London events in June

This fascinating exhibition explores five centuries of British news coverage: from the Great Fire of London to #BlackLivesMatter, via Jack the Ripper, the Profumo Affair and the Grenfell Tower fire. The aim is to ‘challenge and change’ how we think about news by posing probing questions about what – and what doesn’t – get covered, and to what end. It’s definitely one to approach with an open mind.

ASMR has taken the internet by storm in recent years, with millions of users being newly introduced to the concept of Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response: a physical sensation of tingling, euphoria or calmness brought about by sound, touch and movement. Produced in collaboration with ArkDes, the Swedish Centre for Architecture and Design, and opening in October, this world-first exhibition outlines how people are creating sensory responses using new and existing tools and materials, and explores the emerging field of creativity that has sprung up around the internet phenomenon. Be prepared to feel all tingly, too, as the exhibition lift the world of ASMR out from the screen and into an ‘acoustically tuned physical environment’. We’re not exactly sure what that means but it sounds cool as hell.

From the start, this exhibition makes it clear that menswear is more than just suits. It’s linen shirts with billowing sleeves, it’s spandex binders, it’s jackets embroidered with eggshells and dramatic, corseted gowns. This show explores the European aesthetic traditions and experiments that have defined masculinity, and contested it, from the Renaissance until the present day.

The exhibition is arranged across three rooms, opening with ‘Undressed’. Plasters of classical statues pose on elevated platforms, dominating the display of garments, underwear and photographs. There’s a woven jockstrap from 1947, a transparent Virgil Abloh jacket and Anthony Patrick Manieri’s mesmerising two-minute film of leaping nude bodies, rippling in all of their chubby, hairy elegance. This is probably the closest the exhibition gets to championing body diversity. But then again, fashion itself has a lot to do in that area.

The curation is smart. References to history and contemporary culture are linked effortlessly, for example Albrecht Dürer’s 1534 studies of human proportion are juxtaposed with a deconstructed Action Man doll. The second room, ‘Overdressed’, is a statement of flamboyance, opulence and colour, with incredible embroidered cloaks, intricate Baroque portraits and an Italian restyling of a Chinese dragon court robe. It even has a whole section dedicated to pink, and Harry Styles’s iconic blue velvet Gucci suit.

Where do you, and the hideously uncool clothes that you’re wearing, fit into it all? 

The final section, ‘Redressed’, opens with a heavy focus on British textiles: Fair Isle, tweed, tartan and the Burberry check. There’s a bit on twentieth-century subcultures but, arguably, not enough, considering the influence that streetwear has had on the runways of today. Then, it’s time for the suit: and, hell, there are a lot of them. The most exciting part is the display of how contemporary menswear designers have interpreted the suit as their own: Rick Owens’s cheeky zipped bum flap, Jean Paul Gaultier’s sari-inspired get-up and Haider Ackermann’s glistening sequinned ensemble (as worn by Timothée Chalamet on the red carpet for the ‘Dune’ premiere).

At the very end, you’re confronted with a large scale projection of a Quentin Jones film with a piercing soundtrack. Three final garments are displayed: all gowns, all recently worn by celebrated icons of pop culture. But perhaps what’s just as poignant is the colossal mirror that everything’s reflected in, enveloping you in an image of couture and contorting bodies. Where do you, and the hideously uncool clothes that you’re wearing, fit into it all? 

At a time when male pop stars are wearing dresses on the cover of Vogue and boys are trending on TikTok for wearing skirts, when more and more designers are sharing gender neutral collections and non-binary drag stars are walking fashion weeks, this exhibition a statement of the times. Menswear is as fluid as we want it to be – so much so that the term itself has become eroded, and maybe even irrelevant. 

Presented by Michelin-starred chef and longtime ‘Great British Menu’ judge Tom Kerridge, Pub in the Park is a touring food and music festival that aims to bring a convivial public house atmosphere to the great outdoors with loads of delicious pub grub and equally enticing live performances. 

It calls in at three different London locations across the summer: Wimbledon from 27-29 May, Dulwich from 24-26 June, and Chiswick from 2-4 September.

Top London chefs like Atul Kochhar and Angela Hartnett will be cooking up a storm for the festival alongside a bunch of London foodie favourites including Hoppers, Cue Point and the Princess of Shoreditch. They’re just a few of the 39 restaurants taking part in the nine-stop tour over the summer, with the menu featuring a whopping 150 different dishes altogether, making it the largest travelling food event in the UK this summer. 

And the music side of things looks just as tasty, with the likes of Craig David, Sister Sledge, Soul II Soul Soundsystem, Basement Jaxx and Sophie Ellis-Bextor playing across the London dates of the tour (check out the full line-ups here!)

Much like your average British spring, ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ is a tale of dark clouds as well as sunshine. But Lucy Bailey’s admirably clear production looks on the bright side of Shakespeare’s play, using a post-war Italian setting to drench its romances in light and warmth.

In Joanna Parker’s playful design, the columns of Shakespeare’s Globe are wrapped with ivy, its boards are coated with cheery astroturf, and there's even an elaborate fountain that underscores the action with the gentle babble of water. It’s the perfect arena for the play’s famous ‘gulling’ scenes, where first Benedick (Ralph Davies) and then Beatrice (Lucy Phelps) is tricked into believing the other is in love with them. An eavesdropping Benedick scales the foliage-covered balcony as his feet barely escape the gardener’s snipping shears, while Beatrice ends up tangled in a badminton net, a sprinkler soaking her skirt. Davies and Phelps are both adept physical comedians, with chemistry that's as strong as their pratfalling skills, but the play’s chaos doesn't end with them. The masked ball becomes a woodland romp where the cast wear surreal wicker animal heads, and dinner on the lawn breaks down into a messy food fight.

After all this silliness, the second act’s sickly lurch into tragedy comes as a shock. Katy Stephens makes a compelling gender-swapped Leonata, delivering an agonisingly painful rejection of her daughter Hero (Nadi Kemp-Sayfi), who's publicly shamed for her supposed infidelity. These scenes are always hard for a twenty-first-century audience to stomach, but here they're made harder by the fact that the play's villain Don John (Olivier Huband) is more affable wheeler-dealer than evil schemer: the darkness doesn't quite land.

Still, who needs darkness when you've got an all-female accordion band? This production is beautifully underscored throughout with live music and whistles of birdsong, and it fills Shakespeare's Globe with joyful life, spilling off the stage as Beatrice plays hide and seek through the assembled crowd of groundlings. It's a memorable start to the summer season, full of music and mayhem in equal measure. 

It's been an exciting fixture in London's musical calendar since 2013, and it's back next year with a line-up of some of the biggest stars on the planet. Taking place across weekends in June and July, Hyde Park will host an upmarket festival vibe complete with food, drink and a posh VIP area. The 2022 headliners are shaping up nicely already, with Elton John, Eagles, Pearl Jam and Duran Duran. However, perhaps the most anticipated act announced is Adele, who'll be belting out ballads to her home town on two dates. 

BST Hyde Park takes place on Fri 24 June – Sun 10 June 2022. Find out more here. 

Rumour has it that one of the greatest quotes in history - 'good artists borrow, great artists steal' was first attributed to none other than twentieth century master Pablo Picasso. It's a believable attribution, because Pablo loved a good bit of artistic theft, as evidenced by this show pitting Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres' 'Madame Moitessier' from 1856 against Pablo 'Woman with a Book' from 1932. It's a small, free show, but a brilliant chance to see artistic inspiration (and burglary) at work. 

A first ever institutional show for Londoner Penny Goring, featuring lifesize dolls, fabric sculptures, drawings and poetry tackling issues like trauma, violence, PTSD and the ongoing impact of austerity. 

Things are about to get seriously fantastical as the Hayward Gallery takes a deep dive into the work of Black artists who mash together folklore, myth, science fiction and spiritual traditions. Expect immersive film installations, scupltures, paintings and photos by artists include Ellen Gallagher, Hew Locke, Chris Ofili and Kara Walker, all using fantasy to twist historical ideas into powerful, politically charged new shapes. 

Art has always been focused on new creations, on innovating and making something out of nothing. But this new exhibition at Somerset House is all about repair. The artists included – like Aya Haider, Celia Pym, Carl Clerkin and Aono Fumiaki – create work out of items left behind by refugees or in places of natural disasters. In the process, they work becomes about recycling, sure, but also about the emotional potential of caring and repairing.