Brick Lane • Things to do • Art & Galleries
Art around Brick Lane turns up in compact galleries, back rooms, and spaces that feel half shopfront, half studio. Shows change quickly, with a mix of emerging names and local practice. It suits a wander—ten minutes in, back out to the street.
Galleries
Whitechapel Gallery
Whitechapel Gallery has been showing modern and contemporary art in the East End since 1901. The programme moves between large-scale exhibitions, new commissions and research-led projects, with a busy calendar of talks, screenings and courses. It’s also a good place to browse: a substantial bookshop, a café/bar, and spaces that often stay free to enter alongside ticketed shows.
The Gilbert & George Centre
Founded by the artists as a dedicated home for their work, The Gilbert & George Centre presents changing installations drawn from their long-running practice. The building keeps things focused: clean rooms, careful pacing, and plenty of space to look properly. Entry is free, and guided highlight tours run on set days, making it an easy cultural stop between markets and the surrounding back streets.
Hales Gallery
Hales is an established contemporary art gallery with a long-running London programme and an international roster. Exhibitions tend to be thoughtful and well-installed, moving between new work, focused presentations and cross-generational group shows. It sits within the wider Shoreditch/Spitalfields circuit but keeps a quieter, gallery-first feel—good for an hour that isn’t built around queues.
The Brick Lane Gallery
The Brick Lane Gallery runs a steady programme of contemporary and street-leaning exhibitions, often mixing emerging names with mid-career artists. Shows change frequently, with themed group hangs and solo presentations, and the space is also used for artist hires and short-run projects. It’s a straightforward, walk-in gallery that matches the street’s constant turnover.
Broccoli Lane Gallery
Broccoli Lane is artist Adrian Boswell’s compact gallery space, best known for its collage work and the broccoli motif that’s spread across nearby corners over the years. Inside, it’s part studio, part shopfront: originals, prints and small pieces with a DIY humour that fits the street. It’s the sort of place you drop into on a market lap and leave with something unexpected.