October brings a wealth of excitement to London’s art scene with the return of Frieze London and Frieze Masters, along with other major fairs such as 1-54, dedicated to contemporary African art, and the LAPADA Berkeley Square Fair. Alongside these events, the city welcomes a plethora of new exhibitions, including showcases by Sonia Boyce and Francis Bacon, as well as the much-loved Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at the Natural History Museum, and the Hyundai Commission at Tate by Mire Lee. Here is our guide to some of the fantastic art exhibitions opening in London this October.

Click here for our guide to 50 art exhibitions to visit during Frieze Week and here for our full round-up of art fairs to look out for during the week.

Haegue Yang: Leap Year

#FLODown: The Hayward Gallery will host Leap Year by Haegue Yang in October, featuring the artist's first major UK survey. Yang's innovative work spans installations and sculptures that explore cross-cultural influences, modernism, and personal narratives. The exhibition will debut three new commissions alongside her iconic Venetian blind pieces and immersive sonic sculptures, offering a compelling exploration of everyday objects and spiritual themes through Yang's unique artistic lens.

Date: 9 October 2024 –⁠ 5 January 2025. Location: Hayward Gallery, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX. Price: from £19, Free for Members & under-12s. Book now.

Hyundai Commission: Mire Lee

#FLODown: Mire Lee will create the next Hyundai Commission for Tate Modern's Turbine Hall, opening in October 2024 and running until March 2025. Known for her visceral sculptures that blend kinetic and mechanised elements with organic forms, this will be Lee's first major UK presentation. Her work uses materials like steel, cement, and silicone to explore the tension between soft and rigid systems, engaging the senses and reflecting on themes of emotion and desire. The Hyundai Commission, supported by the long-term partnership between Tate and Hyundai Motor, offers artists the chance to create new work for this iconic space.

Date: 9 October 2024 – 16 March 2025. Location: Tate Modern, Turbine Hall, Bankside, London SE1 9TG. Price: Free. tate.org.uk.

Sammy Baloji

#FLODown: Goldsmiths CCA presents a solo exhibition by Sammy Baloji, featuring two new commissions and significant recent works displayed in the UK for the first time. The exhibition explores themes such as climate, tropical architecture, Belgian Art Nouveau, and the extraction of resources from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Highlights include Baloji’s 2023 film, Aequare. The Future that Never Was, which critiques the colonial and ecological impacts on the Congo's rainforest, and Shinkolobwe’s Abstraction, which addresses Cold War uranium extraction from the DRC. The exhibition examines the legacy of colonialism, capitalism, and their entanglement with science and art.

Date: 4 October 2024 - 12 January 2025. Location: Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary, St James’s, New Cross, SE14 6ED. Price: Free. goldsmithscca.art.

Sonia Boyce: An Awkward Relation

#FLODown: Sonia Boyce's exhibition, An Awkward Relation, at Whitechapel Gallery, will run concurrently with The I and the You, showcasing the Brazilian artist Lygia Clark. This exhibition delves into themes of interaction and participation through rarely seen works by Boyce, including pieces focused on hair and the multimedia installation We Move in Her Way (2017). A special section will pair works from both artists, highlighting their shared and distinct approaches. The title, An Awkward Relation, emphasises the complex dynamics between artists, their works, and audiences.

Date: 2 October 2024 - 12 January 2025. Location: Whitechapel Gallery, 77-82 Whitechapel High St, London E1 7QX. whitechapelgallery.org.

 Hew Locke: what have we here?

#FLODown: The British Museum will host a major new exhibition by Guyanese-British artist Hew Locke this autumn. Following a two-year curatorial collaboration, the exhibition will explore British imperial power and cultural heritage, highlighting treasures and lesser-known objects from Africa, India, and the Caribbean. Featuring over 150 objects, including newly commissioned sculptures, the exhibition will encourage visitors to engage with nuanced and often contentious historical debates. This marks Locke's first artist-curated museum show.

Date: 17 October 2024 – 9 February 2025. Location: The Joseph Hotung Great Court Gallery, The British Museum, Great Russell St, London WC1B 3DG. Price: Adults from £12, Members and under-16s free. britishmuseum.org.

Lygia Clark: The I and the You

#FLODown: The I and the You will be the first major UK public gallery survey of Brazilian artist Lygia Clark (1920–1988). Focusing on Clark’s work from the mid-1950s to the early 1970s, the exhibition highlights her role in the Brazilian Neo-concrete movement and her shift towards more experimental and participatory art. Featuring paintings, works on paper, and her iconic ‘Bichos’, the show illustrates how Clark’s art evolved to foster greater audience interaction. An integrated programme of talks and participatory events will provide further context. The exhibition will be presented alongside Sonia Boyce’s An Awkward Relation.

Date: 2 October 2024 - 12 January 2025. Location: Whitechapel Gallery, 77-82 Whitechapel High St, London E1 7QX. whitechapelgallery.org.

 Nicola L. 

#FLODown: A new exhibition by Nicola L. will open at Camden Arts Centre, showcasing her innovative artistic practice across sculpture, performance, painting, collage, and film. For the first time in the UK and Europe, the exhibition will feature her provocative Pénétrables sculptures, interactive textile works, and documentation of significant performances like The Blue Cape and Red Coat. It will also highlight her oversized furniture sculptures and feminist-themed series, such as The Femme Fatale, emphasising her exploration of equality and societal roles. Additionally, the exhibition will present her influential work in moving image, including feature films and documentaries, showcasing Nicola L.’s profound impact across various artistic disciplines.

Date: 4 October  - 29 December 2024. Location: Camden Art Centre, Arkwright Rd, London NW3 6DG. Price: Free. camdenartcentre.org.

Mike Kelley: Ghost and Spirit

#FLODown: The UK's first major exhibition of American artist Mike Kelley showcases his imaginative and provocative creations spanning from the late 1970s to 2012. Kelley's diverse body of work includes drawing, collage, performance, found objects, and video, highlighted by his groundbreaking 'craft' sculptures and multimedia installations like Day Is Done. Drawing from popular culture, literature, and philosophy, Kelley explores the interplay between societal roles, historical truths, and fictional personas from media. A decade after his death, Kelley's profound reflections on identity and memory remain impactful and relevant.

Date: 2 October 2024 – 9 March 2025.Location: Tate Modern, Bankside, London SE1 9TG. Price: £18 / free for members, Concessions available. tate.org.uk.

MARY MARY

#FLODown: MARY MARY, presented by theCOLAB and the Artist’s Garden, is a major outdoor sculpture exhibition in central London featuring nine women artists. Hosted on the Artist’s Garden’s roof terrace above Temple tube station, the world’s first sculpture garden dedicated to women artists, the show includes new and adapted works by Rong Bao, Candida Powell-Williams, Alice Wilson, Lucy Gregory, and L R Vandy, alongside existing pieces by Olivia Bax, Frances Richardson, Holly Stevenson, and Virginia Overton. The exhibition challenges traditional notions of women’s roles and contributions, integrating their works into the urban landscape while addressing themes of space reclamation and historical representation. Click here for more.

Date: 3 October 2024 - September 2025. Location: Artist’s Garden, Temple Place, London WC2R 2PH. Price: Free. thecolab.art.

Robert Longo: Searchers

#FLODown: Robert Longo revisits his Combines of the 1980s in Searchers, a two-part exhibition at Thaddaeus Ropac and Pace. The show features monumental new multimedia works that showcase Longo's exploration of different media throughout his career. At Thaddaeus Ropac, Untitled (Pilgrim), a seven-metre-wide piece composed of five panels, combines a charcoal drawing, video, painting, sculpture, and photograph. Longo aims to create a Combine that captures an image through various mediums. This work is paired with Untitled (Hunter), on display concurrently at Pace.

Date: 9 October – 9 November 2024 (Pace) 20 November 2024 (Thaddaeus Ropac). Location: PACE,  5 Hanover Square, London W1S 1HQ; Thaddaeus Ropac, Ely House, 37 Dover St, London W1S 4NJ. Price: Free.

Letizia Battaglia

#FLODown: The Photographer's Gallery will host Letizia Battaglia's first major exhibition, showcasing her acclaimed photography and photojournalism. Battaglia gained renown for her powerful documentation of the Sicilian Mafia from the 1970s to the early 1990s, capturing scenes of daily terror and organised crime that often made headlines. Her 40-year career spanned a wide range of subjects, including murder victims, religious festivals, societal contrasts of wealth and poverty, and the beauty and decay of Palermo and its surroundings. Her work offers both a broad and intimate portrayal of this iconic Sicilian city.

Date: 9 October 2024 – 23 February 2025. Location: The Photographers' Gallery, 16-18 Ramillies St, London W1F 7LW. thephotographersgallery.org.uk.

Lauren Halsey: emajendat

#FLODown: Serpentine presents emajendat, the first UK exhibition of LA-based artist Lauren Halsey. Held at Serpentine South, the exhibition transforms the gallery into an immersive environment inspired by Kensington Gardens. Halsey's work reflects her South Central LA roots, blending African diaspora cultures, ancient Egypt, and funk aesthetics. The installation features vibrant sand dunes, mirrored CDs, and sculptures, creating a futuristic ‘funk garden’ that celebrates and resists gentrification.

Date: 11 October – 2 March 2025. Location: Serpentine South, Serpentine Gallery, W2 3XA. Price: Free.

The World of Tim Burton

#FLODown: Tim Burton, known for his whimsical style, has shaped celebrated films for four decades. The upcoming exhibition at the Design Museum offers a deep dive into his creative universe, showcasing his work as an illustrator, painter, photographer, and author. Curated by Jenny He with Burton's collaboration, this retrospective delves into his personal archive, featuring drawings, paintings, photographs, and more.

Date: 25 October 2024 — 21 April 2025. Location: Design Museum. 224-238 Kensington High St, London W8 6AG.  Price: Adult tickets from £19.69/ children aged 6 to 15 from £9.85. Under 6s go free. Book now.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year

#FLODown: The Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition, celebrating its sixtieth year, opens at the Natural History Museum on 11 October 2024. This flagship exhibition will showcase 100 striking photographs of wildlife and nature, highlighting the beauty and complexity of the natural world. To commemorate this milestone, a timeline of key moments in the competition’s history will be featured alongside the images. The exhibition reflects a record 59,228 entries from photographers worldwide, demonstrating creativity and technical excellence. Visitors can expect to see not only award-winning images but also powerful narratives about conservation and the environment.

Date: 11 October 2024 -  29 June 2025. Location: Natural History Museum, Cromwell Rd, South Kensington, London SW7 5BD. Price: from £15.50, off-peak concession ticket £12.50, and off-peak child ticket £9.25. Book now.

The Imaginary Institution of India: Art 1975-1998 

#FLODown: The Barbican Art Gallery presents a groundbreaking exhibition exploring India's transformative cultural and political era through the works of 30 visionary artists. Spanning nearly 150 pieces across painting, sculpture, photography, installation, and film, this landmark group show dissects the pivotal moments of the late 20th century and captures the intimate, everyday moments that defined this period. A specially curated film season, Rewriting the Rules: Pioneering Indian Cinema after 1970, will run concurrently with the exhibition.

Date: 5 October 2024 – 5 January 2025. Location: Barbican Art Gallery, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London, EC2Y 8DS. Price: £20+BF. Book now.

Alexis Peskine: Forest Figures

#FLODown: Forest Figures by Alexis Peskine will open at October Gallery as his third solo exhibition at the venue. This showcase will explore African spirituality and the richness of the diaspora through large-scale portraits created by hammering nails into wooden canvases and adorned with gold, silver, and palladium leaf, reflecting the Congo Basin Minkisi figures. Drawing on Afro-Brazilian spirituality, Peskine will incorporate natural materials like cowrie shells and herbs to symbolise resilience and peace. The exhibition will also feature photographic works and a segment from his film REVERSE, which retells colonial histories while celebrating the strength of Black figures.

Date: 3 October – 9 November 2024. Location: October Gallery, 24 Old Gloucester Street, London, WC1N 3AL. Price: Free. octobergallery.co.uk.

 Holly Herndon & Mat Dryhurst: The Call

#FLODown: The Call, the first UK solo exhibition by Berlin-based artists Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst, will open at Serpentine North on 4 October. The exhibition will explore the intersection of artificial intelligence and collaborative artmaking, addressing societal concerns around AI while platforming musical ensembles from across the UK. By creating new vocal datasets and polyphonic AI models, Herndon and Dryhurst will highlight AI as a “coordination technology” akin to group singing, fostering communication and meaning. The exhibition will invite the audience to participate in this evolving relationship between human and machine voices.

Date: 4 October 2024 – 2 February 2025. Location: Serpentine North and The Magazine, West Carriage Drive, W2 2AR. Price: Free. serpentinegalleries.org.

Francis Bacon: Human Presence

#FLODown: An exhibition dedicated to Francis Bacon will open at the National Portrait Gallery, showcasing works from the 1950s onwards. It will explore Bacon’s deep connection to portraiture and his challenge to traditional definitions of the genre. Featuring pieces from private and public collections, the exhibition highlights Bacon’s responses to earlier artists, large-scale paintings of lost lovers, and self-portraits. Sitters include Lucian Freud, Isabel Rawsthorne, Peter Lacy, and George Dyer, revealing Bacon’s life story.

Date: 10 October 2024 - 19 January 2025. Location: National  Portrait Gallery , St. Martin's Pl, London WC2H 0HE. Price: £23 / 25.50 + donation. npg.org.uk.

Paula Rae Gibson: Be Alive With Me

#FLODown: Be Alive With Me is an exhibition by Paula Rae Gibson, showcasing 20 portraits that reflect her emotions following the loss of her husband, British film director Brian Gibson. The works, created using silver gelatin prints with added textures from paint, chemicals, and chalk, capture a period of intense love and grief. Curated by Katy Barron, the exhibition highlights Gibson's deeply personal journey of self-discovery through photography, a medium she turned to after a near-fatal car accident at 21 and again after her husband's death in 2004.

Date: 1 - 6 October 2024. Location:  The Fitzrovia Chapel, Fitzroy Place 2 Pearson Square London England W1T3BF. Price: Free.  

Esther Mahlangu: Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu

#FLODown: Serpentine will unveil a monumental mural by acclaimed Ndebele artist Esther Mahlangu, marking her first public artwork in the UK. Set to be displayed in Kensington Gardens from 4th October 2024, the mural, titled Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu, celebrates community and interconnectedness. Born in 1935, Mahlangu is renowned for her vibrant geometric patterns, which are deeply rooted in Ndebele heritage and crafted using traditional techniques. Click here for more.

Date: 14 September 2024 - 19 January 2025. Location: The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN. nationalgallery.co.uk.

Looks Delicious! Exploring Japan’s food replica culture

#FLODown: Explore the fascinating world of shokuhin sanpuru, the realistic food replicas displayed outside restaurants in Japan, at the upcoming exhibition opening at Japan House. It features specially made models from Iwasaki Group, showcasing dishes from all 47 prefectures, like Okinawan goya chanpuru and Ainu ohaw from Hokkaido. There’s also an interactive zone where you can create your own bento box of replica food.

Date: 2 October 2024 – 16 February 2025. Location: Japan House, 101-111 Kensington High St, Kensington, W8 5SA. Price: Free. japanhouselondon.uk.

Felicity Aylieff: Expressions in Blue

#FLODown: Expressions in Blue by Felicity Aylieff will open at Kew Garden’s Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art, showcasing monumental porcelain ceramics crafted in Jingdezhen, China. The exhibition will feature large-scale, hand-thrown vessels adorned with traditional Qing Hua painting techniques. Inspired by botanical illustrations, these works celebrate Aylieff’s enduring collaboration with local artisans, merging the beauty of ceramics with the wonders of nature.

Date: 26 October 2024 - Sunday 23 March 2025. Location: Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art, Kew Gardens. Price: Admission to Kew Gardens starts at £20/ £5.50 adult/child, which includes access to the exhibition. Tickets from £10 for under 29s. Book now.