The next British Art Show—billed as the largest and most significant recurring exhibition of contemporary art in the UK—has today revealed that Ekow Eshun will take the helm as curator when the tenth edition opens late next year.
The influential show launched in 1979 and takes place every five years, with the next edition due to open in Coventry in September 2026, before travelling to four other cities until March 2028. The show is developed and produced by Hayward Gallery Touring, a contemporary art organisation producing touring exhibitions which is part of the Southbank Centre in London.
Eshun, the curator of the exhibition In the Black Fantastic at the Hayward Gallery in 2022, and the former director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, says in a statement: “I am thrilled by the opportunity to engage with artists whose practices speak powerfully to our time, and to craft a show that invites reflection, provokes dialogue, and expands the ways we engage with art in Britain today.”
Brian Cass, the head of Hayward Gallery Touring, says: “The artist selection and works won’t be finalised until next year but usually [it] includes recent and new pieces along with some commissioned works.” He adds that the event’s funding model is mixed, with some investment from partner cities through the partner venues, though the makeup of this investment varies between locations.
The British Art Show 10 venues are: The Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Mead Gallery and Coventry University, Coventry; Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Elysium Gallery, GS Artists, Mission Gallery and Volcano Theatre, Swansea; Arnolfini, Spike Island, Bristol Museum and RWA Bristol, Bristol; Millennium Gallery, Graves Gallery, Site Gallery, Yorkshire Artspace and Arts Catalyst, Sheffield; Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Newcastle Contemporary Art, Laing Art Gallery and Shipley Art Gallery, Newcastle and Gateshead.
The last edition of the British Art Show (2021-22) drew around 40% first-time visitors to local art spaces, says the Southbank Centre in a statement.
