British Art Show 8

Past exhibition
Hayward Gallery Touring

Installation View at British Art Show 8 at Leeds Art Gallery
Installation View at British Art Show 8 at Leeds Art Gallery Credit Jonty Wilde 2015

Hayward Touring's British Art Show 8 exhibition features the work of 42 contemporary artists

British Art Show is organised by Hayward Touring, and presented every five years in four different cities across the country. It provides a vital overview of the most exciting contemporary art produced in the UK.

British Art Show 8 includes work by 42 artists in a wide-ranging exhibition that encompasses performance, film, sculpture, installation, painting and design.  

Among the themes to emerge is a concern for the status of the object in a digital age. Some artists engage with the theme through traditional craft-based techniques, while others experiment with modes of industrial production. Twenty-six of the artists have produced new works for the exhibition, making this the most ambitious British Art Show to date. 

Curated By

British Art Show 8 is curated by Anna Colin, an independent curator and Director of Open School East, and Lydia Yee, Chief Curator at Whitechapel Gallery. In selecting the artists, they say: ‘We were particularly interested in the rereading of objects by artists and other contemporary thinkers as active agents, generative entities, mutating forms and networked realities.’

Featured Artists

Artists included: Åbäke, Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Caroline Achaintre, John Akomfrah and Trevor Mathison, Aaron Angell, Pablo Bronstein, Adam Broomberg and 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 and Ben White, Daniel Sinsel, Cally Spooner, Patrick Staff, Imogen Stidworthy, Hayley Tompkins, Jessica Warboys, Stuart Whipps, Bedwyr Williams, Jesse Wine, and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye.

Exhibition venues

The exhibition toured to the following venues:

  • Leeds Art Gallery, Leeds
  • Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh; Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art; Talbot Rice Gallery, University of Edinburgh
  • Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery; Norwich University of the Arts, Norwich
  • John Hansard Gallery; Southampton City Art Gallery, Southampton
Touring exhibitions

Find out more about our touring exhibitions programme, including exhibitions on tour and available to visit or hire.