A brand-new annual community celebration of art, culture, and local creativity will launch across the borough of Hackney this June.
Hackney Art Week (12th-22nd June) is open to all and will see local galleries, retailers, cafes, pubs and venues spotlight a vibrant collection of public art, exhibitions, screenings, performances, talks, and community-led events inspired by the theme Reimagining Local.
Taking place across Hackney Central, Dalston, Stoke Newington, London Fields, Clapton, and De Beauvoir, this Fringe-style event brings together emerging artists, collectives, and East London creatives through a series of exhibitions, walking tours, drinks, and pop-up events. Venues will be open late for evening events, drinks and performances.
The free ten-day event will feature a showcase of exciting artists and performances showcased across a series of community partners including Wilton Way Gallery, On the Square, Fran’s, Mad Atelier, The Scolt Head, The Clarence Tavern, Retrouvé, Abney Park Café, Canal Boat Contemporary, The Cannery, Ombra, Forno London, Mackintosh Lane, and Numbers Winery.
On the Square, the stunning De Beauvoir residence, billed by The Financial Times as “a fanciful exhibition space for new design”, will host a dynamic mix of performances, installations, and participatory works that reflect Hackney’s vibrant creative community.
Throughout Hackney Art Week, On the Square becomes a living platform for spontaneous artistic exchange. Expect daily interventions by local collectives, including guerrilla-style printmaking pop-ups, live sound collages, and communal weaving sessions.
Highlights include Tomoyo Tsurumi, Eva the Weaver. J Hill Standard, Tshylike, On the Square X Tweed project blankets (Ally Capellino & Larusi & Eva the weaver & Tomoyo), Stow Studio, Doreen Kilfeather & Aisling Farinella & Jesse Beagley. Plus The Upside Down Collection featuring Non Violent Cutlery, Irenie Studio, Kasia Kempa and Flavia Braendle.
Highlights at On the Square will include “Collective Pulse” – a durational sound and movement piece choreographed by community dancers, looping ambient rhythms and gestures in a slowly shifting formation, “Banner Bureau” – an open workshop where visitors can co-create protest-style banners on themes of care, resistance, and joy, led by Hackney textile artists. Plus Public Crits – an experimental platform where emerging artists share work-in-progress and invite open feedback, facilitated by guest curators and peers.
Wilton Way Gallery will present YiMiao Shih, a multidisciplinary artist who brings a sharp wit and keen eye for political and social issues to her creative practice. She works across drawing, embroidery, zines, and animation to unpack social systems, power, and identity. Shih has exhibited at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Tate Exchange, and Camden Arts Centre. One of her most critically acclaimed projects is ‘Rabbrexit’ (2018-19) which provides a satirical spin on Brexit and political theatre, exemplifying her approach to art as merging humour, social commentary, and hand-crafted visuals.
London Fields based artist Lucy Muss will exhibit a series of her vibrant paintings at Mad Atelier. Lauren Bauer, a London-based visual artist whose vivid explorations of memory, place, and identity blur the line between abstraction and narrative, will also show at Wilton Way Gallery.
Rosanna Dean’s art will be showcased in Numbers Winery on Vyner Street. It investigates the intersections of religious iconography, myth, and the human body through oil paintings, performance art, and sound. Katie King, an emerging artist crafts immersive environments that draw from ritual, folklore, and environmental grief. King will exhibit new work at Fran’s, transforming the intimate space into a site of reflection, myth, and material memory.
Is it a museum? A shop? A mystery house? The Black House at 48 Wilton Way will transform its window into a bookshelf/shop of locally made publications by Dent—De—Leone for one night only on the 12th June.
Shelley Lasica, a pioneering choreographer whose work dissolves the boundaries between dance, exhibition, and spatial design, has consistently redefined the role of choreography within visual art contexts, presenting her work in diverse settings such as galleries, theatres, and public spaces. For Hackney Art Week, Lasica will present a performance at Mackintosh Lane on the 21st of June.
Composer, producer and DJ Gabriel Prokofiev will play at The Scolt Head in De Beauvoir, where filmmaker Charlotte Ginsborg will also present her work.
During the weekend of 14th-15th June Hackney Art Week will feature a screening and workshop of the influential Joseph Beuys performance I Love America and America Loves Me daily from 4pm at Street Road Artists Space. Pre-booked seating will be available in a cozy 9-seat private cinema for the screening of Helmut Wietz’s 37-minute 16mm film documenting the 1976 Beuys performance that saw him spend 14 days living with a coyote at the René Block Gallery in New York.
Hackney Art Week is proud to support Hackney Foodbank.
Hackney Art Week, 12th-22th June 2025 @hackneyartweek
Get Involved – Contact: hackneyartweek@gmail.com
Participating artists include:
Sara Rupp – Rupp’s abstract paintings unravel internal landscapes, marked by layered gestures, vivid palettes, and quiet emotional force, which can be seen at Toppers & Wilton Way Deli.
Charlotte Ginsborg – Ginsborg’s films blur documentary and fiction, examining human relationships, memory, and architecture with lyrical precision which will be screened at The Scolt Head.
Etienne Clement – A master of staged photography, Clément constructs uncanny, miniature worlds that challenge perception and scale at The Cannery.
Tom Halifax – Halifax paints mythic, folkloric scenes infused with symbolism, nostalgia, and a sharp sense of narrative ambiguity which will be shown in The Scolt Head.
Maisie Broadhead – At Retrouvé, Broadhead merges photography, performance, and design to reframe art historical troupes with wit and feminist critique.
Lindsey Mapes – Working at the intersection of fashion and fine art, Mapes crafts surreal, wearable sculptures that explore identity and transformation at Findley Properties.
Grey Grey – This enigmatic collective, shown at Forno London, creates atmospheric installations blending sound, scent, and sculpture to evoke dreamlike, multisensory worlds.
Bert Gilbert – Displayed at Ombra, Gilbert’s emotionally charged works incorporate sculpture and scent, delving into trauma, healing, and embodied memory.
Laxmi – At the Clarence Pub, Laxmi’s practice weaves spirituality, ancestral knowledge, and contemporary performance into vibrant expressions of cultural reclamation.
Olivia Twist – Twist is a visual storyteller whose illustrations and community-led projects centre working-class narratives and urban life, shown at Abney Park Cafe.
Katie King –is a London based fibre and moving image artist. With a background in moral philosophy, King’s work is particularly interested in the tensions between situations or events which are aesthetically pleasing but morally questionable, with a central thesis on the equalising nature of death. Over the last year she has been training as a medium with the London College of Psychic Studies as well as various courses in energy work in her hometown of Glastonbury, Somerset. ??
Gabriel Prokofiev – The Hackney basedComposer, producer and DJ combines a wide breadth of experience in classical and symphonic compositions; scores for film, dance and opera; and electronic music to create evocative musical journeys that traverse genres and heighten emotions.
Toby Rainbird – the East London based painter and curator will exhibit new works at Canal Boat Contemporary.
VENUES: Abney Park Café, The Black House at 48 Wilton Way, La Bouche, Canal Boat Contemporary, The Cannery, The Clarence Tavern, Forno, Fran’s, Findlay Properties, Mackintosh Lane, Mad Atelier, Numbers Winery, On the Square, Ombra, Retrouvé, The Cannery at Sweet Thursday, Street Road Artists Space, The Scolt Head, Toppers, Wilton Way Deli, Wilton Way Gallery
