“British Art Show 10” opens in Coventry: 37 artists in its largest edition

The tenth edition of the “British Art Show,” the largest periodic survey of British contemporary art, held every five years since 1979, opens today in Coventry — as the Southbank Centre announces, the exhibition “A Chorus of Strangers,” curated by writer and curator Ekow Eshun, brings together 37 artists and offers a vital overview of the most exciting art produced in Britain over the last five years. Around a third of the artists have created new works especially for this edition.

The exhibition opens at three Coventry venues — The Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, the Mead Gallery and Coventry University — where it will run from 2 October 2026 to 10 January 2027, according to the Southbank Centre. It then begins the widest tour in its history: Swansea, Bristol, Sheffield and finally Newcastle and Gateshead through 2028. The edition is a key part of the Southbank Centre’s national 75th-anniversary programme, which aims to reach one million people in more than 40 British cities.

Against a backdrop of political divisions, the climate crisis and distrust of institutions, the exhibition asks how art can foster sensitivity in times of polarisation. Rather than treating difference as a threat, the exhibition invites a move away from rigid divisions of “us” and “them” towards seeing the world through the eyes of others. “Over time, artists have used their ability to work with uncertainty, contradiction and possibility to create works that privilege affinity over isolation,” says curator Ekow Eshun.

Among the selected artists are Turner Prize winners Jesse Darling and Jasleen Kaur, as well as Kudzanai-Violet Hwami, Alvaro Barrington, Matthew Krishanu, Lindsey Mendick, Osman Yousefzada and Emma Talbot, The Upcoming writes. The “British Art Show” has introduced to the public names that are canonical today — from David Hockney to Bridget Riley, Sonia Boyce and John Akomfrah — and more than 2.3 million visitors have seen it over its history.