Contemporary Art London
Nine London galleries and institutions, from a free Camberwell room open since 1891 to a St James's flagship with a Paris outpost, where the programming, not the postcode, sets the standard.
London's contemporary art world is often described through its auction houses and its art fairs. The venues that actually define it are quieter than that. Some are free and public: the Whitechapel Gallery gave England its first Picasso exhibition in 1938; the South London Gallery has shown ambitious work in Camberwell, without charge, since 1891. Others are commercial rooms built on decades of curatorial judgement, or artist-run spaces where the institution is the artists themselves. What connects the nine venues here is not size or address but standing — each has an exhibition programme worth crossing London for, on its own terms, regardless of what happens to be on this week.
9 venues
Serpentine Galleries
Two free public galleries in Kensington Gardens, best known for the annual Pavilion commission — a different architect given a blank site brief every summer.
Serpentine Galleries are a pair of public contemporary art institutions in Kensington Gardens, programming exhibitions, the annual Serpentine Pavilion, artist talks, performance, f…
Explore venue →Whitechapel Gallery
The East End gallery that gave England its first Picasso exhibition in 1938, and has shown rigorous contemporary work free of charge ever since.
Explore venue →South London Gallery
Free contemporary art in Camberwell since 1891 — one of the longest unbroken curatorial track records of any gallery on this list.
Explore venue →ICA
A single Mall address running visual art, experimental film and live performance side by side, with no expectation that they stay in separate rooms.
London's leading contemporary arts centre on The Mall, presenting cutting-edge art, film, music and performance.
Explore venue →Autograph
A Rivington Place gallery built around photography's role in identity, race and diasporic history — a curatorial focus few London institutions hold this consistently.
Explore venue →Kate MacGarry
A Shoreditch commercial gallery, in a space designed by architect Tony Fretton, representing artists across two decades rather than chasing a single season's trend.
Kate MacGarry is a contemporary art gallery founded in 2002, representing emerging and established artists across painting, sculpture, installation and interdisciplinary practice f…
Explore venue →Thomas Dane Gallery
Two St James's spaces built on the moving image and mid-generation international artists, with a reputation for curatorial risk unusual in a commercial gallery.
Thomas Dane Gallery was established in 2004 with two spaces on Duke Street in St James's, known for the moving image, mid-generation international artists and curatorial experiment…
Explore venue →Beaconsfield Gallery Vauxhall
An artist-run laboratory in a former Vauxhall ragged school, operating outside the commercial gallery model since 1994.
Beaconsfield is an artist-run contemporary art laboratory in Vauxhall, programming exhibitions, performance, talks and interdisciplinary projects from a former ragged school since…
Explore venue →Modern Art
Stuart Shave's gallery moved from the East End to a St James's flagship in 2025, representing more than thirty international and British artists.
Modern Art is a contemporary art gallery founded in 1998 by Stuart Shave, representing more than thirty international and British-based artists across painting, sculpture, installa…
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