Plymouth to round off British Art Show 9

Plymouth to round off prestigious British Art Show 9

18 February 2021

New dates for the UK’s most influential contemporary art exhibition, ‘British Art Show 9’ (BAS 9), have been confirmed today. The nationwide tour will culminate in Plymouth from 8 October to 23 December 2022. Prior to this, the exhibition will be displayed in Aberdeen, Wolverhampton and Manchester.

Held every five years to showcase the work of British artists who have made a significant contribution to international contemporary art, BAS9 will be shown across four city venues – The Box, KARST, The Levinsky Gallery at the University of Plymouth and The Gallery at Plymouth College of Art.

47 artists have been selected following extensive research by curators Irene Aristizábal and Hammad Nasar. They include Turner Prize winners and bursary recipients and artists who have represented Britain at the prestigious Venice Biennale. Many of the artists are developing new works for the exhibition which will include sculpture, film, installation, performance, painting and photography. They are:

Hurvin Anderson | Michael Armitage | Simeon Barclay | Oliver Beer | Zach Blas | Kathrin Böhm | Maeve Brennan | James Bridle | Helen Cammock | Than Hussein Clark | Cooking Sections (Alon Schwabe & Daniel Fernández Pascual) | Jamie Crewe | Oona Doherty | Sean Edwards | Mandy El-Sayegh | Mark Essen | Gaika | Beatrice Gibson | Patrick Goddard | Anne Hardy | Celia Hempton | Andy Holden | Joey Holder | Marguerite Humeau | Lawrence Lek | Ghislaine Leung | Paul Maheke | Elaine Mitchener | Oscar Murillo | Grace Ndiritu | Uriel Orlow | Hardeep Pandhal | Hetain Patel | Florence Peake | Heather Phillipson | Joanna Piotrowska | Abigail Reynolds | Margaret Salmon | Hrair Sarkissian | Katie Schwab | Tai Shani | Marianna Simnett | Victoria Sin | Hanna Tuulikki | Caroline Walker | Alberta Whittle | Rehana Zaman

Lawrence Lek, Geomancer 2017 (still). © Lawrence Lek. Courtesy the artist and Sadie Coles HQ, London.

BAS9 will explore three overarching themes: healing, care and reparative history; tactics for togetherness; and imagining new futures. All three were devised before the COVID-19 pandemic and last summer’s Black Lives Matter protests, but are now more relevant than ever.

The new dates for the national tour are:

  • 10 July – 10 October 2021 – Aberdeen: Aberdeen Art Gallery
  • 22 January – 10 April 2022 – Wolverhampton: Wolverhampton Art Gallery and Wolverhampton School of Art
  • 13 May – 4 September 2022 – Manchester: Castlefield Gallery; Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art (CFCCA); HOME; Manchester Art Gallery and The Whitworth, The University of Manchester
  • 8 October – 23 December 2022 – Plymouth: The Box; KARST; The Levinsky Gallery at the University of Plymouth; and The Gallery at Plymouth College of Art
Elaine Mitchener, Sweet Tooth, 2020. Courtesy the artist. Photo by Brian Roberts.

Plymouth City Council Leader, Tudor Evans OBE said:

British Art Show 9 has been developed at such an unprecedented time in our history and it will be a truly exciting moment for Plymouth when it goes on display here. Although the tour has had to be revised due to the continuing impact of COVID-19, the new schedule is a testament to the collaboration an exhibition of this scale involves. We’re very honoured to be the city that will round off the nationwide tour and are looking forward to working in partnership with everyone involved over the next few months.

Image Credits:
Top image: Oona Doherty, Hope Hunt, 2016-2021. Courtesy the artist. Photo Florian Thévenard
Middle image: Lawrence Lek, Geomancer 2017 (still). © Lawrence Lek. Courtesy the artist and Sadie Coles HQ, London
Bottom image: Elaine Mitchener, Sweet Tooth, 2020. Courtesy the artist. Photo by Brian Roberts

Download the Plymouth boiler plates for British Art Show 9 here.