This year celebrating its 200th anniversary, the Royal Scottish Academy of Art and Architecture (RSA) is staging its RSA Annual Exhibition – the largest and longest-running annual exhibition of contemporary art and architecture in Scotland, and the prestigious highlight of its 200th anniversary exhibition programme.
Following the flowering of the Scottish Enlightenment – the explosion of philosophy, science and culture, centring on Edinburgh – for two centuries the Academy’s Annual Exhibition has captured art and architecture at a moment in time, reflecting the world as it has changed, taking in the industrial revolution in the UK, two world wars, the invention of the telephone and the birth of the internet. It reflects the Academy’s enduring commitment to supporting excellence in the visual arts, supporting artists and fostering public access to contemporary art and architecture.
With all work available to view in William Playfair’s RSA Galleries building in Edinburgh, and online, the exhibition is convened this year by Annie Cattrell RSA and Architecture Convener Fergus Purdie RSA. The curatorial theme this year is ‘in time’, marking the tercentenary of the birth of James Hutton (1726–1797) – a native of the city and dubbed the ‘father of modern geology’ – and reflects on philosophical and physical foundations, drawing connections between geology, deep time and the layered history of the RSA itself.
Hundreds of artworks will be on display, selected from online submissions, with many available to purchase at affordable prices, the exhibition offers visitors an exceptional opportunity to discover and collect contemporary work, and is et to be viewed by thousands of visitors; there are over 25 awards on offer, totalling over £25,000, including three new awards for 2026, worth over £15,000 – the RSA Jack Vettriano Award, the RSA David McClure Centenary Travel Award and the RSA Changing Ideas Award.
The Academy is set to host a Big Birthday Party on Wednesday 27th May with a special programme of public events, featuring creative activities for all ages.
The Architecture offer meanwhile offers two strands, Beginning(s) and Unbuilt, the former showing invited Architectural Academicians’ responses to imagine alternative designs for an RSA building, and the latter highlighting unrealised architectural projects selected from open submissions, with the Academy’s Metzstein Discourse speakers responding to the concept of beginnings, referencing the initial stages and concepts of a project.
A partner exhibition Far Afield brings together artworks created on location and through travel by Royal Scottish Academicians, and includes paintings, prints and studies developed in response to new landscapes and cultures, celebrating the enduring relationship between travel and artistic practice. The Academy has long supported artists to travel, through its range of scholarships, awards and residencies, recognising the vital role this experience plays in artists’ creative development – capturing the influence of place, and gaining new perspectives through venturing beyond the studio. Exhibitors include Elizabeth Blackadder, George Donald, Kate Downie, Paul Furneaux, Anna Geerdes, John Houston, Elspeth Lamb, William Littlejohn, Leon Morrocco and Frances Walker.
The RSA partners the Own Art scheme, allowing artworks to be purchased in 10 monthly interest-free instalments.
