiaparelli V&A exhibition not knowing quite what to expect. We are not fashion journalists. We are curious culture-watchers who appreciate design, craftsmanship, and the occasional moment where something genuinely stops you in your tracks. Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art at the V&A delivered that moment several times over. This is our honest Schiaparelli V&A review, covering whether this blockbuster show justifies its ticket price, what the standout pieces are, and why it deserves your attention even if you have never owned a couture anything.
Cool Factor: 4/5 (Stone cold)
Cool Factor
★★★★☆
4 out of 5
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
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April 7, 2026Comments are off for this post.
Veronica Ryan Whitechapel Gallery Review 2026 – Multiple Conversations
Last updated: 11 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
Two weeks ago I walked out of Hurvin Anderson's show at Tate Britain buzzing. It was focused, beautifully paced, and one of the best things I have seen in London this year. Then I paid £16.50 to see Veronica Ryan: Multiple Conversations at Whitechapel Gallery. I walked out feeling flat. Ryan is a Turner Prize winner with four decades of serious, compelling work behind her. So what went wrong? In short, the Veronica Ryan Whitechapel survey tries to say everything at once and ends up saying very little clearly. Here is why.
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