Ekow Eshun to curate the UK’s largest contemporary art exhibition as it travels to five cities in its most expansive tour in over 40 years.
LONDON — Hayward Gallery Touring has appointed the writer and curator Ekow Eshun to oversee the 10th edition of the British Art Show, the country’s largest and most influential recurring exhibition of contemporary art. Opening in Coventry in September 2026, the show will embark on its most ambitious itinerary yet, travelling to five cities — Swansea, Bristol, Sheffield and Newcastle Gateshead — in a record-setting tour.
Organised every five years, the British Art Show serves as a survey of artistic practice across the United Kingdom, spotlighting emerging and established voices alike. Produced by Hayward Gallery Touring, a division of the Southbank Centre, the exhibition is known for bringing contemporary art to audiences far from London’s main cultural institutions.
Credit Zeinab Batchelor
Ekow Eshun, Curator of British Art Show 10, says: “It is a great honour to be appointed curator of
the British Art Show, an exhibition that has long played a pivotal role in shaping and reflecting the discourse of contemporary art in the UK. 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.”
This edition will unfold across multiple venues in each city, including the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum and the Mead Gallery in Coventry; Glynn Vivian Art Gallery and Mission Gallery in Swansea; Arnolfini and Spike Island in Bristol; Millennium Gallery and Yorkshire Artspace in Sheffield; and the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art and Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle Gateshead.
British Art Show 10 will tour to multiple sites in each of the five cities:
- Coventry: The Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Mead Gallery, Coventry University.
- Swansea: Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Elysium Gallery, GS Artists, Mission Gallery, Volcano Theatre.
- Bristol: Arnolfini, Spike Island, Bristol Museum, RWA Bristol.
- Sheffield: Millennium Gallery, Graves Gallery, Site Gallery, Yorkshire Artspace, Arts Catalyst.
- Newcastle Gateshead: Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Newcastle Contemporary Art, Laing Art Gallery and Shipley Art Gallery.
The expanded format reflects the show’s growing reach. The previous edition drew roughly 40 per cent first-time visitors to its host venues, underscoring its role in broadening access to contemporary art.
The British Art Show will form part of the Southbank Centre’s 75th anniversary programme, which will be announced in full this September. That initiative will include events in all four nations of the UK, reinforcing the exhibition’s position as a centrepiece of the country’s cultural calendar.
About Hayward Gallery Touring
Hayward Gallery Touring is the UK’s leading contemporary art organisation producing touring exhibitions. Based at Southbank Centre, Hayward Gallery Touring works with a range of artists, curators, designers and writers to develop curatorial projects and ambitious exhibitions that are often beyond the scope of a single institution.
Hayward Gallery Touring’s programme includes British Art Show—the largest and most significant exhibition of contemporary art produced in the UK—as well as thematic group shows and monographic exhibitions created for venues including museums, galleries, art centres, libraries, schools, hospitals and other unexpected partners and places. Hayward Gallery Touring exhibitions are seen by up to half a million people in over 45 cities and towns each year.
British Art Show 10 is a Hayward Gallery Touring exhibition and will launch in Coventry in
September 2026 before touring to Swansea, Bristol, Sheffield and Newcastle Gateshead.
©2025 Hayward Gallery Touring
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