Exhibition with more than 20 artists reimagining tapestry as a contemporary art form, marking the return of the Bayeux Tapestry to the UK.
Beyond Bayeux: Tapestry Now opens at the Guildhall Art Gallery on 23 October 2026 and runs until 21 March 2027. It's a collaboration with Edinburgh's Dovecot Studios, and the timing is the big story here: the exhibition opens just as the Bayeux Tapestry returns to the UK for the first time in almost a millennium. The whole thing is built around the idea of tapestry as a living, contemporary art form rather than a museum relic.
Dovecot's master weavers have worked with more than 20 artists to push the medium, and the City of London Corporation has called it a 'once-in-a-generation opportunity to reflect on tapestry's past and shape its future'. Among the names are David Hockney, Sir Peter Blake, Yinka Shonibare, Tania Kovats, Alberta Whittle, Rachel Maclean, Hurvin Anderson and Farshid Moussavi. There are two pieces in particular that stand out: a six-metre-wide new commission by Turner Prize nominee Hurvin Anderson, made to mark the 600th anniversary of Lincoln College, Oxford, and a tapestry version of David Hockney's 1963 painting Play within a Play.
The exhibition is only the start. It's supported by a five-month programme of talks, tours and family activities, including an October Half Term Family Day with weaving workshops. So if you're not just popping in for one look, there's plenty to come back for over the winter.
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It runs daily from 10am to 5pm at the Guildhall Art Gallery, Guildhall Yard, London, EC2V 5AE. Entry is Pay What You Can, so you can pay as much or as little as you like.
