British Art Show 8

About

Organised by Hayward Touring at Southbank Centre, London, and taking place every five years, it introduces a broad public to a new generation of artists. After opening in Leeds Art Gallery, British Art Show 8 will tour to multiple venues across Edinburgh, Norwich and Southampton over the course of 15 months.  Curated by Anna Colin and Lydia Yee, British Art Show 8 features the work of 42 artists who have made a significant contribution to art in this country over the past five years. The result of the curators’ research across the UK and beyond is a wide-ranging exhibition that encompasses sculpture, film, video-installation, photography, painting, performance and design. Twenty-six of the artists have created new works especially for the exhibition, making this the most ambitious British Art Show to date. 

A central concern of British Art Show 8 is the changing role and status of the object at a time of increasing convergence between the real and the virtual. In response to this condition artists have developed new ways of thinking about, and approaching, materiality. While some revisit traditional craft-based skills or make use of industrial techniques, others use data as a starting point for their work, or investigate the material conditions of our digital existence. Within the exhibition ordinary objects – a car, a hard drive or an egg – are considered as archaeological finds or narrative devices. Operating within a complex web of relationships, these objects reveal new ways of being, thinking and acting in the world.

Åbäke*, Lawrence Abu Hamdan*, Caroline Achaintre, John Akomfrah & Trevor Mathison, Aaron Angell, Pablo Bronstein, Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin, Andrea Büttner, Alexandre da Cunha, Nicolas Deshayes, Benedict Drew*, Simon Fujiwara, Martino Gamper, Ryan Gander*, Melanie Gilligan*, Anthea Hamilton, Will Holder, Alan Kane, Mikhail Karikis, Linder, Rachel Maclean, Ahmet Öğüt (with Liam Gillick, Susan Hiller and Goshka Macuga), Yuri Pattison, Ciara Phillips, Charlotte Prodger, Laure Prouvost, Magali Reus, James Richards, Eileen Simpson & Ben White*, Daniel Sinsel, Cally Spooner, Patrick Staff, Imogen Stidworthy, Hayley Tompkins*, Jessica Warboys, Stuart Whipps, Bedwyr Williams, Jesse Wine, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye.