Exhibitions to See in London This Autumn

When fair fatigue sets in, here’s what to see across London’s museums and galleries through autumn and beyond—from Haegue Yang’s career-spanning retrospective at Hayward Gallery to Mire Lee’s spectacular biomorphic installation at Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall.

Central London

At Silk Street, the Barbican has just opened the landmark group exhibition The Imaginary Institution of India: Art 1975–1998 (5 October 2024–5 January 2025), with works by 30 Indian artists made in response to the nation’s changing cultural, political, and economic landscapes between two pivotal moments in history: Indira Gandhi’s declaration of a state of emergency in 1975 and the Pokhran nuclear tests of 1998.

In Kensington Gardens, Serpentine North is showing The Call by artist duo Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst, who have trained an AI choir in a call-and-response investigation into communication technologies. If you chance upon fine weather, take a stroll through the gardens, where you can find Yayoi Kusama‘s giant spotted Pumpkin (2024). Keep an eye out also for L.A.-born and based artist Lauren Halsey‘s exhibition, emajendat, which opens at Serpentine South on 11 October. Expect a prismatic floor, CD walls, a water fountain, sand dunes, and bespoke wallpaper.

Over at St. Martin’s Place, anticipate queues at the National Portrait Gallery for Francis Bacon: Human Presence (10 October 2024–19 January 2025). More than 55 works from the 1950s onwards will trace Bacon’s influence in the genre of portraiture, with sitters including George Dyer, Lucian Freud, Peter Lacy, and Isabel Rawsthorne.

On The Mall, the Institute of Contemporary Arts is showing Under Construction (until 15 December), a solo exhibition by Geumhyung Jeong, with a newly commissioned installation of sculpture and video accompanied by a series of live performances examining the role of technology in people’s lives.

On Catherine Place, south of Buckingham Palace, Delfina Foundation presents the first European solo show of Myanmar-born artist Moe Satt, Rest the Thumbs on the Cheekbones (until 17 November). Satt, who was a resident artist at Delfina in 2020, presents a multimedia, site-specific installation concerning identity and political resistance.

At Millbank, Tate Britain hosts the Turner Prize 40th anniversary exhibition with Pio Abad, Claudette Johnson, Jasleen Kaur, and Delaine Le Bas (until 16 February 2025). As curator Amy Emmerson Martin told Ocula: ‘Each of them, in their own individual way, is speaking to different social concerns... It’s a kind of investigation and exploration that they all share, and I think it’s incredibly exciting.’ (On 24 October, Johnson will unveil a new mural—her first-ever public-art commission—at Brixton tube station as part of ‘Art on the Underground’.)

Also on our radar are: Anna Weyant: Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolves? (8 October–20 December) at Gagosian Davies Street and Jonas Wood‘s solo show at the gallery’s Grosvenor Hill outpost (7 October–23 November); Jack Whitten‘s abstract paintings and drawings at Hauser & Wirth on Savile Row (until 21 December); effervescent painted scenes in Dominic Chambers: Meraki at Lehmann Maupin in South Kensington (until 9 November); Robert Longo: Searchers at Thaddaeus Ropac on Dover Street (until 20 November), and a few doors down, the ghostly imprints of flora in Simryn Gill: Shelter at Richard Saltoun (until 2 November); Celia Hempton‘s luscious oil impastos in Transplant at Phillida Reid, Grape Street (until 9 November); and Magdalene Odundo’s elegant ceramics at Thomas Dane in St James’s (until 14 December).

Camden

Camden Art Centre is showcasing dual solo shows by Jack O’Brien—last year’s recipient of Camden Art Centre’s emerging artist prize at Frieze London—and the late French artist Nicola L. (1932–2018), titled I Am The Last Woman Object (until 29 December). In The Reward, O’Brien subverts the legibility of materials by wrapping them in industrial polythene, while Nicola L.‘s playful, subversive multimedia presentation pushes beyond the Pop, Nouveau Réalism, and design niches for which the artist was known.

East London

On Whitechapel High Street, Whitechapel Gallery hosts two major solos in dialogue with one another: Sonia Boyce: An Awkward Relation and Lygia Clark: The I and the You (both shows run until 12 January 2025). Highlights of Clark’s exhibition include pieces from her ‘Bichos’ series that can be touched and worn by visitors; Boyce mediates awkwardness and interpersonal engagement through works that examine hair as both material and cultural signifier.

Further east, on Mile End Road, don’t miss Brazilian artist Antonio Tarsis’ solo at Carlos/Ishikawa, Storm in a Teacup (until 19 October). Through a labour-intensive process that includes deconstructing, dyeing, and reassembling matchboxes—some embellished with constellations of golden, circuit-board elements—Tarsis has constructed large screens and wall-based works that subtly probe the visual language of his lived experience.

Head north towards Bethnal Green Gardens, where Rose Easton is showing Olu Ogunnaike’s Is the soil right? (until 26 October), a stunning series of seven charcoal-dust silkscreen prints on reflective mirrored steel in an exploration of the relationship between humans and trees.

South London

There’s plenty to see at Tate Modern, with Mike Kelley‘s first major U.K. exhibition, the career-spanning Ghost and Spirit (until 9 March 2025), and Mire Lee’s spectacular new commission for the Turbine Hall, Open Wound (until 16 March 2025). If you are yet to see Zanele Muholi or Anthony McCall‘s solo presentations, these are also well worth a visit.

Take a 20-minute walk along the riverside towards the Southbank Centre, where the Hayward Gallery is hosting Haegue Yang’s major retrospective, Leap Year (until 5 January 2025)—we’ll be there with bells on.

At White Cube Bermondsey, Tracey Emin‘s show, I followed you to the end (until 10 November), featuring a monumental new bronze figurative sculpture and a suite of expressive abstract painting, is highly recommended by Ocula‘s Advisory team. For a softer three-dimensional experience, head to Camberwell, where South London Gallery hosts Nairy Baghramian‘s solo exhibition, Jumbled Alphabet (until 12 January 2025). —[O]

Main image: Exhibition view: Haegue Yang: Leap Year, Hayward Gallery, London (9 October 2024–5 January 2025). Courtesy the artist and Hayward Gallery. Photo: Mark Blower.