HACKNEY ART WEEK

Tucked away in the heart of Hackney Wick, Unlock is more than a restaurant — it’s a hybrid creative space where dining and artistic expression exist side by side. Minimal yet atmospheric interiors set the stage for rotating exhibitions from local artists, while the menu mirrors the same creative energy: seasonal, experimental, and visually striking dishes designed to engage every sense. From intimate book clubs and pop-ups to collaborative community events, Unlock continues to blur the line between gallery and gathering place — attracting creatives, food lovers, and curious locals alike. “We chose to open our space in Hackney Wick because no other area felt more fitting to express our passion for art and food. This neighbourhood has long been at the heart of London’s creative scene, shaped by artists, makers, and a strong sense of community. We wanted to share food and art in a way that feels open and accessible, bringing people together without barriers.” — Anna Masello As part of Hackney Art Week, Unlock will also showcase works by Jay Yeomans, Russell Bamber, and Hunaid Nagaria. @paint_etcetera @russellbamber @hoonayed_n Unlock will also host the Hackney Art Week closing drinks 💜 📍 Unlock 1 Monkwood Way, E3 2EG 📲 @unlock_e3 🌐 unlock2021.me #HackneyWick #LondonFood #Hackneyartweek #CreativeLondon #EastLondon

Thanks @beastmag_london “This isn’t art week in the traditional sense. It’s art as atmosphere. A mural on your commute. A pop-up in a café you didn’t expect to see transformed. A sound system spilling into a courtyard. A projection flickering across concrete as you cut through a housing estate at night. “Across ten days, Hackney’s creative life moves out of studios and into everyday spaces – record shops, pubs, bakeries, hairdressers, and street corners – where exhibitions sit alongside food, music and performance, and the boundaries between them blur.” #hackneyartweek #beastmag #eastlondon #lucymuss #londonart Artwork image @lucymuss_art

@fawnakate @trixie.thurner and I have taken over the cloakroom at The Rose Lipman building for @hackneyartweek 🩷🩷🩷 contemplating the charade of civic ceremony other fab artists @thelmaspeirs @cahalpin @ameliatroubridge_ curated by @annemmccloy are throughout the rest of the building (also currently looking for anyone who wants to activate the space on the eve of 03/06)

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT Benjamin Blanc Benjamin Blanc is a French figurative painter raised between Paris and London, currently completing an MA in Painting at the Royal College of Art after graduating from Central Saint Martins in 2023. Working within the confines of interior spaces, Blanc explores the tensions between bodies — and the friction, or absence of friction, between them. His paintings balance intimacy and unease, drawing on art historical depictions of the grotesque alongside deeply physical, body-aware processes. Painting from memory and sensation, his figures inhabit transitional moments: caught still, mid-gesture, somewhere between instant and event. Through material shifts between malleability and stiffness, his work creates psychologically charged scenes suspended in time. Recent exhibitions include Galerie Peter Gaugy in Brussels, with features in Museletter and Ark Magazine. @bbenjaminblanc Coming soon @hackneyartweek 📷 @stellamcgarvey #hackneyartweek #painting #benjaminblanc #eastlondon

Hackney Half weekend is approaching and here are two @hackneyartweek venues to stop by after! @numberswine and @tonkotsu.ramenbar Team London Fields are raising money for @sheltercharity in these gorgeous t-shirts specially designed by @katharinehamnett Please support! /page/team-london-fields-26 #hackneyhalf #tonkotsueast #numberswine #katharinehamnett #sheltercharity

Founded in 1984, Strongroom is a world-famous, award-winning recording studio complex known as the birthplace of countless hits from legends like Spice Girls, Radiohead, The Prodigy, Nick Cave, Björk, Little Simz, Loyle Carner, FKA Twigs and many more. Far away from anything like your average studio, these spaces were designed by the legendary Jamie Reid, best known for his work with The Sex Pistols (‘God Save The Queen’, ‘Never Mind The Bollocks’), who took inspiration from the Druidic Order, sacred geometry and colour theory. Explore the studios in a rare opportunity to view private spaces and see Reid’s work in a context that has inspired so much historic music for 42 years! Also, exclusive for Hackney Art Week, a free experience installation ‘DARK TECHNOLOGIES’ by AV studio Machinesinger every evening (4th -14th June) in the Strongroom archway. Strongroom Studio Tours - 6-7 June Booking Essential Monday 8 June 7pm - Hackney Art Week and Strongroom present Stephen Ellcock in conversation with John Marchant (the Jamie Reid archive). Joined by Anne McCloy, John and Stephen will discuss the works of Jamie Reid through the ages. Mike Nichols shares his unique first-hand insight into the process of designing the Strongroom, an ambitious 15 year process by Jamie Reid, often cited as his proudest achievement. Booking Essential! Linkinbio @johnmarchantgallery @stephenellcock @annemmccloy @strongroom.studios #hackneyartweek #jamiereid #johnmarchantgallery #stephenellcock #annemccloy

Thanks @shortlistmagazine ✨ “Hackney Art Week is back for its second year and, true to form, it’s not doing things quietly. From 4-14 June, more than 130 artists and creatives will spill across 60 venues throughout the borough, turning everything from pubs and cinemas to Brutalist buildings and football cages into part of London’s biggest free art crawl.” Programme coming soon… #hackneyartweek #artcrawl #savethedate #eastlondon #shortlist

⚠️The private view will be from 6-9pm apologies for the confusion! I’ve been working on this body of work for the past four years. My studio is this tiny space in the corner of my room. It means a lot to me to be able to finally be showcasing my work in my very first solo exhibition as part of @hackneyartweek ❤️ ESTATE OF MIND 10th June The Cannery, Hackney 7-9pm This project has been a creative archive of the council estates and communities I’ve visited and illustrated across London from 2022–2026. It would mean a lot to see some familiar faces there, so please come along!

SAVE THE DATE ✨ Hackney Art Week opening night at The Rose Lipman Building. Wednesday 3 June 6-9pm Join us as we celebrate the launch of Hackney Art Week 2026, generously hosted by The Rose Lipman Building and featuring works by @annemmccloy @fawnakate @thelmaspeirs @cahalpin and @ameliatroubridge_ Curated by @annemmccloy and @indydujour Special thanks to @mill_co.llective DM or email us [email protected] to join the mailing list.

Shóna Slemon: An Archive of Mess Shóna Slemon is a London-based Irish artist whose work celebrates the feral, the faulted and the dysfunctional — exploring the friction between the polished expectations of womanhood and the messier realities beneath the surface. Blending painting, poetry and social commentary, Slemon creates vivid worlds where mythology, mysticism and subcultural aesthetics collide. Her works move between ritual, obsession, pleasure and rebellion — rejecting performative perfection in favour of something softer, stranger and more alive. A former collaborator with Tate, Google Arts & Culture and the V&A, her practice has evolved into a deeply personal visual language rooted in magic realism, folk art and emotional honesty. For Hackney Art Week, An Archive of Mess comes to The Clarence Tavern in Stoke Newington, produced by Maria Guy. @shonaslemon.art @the_blether @theclarencetavern #hackneyartweek #shonaslemon #theclarencetavern #stokenewington #mariaguy

An ‘After Session’ with Hettie Judah
 Join us for an informal, intimate daytime gathering built around art, conversation and community as part of Hackney Art Week. The afternoon opens with short presentations from: Hayley Reynolds-MacLean (@_a_box_of_frogs ) Lakwena Maciver (@lakwena )
Annabelle Harty (Arrange Whatever Pieces Come Your Way) (@arrangewhateverpieces )
Jenny Lewis (@_jennylewis_ ) Followed by an open Q&A with writer and curator Hettie Judah (@hettiejudah — an opportunity to ask questions about the art world, creative practice, motherhood, criticism, survival, and navigating a creative life on your own terms. Hettie will also be signing copies of her new book How to Enter the Art World …After — a myth-busting guide for artists whose lives are complicated and human. 🎟 Tickets £10
VERY LIMITED CAPACITY — BOOKING ESSENTIAL /event/35598/an-after-session-with-hettie-judah-hackney-art-week-the-prince-george-e8-14-june-2-4pm Free tickets available for those who need them:
📧 [email protected] 📍 Prince George 
40 Parkholme Road, London E8 3AG Sunday 14 June 2-4pm

Thanks @thenudgelondon “Hackney Art Week is back and its surprisingly big” 130 artists 60 venues Across Hackney Stay tuned as we will be announcing the programme very soon. DM us your address or email [email protected] to join the mailing list. #hackneyartweek #surprisinglybig #thenudgelondon #whatsonlondon #eastlondon