December Diary: where to go and what to see

Christmas is nearly upon us. Black Friday has come and gone and we all survived. Office Parties have been planned and the wine is gently mulling. As the festive hedonism gets underway we are keen to offer a few suggestions that may just take your mind off the biting cold, rampant consumerism of the next few weeks or the thought of being stuck at home with the family on Christmas Day. Compiled here are the exhibitions and events that are rounding off 2016, an astonishing year in so many ways. Enjoy!

Design Miami
30 November – 4 December, Miami Beach, Florida, US

Running alongside Art Basel each year, Design Miami is a showcase of collectible high-end design, visited by curators, gallerists and celebs alike. Landmark features for this 12th edition include Audi’s The extra hour by Lego, which has commissioned installations by Bjarke ingels, Konstantin Grcic and Reed Kram; Airbnb’s Sobremesa installation by Mexican studio Pedro&Juana; and Louis Vuitton’s ongoing Objets Nomades collection with new pieces by Barber & Osgerby and Raw Edges.

Robert Rauschenberg
Tate Modern, 1 December 2016 – 2 April 2017

Tate Modern’s Robert Rauschenberg posthumous retrospective is set to be the most comprehensive survey of the artist’s work for 20 years. The show has been organised in collaboration with The Museum of Modern Art in New York, and each chapter of Rauschenberg’s 60-year career is represented by major international loans that rarely travel.

London Illustration Fair
2 – 4 December, Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf, Southbank, London

Illustrators, publishers, artists, collectives, printers and studios will be displaying their their latest works at this weekend fair on Southbank. Among them are Marylou Faure, Outline Editions, Jonny Wan, Laurence King, A Two Pipe Problem and The Doodle Man, who will be taking over an area of the fair for a site specific installation.

Harley Weir, Boundaries
Foam Museum, Amsterdam, 2 December – 19 February

London-based photographer Harley Weir’s first solo exhibition Boundaries showcases the photographer’s eye for detail as she finds beauty in the mundane. Taking place at Foam, the exhibition is to be read as a visual poem, open to interpretation as Harley’s intimate work blurs lines and crosses boarders.

Forest Fringe
Somerset House, London, 9 – 11 December

Experimental performance artists Forest Fringe take over Somerset House Studios for three days of performance, talks, workshops, conversations, installations and exhibitions. The “three day gathering on memory, survival and resistance” has confirmed participants including Action Hero, Andy Field, Arike Oke, Deborah Pearson, Gigi Arguropolou, Farah Saleh, Hamja Ahsan, Ira Brand, Jemima Yong, Liberate Tate, Rima Nadji, Season Butler, Simone Bowes and They Are Here.

Open Art Space
MoMA, New York, throughout December

Throughout December, MoMA are running Open Art Space, a relaxed weekly drop-in program for LGBTQ high school students who are interested in thinking about, and creating, art in a relaxed and welcoming environment. Open Art Space is facilitated by two artists but is shaped largely by the interests of the participant and is entirely free.

Peggy Franck, With no hands. Like a sea
Arcade, London, until 17 December

Peggy Franck’s work combines painting and installations in her fluid yet vivid style. The artist uses varied materials to represent her artworks, some are simple painted works, others are transferred on to digitally printed carpets or on giant rolls of paper. In the words of artist Maria Zahle: "Meeting a new work of Peggy’s for the first time I am always somewhat in awe. This is it!”

The London Children’s Book Fair
Parasol unit, London, 16 – 17 December

This December spend the weekend before Christmas enjoying some of the finest children’s book illustrations at The London Children’s Book Fair at Parasol Unit. Admissions are free for both children and adults, and is the first event to “celebrate the best of contemporary literature for children”. Illustrator Marion Deuchars will be signing books and running workshops, Jon Burgerman will introduce his new colouring book Burgerworld and Alice Bowscher will be producing live large-scale drawings.

Gavin Turk, Who What When Where How and Why
Newport Street Gallery, London, until 19 March 2017

The Turner Prize-winning Newport Street Gallery is hosting the first major UK solo exhibition of work by Gavin Turk since 2002. Spanning almost three decades of Turk’s career, Who What When Where How and Why includes new and previously un-exhibited work throughout Newport Street’s six gallery spaces.