London Shows We’re Looking Forward to in 2024
London is poised to host some outstanding institutional exhibitions. Ocula Advisory shares their selection of the must-see shows, from Yoko Ono's largest exhibition to date and Zanele Muholi's powerful visual storytelling at Tate Modern to Yinka Shonibare's vibrant fibreglass sculptures at Serpentine Galleries and Rory Pilgrim's eclectic commissions at Chisenhale Gallery.
Yoko Ono at Tate Modern (15 February–1 September 2024)
Yoko Ono's most extensive exhibition in the U.K. will unfold in London, the city where she spent five years during the 1960s, surrounded herself with fellow creatives, and met future husband John Lennon.
Spanning over six decades of the 90-year-old artist's career, YOKO ONO: MUSIC OF THE MIND will present iconic works including Cut Piece (1964) and Apple (1966).
A noteworthy feature is Half-A-Room (1967), a playful installation that teases viewers' perceptions of the tangible and the space in between.
Tate Modern celebrates Ono's pivotal role in conceptual and performance art with a particular focus on work she made during her time in London.
Zineb Sedira at Whitechapel Gallery (15 February–12 May 2024)
Franco-Algerian artist Zineb Sedira will make her U.K. debut at Whitechapel Gallery.
Initially commissioned for the French Pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022, Dreams Have No Titles is a multi-faceted installation integrating film, sculpture, photography, and performance.
Sedira will transform Whitechapel Gallery's exhibition spaces into film sets. Visitors will be able to immerse themselves in Ettore Scola's iconic ballroom from 'Le Bal' (1983) in one gallery, and find themselves in a reproduction of Sedira's Brixton home's living room in another.
From a fully stocked bar with seats to an intimate room decorated with clothes on hangers and a vanity table, Sedira offers audiences a nuanced interplay between fiction and reality.
Yinka Shonibare at Serpentine Galleries (12 April–1 September 2024)
Yinka Shonibare is gearing up for a busy year as he prepares for his contribution to the Nigerian Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale.
His solo exhibition at Serpentine Galleries, Suspended States, explores the pause of borders—mental, physical, or geographical. It rethinks Western symbols amid growing nationalism, protectionism, and anti-foreign sentiment.
The display will feature a selection of Shonibare's kaleidoscopic wind sculptures, woodcuts, and pictorial quilts.
Possibly the most striking works on view will be his 'Decolonised Structures' series (2022), in which he recreated seven British imperialist statues found in London using Dutch wax patterns synonymous with Africa. By reproducing and decontextualising these monuments, he underscores their political origins.
Addressing contemporary discussions on Britain's past, institutional racism, and structural issues, Shonibare prompts reflection on these complex themes.
Rory Pilgrim at Chisenhale Gallery (17 May–21 July 2024)
2024 Turner Prize nominee Rory Pilgrim contemplates diverse approaches to social change in an age of growing technological engagement.
Pilgrim's Chisenhale Gallery show will feature newly commissioned work focusing on the emotional and ecological impact of law.
Pilgrim, hailing from Bristol, will showcase a customary mix of live performance, music, and screenplay, complemented by fantastically coloured drawings and paintings integral to Pilgrim's creative process.
Zanele Muholi at Tate Modern (6 June 2024–26 January 2025)
Zanele Muholi is back at Tate Modern with an exhibition echoing their 2020 survey, which was cut short by the Covid-19 pandemic. This version aims to make up for lost time, boasting more artwork, including new pieces from the past three years.
Spanning the artist's entire career, the display highlights Muholi's profound exploration of identity, resilience, and LGBTQ+ experiences.
In Manzi I, West Coast, Cape Town (2022), Muholi turns the camera on themselves, presenting a self-portrait while seated in the sea, with a gaze that directly engages the viewer. The stark greyscale contrast between the subject, sky, and sea, offers a dramatic view, emphasising the white of Muholi's eye at the centre of the composition.
Discussing their self-portrait work in conversation with Ocula magazine in 2021, Muholi explained how their work 'actively takes on gazes and the projections they cause, as well as the constructions they bring to mind, because this is how we unseat biases. Discrimination begins with the eye and the conclusions are drawn from looking.'
The exhibition at Tate Modern coincides with the artist's first major show on the West Coast in America, Eye Me, opening at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art on 18 January.
Main image: Yoko Ono with Half-A-Room (1967). Exhibition view: HALF-A-WIND SHOW, Lisson Gallery, London (11 October–14 November 1967). Courtesy Tate Modern, London. Photo: © Clay Perry.
