The 5 Art and Design Exhibitions in London That Our Culture Editor Thinks You Should See Right Now

With over 200 museums and countless art and design galleries to choose from, making the most of London's cultural offering requires equal amounts of discerning, open-mindedness, and dedication.

Whether you are looking to experience the city's creative pulse right on its streets or keen to indulge in an afternoon at one of its leading artistic institutions, this interdisciplinary roundup of design exhibitions will help you put the right names on the map.

Expect transformative material explorations, a full-immersion into one of last year's most iconic blockbusters, and plenty of alfresco architectural inspiration.

1. Casa al Mare

July is certainly the time to dream of seaside getaways, and Gallery FUMI's newly launched group exhibition Casa al Mare ('house by the sea', through 7 September) has tapped 16 designers to bring a collection of one-off, limited-edition artworks imbued with that summer feeling straight into the heart of London's Mayfair.

Standing out for their organic shapes and pastel-shaded palette, the furniture pieces at the heart of this showcase — including mirrors, vases, tapestries, coffee tables, chairs, and more — elevate natural materials such as wood, ceramic, and stone into avant-garde interior creations straddling the continuum between design and installation. Favorites include a three-legged resin console by material designer Jie Wu, jewelry and stoneware atmospheric lamps by American artist Jeremy Anderson, and a totemic, hand-painted shelving unit by SAELIA APARICIO + ATTUA APARICIO.

2. Vibha Galhotra: Climacteric Whispers

Indian conceptual artist Vibha Galhotra has carved a decades-spanning career out of her environmental justice battle, of which Climacteric Whispers is but the latest manifestation. Inaugurated at Goodman Gallery on 9 July, where it will remain through 14 September, her debut solo exhibition with the London's institution stems from one question: "do humans truly grasp the consequences of their actions on our planet?"

To solve the dilemma, Galhotra has translated the multifarious essence of her oeuvre — incorporating sculpture, installation, photography, video, site-specific work, and public art interventions — into abstract compositions reflective of the precarious state of the Earth. Here, organically shaped, fabric creations like the iridescent Flow (2015) hint at the chemical pollution endured by oceans, lakes, and rivers globally, while elsewhere in the room, Korean hanji paper porthole-like sculptures visualize the "wounded" surface of the world in a symbolic call to action.

3. Barbie®: The Exhibition

Barbie has nearly been out for a year, so why not rekindle the pink fever with a new Design Museum showcase dedicated to the Mattel doll? In Barbie®: The Exhibition (through 23 February), viewers will follow the ascent to global fame of the world’s most iconic blonde as detailed by more than 250 artifacts — including dolls stretching all the way back to 1959, when inventor Ruth Handler first unveiled her. Coinciding with the Barbie brand's 65th anniversary, the exhibition takes the girls' favorite out of its playing context to examine the influence of "Barbiecore" across fashion, architecture, furniture, and vehicle design.

As in the case of the Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling-starring Barbie phenomenon, this London art show too goes well beyond the nostalgia-fueled, bubblegum aesthetic that contributed to the global success of the ultimate toy fashion doll: besides featuring three of the brand's most influential models and doll-size replicas of five iconic Kartell chairs created exclusively for it, it also looks at its creators' efforts to open up the Barbie universe to the widest possible number of people by turning the spotlight on the first Black, Hispanic, and Asian Barbies and the first dolls with disabilities to become part of the Barbie family. Reflecting the shift towards a truly diverse society, Barbie®: The Exhibition leans onto the power of design to keep us playful and inspired, celebrating us as the real protagonists of Barbie's decades-spanning journey.

4. Dominique White: Deadweight

It is as if, after landing in the hands of artist Dominique White, raw, shapeless materials took on a life of their own, revealing stories up till then unknown to the viewers. That's my instant reaction to her Deadweight (through 15 September) solo exhibition, the final chapter of the creative journey she pursued as the winner of 9th edition of the Max Mara Art Prize for Women. A partnership between the Whitechapel Gallery — where the show is currently on view — and the Italian luxury brand, the accolade is a biennial award designed to champion the talent of rising female-identifying artists. Developed during a six-month residency organized by Reggio Emilia contemporary art institution Collezione Maramotti, the artworks part of Deadweight lean on the porousness of materiality and its narrative power to envision new worlds for Blackness.

Imbued with notions of Afrofuturism, Afro-pessimism, and Hydrarchy, and altered by immersion in the Mediterranean sea, White's haunting creations are talismans for the contemporary era: emerged from the encounter between rusty metals, discarded objects, furcate wood, and rope, they speak of those who might have handled them in the past, unleashing an aura of mystery. In nautical language, the "deadweight" represents the cumulative unit "that determines the ship's ability to float and function as intended", White explains. By taking that tipping point, that moment of truth, center stage in her work, she strives to pave the way for long-term transformation.

5. Serpentine Galleries Pavilion 2024: Archipelagic Void

Rounding off this selection of exhibitions with a recurring project commission promoted by one of my favorite museums in London, Serpentine Galleries. For the latest iteration of the institution's coveted pavilion, sponsored by Goldman Sachs, Korean visionary Minsuk Cho — founder of the investigative architecture platform Mass Studies — has conceived a star-shaped structure titled Archipelagic Void.

After observing that most Serpentine pavilions 'emerge as a singular structure situated at the center of the Serpentine South lawn', the architect has opted for a five-part design that encourages the audience to meet, wander, and spend time in the open space positioned at its core. Fostering wider interaction with the surrounding environment, Cho's Archipelagic Void contains a six-channel sound installation crafted in collaboration with musician and composer Jang Young-Gyu by sampling natural as well as human sounds from the Kensington Gardens. Each of the pavilion's 'islands' has a life and a character of its own, housing anything from 'living' libraries to climbable playgrounds and gathering spaces.

Whether you are based in London or visiting on a holiday, venturing into any of the above galleries and museums will grant you a new perspective on your surroundings, leaving you craving for more inspiration. Keep an eye out for another freshly curated dose of art and design shows not to miss this summer.