Ai Weiwei to take over the Design Museum with major exhibition and installations
Ai Weiwei: Making Sense will be the artist’s very first exhibition to focus on design and architecture, and will mix recent works with commissioned pieces, inviting us into a meditation on value and humanity, art and activism.

Ai Weiwei, one of the world’s most celebrated and recognisable living artists, is to open a major new exhibition at the Design Museum in April 2023.
Ai Weiwei: Making Sense will be the artist’s very first exhibition to focus on design and architecture, and will be his biggest UK show in eight years. The exhibition will feature works never shown before in the UK, as well as new pieces displayed for the very first time. There will be large- scale works installed outside of the exhibition gallery, in the museum’s free-to-enter spaces as well as outside the building.

Image: © Image courtesy Ai Weiwei Studio
Known around the world for his powerful art and activism, Ai Weiwei works across many disciplines: his practice emcompasses art, architecture, design, film, collecting and curating. In this exhibition, Ai uses design and the history of making as a lens through which to consider what we value.
At the heart of the exhibition will be a series of major site-specific installations. Hundreds of thousands of objects will be laid out on the floor of the gallery in a series of five expansive ‘fields’. These objects — from Stone Age tools to Lego bricks — have been collected together by Ai Weiwei since the 1990s, and are the result of his ongoing fascination with artefacts and traditional craftsmanship. These collection-based works have never been brought together before. Three of the fields have been created for this exhibition and will be seen for the very first time. The other two have never been seen in the UK before.

Image: Untitled (LEGO Incident). © Image courtesy Ai Weiwei Studio
Alongside the fields will be dozens of objects and artworks from throughout Ai Weiwei’s career that explore the tensions between past and present, hand and machine, precious and worthless, construction and destruction. His Han dynasty urn emblazoned with a Coca-Cola logo, which will be on show, epitomises these clashes. Location: 224-238 Kensington High Street, Kensington, London W8 6AG, Date: 7 April - 30 July 2023. Price: from £16.50/Concessions available.
Robyn Orlin had her first encounter with the rickshaw drivers of Durban at the young age of five or six, an experience that left such a deep impression on her that she later sought to learn more about their fate. Rickshaws were first introduced to Durban in 1892…
Things are not going well for the protagonist of KAREN. The show opens as she is unceremoniously dumped by her boyfriend of four years, Joe, on a birthday trip to Alton Towers. Unexpected heartbreak as she’s halfway through eating a calippo and dressed in a pac-a-mac is just the beginning - as Joe starts dating her office nemesis, Karen…
TOZI, derived from the affectionate Venetian slang for “a close-knit group of friends,” is the brainchild of an Italian trio that met while opening Shoreditch House under the Soho House Group. In 2013, Chef Maurilio Molteni, fresh from his time as Head Chef at Shoreditch House and developing the menu at Cecconi’s, opened the first TOZI restaurant in London…
Pioneering choreographer Merce Cunningham’s work will “forever” be revered. The Van Cleef & Arpels Dance Reflections festival has brought two of his works back to life performed by the Lyon Opera Ballet at Sadlers’ Wells…
Multitudes at Southbank Centre will reimagine live music through bold collaborations across dance, theatre, and visual arts…
Multitudes Festival · Ed Atkins, Tate Britain · Brick Lane Jazz Festival · Teatro La Plaza’s Hamlet · Holly Blakey: A Wound with Teeth & Phantom · Roof East · Hampton Court Palace Tulip Festival 2025 · London Marathon 2025 · ROOH – Within Her · Sultan Stevenson Presents El Roi · Carmen at The Royal Opera House · The Big Egg Hunt 2025 · Architecture on Stage: New Architects · The Friends of Holland Park Annual Art Exhibition 2025
Born in 1937 in what is now West Bengal, Arpita Singh is one of India’s pioneering post-independence artists. Remembering marks her first institutional solo exhibition outside India, featuring key works from her prolific six-decade long career…
Tate Modern’s 25th anniversary will be marked with a free four-day celebration in May 2025, featuring art displays, live performances, music, workshops, and family activities….
Autumn 2025 will bring two exciting exhibitions to the Barbican: ‘Dirty Looks’, a bold fashion exhibition exploring imperfection and decay, and an innovative art installation by Lucy Raven in The Curve…
The Hippodrome is one of Europe’s and the UK’s most storied buildings and gaming venues. Not just gaming, but an entertainment venue in general. It has a long history that stretches back over a century and remains a popular tourist and local attraction to this day…
There were two compelling reasons to attend this performance: the venue itself and the cutting-edge artist collective known as (LA) HORDE. Sadler’s Wells’ newest state-of-the-art venue is a welcome addition to Stratford, boasting rehearsal studios…
The lights come up on a pseudo-court room scene: a table jostling with microphones, a jug of water and an uncomfortable looking metal fold out chair are exposed by an interrogative spotlight…
In a bustling city like London, where noise pollution is common, achieving clear and immersive sound at home can be challenging. Speaker stands help create an optimal listening experience by positioning your speakers at the perfect height and angle…
Robyn Orlin: We wear our wheels with pride · Architecture on Stage: Lütjens Padmanabhan · Jay Bernard: Joint · Black is the Color of My Voice · Joe Webb Trio · Rhodri Davies at Cafe OTO · Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award 2025 · Lyon Opera Ballet: Cunningham Forever · AVA London · Sister Midnight · Astonishing Things: The Drawings of Victor Hugo · Eunjo Lee · Arpita Singh: Remembering · Fiona Banner aka The Vanity Press: Disarm · Bunhead Bakery · Time & Talents
Gabriele Beveridge is known for her sculptural and conceptual practice that combines materials as diverse as hand-blown glass, photo chemicals, and found images…
Looking for something truly special this Mother’s Day? There are a variety of unique gifts and experiences to take advantage of in London, whether your mother loves exploring world-class art galleries and museum exhibitions, wandering through historic homes filled with fascinating stories and remarkable collections, indulging in a luxurious spa treatment, or enjoying an unforgettable dining experience..