Free exhibition to see in London in December 2022
With the cost of living taking its toll on families, there is still plenty of art to be seen in London that won't cost you a penny. Here is our guide to the best free art to see in the city before the end of 2022.
Soheila Sokhanvari: Rebel Rebel
When: until 26 February 2023
Where: The Curve, Barbican
Price: Free
Image: Portrait by Soheila Sokhanvari shows was one of the most beloved singers and cabaret performers of mid-century Iran, MahvashRebel Rebel Exhibtiion, Curve, Barbican, @barbicancentre
#FLODown: Rebel Rebel, the first major UK commission by Iranian artist Soheila Sokhanvari, celebrates and commemorates feminist icons from pre-revolutionary Iran. Sokhanvari transforms the Curve into a devotional space, populated with exquisite miniature portraits of glamorous cultural figures from Iran, exploring the contradictions of Iranian women’s lives between 1925 and the 1979 revolution – an explosive period of both liberation and commodification that proved short-lived. The exhibition is accompanied by a soundtrack, composed by Marios Aristopoulos and features songs by iconic Iranian singers from the period. Location: Silk St, Barbican, London EC2Y 8DS.
A Year in Art: Australia 1992
When: until 14 May 2023
Where: Tate Modern
Price: Free
Image: Eddie Koiki Mabo at Las, Mer Island, September 1989, from the film Land Bilong Islanders. Courtesy of Trevor Graham / Yarra Bank Films
#FLODown: The exhibition explores how artists have acknowledged the continuing relationship Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have with their lands, as well as the ongoing impact of colonisation and the complexities of representation in Australian society today.
The exhibition will feature works of art jointly acquired by Tate and the MCA in Sydney. These include works which interrogate post-colonial histories, narrate political tensions, and illustrate how the oldest continuous living cultures in the world, reaching back 65,000 years, assert a connection to the country in contemporary art today. Location: Tate Modern Bankside London SE1 9TG.
Water Dixon: The Venus Effect
Where: Doyle Wham
Price: Free
Image: Water Dixon Supernova Series, @doylewham
#FLODown: Doyle Wham present The Venus Effect, an exhibition of the South African artist duo Water Dixon. Through the years, the duo have experimented with materials such as copper, glass and brass, and they have developed unique metallurgical processes.
Throughout the exhibition, the relationship between material, person and environment will be celebrated more intimately through a series of performances: dinner parties where food will be prepared directly on copper slabs using flame-based methods. The surface of these slabs will transform throughout the time-bound performance as a result of these interactions until they are rendered complete artworks at the close of the event – capturing a special moment in time. Location: 91A Rivington Street, London, EC2A 3AY.
Stacey Gillian Abe: Shrublet of Old Ayivu
When: until 27 January 2023
Where: Unit London
Price: Free
Image: Shrublet of Old Ayivu at Unit London, @stacey_gillian_abe
#FLODown: Stacey Gillian Abe’s first solo exhibition with Unit London is an exploration of memory, time and emotion. Focusing on the concept of shared memory, Abe’s latest body of work examines how memories have been passed down through her family’s lineage, alluding to how traditions are absorbed and transformed from generation to generation. Location: 3 Hanover Square, London, W1S 1HD.
Cecilia Vicuña: Brain Forest Quipu
Location: Turbine Hall Tate Mordern
Date: Until 16 April 2023
Price: Free
Image: Cecilia Vicuña: Brain Forest Quipu at Tate Modern, @tate
#FLODown: Tate Modern in partnership with Hyundai Motor has unveiled a captivating installation by Chilean artist and poet Cecilia Vicuña. Brain Forest Quipu continues her long-standing work with the ancient Andean tradition of the quipu. Woven together from different materials including found objects, unspun wool, plant fibres, rope and cardboard, the sculptures are combined with music and voice that emerge at moments as you move through the space. This multi-media installation is an act of mourning for the destruction of the forests, the subsequent impact of climate change, and the violence against Indigenous people, but also an opportunity to create a space for new voices and forms of knowledge to be heard and understood, as we take responsibility for our part in the destruction. Location: Bankside London, SE1 9TG.
In Plain Sight
When: until 12 February 2023
Where: Wellcome Collection
Price: FREE
Image: Designed by Ewa Nowa, this mask was developed as a way of making the wearer’s face undetectable by public surveillance cameras. @wellcomecollection
#FLODown: In Plain Sight explores the different ways we see and are seen by others. It questions the central place that sight holds in human society through the different experiences of sighted, partially sighted and blind people. In the UK, more than 2 million people live with sight loss and 69% of the population wear corrective eyewear or have had laser eye surgery, according to figures from the NHS. The exhibition will feature eyewear from the 1600s to the present day, reflecting on evolving design innovations and style, as well as contemporary artworks and commissions, and historical and scientific material investigating visual perception. Location: 183 Euston Road, NW1 2BE.
Sasha Huber: You Name It
When: until 25 March 2023
Where: Autography Gallery
Price: Free
Image: Sasha Huber: You Name It, Autograph Gallery, @autographabp
#FLODown: Sasha Huber explores how colonial histories are imprinted into the landscape through naming and acts of remembrance - asking what actions it might take to repair the inherited traumas of history. YOU NAME IT brings together over a decade of Huber’s work, prompted by the campaign Demounting Louis Agassiz. In 2007, Huber joined the transatlantic committee Demounting Louis Agassiz, initiated by the Swiss historian and political activist Hans Fässler. The purpose of Demounting Louis Agassiz is to readdress the legacy of Swiss-born naturalist and glaciologist Louis Agassiz (1807-1873), an influential proponent of scientific racism who advocated for segregation and “racial hygiene.” His scientific contributions to the fields of glaciology, palaeontology and geology resulted in over 80 landmarks bearing his name on Earth, the Moon, and Mars. Less well known, however, was Agassiz’s legacy of ‘scientific’ racism, and how he used his position to actively promote the subjugation, exploitation, and segregation of Black people and other people of colour.
Huber’s desire to use art to heal colonial and historic traumas can be seen throughout the exhibition. The artist uses a staple gun to “symbolically stitch wounds together”, creating visually arresting portraits. Click here to book your free ticket. Location: Autograph, Rivington Place, EC2A 3BA.