Art in Fitzrovia: Exhibitions and cultural events this October 2026

19–25 October 2026 | Radiant House

Six emerging female artists come together for What Holds Us Together, a group exhibition marking the culmination of Fitzrovia Quarter’s inaugural Studio Residency programme.

Selected from 253 applications, Esmeralda Conde Ruiz, Jingshan Ding, Purdey Fitzherbert, Holly Keogh, Monya Riachi and Tabitha Wilson have spent the past four months working in rent-free studios at 53 Great Portland Street. Their residency offered an opportunity to experiment, collaborate and develop new work inspired by the neighbourhood’s architecture, creative heritage and everyday life.

Taking place at the Grade II-listed Radiant House, the exhibition brings together painting, printmaking, sculpture, installation, writing, sound and performance. Each artist offers a different interpretation of connection, memory, movement and coexistence, revealing how a shared place can inspire distinct creative perspectives.

Visitors can also meet the artists through two special tours on 21 and 25 October, offering a closer look at the ideas and processes behind their work.

Plan your visit

• Venue: Radiant House, 36–38 Mortimer Street, London W1W 7RG
• Dates: 19–25 October 2026
• Opening hours: Monday–Friday, 11am–6pm; Saturday–Sunday, 12pm–6pm
• Admission: Free
• Artist tours: 21 October at 1pm and 25 October at 3pm

8–18 October 2026 | The Tagli

Contemporary art meets architecture, memory and material experimentation at The Tagli’s latest exhibition, Containers, presented across two complementary parts.

Containers: Part I brings together five artists — Piers Alsop, William Lowry, Heeyoung Noh, Nika Neelova and Salvatore Pione — whose works challenge established ideas surrounding society, masculinity, archaeology, architecture and anthropology. Through varied approaches to memory and material, the exhibition explores how artworks can hold, reinterpret and reshape inherited narratives.

In Containers: Part II, artist Lucas Dupuy turns his attention to the overlooked beauty of public spaces, the geometry of natural forms and the relationship between architecture and its surroundings. His abstract paintings capture fleeting impressions of light, shadow and movement, drawing attention to moments that often pass unnoticed.

Together, the two presentations offer a compelling exploration of how we perceive, interpret and interact with the world around us.

Plan your visit

• Venue: The Tagli, 67 Great Titchfield Street, London W1W 7PT
• Dates: 8–18 October 2026

2–31 October 2026 | RHODES Contemporary Art

Two distinct artistic perspectives share the spotlight at RHODES Contemporary Art this October, with solo exhibitions by Morag Caister and Zoe Hawk.

In Watching the City, award-winning portrait painter Morag Caister presents a new series of original works. Her contemporary approach to portraiture invites visitors to encounter the people and observations that inform her artistic practice.

Meanwhile, American artist Zoe Hawk presents Broken Hearts in the gallery’s Project Room. Displayed alongside Caister’s exhibition, the presentation offers visitors an opportunity to discover two individual artistic voices within a single gallery visit.

Both exhibitions run until the end of October, with free admission, making RHODES an inviting stop for anyone exploring Fitzrovia’s contemporary gallery scene.

Plan your visit

• Venue: RHODES Contemporary Art, 65 Great Portland Street, London W1W 7LW
• Dates: 2–31 October 2026
• Opening hours: Tuesday–Friday, 11am–6pm; Saturday, 12pm–6pm
• Admission: Free

1. Middlesex Hospital Blues at The Fitzrovia Chapel

16 October–18 November 2026 | The Fitzrovia Chapel

History, film, sound and contemporary art converge in Middlesex Hospital Blues, a new immersive exhibition at The Fitzrovia Chapel.

Curated by award-winning artists and filmmakers Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, the exhibition draws inspiration from Blue, the final film by Derek Jarman. Through newly commissioned sound, sculpture and lighting, it explores themes of illness, mortality, memory and collective remembrance.

At its centre is a spatial sound composition by Simon Fisher Turner, created with Tilda Swinton and featuring archival recordings of Jarman. A sculptural installation by Jenkin van Zyl and a dramatic lighting design by Arup transform the chapel’s historic interior into an immersive environment.

The setting carries particular significance. Once part of Middlesex Hospital, which housed pioneering dedicated HIV/AIDS wards, the chapel provides a poignant setting for a work concerned with care, loss and the importance of remembering.

Plan your visit:

• Venue: The Fitzrovia Chapel, 2 Pearson Square, London W1T 3BF
• Dates: 16 October–18 November 2026
• Opening hours: Monday–Wednesday and Friday–Saturday, 11am–6pm; Thursday, 11am–8pm; Sunday, 12pm–5pm
• Admission: Free

DISCOVER MIDDLESEX HOSPITAL BLUES

 

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2. A Halloween After-Hours Experience at The Cartoon Museum

29 October 2026 | The Cartoon Museum

Caricatures, creepy costumes and true ghost stories come together at The Cartoon Museum x Illustrators’ Fair Spooky Night. This Halloween party invites cartoon lovers, satire fans and curious visitors to enjoy a different kind of evening in Fitzrovia.

Come dressed as a creepy character for the frightening fashion parade, or create your disguise at the drop-in mask-making workshop. Explore spooky gallery tours and join a Q&A with Stephen Mansfield, whose career spans Spitting Image, Doctor Who, Madame Tussauds and the Jim Henson Puppet Company.

Bring your best true ghost story to share with the crowd and see it captured by the illustrator in residence. Guests can also submit ghost-story cartoons and illustrations ahead of the event to shop@cartoonmuseum.org for projection on the night, with entries judged by Sad Ghost Club’s Lize Meddings and spooky prizes up for grabs.

Plan your visit:

• Venue: The Cartoon Museum, 63 Wells Street, Fitzrovia, London W1A 3AE
• Date: Thursday 29 October 2026
• Time: 6.30pm–9pm
• Tickets: £12.68
• Age restriction: Over 18s only.

BOOK YOUR SPOOKY NIGHT

3. South Africa Through Art and Performance at House of Sisters Grimm

Throughout October 2026 | House of Sisters Grimm

Discover the colours, landscapes and cultural traditions of South Africa at House of Sisters Grimm, where fine art, music and performance come together in an immersive experience. Founded by two multicultural women, this creative destination on Eastcastle Street invites visitors to experience artistic storytelling beyond the conventional gallery setting.

At its heart is a collection of 34 original artworks by Ella Spira MBE, a Grammy-nominated composer, painter and co-founder of Sisters Grimm. Created in South Africa, the works celebrate the country’s landscapes and cultural identity through Spira’s multidisciplinary artistic approach.

Plan your visit:

• Venue: House of Sisters Grimm, 23–25 Eastcastle Street, London W1W 8DF
  Dates: Throughout October 2026; art collection on display, with performance dates subject to booking
• October ’26 offer: Use code BHMINALA for selected discounted tickets

EXPLORE HOUSE OF SISTERS GRIMM

4. Amal Ghosh: Selected Works 1982–2000 at Niru Ratnam Gallery

9 October–12 December 2026 | Niru Ratnam Gallery

Niru Ratnam Gallery presents Selected Works: 1982–2000, an exhibition revisiting nearly two decades of work by Indian-born artist Amal Ghosh. Bringing attention to an important period in the artist’s practice, the exhibition offers visitors an opportunity to discover the work of a painter whose career connects Indian and British art histories.

Plan your visit:

• Venue: Niru Ratnam Gallery, Fitzrovia, London
• Dates: 9 October–12 December 2026

EXPLORE AMAL GHOSH AT NIRU RATNAM GALLERY

5. Gülsün Karamustafa: Remains of a Forgotten Promise at Ab-Anbar

8 October–12 December 2026 | Ab-Anbar Gallery

Ab-Anbar presents Remains of a Forgotten Promise, the first and most comprehensive solo exhibition in the United Kingdom dedicated to Turkish contemporary artist Gülsün Karamustafa. Spanning five decades of artistic practice, the exhibition explores the relationships between personal memory, political history, migration and cultural identity.

Plan your visit:

• Venue: Ab-Anbar Gallery, Fitzrovia, London
• Dates: 8 October–12 December 2026

EXPLORE WHAT’S ON AT AB-ANBAR

6. Massimo Giannoni: VOLUMI at Pontone Gallery

8–31 October 2026 | Pontone Gallery

Step into richly textured worlds of books, libraries and architectural interiors in VOLUMI, an exhibition by Italian painter Massimo Giannoni at Pontone Gallery. Through expressive oil paintings, Giannoni transforms familiar spaces of learning and discovery into atmospheric scenes that celebrate the enduring value of knowledge and cultural memory.

Plan your visit:

• Venue: Pontone Gallery, Fitzrovia, London
• Dates: 8–31 October 2026

DISCOVER MORE AT PONTONE GALLERY

 

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7. Chris Rivers: Legends in Higher Places at Pontone Gallery

8–31 October 2026 | Pontone Gallery

Imagination takes centre stage in Legends in Higher Places, an exhibition by British artist Chris Rivers at Pontone Gallery. The exhibition marks the return of Rivers’ cherub editions for the first time in five years, offering visitors a chance to explore a recurring subject in his work.

Celebrating ten years of painting, Rivers has also created 12 new original oil paintings on paper to accompany a series of limited-edition prints. Whether drawn to contemporary painting, surreal imagery or vibrant colour, visitors will find an imaginative contrast to the quieter library interiors of Massimo Giannoni’s VOLUMI, presented at Pontone Gallery.

Plan your visit:

• Venue: Pontone Gallery, Fitzrovia, London
• Dates: 8–31 October 2026

EXPLORE “LEGENDS IN HIGH PLACES” AT PONTONE GALLERY

 

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8. Marcin Dudek: PAWILON at Edel Assanti

16 October–12 December 2026 | Edel Assanti

Everyday spaces become vessels of memory in PAWILON, a solo exhibition by Polish artist Marcin Dudek at Edel Assanti. Drawing inspiration from a neighbourhood supermarket in the Kraków housing estate where he grew up, Dudek transforms the gallery into a fragmented architectural environment that explores childhood, community and the social changes experienced in post-communist Poland.

Plan your visit:

• Venue: Edel Assanti Gallery, Fitzrovia, London
• Dates: 16 October–12 December 2026
• Opening reception: Thursday 15 October, 6pm–8pm

DISCOVER PAWILON AT EDEL ASSANTI

 

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9. Explore mythology and identity in Richard Ayodeji Ikhide’s Aspects of Self

Aspects of Self | Richard Ayodeji Ikhide

Step into richly imagined worlds in Aspects of Self, an exhibition held at  by London-based artist Richard Ayodeji Ikhide. Drawing on Yoruba mythologies, ancestral knowledge and Jungian psychology, his paintings explore how the stories we inherit shape our understanding of ourselves.

Plan your visit:

• Exhibition: Aspects of Self by Richard Ayodeji Ikhide
• Venue: 54 Eastcastle St, London W1W 8EF, United Kingdom
• Dates: From 13 October 2026

EXPLORE THE EXHIBITION

10. Discover Elegance in Motion at Eclectic Gallery

15 October–4 November 2026 | Eclectic Gallery

A gesture, a brushstroke or a shift in colour can bring a painting to life. At Eclectic Gallery, Elegance in Motion brings together six contemporary artists to explore movement, emotion and the expressive possibilities of the human figure.

Featuring works by Marion Cadet, Danny O’Connor, David Noalia, Salva Ginard, Olga Rykova and Zara Muse, the exhibition moves between expressive portraiture, figurative painting and abstract compositions. Each artist offers a different perspective on elegance, finding it in rhythm, posture, colour and the energy of a composition.

EXPLORE ECLECTIC GALLERY

 

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