After we spent the morning at the Bank of England Museum, the second place we visited on our trip to London was Somerset House for their Cute exhibition.
Like previous exhibitions at Somerset House, Cute includes some new commissioned art and existing pieces, as well as donated memorabilia. Back in 2021, we went to an exhibition about the Beano, and this filled the same space in the South Wing. It’s an exploration of cute things and its impact on society, including kawaii.
The exhibition also marks the 50th anniversary of Hello Kitty, and a large section of the exhibition is devoted to the memorabilia collected by one person. Including Hello Kitty Spam.
There are some interactive parts too. There’s a room with some arcade games, old and new, including some indie games like Froggy Pot.
Some of the art produced for the exhibition is AI generated, and the theme image features a kitten with a unicorn horn and seemingly seven paws. I suspect that they’ve kept this in because it shows the weird-er side of cuteness.
Pop-up cafe
Alongside the exhibition is a pop-up Hello Kitty themed café. We had to queue to get in, as it’s a small space, but the food was nice albeit very full of sugar.
The exhibition runs until the 14th April, so you’ve got about five weeks to go to see it. We went on a Friday when walk-up tickets were available, but I imagine it’ll be busier at weekends and so you may wish to consider pre-booking. You can also look at all of the objects online at cute.guide.
Accessibility
The southern entrance to Somerset House is the closest to the exhibition, and is very close to Temple tube station on the District and Circle lines. It’s also close to Waterloo Bridge. Whilst there are stairs, all are duplicated by several lifts giving access to the exhibition, which currently have furry insides. Access packs, containing large print guides, noise-cancelling headphones, magnifying glasses and a stress ball, are available to borrow from the box office.