The art exhibitions to look forward to in 2024

2024 is set to be an exciting year for Soho House. With new openings in Portland, São Paulo, Manchester and more, the global community that makes up our Houses continues to grow. Every new location brings with it new artistic voices and visions, many of which find their way into our ever-expanding House art collection. 

But art, of course, isn’t only found within our spaces. The cities our Houses are located in are also home to exciting art events and exhibitions. As we settle into 2024, we asked our Global Director of Art, Kate Bryan, to share some of the art moments near our Houses that she’s most excited about. So, whether you’re planning your travel around these cultural fixtures or happen to live locally, these are the highlights worthy of your attention – plus, the local Houses to drop into while you’re visiting them.
 
Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better Than The Real Thing
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Opens on Wednesday 20 March
 
The celebrated showcase of what’s new in American art returns to the Whitney for its 81st installment this spring. This year’s event promises to be one of the most ambitious to date, with curators bringing together artworks that explore the complex, often polarised nature of life in the US. The 2024 Whitney Biennial is organised by Chrissie Iles and Meg Onli, with the help of Min Sun Jeon and Beatriz Cifuentes. Taja Cheek is the guest curator for the performance programme, while Korakrit Arunanondchai, asinnajaq, Greg de Cuir Jr and Zackary Drucker assisted in curating the film programme. 
 
Stop in at: Soho House New York, where the art collection was recently refreshed to mark the House’s 20th anniversary. In the Vinyl Room, you’ll spot works by heavyweights such as Mark Bradford, Richard Prince and Joyce Pensato. Around the rest of the club, you’ll find young, exciting artists like Christopher Myers, Derek Fordjour, Sadie Barnette, and Maia Cruz Palileo.

Yinka Shonibare CBE RA
Serpentine Gallery, London
Friday 12 April to Sunday 1 September 
 
Yinka Shonibare CBE RA is a widely celebrated British-Nigerian artist whose work examines race, class and cultural identity, laying bare the tangled interrelationship between Africa and Europe’s economic and political histories. Working with sculpture, fabric, painting and citations of Western art history and literature, Shonibare exposes the biases and fabricated cultural narratives we usually take for granted. There are several of his works in the Soho House collection, and the artist’s upcoming exhibition at the Serpentine promises to be a panoramic view of his work.
 
Stop in at: Soho House 76 Dean Street to view a collection that celebrates the subversive power of British contemporary art, alongside a diverse (and colourful) selection of international names. You’ll also find one of the pieces by Shonibare in our collection here: ‘Modern Magic (In Pink)’ is displayed in the House’s Yellow Room.

Venice Biennale
Venice
Saturday 20 April to Sunday 24 November
 
Every two years, art lovers from across the globe descend on Venice for the city’s Biennale. With pavilions hosting representatives from 29 countries all surrounding a central exhibition space, this year’s event marks its 60th anniversary, and will explore the theme of ‘Foreigners Everywhere’, as curated by Adriano Pedrosa. We’ll be turning our attention to Brazil’s pavilion, where artist Glicéria Tupinambá, also known as Célia Tupinambá, will represent the country alongside her community of Tupinambá Indigenous people. The exhibition, curated by Arissana Pataxó, Denilson Baniwa and Gustavo Caboco Wapichana, will see the Brazilian pavilion renamed the Hãhãwpuá Pavilion – Hãhãwpuá is the name used by the Pataxó people to refer to the territory that was Brazil before colonisation.
 
Stop in at: Soho House Rome. Although it’s a little further afield from Venice, our House in the Italian capital is well worth a visit to rest and recuperate after the event. Relax at our Cowshed spa, dine at Cecconi’s Terrazza on the 10th-floor rooftop, and take in the art collection, which consists mostly of works by artists who live and work in Italy. These include Gianni Politi, Silvia Giambrone, Claudio Verna, and Elisa Montessori.

I. M. Pei: Life Is Architecture
M+ Museum, Hong Kong 
29 June to 31 January 2024
 
The first major retrospective of Ieoh Ming Pei (1917-2019), I. M. Pei: Life Is Architecture showcases the work of one of the greatest architects of the modern era. Pei’s high-profile projects were realised over seven decades, and included iconic landmarks like the National Gallery of Art East Building in Washington, D.C., the Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong, and the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha. The exhibition tells the evocative story of his life and work, weaving together a tale of changing power dynamics, geopolitical complexities, cultural traditions, and Pei’s transcultural vision for the contemporary world.
 
Stop in at: Soho House Hong Kong, where you can recharge with views over Victoria Harbour or get to know the city’s buzzy art scene through a collection focused entirely on local artists. Alongside museum-level names such as Lee Kit and Evelyn Taocheng Wang, the collection also showcases emerging talent like Stephanie Sin, Ant Ngai, and Elise Lai. 

Manifesta 15 Barcelona
Barcelona
Sunday 8 September to Sunday 24 November
 
Later this year, Manifesta 15, the European Nomadic Biennial, will land in Barcelona for its 15th edition. Founded in the early 1990s, Manifesta invites its exhibitors to rethink the relationship between culture and civic society, investigating how we could utilise art to question the way communities operate in the face of global and local challenges. The biennial will explore democratisation of public life, the defence of public space in the face of privatisation, the need to combine social progress with environmental challenges, housing fragility, the movement of people, and economic as well as ecological crises.
 
Stop in at: Soho House Barcelona. Its art collection explores the breadth of Spanish creativity: works on paper by two giants of Spanish art, Pablo Picasso and Regina Giménez, are on display in reception. And throughout the rest of the House, you’ll spot pieces from local artists like Aldo Urbano Perez, Mercedes Mangrané Mora, and Rosanna Casano. 

Reopening of The Frick Collection
New York
Late 2024
 
Later this year, The Frick Collection will return from its temporary home in the Brutalist 945 Madison Avenue – where it has been since 2021 – to Henry Clay Frick’s mansion on Fifth Avenue. Built by Frick, one of America’s most successful industrialists, it will once again house an impressive collection of Western painting, sculpture, and decorative art. Over the last few years, the historic location has been undergoing a $160m renovation and expansion, which includes new amenities and improved accessibility. 
 
Stop in at: DUMBO House, our Brooklyn-based waterfront outpost that brings together skyline views and an art collection of more than 80 works. The collection reflects the House’s unique character, with conceptual pieces that pay homage to its urban location.
 
Explore all the art collections at our Houses around the world