Free exhibitions in London
London is awash with free exhibitions catering to every taste. Use our guide to find out what's on, from major museum shows to niche exhibitions in specialist galleries. Think we've missed a great exhibition? Tell us in the comments box below.
Recommended free exhibitions
ollection of the artist Photo: © Nobuo Onishi
Souzou: Outsider Art from Japan
There are no clever in-jokes. It’s just art, and that’s incredibly liberating
- Wellcome Collection 183 Euston Rd, NW1 2BE
- Sat May 25 - Sun Jun 30
George Catlin, "Hee-oh’ks-te-kin, Rabbit’s Skin Leggings, a Brave Nez Percé", 1832 © Smithsonian American Art Museum
George Catlin: American Indian Portraits
Briefly a lawyer, this Pennsylvanian became a self-taught painter with one main subject
- National Portrait Gallery St Martin's Place, WC2H 0HE
- Fri May 24 - Sun Jun 23
More free exhibitions
Rachel Whiteread: Detached
The queen of negative space Rachel Whiteread has cast the insides of three lonely little huts and marooned them inside Gagosian’s giant King’s Cross galleries.
- Gagosian Britannia St 6-24 Britannia St, WC1X 9JD
- Fri May 24 - Sat May 25
John Riddy: Palermo
In John Riddy’s sombre series of cityscapes, the seasoned British photographer envisions the Sicilian capital as an empty stage, devoid of players or inhabitants.
- Frith Street Gallery 17-18 Golden Square, W1F 9JJ
- Fri May 24 - Sat Jun 1
Karl Blossfeldt
The artist's photographs of plants were a big influence on the surrealists who were drawn to the odd corporeal quality of the images, they also found favour with the great theorist Walter Benjamin. Over 80 gelatin prints of his beautiful and intricate photographs are brought together here.
- Whitechapel Gallery 77-82 Whitechapel High St, E1 7QX
- Fri May 24 - Fri Jun 14
Anne Hardy
Like an author dropping clues throughout a text, she purposefully populates her scenes with objects that evoke possible former inhabitants. Tantalisingly, we never get to meet any of the fictional characters that leave these traces of existence.
- Maureen Paley 21 Herald St, E2 6JT
- Fri May 24 - Sun May 26
Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2013
This annual award exhibition presents a considerable body of work by four living photographer’s who are worthy of the £30,000 prize money.
- Photographers' Gallery 16-18 Ramillies St, W1F 7LW
- Fri May 24 - Sun Jun 30
Birds, Beasts and Beyond
A display of rarely seen ceramics manufactured by the late-nineteenth/early-twentieth-century potters, The Martin Brothers (Wallace, Walter, Charles and Edwin).
- Cuming Museum 151 Walworth Rd, SE17 1RY
- Sat May 25 - Sat Aug 31
Nobuyoshi Araki
You can certainly expect a variety of provocative images from this often-controversial Japanese photographer. His Kinbaku series that capture the art of Japanese bondage will be presented alongside Shunga prints, the original form of Japanese erotica in the eighteenth and nineteenth century.
- Michael Hoppen Gallery 3 Jubilee Place, SW3 3TD
- Fri May 24 - Sat Jun 8
Planes, Trains and Drains: London's Booming Infrastructure Business
This exhibition looks at the changes to London’s infrastructure currently taking place, how these will be paid for, how the UK will benefit in the long term and what needs to happen next to maintain London’s competitive position.
- New London Architecture 26 Store St, WC1E 7BT
- Fri May 24 - Sat May 25
Colours of Change – Sri Lanka
Photographs by Stephen Champion illustrate the dramatic changes that have taken place in Sri Lanka during the last three decades, highlighting in particular the way traditions, places and landscapes are shifting and disappearing.
- Brunei Gallery School of Oriental and African Studies, 10 Thornhaugh St, WC1H 0XG
- Fri May 24 - Sat Jun 22
A Treasured Collection
A new display of 'mini museums' exploring personal collections of treasured objects and keepsakes. There is also an installation by artist Jasleen Kaur and a 'sound collection' put together by beatboxer Jason Singh.
- V&A Museum of Childhood Cambridge Heath Rd, E2 9PA
- Sat May 25 - Sun Sep 1
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