{"id":419144,"date":"2025-09-12T18:52:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T18:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/419144\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T18:52:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T18:52:14","slug":"somerset-house-just-announced-its-blockbuster-culture-programme-for-next-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/419144\/","title":{"rendered":"Somerset House just announced its blockbuster culture programme for next year"},"content":{"rendered":"

The summer holidays are well and truly over, and London\u2019s cultural institutions are very much in \u2018back to school\u2019 mode this month, with loads of great exhibition openings across September <\/a>and new season announcements coming thick and fast. The\u00a0Tate<\/a>, the Courtauld <\/a>and the National Portrait Gallery<\/a> have already announced their 2026 seasons, and now it\u2019s the turn of celebrated arts institution Somerset House.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ahead of its 25th birthday celebrations this weekend<\/a>, the venue has shared details of its 2026-2027 culture programme, including major exhibitions, another big birthday celebration and the return of some of the venue\u2019s best-loved seasonal events.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Following the closure of the venue\u2019s winter exhibitions on Jennie Baptiste<\/a> and Wayne McGregor<\/a>, and the ever-popular Skate at Somerset House<\/a>, the 2026 programme kicks off with the annual Spring commission in the venue\u2019s neoclassical courtyard.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Created by German-Scottish artist and researcher Dana-Fiona Armour, Serpentine Currents <\/strong>(Feb 19-Apr 26) will feature large-scale serpentine structures derived from 3D scans of endangered sea snake specimens, illuminated by light patterns triggered by oceanographic data, addressing the looming threat of marine ecosystem collapse. Cheerful stuff!<\/p>\n

\"A
\nPhotograph: Anne Tetzlaff <\/p>\n

This is followed by the return of Somerset House Studios\u2019 biannual experimental music and sound series Assembly<\/strong> (Mar 25-28), which returns over four days in early spring with a programme of new commissions and live premieres.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Spring also sees the opening of The Museum of Edible Earth<\/strong> (Mar 18-Apr 26). A multi-sensory project by artist masharu, the museum has toured across the world since 2017 and features hundreds of globally-sourced earths, which visitors are invited to touch, smell and even taste in an exploration of rituals, culinary traditions and healing practices from across the world.<\/p>\n

Somerset House has a history of delving into contemporary pop cultural trends with its exhibition programming \u2013 take last year\u2019s Cute<\/a>, or its current exhibition Virtual Beauty<\/a> \u2013 and it continues in a similar vein with the excellent-sounding Holy Pop!<\/strong> (May 21-Aug 9), exploring how fandom shapes identity, values and community in the modern age.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"George
\nPhotograph: Lynsey Weather <\/p>\n

The following month will mark the opening of a major summer exhibition on musician and cultural icon George Clinton<\/strong> (Jun 30-Sep 20). Europe\u2019s first exhibition on Parliament Funkadelic\u2019s visionary bandleader will encompass paintings, music, fashion, design and illustration exploring role as a pioneer of Afrofuturism and his influence on a diverse range of contemporary artists from Childish Gambino to Massive Attack.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The summer also sees the return of Somerset House Summer Series<\/strong> (Jul 16-26), the venue\u2019s longstanding open-air concert series, recent editions of which have featured such eclectic cultural icons as Patti Smith, John Legend, Ghetts and Carly Rae Jepsen.<\/p>\n

Autumn then sees the arrival of video and installation show Enclosure <\/strong>(Sep-Nov 2026), a first major London exhibition for Somerset House Studios resident Jenkin van Zyl, who was featured as one of Time Out\u2019s London artists to watch <\/a>in October 2024.<\/p>\n

The season also marks ten years since the creation of Somerset House Studios, which will celebrate its first decade by taking over Embankment Gardens with 9 Hours<\/strong> (Oct 2026), a reimagination of landmark NYC performance series 9 Evenings: Theatre and Engineering, which celebrates its 60th anniversary in the same month.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Skate
\nPhotograph: Owen Harvey <\/p>\n

November then marks the return of another beloved calendar fixture with Skate at Somerset House<\/strong> (Nov 2026-Jan 2027), the winter ice skating pop-up which has taken over the Edmond J. Safra courtyard every winter since Somerset House\u2019s inception.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Finally, the arts institution\u2019s announcement also includes details of its early 2027 exhibition, Abracadabra! Magical Thinking in an Unmagical World <\/strong>(Feb 4-Apr 18), a major exhibition in the Embankment Galleries exploring magical thinking across time periods and cultures, from ancient rituals to modern-day mysticism.\u00a0<\/p>\n

All in all, an absolutely packed programme of cultural hits, with something for pretty much every type of Londoner. Time to get your diary out and start planning!<\/p>\n

London Zoo has just announced a major new attraction for kids<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

London\u2019s National Gallery has announced the biggest transformation in its 200-year history<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Get the latest and greatest from the Big Smoke \u2013 from news and reviews to events and trends. Just\u00a0follow our Time Out London WhatsApp channel<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stay in the loop: sign up for our\u00a0<\/strong>free Time Out London newsletter<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0for the best of the city, straight to your inbox.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The summer holidays are well and truly over, and London\u2019s cultural institutions are very much in \u2018back to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419145,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,6419,393,4884,257,6420,6417,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-419144","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-categories-things-to-do","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-london","13":"tag-news-city-life","14":"tag-things-to-do","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115192840023396602","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/419145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}