There are moments when a city pauses, not to stand still, but to pay attention.
London’s first-ever Art + Climate Week is one of those moments — a cultural deep breath shared across galleries, studios, and the people who wander through them, searching for meaning in the midst of a warming world.
For the first time, the city’s contemporary art institutions have aligned their calendars and their conscience. Organized by the Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC) and unfolding in parallel with COP30 in Brazil, this five-day programme feels less like an event and more like an invitation: to imagine, to question, to act.
Ackroyd & Harvey: The Art Of Activism. Photo: Terry Matthews
More than 25 participating spaces — including the Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Barbican Art Gallery, and Whitechapel Gallery — open their doors freely to the public. No velvet ropes. No hushed exclusivity. Just London, offering art to anyone willing to step inside.
At the heart of it all is the GCC, a network of over 2,000 arts organisations across 60+ countries, united by a simple but urgent goal: reduce the visual arts sector’s carbon impact by half before 2030. Their mission shapes the week’s rhythm — a blend of independent talks, family-friendly workshops, guided tours, and installations that confront our relationship with the natural world. Power, climate, community, accountability — the themes ripple through each exhibition like quiet provocations.
This isn’t just culture responding to crisis; it is culture taking responsibility.
In a world that often shrugs at climate urgency, London’s Art + Climate Week insists on imagination as a form of activism — on the possibility that art might shift the conversation where politics falter.
Ackroyd & Harvey: The Art Of Activism. Photo: Terry Matthews
With events scattered across the city, the entire programme lives digitally on gowithYamo, offering visitors a mapped guide to navigate the week’s offerings. The experience runs until November 16, a fleeting window into what collective creative action can look like when an entire city leans in.
Plan your route, pick your gallery, and let the art do what it does best — spark something.
