Artist talks to attend in London in early 2026
One of the highlights of London’s museum and gallery programming is the excellent series of artist talks, offering audiences a unique opportunity to hear directly from the creators behind the work. This season, these conversations cover a wide range of themes, from migration, memory, and identity to queer histories, indigenous knowledge, and the intersections of performance, film, and visual art, providing insight into artists’ processes, ideas, and the contexts that shape their practice. Below is our guide to some of the artist talks, as well as curator- and architecture-led discussions, to be on your radar in London in early 2026.
Arash Nassiri
Arash Nassiri, A Bug's Life, 2025. Still. Co-commissioned by Chisenhale Gallery, London; Fluentum, Berlin; and Fondation Pernod Ricard, Paris. Produced by Chisenhale Gallery. Courtesy of the artist.
#FLODown: Chisenhale Gallery will host a conversation between artist Arash Nassiri and curator, writer, and academic Dr Róisín Tapponi, exploring Nassiri’s new commission, A Bug’s Life, which is presented concurrently with his current solo exhibition at the gallery. The work is a moving‑image installation set in a Beverly Hills mansion built by Iranian émigrés, examining themes of migration, memory, cultural hybridity, and belonging. Through film, performance, and storytelling, Nassiri brings personal and collective histories to life, showing how built environments and visual narratives reflect displacement and identity.
Date: 21 January 2026. Time: 7–8:30 pm. Location: Chisenhale Gallery, 64–84 Chisenhale Road, London E3 5QZ. Book now
Laura Lima
Artist Laura Lima. Image courtesy of ICA.
#FLODown: Artist Laura Lima will discuss her latest exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in a public conversation with Exhibitions Curator Andrea Nitsche-Krupp. Since the mid-1990s, Lima has developed a distinctive practice exploring the relationship between bodies and their surroundings, often challenging social norms and hierarchies through live situations involving people, objects and space. The talk will focus on her newly commissioned work The Drawing Drawing within the context of her wider practice, with an opportunity for audience questions.
Date: 28 January 2026. Time: 6:45pm. Location: ICA, The Mall, London, SW1Y 5AH. Price: from £13. Concessions available. Book now
Catherine Opie
Flipper, Tanya, Chloe & Harriet, San Francisco, 1995 © Catherine Opie, courtesy Regen Projects, Los Angeles; Lehmann Maupin, New York, Hong Kong, London, and Seoul; Thomas Dane Gallery
#FLODown: Acclaimed American artist Catherine Opie and curator Gem Fletcher will be in conversation at the National Portrait Gallery to celebrate the opening of Opie’s exhibition To Be Seen. Over the past 30 years, Opie has explored the portrait in diverse contexts, creating conceptually rigorous and striking photographs that make visible queer communities, mentors, collaborators, children, surfers, high school footballers, political crowds, and herself through self-portraiture. This livestreamed event will offer insight into Opie’s practice and the themes of the exhibition, highlighting her approach to representation, identity, and community.
Date: 6 March 2026. Time: 7-8pm. Location: Ondaatje Wing Theatre, National Portrait Gallery, St Martin’s Place, London WC2H 0HE. Price: Onsite £15 (£12 Members / concessions). Online £10 (£8 Members / concessions). Book now
Rose Wylie
Rose Wylie, 2025 (detail) © Rose Wylie. Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner. Image credit Gabby Laurent
#FLODown: Rose Wylie will appear in conversation for a special talk held in the Main Galleries at the Royal Academy of Arts, offering insight into her distinctive and uncompromising painting practice. Known for her bold, energetic works that draw on art history and popular culture, Wylie will reflect on a remarkable career that began later in life and has since established her as one of the most individual voices in British art. In discussion with curator and Hayward Gallery Director Ralph Rugoff, she will explore the ideas behind her paintings, which form the most comprehensive exhibition of her work to date. The talk coincides with Wylie’s exhibition The Picture Comes First (28 February–19 April 2026).
Date: 2 March 2026. Time: 6.30–7.45 pm. Location: Main Galleries at Burlington House, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BD. Price: from £25 (£15 concessions). Book now
Stina Fors
Portrait of Stina Fors, courtesy of the artist and Steinsland Berliner. Image credit Knotan.
#FLODown: Stina Fors, artist-in-residence at Studio Voltaire, will be in conversation with Rosalie Doubal, Senior Curator, International Art (Performance and Participation) at Tate, to discuss Fors’ award-winning performance Answer me, Pythia. Drawing on the Oracle of Delphi, the piece examines the soothsayer’s role in delivering riddles that compel the seeker to look within. Originally premiered in 2025 at Kunstraum Niederoesterreich, it has been reimagined in a new, shorter live format for Studio Voltaire. The discussion will also highlight Fors’ multidisciplinary practice, spanning dance, theatre, and music, and her approach of treating her body of work as a continually evolving piece adapted for new contexts.
Date: 11 February 2026. Time: 7–8.30 pm. Location: Studio Voltaire, 1a Nelsons Row, London SW4 6AS. Price: £5 (concessions available). Book now
Máret Ánne Sara
Máret Ánne Sara. Courtesy the artist. Image credit Jonathan Watts
#FLODown: Artist Máret Ánne Sara will mark the closing weeks of her Tate Modern commission with a talk on her practice as a Northern Sámi artist, author, and land defender. Drawing on her experience in a reindeer-herding family, she will explore Sámi knowledge systems, ecological responsibility, and the impact of Nordic colonialism, highlighting the reciprocal relationships between humans, animals, and the natural world.
Date: 26 March 2026. Time: 7pm – 8.30pm (commission open for private view from 6.30pm). Location: Tate Modern, Turbine Hall, Corner Bar entrance, Bankside, London SE1 9TG. Price: £15 / £13 Members; £13 Concessions; £5 Universal Credit and Pension Credit recipients; £5 Tate Collective (ages 16–25). Book now
Donna Gottschalk and Hélène Giannecchini
Donna Gottschalk, Photobooth portraits, 1966-1971, Courtesy of the artist and Marcelle Alix, Paris © Donna Gottschalk
#FLODown: American photographer Donna Gottschalk and writer and curator Hélène Giannecchini will come together for an evening discussion moderated by José Neves from The Photographers’ Gallery. Gottschalk’s work intimately documents queer lives and communities from the late 1960s, capturing everyday experiences during the early LGBT+ rights movements in the US. Giannecchini, whose research focuses on queer memoirs and minority archives, situates these images in the present, reflecting on domestic intimacies, care, solidarity, and resistance. The conversation offers a rare opportunity to hear directly from Gottschalk and to consider her practice within broader cultural and historical contexts. The talk will also coincide with the exhibition We Others (6 March – 7 June 2026) at The Photographers’ Gallery, featuring work by Donna Gottschalk and Hélène Giannecchini.
Date: 6 March 2026. Time: 6.30–7.45 pm. Location: The Photographers’ Gallery, 16–18 Ramillies Street, London W1F 7LW. Price: £10, £7 members & concessions. Book now
Tomas Colbengtson
Object: Maadteraahkka (Foremother). Description. Sleigh and reindeer in snowy landscape with trees. 2023. Colour screenprint with mixed media. Print made by Tomas Colbengtson.
#FLODown: In celebration of Sámi National Day, Sámi artist Tomas Colbengtson discusses his work exploring how colonial histories have impacted indigenous peoples, including the Sámi. Colbengtson combines visual art with Sámi history and collective memory to reflect on the loss and revitalisation of Sámi identity, particularly focusing on the south Sámi language. His talk is part of the public programme accompanying the Nordic noir: works on paper from Edvard Munch to Mamma Andersson exhibition (open until 22 March 2026).
Date: 6 February 2026. Time: 6.30pm - 7.30pm. Location: Room 90, British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG. Price: Free (advance booking required). Book now
Ufuoma Essi, Onyeka Igwe and Tendai Mutambu
Lead image: Still from Ufuoma Essi, Half Memory, 30 mins, Scanned Super8, Colour. © Ufuoma Essi.
#FLODown: Camden Art Centre presents an evening of moving image screenings and discussion with artists Ufuoma Essi and Onyeka Igwe, joined by Tendai Mutambu. Taking place alongside Karimah Ashadu’s exhibition Tendered, the event features a selection of film works by Essi and Igwe, followed by a chaired conversation exploring their shared interests in memory, archival narratives, and Black feminist thought. The discussion will reflect on colonial infrastructure, suppressed histories, and the relationships between sound, image, and testimony.
Date: 5 February 2026. Time: 7–10 pm. Location: Camden Art Centre, Arkwright Road, London NW3 6DG. Price: from £5.04 - £6.13. Book now
Architecture on Stage
Wonderlab at the Science Museum by muf architecture/art
#FLODown: The Architecture on Stage series at the Barbican Centre is a programme of talks, screenings, and discussions that explore architectural practice, design ideas, and the social and historical contexts of the built environment. In 2026, the series features The First Siza (28–29 January), a documentary on Álvaro Siza’s first built project, the Four Houses in Matosinhos; a talk with Liebman Villavecchia Arquitectos (17 February) on designing within existing structures; and Kingdom of the Sick (19 February), where Andrea Bagnato and Oliver Basciano examine how disease has influenced colonisation, segregation, and social stigma, offering audiences insight into both architecture and its wider societal impact.
Click here to discover more about Architecture on Stage.
Curator’s Talk: Anna Ancher
Anna Ancher, Sunlight in the blue room, 1891. Oil on canvas. Image courtesy of Skagens Museum
#FLODown: This Curator’s Talk, led by Helen Hillyard at Dulwich Picture Gallery, introduces the exhibition Anna Ancher: Painting Light. The talk explores Ancher’s masterful use of light and colour, as well as her role as a central figure in the Skagen artists’ colony in northern Jutland. Celebrated as one of Denmark’s leading female artists, Ancher remains relatively unknown in the UK, and this event offers valuable insight into her life, work, and artistic significance. Entry to the exhibition is included, with a promo code allowing visitors to book a viewing at a convenient time.
Date: 25 February 2026. Time: 12.30–1.30pm. Location: Dulwich Picture Gallery College Road, London SE21 7AD. Price: £30, Concessions £25, Friends £20. Book now
Seurat and the Neo-Impressionists
Georges Seurat, 1859-1891, Seascape at Port-en-Bessin, Normandy, 1888, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
#FLODown: As part of Friday Lates, curator Karen Serres will join Chiara Di Stefano and Julien Domercq to explore the work of Georges Seurat and his Neo-Impressionist contemporaries. The talk takes place as Radical Harmony draws to a close and ahead of The Courtauld’s forthcoming exhibition Seurat and the Sea—the first UK exhibition devoted to Seurat in nearly 30 years. It focuses on Seurat’s innovative technique, his depictions of port towns and coastal life along the English Channel, and his influence and legacy within the wider Neo-Impressionist movement.
Date: 23 January 2026. Time: 6.30–7.30 pm. Location: Pigott Theatre, The Courtauld Gallery, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 0RN. Price: from £10 standard / £8 concessions. Book now
