Avoid the crowds - see some fantastic art for free

There are currently a number of 'big name' art exhibitions drawing big crowds in London including Picasso at Tate Britain,  Lucian Freud at the National Portrait Gallery and David Hockney at the Royal Academy. I'm sure these are all excellent exhibitions but at around £14 for a ticket, they're not cheap options and it seems a shame to pay so much for art that you have to see over the top of other people's heads.  Far better, I say, to take advantage of many of the free exhibitions available which bizarrely enough are sometimes less crowded than the paying ones.

I had this in mind when I found myself near the Tate Britain at lunchtime one day last week with an hour to spare. My main objective was to see an exhibition by the photojournalist Don McCullin that I'd read about. This was smaller than I'd expected - may be around 30 or so photos in total - but certainly didn't disappoint. The pictures, all black and white, were typically bleak but thought provoking, particularly the pictures of homeless people in East London which were taken in the 70s and 80s but could have been taken yesterday.

With abit of extra time on my hands, I had a quick look at some of the other parts of the Gallery. They are currently previewing an interesting-sounding exhibition called Family Matters that starts in October and which will show the way in which families have been portrayed in art through the ages. I can't imagine many family portraits like this nowadays.

I also saw the Chris Ofili painting 'No woman, no cry' which as well as being a beautiful piece of work is a tribute to Stephen Lawrence.

Finally, I watched a short piece of video art called 'High Wire' by Catherine Yass. I'm not usually that keen on video art but if you're a fan of 'Man on Wire' then you'll enjoy this short film of a man balancing on a tightrope suspended between two tower blocks (somewhere in London I think but I couldn't quite work out where). For some reason he doesn't walk all the way across but stops about two thirds of the way across and walks backwards to where he started - very nerve wracking even though you know he's unlikely to fall off.

So all in all an hour well spent.

Taryn Simon Exhibition at the Tate Modern

The Tate Modern

I read a review of this exhibition at the Tate Modern by the award winning American artist Taryn Simon and thought it sounded interesting. Entitled 'A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters', the exhibition is indeed divided into 18 'chapters'. Each of these focuses on a particular bloodline and tells their story using pictures of individuals and related information.

The subjects covered include wild rabbits in Australia (and the attempts to control them), albinos in Tanzania (who are often killed and maimed as their skin is believed to have healing properties) and victims of genocide in Bosnia. The living man declared dead of the title is an Indian man who has been officially recorded as dead so others can take ownership of his land even though he is still living. His chapter tells the story of his attempts to regain his land.

Each chapter includes a series of portraits of related individuals (so, yes there really are dozens of very similar looking pictures of wild rabbits!), an explanation of the story behind the pictures, and a number of 'footnote images' which provide additional photographic evidence of the story being told. The footnotes were often the most interesting part of each chapter and the portraits would mean very little without the explanations so I did struggle somewhat with the idea of this as an exhibition of art.

The chapters tell important, and often disturbing stories and I learnt alot about harrowing circumstances around the world that I wasn't previously aware of but it was the writing rather than the pictures that moved me. Perhaps that means something like this should be in a book or a magazine rather than on the walls of a gallery. On the other hand, the exhibition was busy on a week-day afternoon and, like me, many of the other visitors, may never have heard those stories if they weren't given exposure at the Tate Modern so perhaps that justifies their inclusion. There have been various debates elsewhere as to whether or not this is art. Even having seen the exhibition I'm still undecided.

Festival time

Just as the April showers finally seem to have arrived, the summer festival season is upon us and there are some great free festivals happening in London this summer.

In my local area, the annual Brockley Max festival kicked off last Friday with a lively afternoon and evening of music outside the Brockley Barge. I was there for a couple of hours in the evening and there was a fantastic atmosphere and a great mix of different types of music, ranging from a community choir to a ska band. The festival runs all this week and includes theatre, comedy, dance, workshops and children's events as well as lots of music.

Another of my favourite free festivals begins in a few week's time. The Greenwich and Docklands International Festival runs from 24 June to 2 July and if past events are anything to go by is likely to include some amazing spectacles. A year or two ago we watched a fire lit dance performance after dark in Greenwich Park. There doesn't seem to be anything quite the same this year but there are lots of other interesting free events on offer, including:

• A 21st century version of the Greenwich Fair which was the 'largest and most uproarious gathering of outdoor entertainment in Britain' until it started getting abit out of hand 150 years ago and was shut down.
• As the World Tipped , an aerial theatre performance about climate change in Mile End Park.
• An opportunity to view dance from an unusual angle at Canary Wharf with La Mirada Transparente's transparent stage. The audience sit on reclining seats underneath the stage.
• Les Girafes, the festival's finale in Woolwich town centre which includes life-sized giraffes, confetti explosions and evocative music.

Also, just about to start is the More London Free Festival at The Scoop. It starts with theatre performances from tomorrow but over the coming months there will also be music and film at this outdoor venue next to City Hall.

These are only a few of the many free festivals in London this summer ranging from one day local events to summer long celebrations at central locations. Let me know if you have any particular favourites.

Free Three Month National Art Pass

The Guardian newspaper currently has a great reader offer for a free, three month National Art Pass. This gives you free entry to hundreds of museums and galleries across the UK (many of which are in London) and 50% off entry to many major exhibitions at places like the Tate Modern and the British Museum.

The National Art Pass is organised by the Art Fund which raises money to help museums and galleries purchase and show works of art. If you're too late for the special offer (it's not clear from the website but I think this only runs until the end of May), you can still buy an annual National Art Pass. It only costs £35 if you pay by direct debit so is well worth having if you enjoy visiting galleries and museums.

I sent off for the free, three month Art Pass last week and now that it has arrived, I've been having a look at what's on offer in London to decide what I want to visit. Good options among the museums which offer free entry to Art Pass holders include:

• The Cartoon Museum
• The Foundling Museum
• Charles Dickens Museum

There's free access to a few exhibitions too including ones at:

• The Guildhall Art Gallery
• Dulwich Picture Gallery
• The Mall Galleries

However, some of the best deals are on half price entry to exhibitions including most of this summer's 'blockbusters', such as:

• Joan Miro at the Tate Modern
• Afghanistan: Crossroads of the Ancient World at the British Museum
• The Cult of Beauty at the Victoria and Albert Museum

There is also a slight reduction on entry to Tracey Emin's exhibition at the Hayward Gallery.

All in all, it looks like a great opportunity to see lots of London's museums and galleries at very little cost.