London Gallery Weekend returns for its sixth edition from 5-7 June, showcasing a diverse range of unique exhibitions from leading galleries. This year, more than 120 galleries are participating, and whether you’re looking to immerse yourself in large-scale projects or want to have a moment of reflection viewing more intimate works, there’s a variety of contemporary art to see, free, across the city over three days, in addition to performances, artists’ talks and evening viewings.
In this complex era, where long-established values and systems are being reimagined, the exhibiting artists are addressing the current state of life. Their work explores themes such as the irony of late-stage capitalism, internet culture, information overload, the way we perceive ourselves and the world, and the importance of joy, intimacy, and connection. They also look into societal representations of masculinity, the power of memory and remembrance, and the evolution of historical legacy and preservation.
Not sure where to begin? Start with these ten shows.
‘Tainted Love’ at Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery until 20 June
Darcy Whent, These weeds will always grow back, 2026
You might recognise the title of the show from Soft Cell’s 1980s pop song of the same name, originally sung in 1965 by Gloria Jones, who is considered the ‘Queen of Northern Soul’. Featuring artworks by Roxana Halls, Caroline Wong, Tamsin Morse, Eileen Cooper, Brian Dawn Chalkley, Darcy Whent, Ben Edge, Sally Kindberg and more, the exhibition explores the landscape of intimacy through themes of connection, separation and alienation, interrogating different emotional states like fractured family bonds, romantic heartbreaks, unrequited love and friendship fallout. It also addresses symbolic ruptures that impact personal and societal perceptions, particularly in the context of political turmoil and pandemics. These events require the need to reconstruct meaning through new narratives in order to cope with instability. The works in the show challenge conventional representations of love and desire, while highlighting marginalised identities, reflecting complex dynamics of intimacy, distance, denial and recognition.
Gray Wielebinski ‘Bring Me Men’ at Nicoletti until 4 July
For his first solo exhibition with Nicoletti, the London-based American artist takes the title from a slogan displayed on a stone rampart at the United States Air Force Academy, where Gray Wielebinski’s father did his military training in the 1970s. Inspired by the 1894 poem, ‘The Coming American’ by Samuel Walter Foss, it was a call for cadets to join the academy and devote their strength and sacrifice to the nation. However, the phrase was dropped in 2003 due to its exclusionary nature against women, and what critics also addressed as promoting toxic hypermasculinity. This subject matter is examined in the show, looking at the cultural norms, paradoxes and systems in which masculinity is performed, produced and challenged. The slogan is used as a framework in posing a series of questions across the exhibition: ‘Who is a man, how to become one, and through which institutional and affective regimes is it sustained?’ On view are sculptural pieces made of shopping bags, leather gloves, boxes and athletic accessories, as well as two-dimensional collages that investigate the romanticised depictions of white American masculinity.
Shaniqwa Jarvis ‘Only Love Will Break Your Heart’ at Public Gallery until 7 June
Showing 15 new artworks, Shaniqwa Jarvis’ first UK solo exhibition is an immersive, multi-layered experience that transforms photography into a tangible, physical object, challenging the traditional flatness of the visual medium. The New York-born, LA-based artist explores themes of grief, loss, remembrance and resilience, prompting viewers to reflect on their role as active or passive consumers of art. Jarvis, who has experienced personal loss following her mother’s passing, presents grief not as a final stop but as a transitional journey towards discovering beauty in the act of remembering love. Through acrylic washes and flower motifs, which symbolise the softness and strength of memory, and translucent materials in silk paintings on moving reflective surfaces, the artist engages with spectatorship theory. The show is designed to be partly disorienting, making us aware of ourselves and prompting self-reflection among the mirrored displays. There’s also an installation recreating her childhood bedroom, with voice recordings and a short film that combines archival and recent footage reflecting on artistic value, labour, health and the pursuit of ‘making it’ in New York, despite the challenges and self-doubt.
Roni Horn ‘Seizure of Hope’ at Hauser & Wirth until 1 August
Returning to London for her first show in the city in a decade, Roni Horn presents a body of work consisting of 76 drawings from her new Seizure of Hope series, which examines text as a concrete medium. The works focus on themes around repetition and the fluidity of meaning. Water also makes a presence in her art as an unadulterated yet contradictory form. It serves as a metaphor for consciousness, time and the unpredictability of the human condition as something that is constantly in flux. The works on display have water-marred text in ink that’s blurred and almost difficult to read, with the phrase ‘I am paralysed with hope’ repeatedly written. It comes from a monologue by the stand-up comedian Maria Bamford, which Horn describes as a ‘poignant connection to our time with regards to politics and the environment’. Accompanying the drawings on paper is a rare, reflective cast-glass sculpture in the shape of a cube, which responds to light and shadows, relying on natural elements such as the weather as a study and experimentation of weight and lightness.
Yinka Ilori ‘Joy Through Resistance: He Who Laughs Last, Laughs Best’ at Cristea Roberts Gallery until 11 July
He who laughs last, laughs best, is from John Heywood's 1546 collection of English proverbs, meaning that true satisfaction comes to those who weather the hardships and setbacks, celebrating in the end. The idea of resilience is central to Yinka Ilori’s first solo gallery exhibition in his home city of London. Featuring 20 new and recent works across sound installation, painting, sculpture and print, it’s the most personal project to date for the multi-disciplinary artist and designer. The show focuses on the resilience of the African diaspora and how adversity can be transformed into strength and an outlet for community joy. Inspired by his British-Nigerian heritage, he incorporates floral motifs of the Nigerian national flower, the yellow trumpet, symbolising the country’s uniqueness and beauty, alongside British daffodils and ornamental lace, often referred to as Swiss lace. Worn in ceremonial and church attire, it has come to represent joy, personal style, identity and pride. By combining these visual references, they present the boldness required to challenge societal barriers and address racial discrimination. Ilori highlights the power of storytelling to bridge differences, advocating for the protection and nurturing of joy so that it can blossom.
Elena Njoabuzia Onwochei-Garcia ‘Grown: The Altering of Innocence and Experience’ at William Hine until 25 July
Glasgow-based Spanish-British artist Elena Njoabuzia Onwochei-Garcia is presenting a solo exhibition which intricately weaves allegorical scenes from literature, myth and folklore into historical narratives that juxtapose memory with falsehoods. Drawing inspiration from William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience, illustrated poems, she also references the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, examining matrilineal relationships through Persephone’s myth of abduction and loss. The exhibition explores themes of wisdom, sacrifice, terror and naivety, highlighted by Onwochei-Garcia’s signature large-scale installations crafted from washi, a traditional Japanese paper. Central to the exhibition is a reflection on the transition from childhood curiosity to adult challenges, influenced by her mestiza heritage, having Spanish, Nigerian and German roots. Visual elements are drawn from Francisco Goya’s Los Caprichos, culminating in dreamlike watercolour and pastel works that merge human and animal figures. They tell a contemporary allegory, offering a unique way for audiences to engage with the artwork and deepen their understanding of identity and intertwined personal histories.
Oliver Beer ‘The Sky in the Cave’ at Thaddaeus Ropac until 31 July 2026
Known for his large-scale Resonance Paintings, an abstract series of artworks that show sound vibrations on canvas and interpret the acoustic frequencies of various spaces, Oliver Beer’s new exhibit brings together installation, music, film and paintings, changing the gallery into an immersive area. It’s an environment where the relationship between image-making and space goes hand in hand, having spent many hours underground in the prehistoric painted cave of Dordogne recording sound, singing and collaborating with eight performers. The project emphasises how musical harmony fosters connections among people, places and cultures, with paintings serving as reflections of sound's power to evoke emotions linked to memory and physicality. It transcends us from one emotional state to another. This new series of work follows his foundational research of the Dordogne Valley caves and builds on the archaeological theory that Palaeolithic people viewed caves as instruments where sound and vision are interlinked, not only decorating the areas with art, but also reacting to it acoustically. With these findings, Beer brings his work into the present.
Sara Cwynar ‘Baby Blue Benzo’ at The Approach Gallery until 7 June
In 2022, RM Sotheby's auctioned the 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR for €135 million, making it one of the most expensive cars ever sold. This event serves as a focal point in Sara Cwynar’s latest exhibition with The Approach, where the main space features the wide-screen, panoramic 21-minute video installation Baby Blue Benzo (2024). Shot on digital and 16mm film, it critiques our current late-stage capitalist society, looking at the role of photography as a tool for manufacturing desire and illustrating the hyperinflation of luxury value, alongside internet aesthetics. In a continuous horizontal scrolling motion reminiscent of social media feeds, she features herself, friends, models and cultural figures like Pamela Anderson to analyse celebrity culture and performance. The juxtaposition of the Mercedes-Benz with benzodiazepines, medications typically used for insomnia and anxiety, epitomises the mental strain from the pressures of 21st century life, detailing the constant need to churn out work or be left behind in our consumerist-driven world. Cwynar connects the Fordist assembly line as a representation of productivity demands and modern consumerism. In addition to the film, there’s a collection of photographic works displayed on custom-made wallpaper designed by the artist.
Daniel Arsham ‘Time Fold’ at Perrotin until 8 August
Drawing on almost twenty years of Daniel Arsham’s artistic practice, new and historical works will be exhibited across painting, works on paper and sculpture. The show brings together a collection of his major projects in dialogue with five drawings on paper from his archives made between 2007 and 2010, presented to audiences for the first time. Central to Arsham's work is the idea of ‘fictional archaeology’, in which he envisions and materialises scenarios that merge elements of 20th-century consumer and popular culture, transformed. It’s an era that saw technological advancements and the rise of digitising physical and analogue assets. His objects bridge that century and the ancient world and can be seen in one of the works on display, Grey Selenite Eroded Space Odyssey Movie Poster, which challenges our perceptions of what is deemed worthy of preservation. The exhibition opens with eroded busts and classical sculptures that combine ancient iconography with natural minerals such as sand and selenite. Appearing as if unearthed after centuries, the artworks encourage a redefined relationship with history, allowing for a coexistence of history, the present, and the future without lamenting over the past.
‘The desert wind will salt your ruins’ at Krupa Gallery until 11 July
A common kitchen staple, salt has been used for thousands of years and was once a highly prized, scarce and expensive commodity, valued similarly to gold as currency. Historically, before being displayed in supermarket shelves, salt was mined in brutal conditions– the ancient Roman salt mines come to mind as a form of penal labour and used as a substance to be traded, taxed and even fought over, linked to the colonial system of economic extraction. Its dual properties as a preservative and a corrosive in sterilising soil, also used in warfare to render a land infertile, symbolise survival and destruction. Through photography, painting, collage and sculpture, this group show features the works of Mila Rae Sarabhai, Dzina Liaonava and Yijia Wu as they explore salt’s materiality as an analogy for legacy-making in these disorienting times. An era where it seems like we’re living in a postmodern fiction defined by political conflicts, shifting geopolitical realities and ecological decline. These artists examine history and legacy as things that can be changed and fluid, instead of being static.