The artist lineup and thematic framework for the tenth edition of the British Art Show have been revealed. Curated by Ekow Eshun and titled 'A Chorus of Strangers,' the exhibition will feature 30 artists, including Alex Margo Arden, Liz Johnson Artur, and Jesse Darling, and will tour five UK cities from October 2026 to June 2028, beginning in Coventry.
Swansea has been confirmed as the only Welsh stop on the British Art Show 10 national tour, with the exhibition taking place at the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery from February 12 to May 16, 2027. Titled 'A Chorus of Strangers,' the show will also feature venues including the new home for Elysium Gallery and potentially Y Storfa, and will explore themes of Moments of Being, Ways of Living, and States of Nature across various media. Curated by Ekow Eshun, the tour launches in Coventry in October 2026 before visiting Swansea, Bristol, Sheffield, and Newcastle-Gateshead.
Newcastle Art Gallery has opened three new exhibitions following its February reopening with the blockbuster show 'Iconic Loved Unexpected'. The new presentations include Tiyan Baker's solo show 'Mouth Mnemonica', 'The Mordant Family Gift' featuring 25 works donated by philanthropists Simon and Catriona Mordant, and Brian Robinson's 'Multiverse'. The exhibitions collectively showcase a diverse range of national and international artistry, with works by artists such as Gemma Smith, Tim Silver, Alasdair Macintyre, and Rafael Lozano-Hemmer. Baker's solo exhibition focuses on preserving the Bidayǔh language through multimedia works including autostereograms and video installations.
The Australian art scene is hosting a diverse array of exhibitions throughout March 2026, headlined by the landmark 25th Biennale of Sydney titled 'Rememory.' Major institutional highlights include the newly reopened Newcastle Art Gallery showcasing its national collection, a significant Ron Mueck survey at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, and a major Rosalie Gascoigne exhibition at Bundanon. Commercial galleries are also debuting new works, ranging from Patricia Piccinini’s stem-cell-inspired installation at Passage Gallery to Christopher Zanko’s architectural studies at N.Smith Gallery.
The 10th edition of the British Art Show, titled 'A Chorus of Strangers,' has announced its theme and a roster of over 30 participating artists. Curated by Ekow Eshun and organized by Hayward Gallery Touring, the exhibition will explore the relationship between the individual and the 'other' through three thematic lenses: 'Moments of Being,' 'Ways of Living,' and 'States of Nature.' The show is scheduled to launch in Coventry on October 2, 2025, before touring to Swansea, Bristol, Sheffield, and Newcastle Gateshead.
Newcastle Art Gallery has officially reopened following a A$47 million ($33 million) expansion that more than doubles its exhibition space. The redevelopment, designed by Clare Design and Smith and Tzannes Architects, transforms the venue into the largest public art institution in New South Wales outside of Sydney. The opening is celebrated with the exhibition "Iconic Loved Unexpected," featuring 500 works from a permanent collection of 7,000 pieces, including significant Japanese ceramics and works by artists such as Auguste Rodin and Emily Kam Kngwarray.
Newcastle Art Gallery will celebrate its landmark reopening on February 27, 2026, with a street party and temporary sculpture park on Laman Street, followed by a three-day opening weekend. The event launches the major exhibition "Iconic Loved Unexpected" on February 28. The expansion, the largest capital works project in City of Newcastle's history, adds 1,600 square meters of exhibition space and 13 galleries, making it the largest public art institution in New South Wales outside Sydney. The project was funded through 16 years of fundraising and perseverance.
Newcastle Art Gallery in Australia has unveiled the first three exhibitions from its 2026 program, marking the first changeover since its major expansion reopened in February. The shows include "Multiverse," a survey of Torres Strait Islander artist Brian Robinson featuring over 30 new and rarely seen works, including his first immersive installation; a debut solo exhibition by Newcastle-based artist Tiyan Baker; and "The Mordant Family Gift," presenting 25 works donated by philanthropists Simon Mordant AO and Catriona Mordant AM from artists including Ian Abdulla, María Fernanda Cardoso, and Rafael Lozano-Hemmer.
The Newcastle Art Gallery (NAG) has officially reopened following a $48 million expansion, more than doubling its exhibition space to become the largest public gallery in New South Wales outside of Sydney. The project, which was over 16 years in the making, features 13 gallery spaces and a new street-fronting cafe, marking a significant infrastructure milestone for the regional Australian art scene. The reopening is celebrated with the blockbuster exhibition 'Iconic Loved Unexpected,' showcasing 500 works from the institution's $145 million permanent collection.
The Sharjah Architecture Triennial announced its third edition theme, "Architecture Otherwise: Building Civic Infrastructure for Collective Futures," opening in November 2026, curated by Vyjayanthi Rao and Tau Tavengwa. The Noguchi Museum appointed Hitomi Iwasaki as head curator, while London nonprofit YDP announced an inaugural Duan Jianyu exhibition and permanent commissions by Christine Sun Kim and Danh Võ. Australia's Mordant family gifted major artworks to the Newcastle Art Gallery.
A legal dispute has erupted over a Banksy mural, *Yellow Lines Flower Painter* (2007), painted on the Bethnal Green Working Man’s Club in east London. The club’s trustees have filed a lawsuit against employee Warren Dent and others, alleging the work was illegally removed and put up for sale in the US. The mural, depicting a workman and a giant flower emerging from double-yellow lines, is currently in Colorado. The club’s former accountant claims secretary Stephen Smorthit agreed to sell the piece to Dent for £20,000 in 2019, after which art restorer Chris Bull removed it and later loaned it to his father’s gallery in Aspen. The trustees argue they never authorized the sale and are demanding the work’s return.
Organizers of the British Art Show have unveiled the theme and artist list for its tenth edition, titled "A Chorus of Strangers." Curated by Ekow Eshun, the quinquennial exhibition will launch in Coventry on October 2, 2025, before touring to Swansea, Bristol, Sheffield, and Newcastle Gateshead through 2028. The show features a diverse roster of contemporary artists including Turner Prize winner Jasleen Kaur, Alvaro Barrington, and Precious Okoyomon, organized around three conceptual pillars: psychological, sociological, and ecological.
The Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A) in London has opened 'Rising Voices: Contemporary Art from Asia, Australia and the Pacific', a landmark exhibition drawn from the collection of the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA). Featuring over 70 works by more than 40 artists from 25 countries, the show is organized in three thematic sections—Re-Visioning History, Enduring Knowledge, and Evolving Faith—and includes sculpture, photography, painting, ceramics, weaving, and body adornment. Many works are on view outside their home region for the first time. The exhibition runs until 10 January 2027.
Newcastle Art Gallery in New South Wales, Australia, will open three new exhibitions on May 23, 2026, following its major expansion and reopening in February. The shows include the largest solo exhibition to date by Torres Strait Islander artist Brian Robinson, titled "Multiverse"; the first institutional solo show by Tiyan Baker, "Mouth Mnemonica"; and "The Mordant Family Gift," featuring 25 works donated by philanthropists Simon Mordant AO and Catriona Mordant AM. The gallery has already attracted over 80,000 visitors, surpassing its previous annual record.
The Art Fund is celebrating the tenth anniversary of its Weston Loan Programme by facilitating the loan of major masterpieces to 15 regional UK institutions. High-profile works, including Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s 'Beata Beatrix' and Joseph Wright of Derby’s 'An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump', will travel from national collections like the National Gallery and Tate to smaller galleries in Newcastle, Derby, and Ipswich. The program covers essential logistical costs such as insurance, transport, and security that are typically prohibitive for local museums.
Newcastle Art Gallery has officially reopened following a four-year, $48 million expansion that more than doubles its exhibition space. The upgraded facility now features 13 galleries, allowing the institution to maintain a permanent display of its $145 million collection for the first time in its history. The reopening was marked by a massive community response, with 28,000 visitors attending the inaugural weekend festivities and the debut exhibition, "Iconic Loved Unexpected."
Newcastle Art Gallery has officially reopened following a major $145 million site-wide transformation, doubling its footprint to become the largest public art gallery in New South Wales outside of Sydney. Designed by Clare Design in collaboration with Smith and Tzannes and Arup, the expansion adds 1,600 square metres of exhibition space, a new learning studio, and upgraded facilities to house a collection of over 7,000 works. The inaugural exhibition, "Iconic, Loved, Unexpected," features nearly 500 pieces ranging from colonial-era paintings to contemporary commissions by artists like Megan Cope and Shellie Smith.
The Newcastle Art Gallery in New South Wales is set to open its $48 million expansion this Saturday, concluding a turbulent development process that spanned over two decades. The upgrade adds 1,600 square metres of exhibition space and 13 new galleries, transforming the facility into the largest public art institution in the state outside of Sydney and allowing its $145 million permanent collection to be displayed at scale for the first time.
Newcastle Art Gallery will reopen on Friday, February 27, with a street party and temporary sculpture park on Laman Street, followed by the launch of its major exhibition "Iconic, Loved, Unexpected" on February 28. The reopening marks the completion of a 16-year expansion project that more than doubles the gallery's footprint, adding 1,600 square meters of exhibition space, 13 galleries, a loading dock, café, retail shop, and learning studio, making it the largest public art institution in New South Wales outside Sydney.
A delegation of senior UK museum directors, including Tim Reeve of the Victoria and Albert Museum, Doug Gurr of the Natural History Museum, Keith Merrin of North East Museums, Sara Wajid of Birmingham Museums Trust, and Laura Pye of National Museums Liverpool, accompanied Prime Minister Keir Starmer on a three-day diplomatic and trade mission to China. The trip aimed to strengthen bilateral relations, with the museum leaders highlighting existing partnerships and exploring new opportunities for cultural exchange and commercial collaboration in the Chinese market.
Jane and Louise Wilson, identical twin artists born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1967, are featured in a podcast interview where they discuss their collaborative practice since the late 1980s. Working primarily in video installation, photography, and sound, they explore duality and selfhood through loaded sites like abandoned military bases and borderlands. The podcast covers their early inspirations, including John Martin and Cindy Sherman, and the influence of filmmakers such as Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Jean Cocteau, and Stanley Kubrick. Their current exhibitions include 'Performance of Entrapment' at London Mithraeum Bloomberg SPACE (until 10 January 2026) and 'Dendrophiles' at Leadenhall Building as part of Sculpture in the City, London (until spring 2026).
The Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle is opening a new exhibition titled 'With These Hands' from May 17 to September 27, exploring the representation of craft in paintings, drawings, and prints. The show features works produced in Britain and Europe from the 1750s onward, depicting hand-making and mending as domestic pastime, rural labor, semi-industrial work, and war effort. It includes paintings by artists such as Mary Cassatt, G.F. Watts, and Evelyn Dunbar, alongside objects like quilts, embroidery, metalwork, and ceramics from makers including Bernard Leach and Michael Cardew. Loans come from Tate, V&A, Royal Academy of Arts, Imperial War Museums, and regional collections.
The Newcastle Art Gallery has officially reopened following a transformative expansion project that has been more than 16 years in the making. NSW Governor Margaret Beazley led the ceremonial ribbon-cutting for the facility, which now stands as the largest public gallery in New South Wales outside of Sydney. The reopening is being celebrated with a three-day community festival and the launch of 'Iconic Loved Unexpected,' a major exhibition featuring nearly 500 works from the gallery’s $145 million permanent collection.
Ekow Eshun has been named curator of the 10th edition of the British Art Show, the UK's largest recurring contemporary art exhibition. The show will open in Coventry in September 2026 and travel to four other cities—Swansea, Bristol, Sheffield, and Newcastle/Gateshead—until March 2028. Eshun, former director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London and curator of the acclaimed exhibition *In the Black Fantastic* at the Hayward Gallery, will select artists and works over the next year, with new commissions expected.
Newcastle Art Gallery is launching its opening weekend celebrations with a street party, live music, and interactive art experiences. A unique highlight offers three attendees the chance to win a bespoke tattoo inspired by the Gallery's collection, to be inked by a local artist during the festivities.
Newcastle Art Gallery will open its fourth new exhibition space on December 19, 2025, featuring over 130 works of Australian art valued at more than $30 million. Highlights include pieces by Joseph Lycett, William Dobell, Grace Cossington Smith, and Margaret Preston. The opening will be celebrated with the return of the Friday Night Sounds after-hours event, featuring live music by Nina Romeru and a wildlife drawing workshop. The gallery has already welcomed nearly 11,000 visitors since partially reopening in September 2025, with the full reopening scheduled for February 2026.
The article profiles the Story Museum in Oxford, a family-oriented museum designed to spark curiosity in arts and culture among children. It describes the museum's interactive galleries, including Small Worlds for under-fives, the Whispering Wood filled with fables, a temporary dragon-themed exhibition co-curated with author Cressida Cowell, and the Enchanted Library that takes visitors through the history of children's literature. The author recounts her toddler's joyful engagement with the hands-on exhibits, from playing digital Pooh sticks to exploring a Narnia-inspired wardrobe.
Newcastle Art Gallery in Australia has reopened its doors to the public for the first time after a major expansion project, unveiling new gallery spaces, a central atrium, and a foyer. The milestone event, held on 26 September 2025, featured a First Nations First ethos with major commissions and acquisitions on display, and was celebrated as part of the New Annual festival. The expansion has more than doubled the gallery's size, adding 1,600 square meters of exhibition space, with several areas named after major donors including Valerie and John Ryan, Margaret Olley, and Robert and Lindy Henderson.
A mobile public artwork called *The Herds* is traveling from the Congo Basin through Africa, Europe, and up to the Arctic Circle, featuring life-sized animal sculptures made from recyclable materials. The project began in April in Kinshasa and will pass through eighteen cities including Lagos, Marrakech, Madrid, London, and Copenhagen, culminating in Trondheim, Norway on July 30. Created by South Africa-based artists and led by artistic director Amir Nizar Zuabi, the herd grows as local species are added in each region, engaging communities through parades, performances, and workshops.
A couple of volunteer archaeologists, Dilys and Jim Quinlan, discovered a Roman stone relief carving of the winged goddess Victory while excavating at the Vindolanda fort near Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland, England. The 18.5-inch carving was found in the infantry barracks and is believed to have been part of a larger ornamental arch and gate, dating to around 213 CE after the Severan wars. The discovery was identified by Newcastle University professor Rob Collins and announced by the Vindolanda Charitable Trust.