It is the highest sculpture in the United Kingdom but it is also an attraction that thrills visitor’s of all ages. It is the ArcelorMittal Orbit, the spectacular tunnel slide designed by artists Anish Kapoor and Carsten Höller for the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Surrounded by a flame-red trellis, a 114.5 metre spiral tower offers breathtaking views of London from two terraces suspended 76 and 80 metres off the ground respectively. For the brave-at-heart, the real adventure starts here - flying down the highest and longest slide in the world at 24 kilometres an hour! But the surprises aren’t finished yet - through concave lens placed on the panoramic platform, you can look at the world upside-down while the descent of the spiral staircase offers some unexpected sonic experiences. Whoever wants to learn more about this curious work of art will find all the information right there in a specially dedicated area. Created for the London Olympic Games in 2012, the ArcelorMittal Orbit is a behemoth made from recycled steel and inspired by the double helix of DNA, held together by 600 hundred star knots and thirty-five-thousand bolts. Synonymous with innovative design and playful invention, it has transformed the landscape of East London, showing the numerous faces of a versatile and resistant material - from the red trellises to the polished-steel mirrors, from the spiral staircases to the Corten steel that forms the upper canopy.
Lucian Freud is one of the most famous British artists of the 20th century. Known as a painter, Freud was also a keen printmaker. A collection of 143 etchings by Lucian Freud was acquired by the V&A in 2019. Today for the first time in this exhibition 38 of these etchings are presented to the public.
The Biba Story explores the brand phenomenon invented by Barbara Hulanicki, grew to become the world's first lifestyle brand embodying the fashion of the 1960s and 1970s.
Georg Baselitz marks his return to White Cube Bermondsey for the first time in eight years with solo exhibition A Confession of My Sins. The exhibition features large-scale paintings and a selection of works on paper in which the artist, now 86, traces the last six and a half decades of his practice.
A major exhibition at the British explores the final years of Renaissance Master Michelangelo Buonarroti's life by focusing on how his art and faith evolved through the shared challenge of aging in a rapidly changing world.