Five must-see London exhibitions in July 2017

Summer is a strange time for the art world. The big blockbuster exhibitions are traditionally launched in Spring and Autumn, leaving a bit of a gap in between. However, the summer slump offers museums and galleries an opportunity to put on some more unusual exhibitions and to explore new avenues that might otherwise be ignored. From a contemporary experiment on crowds to an examination of the wonders of plywood, you can expect to learn something new wherever you go. Discover our highlights here.

Crowd Control at Arebyte

Crowd Control is a month-long interdisciplinary experiment creatively exploring the collective interactions between individuals, groups and their environments. A team made up of artists, curators and behavioural scientists are creating a series of participatory events as well as observing individuals in the streets, using the gathered data to develop further work. Set in Hackney Wick and culminating in a festival from 21^st to 23^rd July, Crowd Control is your opportunity to get personally involved in an artwork as it grows and develops.

Crowd Control is at Arebyte from 29^th June until 23^rd July. For further information or to book visit here.

Franco Grignani: Art as Design 1950-1990 at Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art 

Franco Grignani was an Italian artist and graphic designer whose work anticipates the Op Art movement of the 1960s. Grignani is probably most famous for his iconic “Woolmark” design, but his paintings and drawings completed in the 1920s and 1930s remain generally unknown. This exhibition at the Estorick Collection brings together 130 works in an attempt to re-establish Grignani’s artistic reputation.

Franco Grignani: Art as Design 1950-1990 is at Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art from 5^th July until 10^th September 2017. For further information or to book visit here.

Alma-Tadema: At Home in Antiquity at Leighton House Museum

Lawrence Alma-Tadema is an artist who is often overlooked. However, his works exude a strange fascination in their luxurious depiction of the classical world. This exhibition examines Alma-Tadema’s interest in the domestic life of antiquity and how this relates to the extraordinary homes he designed and built for himself and his family in London. Alma-Tadema’s paintings created a vision of everyday classicism that continues to influence artistic, literary and filmic representations of the ancient world today.

Alma-Tadema: At Home in Antiquity is at Leighton House Museum from 7^th July until 29^th October 2017. For further information or to book visit here.

Image: A Coign of Vantage,Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema

Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power at Tate Modern

The Tate’s summer exhibition looks at work by Black artists from the United States, spanning an important and formative era of American history. Beginning in 1963 at the height of the Civil Rights movement, Soul of a Nation features a wide range of work.

Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power is at Tate Modern from 12^th July until 22^nd October 2017. For further information or to book visit here. 

Image: Icon for My Man Superman 
(Superman Never Saved any Black People – Bobby Seale), Barkley L Hendricks  

Plywood: Material of the Modern World at the V&A

This free exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum takes as its subject a humble and often overlooked material: plywood. It tells the story of how this quintessentially modern material formed the world we live and work in today, with groundbreaking design pieces from Alvar Aalto, Marcel Breuer and Charles and Ray Eames.

Plywood: Material of the Modern World is at the V&A from 15^th July until 12^th November 2017. For further information visit here.

Anna Souter