Ekow Eshun to Curate British Art Show’s Largest Edition Yet
The Fourth Plinth public art commission chair and former Turner Prize juror will oversee the quinquennial exhibition, bringing a snapshot of British contemporary art to five U.K. cities for the first time starting from September 2026. Save to My Ocula
Britain’s ‘largest and most significant’ recurring exhibition will next year be curated by writer Ekow Eshun, who plans to ‘provoke dialogue’ with his take on the show.
British Art Show 10, which has brought the latest of British art to over 2.3 million people since 1979, will expand its reach next year, opening in Coventry in September, before travelling to Swansea, Bristol, Sheffield, and Newcastle Gateshead through to 2028.
The exhibition, which has spotlighted defining artists over time, including the likes of David Hockney, Lucian Freud, and Sarah Lucas will be curated by writer Ekow Eshun, the chair of the biannual Fourth Plinth public commission for Trafalgar Square.
Brian Cass, head of producers Hayward Gallery Touring, said he was looking forward to the new perspectives he will bring to British Art Show 10.
‘[Eshun] has an extraordinary track record of making exhibitions that shape the conversation about art and culture,’ he said.
Eshun’s previous roles include judging the Turner Prize, advising the British Pavilion in Venice, and leading London’s Institute of Contemporary Art.
His projects includes exhibitions like In the Black Fantastic at Hayward Gallery and The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure at National Portrait Gallery.
‘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,’ Eshun said.
The British Art Show aims to offer an overview of contemporary British art, with its latest edition featuring work by 47 artists made between 2015 and 2020, and probing selected thematic issues of climate, social justice, and resistance.
First-time gallery visitors made up 40 percent of total attendance, according to Hayward Gallery Touring, and overall attendance also notably increased since the first edition.
Among the 21 venues announced so far are institutions like Spike Island, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Site Gallery, and Newcastle Contemporary Art. —[O]
Main image: Mandy El-Sayegh, blank verse blanket man (2022). © Mandy El-Sayegh. Exhibition view: British Art Show 9, University of Wolverhampton School of Art, Wolverhampton (2021–2022). Photo: © Stuart Whipps.
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