Hackney Art Week returns bigger than ever with 130 artists across the borough
Outdoor projections, queer pub takeovers and a borough-wide art treasure hunt
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.
After a breakout debut last year, the 2026 edition is going even bigger, stretching across Dalston, Clapton, London Fields, Haggerston, Stoke Newington, De Beauvoir and Hackney Wick. Expect exhibitions, installations, markets, workshops, spoken word nights, projections, live music and enough weird little pop-ups to accidentally lose an entire weekend to.
Rather than keeping things tucked away inside pristine white gallery walls, Hackney Art Week leans fully into the borough itself. Art pops up in bakeries, record shops, pubs, hairdressers and street corners, with the whole thing feeling more like a giant neighbourhood takeover than a traditional festival.
One of the headline events this year is Pink Chaos, a gloriously loud group exhibition at Dalston’s newly opened Prokofiev Studio. Curated by Mei Hui Liu, it brings together sculptor Andrew Logan, painter Roxana Halls, illustrator Sue Dray and Pandemonia among others, all connected through an unapologetically pink aesthetic.
Elsewhere, artist Claudi Panaite will transform Wilton Way with a giant outdoor projection featuring swirling capes and dramatic fashion silhouettes, while multimedia artist Holly-Anne Buck, aka Collagism, is launching a borough-wide art treasure hunt. QR codes, hidden clues and surreal installations will be scattered across London Fields, turning cafés, cinemas and corner shops into part of an interactive collage world.
Some of the festival’s strongest work looks rooted directly in Hackney itself. Photographer Tara Darby’s The White Cage takes over the Regent’s Estate football pitch, documenting one of the borough’s last remaining gang-neutral spaces through portraits and personal stories from the young people and families who rely on it. Meanwhile, artist GG the Illustrator presents Estate of Mind, a visual archive of London council estates that captures the rapidly changing face of working-class neighbourhoods across the city.
There’s also plenty happening after dark. The Queen Adelaide pub hosts a queer-focused takeover from artists Anka Dabrowska and Stav Bee, blending neon installations, tattoos, lino prints and DJ sets across two nights timed around Pride month celebrations. Strongroom Studios, meanwhile, opens its doors for rare behind-the-scenes access alongside talks exploring the legacy of legendary Sex Pistols artist Jamie Reid.
If you fancy getting involved yourself, photographer Jennifer Forward Hayter is running a free People of Hackney pop-up photo booth in London Fields, inviting locals to sit for portraits that could end up featured in next year’s festival. There’s also ceramics workshops, dumpling pop-ups, analogue photobooths, spoken word sessions and live music curated by composer Gabriel Prokofiev.
The whole event feels less like a polished art fair and more like Hackney showing off what it already does best: throwing artists, musicians, food, nightlife and community spaces into the same room and seeing what happens.
Hackney Art Week runs from 4-14 June across venues throughout the borough. Most events are free, though a handful are ticketed. You can check out the website, for more information and tickets.
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