5 free must-see London exhibitions to start the year
January 29, 2025
Is your New Year’s resolution to make more time for the arts? Why not begin by exploring London’s arts and culture scene. Lucky for you, we’ve compiled a list of some fantastic free exhibitions for you to check out before they wrap up.
Rotimi Fani-Kayode: The Studio – Staging Desire
At Autograph until March 22, 2025
Autograph, located in Hackney, London, is England’s first permanent public space dedicated to celebrating diversity in the visual arts. Established in 1988, its mission is to promote the work of artists who utilize photography and film to address issues of race representation, human rights, and social justice.
One of their latest exhibitions, Rotimi Fani-Kayode: The Studio – Staging Desire, curated by Mark Sealy, explores a radical vision of culture, intimacy, desire, and pain. Fani-Kayode was a prominent figure in the Black British art scene. He lived and worked in Brixton, where his studio became a sanctuary for visualizing black queer self-expression and enabled him to live, be free, and find love. Staging Desire explores his archive and presents never-before-seen works.

Bruno Zhu, License to Live
At Chisenhale Gallery until February 2, 2025
Further east in Tower Hamlets, you’ll find the Chisenhale Gallery, an experimental, independent non-profit founded by artists who had the vision and drive to change an empty factory into a gallery space. Today, with the same approach, they commission and produce contemporary art, publish books, and engage in social projects. In their guide, you can learn more about their history and explore exhibitions from their archives.
Their current free exhibition, Bruno Zhu, License to Live, is definitely worth a look. It is a compact object-led installation comprising four interconnected rooms that explore notions of artistic agency, authorship, consumption, and power, including visual codes and abstractions embedded across public and private spaces.

Keeping Time: Clocks by Boulle
At The Wallace Collection until March 2, 2025
If you’re looking for an outstanding fine art collection full of paintings, sculptures, furniture, and more masterpieces, there’s not much better than The Wallace Collection. Located in Hertford House and named after Sir Richard Wallace, the collection was gifted to the British nation in 1897 and is said to be the greatest gift of artworks ever to be transferred to public ownership.
You can use Bloomberg Connects to Discover Perspectives On The Collection and check out Keeping Time: Clocks by Boulle, a free display in the Housekeeper’s Room. It brings together the clocks of André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732), the most famous cabinet maker, to tell the story of how he created unique clocks in the baroque style so you can discover the art and science of timekeeping.

Letizia Battaglia: Life, Love and Death in Sicily
At The Photographers’ Gallery until February 23, 2025
Lastly, in the heart of central London, there’s The Photographers’ Gallery. They’re open every day with a full program of exhibitions and more. If you head there on a Friday after 5pm, it’s free – including entry to the Letizia Battaglia: Life, Love and Death in Sicily exhibition.
Battaglia began her photography career in the early 1970s when she was in her forties. Best known for documenting the Sicilian Mafia and her pursuit against organized crime, she used her camera to capture the daily terror. This is the first major exhibition of her work in the UK since her death in 2022. Learn more about the exhibition through their guide and take a look at highlights such as Rosaria Schifani, the grieving widow and Magistrate Roberto Scarpinato with his escort on the roofs of the Court.

The Hunterian Museum
Royal College of Surgeons of England
The Royal College of Surgeons of England envisions excellent surgical care for all. It provides education, assessment, and development to 30,000 surgeons and dental professionals at all stages of their careers. The college is located in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, across the square from Sir John Soane’s Museum.
You can visit The Hunterian Museum to explore the Royal College of Surgeons’ extensive historical collections for free. Discover the art and science of surgery from ancient times to present day and delve into the extraordinary specimen collection of the 18th-century surgeon and anatomist, John Hunter. We recommend starting with the Introduction to the Museum Collections and listening to the Highlight Tour as you move through the gallery.
When it comes to London cultural attractions, you’re spoilt for choice. Download Bloomberg Connects today to explore a wide variety of institutions and find more London exhibitions.
