For one night only, ten unusual London venues will host site-specific projects, installations and performances for Art Night (2 July). The first edition of the annual festival is organised by the Institute of Contemporary Arts, with plans for subsequent ones to be led by a different guest institution each year. A disused underground platform in Charing Cross station and a luxury flat on the Strand are just some of the locations that will house works by artists such as Koo Jeong A and Laure Prouvost. Open from 5pm until late, some events require booking.
Refreshingly frank, the exhibition David Hockney RA: 82 Portraits and 1 Still Life (until 2 October) at the Royal Academy of Arts shows just that: a series of paintings of friends and acquaintances, including art world figures such as John Baldessari and Larry Gagosian, and a single still life. After Hockney’s 2012 show had more than 600,000 visitors, the RA is expecting long queues and is advising visitors to book their tickets in advance.
Christie’s are celebrating their 250th birthday with Defining British Art (until 15 July), an exhibition of British art and a rare chance to such a concentration of high quality works in the auction house’s small exhibition space. Highlights of the show include a 16th century portrait of King Henry VIII by the Circle of Hans Holbein II and The Monarch of the Glen (1851) by Sir Edwin Landseer, alongside works from Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Francis Bacon and Lucien Freud.
