Free
15 July - 6 September 2026
Backyard Biennial is a new, free summer arts festival, taking place over 8 weeks across a range of East London venues. Browse all events below, filter by date or activity type to plan your visit.
Refine by one of the following:
Performance
Greatorex
3-9 Aug
In keeping with Tellus, fertile ground and all that grows from it, seven artists explore acts of love & care.
Special Event
Fredrica’s, House of Annetta, Spitalfields City Farm, and DAYTIMERS at Whitechapel Gallery
8 Aug, 11am - 11pm
A free, all-day neighbourhood party featuring a multi-disciplinary programme of live performances, workshops, installations, participatory experiences, creative experiments, and more!
Workshop
Backyard Biennial Neighbourhood Party
Whitechapel Gallery
8 Aug, 3-6pm
Join a drop-in session exploring Whitechapel's histories of education, migration, activism, and creative expression through East London collections. Co-facilitated by writer/researcher M. Syd Rosen and Archivist Aiden Chan.
Late
Backyard Biennial Neighbourhood Party
Whitechapel Gallery
8 Aug, 6-11pm
Creative collective DAYTIMERS takes over Whitechapel Gallery, showcasing contemporary South Asian artistry and asking who shapes the future of Brick Lane. With live music, performances, workshops, talks, and food.
Workshop
Whitechapel Gallery
9 Aug; 11am-1pm on
Join a workshop as part of a new commissioned project with artist Aliaskar Abarkas, exploring sound, music, and listening through faith and collective experience.
Walk
Whitechapel Road
26 Jul and 9 Aug; 2-4pm
Join The Gentle Author of Spitalfields Life for a two-hour walking tour of sightseeing and storytelling along the Whitechapel Road, culminating in tea and cake at the Whitechapel Gallery.
Exhibition
Emalin – Helmet Row
Wed-Sat, 11am-6pm; until 15 Aug
Emalin is pleased to present 92-01 'In Livin Color', Alvaro Barrington's third solo exhibition with the gallery; on view until 15 August 2026.
Exhibition
Greatorex
11-16 Aug
See how migration in search of better worlds shape us all. Nathan Akehurst presents his photographs and dialogue from the frontline of Mediterranean sea rescue.
Exhibition
House of Annetta
31 Ju - 19 Aug, 12-5pm
Anusha Alamgir and Fawziyah Rahman invite you to look into shadow worlds, via suitcase-sized works from artists living in Bangladesh and the diaspora.
Workshop
Oxford House
30 Jul, 6, 13 and 20 Aug; 10.30am-12.30pm
Create your own recycled percussion instruments for the Material Histories Community Procession, which will take place on 5 September from Oxford House to Whitechapel Gallery.
Performance
East London Art Prize x Backyard Biennial
Whitechapel Gallery
13 Aug, 7pm
Lydia Newman presents a live participatory performance, Sand Suit 4.0 (2026), an embodied storytelling work developed in dialogue with the workshops and her ongoing series In the Wake of Ruin.
Walk
East London Art Prize x Backyard Biennial
Meet at Whitechapel Gallery
15 Aug, 11am-1pm
A walking tour to explore how art has been woven into the history and architecture of Whitechapel and East London
Talk
Whitechapel Gallery
15 Aug, 2-3pm
Discover the sounds and stories that have shaped A Song for the Xeedho in this listening session and conversation with researcher Ibrahim Hirsi and artist-producer Heather Marks.
Workshop
Whitechapel Gallery
15 Aug, 2.30-4.30pm
Join textile designer Anisah Yaminah for a hands-on yarn winding workshop exploring ideas around migration, memory and nostalgia through textile and craft.
Talk
Whitechapel Gallery
15 Aug, 4-5pm
Layla Mahmood (The Observer) joins Mohammed Elnaiem (The Decolonial Centre) for a conversation on climate, censorship and environmental change in East Africa.
Music
Theatre at Toynbee Studios
15 Aug, 6-9pm
Directed by renowned tabla player Yousuf Ali Khan, this special evening explores the music and culture of Bangladesh through traditional songs, ragas and contemporary interpretations. Dinner option available with Bengali food by Oitij-jo Kitchen.
Performance
Whitechapel Gallery
22 Aug, 12-1.30pm
Join artist Jannat Hussain for a participatory performance exploring memory, materiality, and collective remembrance through her sculpture Our Hands, Our Eyes (2026).
Late
Whitechapel Gallery
20 Aug, 6.30-9pm
A late event exploring diasporic memory, anticolonial practice and counter-archiving through A Song for the Xeedho, with artist conversations, DJs and food.
Exhibition
Greatorex
18-24 Aug
The Great Imagining Whitechapel will be an interactive exhibition with a programme of talks, workshops and films exploring a greener, fairer, wiser future.
Film
OITIJ-JO Art Space
27 Jul, 3 Aug and 24 Aug; 7pm
In collaboration with SHALA_Neighbourhood Art Space, Dhaka, TUFAN is presenting a total of twenty short films and video arts from a diverse range of artists and filmmakers from Bangladesh under two thematic sections.
Exhibition
Toynbee Hall
24 Aug - 06 Sep; 8-11pm
250 pupils in a Swiss village reimagine the future of their home. What could East London dream up? A video-installation by Yannick Portmann.
Exhibition
Nunnery Gallery
10am-4pm; until 30 Aug
The Nunnery Gallery’s annual Bow Open exhibition features 25 Bow Arts artists, selected by local young curators around the theme of belonging.
Workshop
Whitechapel Gallery
18 Jul and 29 Aug, 1-3pm
Join Trapped in Zone One for a group based creative activity, exploring Bengali cultural heritage with the creation of a large scale ‘Alpona’ artwork.
Exhibition
Whitechapel Gallery
Tue-Sun; until 30 Aug
This participatory exhibition explores East London's rope-making history. Drop in to try rope, string, braiding and knot-tying, contributing to a growing installation, alongside a specially created film.
Performance
Tower of London
19–31 Aug (excluding 25 Aug); 11am-4pm
Visit the Tower of London from to experience Imagining Animals, a new commission by Historic Royal Palaces inspired by animals across the world.
Exhibition
Oxford House
Mon-Fri, 10am-6pm; until 2 Sep
Explore the East End’s textile heritage through five hand-crafted banners created in collaboration with local artists and communities.
Workshop
Whitechapel Gallery
27 Aug, 6-8.30pm
Swiss artist Yannick Portmann invites you to a creative workshop, imagining possible futures for our city. Open to all, wacky ideas welcome!
Exhibition
Whitechapel Gallery
27 Aug, 6.30 and 7.30pm
Join the Whitechapel Gallery and Rubbena Aurangzeb-Tariq for a tour of the exhibition, East of the Aldgate Pump.
Performance
Whitechapel Gallery
27 Aug, 7-7.30pm
Through skips, jumps and loops, Puer Deorum breathes life through the pages of OITIJ-JO Collective’s Community Library of South Asian books.
Workshop
Whitechapel Gallery
28 Aug, 3-5pm
A workshop reimagining the Charles Booth London poverty maps with contemporary lived experience insights and entries from local young people.
Performance
Whitechapel Gallery
1 Sep, 6.30pm
A performance-lecture about muscles and men, exploring building a body as a site to work through disappearing certainties about work, gender, and the roles we think we’re meant to play.
Workshop
Walking! Power! Inclusion!
Whitechapel Gallery
2 Sep, 11am - 6pm
The Demolition Project (A-Z) involves a giant map of the city and an invitation to participants to demolish buildings, streets or entire areas.
Talk
Walking! Power! Inclusion!
Whitechapel Gallery
2 Sep, 2-6pm
An afternoon of conversation, reflection and radio about walking, by collective of artists, researchers and creative practitioners. Participation is welcome!
Performance
ArtsOne Building, Queen Mary University of the Arts
Wed 2 Sep, 6-9pm
Join us for an evening of playful experiment and serious engagement revealing how artists explore the world through acts of cultural resistance.
Talk
Bevis Marks Synagogue
3 Sep
Two East London artists reflect on Jewish heritage, identity and belonging, exploring how history, memory and place shape their artistic practices.
Exhibition
Oxford House
Mon-Fri, 10am - 6pm
A photography exhibition exploring fresh perspectives on the East End through archival research and street photography.
Exhibition
Greatorex
from 27 Aug
Installations and artworks as tools to develop care, resilience & imagination, using interconnected ecology as a model for society.
Performance
from Oxford House to Whitechapel Gallery
5 Sep; gather at Oxford House at 10.30, walking at 11am
An artist and community-led procession celebrating the textile heritage of East London. Featuring community-made textile banners, handmade percussion instruments, and artist interventions exploring local history, craft and making along the route.
Special Event
Chisenhale Road
5 Sep, 1-7pm
The Chisenhale Arts and Community Street Party is an annual celebration of creativity, culture, and community in Bow. It brings together residents from across Tower Hamlets through a diverse programme of free activities and live performances.
Walk
Former St. Clement's Hospital
5 Sep, 2-4pm
Celebrating/commiserating/commemorating the 20th anniversary of the St. Clement's psychiatric hospital closure. A walk and artistic intervention around the site.
Talk
Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives
5 Sep, 2-3.30pm
Join us to explore a lesser-known history of the Royal Menagerie at the Tower of London as part of the Communities of Liberation events programme and Imagining Animals, a new commission by Historic Royal Palaces.
Exhibition
NıCOLETTı
Thu-Sat, 11am-6pm; until 5 Sep
Nicoletti presents the first solo exhibition at the gallery by the London-based British artist Appau Junior Boakye-Yiadom.
Special Event
Whitechapel Gallery
6 Sep, 11am - 4pm
Enjoy a day of puppetry, movement, music, performances, drop-in workshop for all, poetry and conversation celebrating animals. Keep a look out!
Exhibition
Whitechapel Gallery
Tue-Sun, 15 Jul - 06 Sep
Group exhibition with 12 local, national and international artists responding to the rich and distinctive historic, cultural and creative identity of East London.
Exhibition
Whitechapel Gallery
Tue-Sun, 15 Jul - 06 Sep
'A Song for the Xeedho' (Hey-ro) is a new interactive installation that centres the Xeedho, a wedding basket made by Somali nomadic women which has become endangered due to the climate crisis.
Exhibition
Whitechapel Gallery
Tue-Sun, 15 Jul - 06 Sep
Have a migration story to share? Drop by the Common Room at Whitechapel Gallery to add yours to the Migration Museum’s growing collection.
Exhibition
Whitechapel Gallery
Tue-Sun, 15 Jul - 06 Sep
OITIJ-JO Collective presents TUFAN, an evolving exhibition and live programme exploring transformation and renewal.
Film
Whitechapel Gallery
Tue-Sun, 12-3pm; 15 Jul - 6 Sep
A specially curated screening programme focusing on East London communities past and present, from Four Corners, London Community Video Archive and OITIJ-JO Collective.
Film
Whitechapel Gallery
Tue-Sun, 4pm + Thu 7pm; 15 Jul - 6 Sep
As part of Backyard Biennial, a specially curated selection of films from the last five decades by pioneering and influential artist John Smith will be screened each day.
Exhibition
Whitechapel Gallery
Tue-Sun; 15 Jul - 6 Sep
Material Crimes is a podcast project dedicated to uncovering the true crimes of infrastructure. This installation is a listening station, based on collage-work, stories and sounds from across the series.
Workshop
Victoria Park/St Margaret’s House
until Sep
Explore Outdoors returns to St Margaret’s House! Take part in a variety of free Arts & Wellbeing workshops in Victoria Park this summer.
Exhibition
Raven Row
Wed-Sun, 11am-6pm; until 6 Sep
'Nomenclature…' is most of all a show of sculpture, including work by 13 artists from different generations, curated by Imani Mason Jordan.
Late
Alba X Whitechapel Gallery
Every Thu, 5-9pm
Late opening for natural wine, spritzes, homemade soft drinks and variety of different pop up chefs from East London and beyond.
Exhibition
The Gilbert & George Centre
Thu-Sun, 11am-5.45pm
A tribute to the artists’ dear friend. Enjoy the show at your own pace, or join us for our tour on Saturdays at 4pm!
Exhibition
SLQS Gallery
Thu-Sat, 12-6pm; until 19 Sep
Six artists from the Vietnamese diaspora invite East London communities into an immigrant garden: a space of memory, exchange, and collective belonging.
Exhibition
Auto Italia
Thu-Sun, 12-5pm; PV 16 Jul, 6-8pm
Auto Italia presents Sensual / Mutual, the first major institutional solo exhibition in the UK by Del LaGrace Volcano.
Residency
Auto Italia
until Nov
Artist Rose Nordin is collaborating with young migrants over six months to co-author a new commission for Auto Italia, which will be presented in November alongside a public event series.
Walk
Meet at Whitechapel Gallery
16 Jul, 2-4pm
Popular guide Rachel Kolsky leads a Whitechapel walk exploring Jewish East End history, tracing sites of work, worship and everyday life.
Workshop
Whitechapel Gallery
16 Jul, 5-8pm
We’d love to see your objects, photographs and mementos connected to London’s Jewish East End. Discuss with curators from Whitechapel Gallery and Jewish Museum London.
Walk
Walking! Power! Inclusion!
Meet at Whitechapel Gallery
16 Jul, 6-8pm
This walk explores walking as a way of home-finding and how we carry those multiple homes with us as we walk the streets.
Talk
Whitechapel Gallery
16 Jul, 7-8pm
A conversation with artist Fozia Ismail on the themes behind A Song for the Xeedho - the Knot Makers.
Talk
Oxford House
17 Jul, 10am-4pm
The Material Histories symposium at Oxford House offers a day of artist talks and slow making, exploring East End and regional textile histories.
Walk
Meet at Whitechapel Gallery
18 Jul, 12-1pm
Join the Migration Museum team for a East End walking tour and journey with through the streets of Whitechapel and the East End to discover the lives of people who shaped the area.
Workshop
Whitechapel Gallery
18 Jul, 2-3.30pm
Book your free spot with embroidery artist Nicole Chui and the Migration Museum – and stitch personal journeys of migration onto football shirts.
Open Studios
Acme Robinson Road
17 Jul, 6-9pm; 18-19 Jul, 12-5pm
Step inside Acme’s Robinson Road, a former mid-19th century brush factory now home to around 70 artists, for open studios and archival exhibition.
Talk
SLQS Gallery
18 Jul, 11am-1pm; 19 Jul, 2-6pm
Six artists from the Vietnamese diaspora invite you to their exhibition, talks and workshops around an immigrant garden: a space of memory, exchange, and collective belonging.
Late
Whitechapel Gallery
18 Jul, 6-10pm
Join Somali Museum UK for an evening of performative lectures, conversations and music, exploring what "Somalinimo" means as an artist, and envisioning what a contemporary Somali museum could look like.
Exhibition
Greatorex
15-21 Jul
Louise Ashcroft makes resourceful works in conversation with Whitechapel’s markets and small businesses. Surplus stuff and specialist knowledge become strategies for sculptural storytelling.
Performance
Walking! Power! Inclusion!
Angel Alley
15 Jul and 21 July, 11.30am-5.30pm
A day in the life of street furniture, or How to Explore the City Whilst Sitting Still. All welcome to sit, dream and loiter.
Film
Whitechapel Gallery
22 Jul, 12-5pm
Join Four Corners, London Community Video Archive and Oitij-Jo Collective for an afternoon of screenings and discussion.
Walk
Walking! Power! Inclusion!
Meet at Whitechapel Gallery
22 Jul, 2-4pm
The Feminist Art of Walking celebrates women transforming walking into works of art and activism, whilst sharing a manifesto for more equitable streets
Walk
Walking! Power! Inclusion!
Meet at Whitechapel Gallery
23 Jul, 4-6pm
A walk inviting observation, reflection and sharing. Bring an open eye, a camera, smartphone or pro, a pencil and a piece of paper.
Music
93 Feet East
Fri 24 Jul, 7pm-1.30am
Swaraj, the iconic Asian Underground clubnight, returns with its signature blend of cutting-edge DJ sets, electrifying live performances and stunning, immersive visuals.
Workshop
Soanes Centre
Sat 25 Jul, 11am-4pm
Join our one-day slow festival at Soanes Centre for public workshops: clay-making, visioning and collaborating with local practitioners to celebrate a new installation onsite.
Walk
Mile End Park
25 Jul, 1-4pm; drop in
Join artist Clare Qualmann to creatively explore the unique environment of Mile End Park through the fun and poetic prompts of walking scores. All ages welcome, suitable for families, drop in or join for the full afternoon.
Exhibition
Emalin – the Clerk's House
Wed-Sat, 11am–6pm; until 25 Jul
Emalin is pleased to present Hungry for Trash, a solo exhibition of new works by American artist Kembra Pfahler, the artist's fourth at the gallery and her first at the Clerk's House.
Exhibition
Public Gallery
Wed-Sat, 11am-6pm; until 25 Jul
A group exhibition of works by Alessandra Acierno, Ma Lingli, Roland Knowlden, Minami Kobayashi, India Sachi, Yi To, Idris Young.
Exhibition
Public Gallery
Wed-Sat, 11am-6pm; until 25 Jul
A duo exhibition of painting and sculpture by artists Gabriel Mills and Hannah Morgan.
Workshop
Greatorex
23-26 Jul
A community-based workshop using mediation, touch, clay and sound to move from individual presence into collective creation and back again.
Workshop
East London Art Prize x Backyard Biennial
Whitechapel Gallery
25 Jul, 1.30-4.30pm; 26 Jul, 2-4pm
Two participatory workshops, using sand-filled tights to create collective entanglement, exploring how bodies carry, share, and negotiate inherited and socially learned pressures.
Workshop
Whitechapel Gallery
25 Jul, 2.30-4.30pm
Join British-Bangladeshi textile artist Rukia Begum for a hands-on weaving workshop, using yarns and reclaimed fabric strips.
Workshop
Walking! Power! Inclusion!
Whitechapel Gallery
25 Jul, 4.30-6pm
A reflective discussion-based workshop led by Dr Manal Massalha exploring the role of photography in shifting narratives, challenges assumptions, and prioritising hope over division.
Performance
Artsadmin
25 Jul, 7pm
A semi-biographical theatre piece exploring grief through the lens of intergenerational relationships.
Exhibition
House of Annetta
20-28 Jul, 12-5pm; Finissage 24 Jul 6-9pm
A solo exhibition by Paul Majek, curated by Rita Majek, exploring memory, home and belonging.
Film
BLOC Cinema
29 Jul, 6-7.30pm
Mile End Community Project presents an evening of short film screenings and discussion, exploring what "hard to reach" really means – and who it actually describes.
Talk
Whitechapel Gallery
30 Jul, 6.30-8pm
Join artist Aliaskar Abarkas and guests for readings and conversation exploring recitation, memory, and the sounds that connect us across time.
Walk
Walking! Power! Inclusion!
Meet at Whitechapel Gallery
Thu 30 Jul, 8-10.30pm
Join a re-walking of walkwalkwalk’s nightwalk route, exploring things that have gone from the shifting cityscape between Whitechapel and Bethnal Green.
Exhibition
Greatorex
28 Jul - 1 Aug
Bangladeshi women living in Tower Hamlets present handmade community banners alongside a living social space - gardening, tea gatherings, and collective participation.
Workshop
Artsadmin
1 Aug, 2-4pm
Join a collaborative performance workshop led by Diasporas Now, drawing on East Asian embodiment practices to explore diasporic identity, memory and belonging through creative exercises.
Workshop
Whitechapel Gallery
2 Aug, 2.30-3.30pm & 3.30-4.30pm
Create your own handwoven bookmark with artist Rezia Wahid, inspired by her artistic practice and her book dancing in the womb.
Talk
Raven Row
4 Aug, 7pm
Imani Mason Jordan, curator of 'Nomenclature for the Time Being', will present this exhibition of works in sculpture by thirteen Black women and non-binary artists.
Workshop
Walking! Power! Inclusion!
Whitechapel Gallery
5 Aug, 4-6pm
Workshop led by renegade guide and founder of Living London, Saira Niazi, exploring neighbourhood stories to help you create your own walking tour.
Walk
Meet at Whitechapel Gallery
6 Aug, 2-4pm
A meandering artist research walk. Together, we will be searching backstreets and secret corners for stories, spaces and projects that make up Whitechapel.
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