New Contemporaries at MIMA, Middlesborough

New Contemporaries presents its annual group exhibition showcasing 26 emerging and early-career artists from across the UK selected by Pio Abad, Louise Giovanelli and Grace Ndiritu.

Viviana Almas, Kat Anderson, Hadas Auerbach, Timon Benson, Lakshya Bhargava, William Braithwaite, River Yuhao Cao, Ali Cook, Shaun Doyle, Ally Fallon, Samantha Fellows, Alia Gargum, Oliver Getley, Makiko Harris, Manuel Alejandro Hernandez Rivera, Deborah Lerner, Gregor Petrikovič, Will Pham, Isobel Shore, Maya Silverberg, Aaron Alexander Smyth, Christopher Steenson, Varvara Uhlik, Eliza Wagener, Benjamin Waters and Yimin Xiang.

Explore the artists here

Works in the exhibition span painting, sculpture, installation, photography and moving image, illustrating the full breadth of artistic practice across the UK. Presented thematically, they engage with speculations on dystopian futures; critical responses to the climate crisis, industrialisation, gentrification and displacement; and critical approaches to systems of power. The exhibition also examines our inherent entanglement with digital technologies and our evolving desire to understand realities beyond human perception through other species.

Additionally, themes of mourning, remembrance and loss are explored through a range of collective and personal experiences. Some artists merge figuration with abstraction to investigate intersecting identities, cultural heritage and a desire for connection, while others draw on the familiar and the fantastical, from both urban environments to intimate domestic interiors, as constructions of selfhood and place.

MIMA connects art, people and ideas to empower creative lives and positively contribute to society. An international art gallery and museum, they commission, collect and re-think modern and contemporary art. They build and celebrate creativity and support change towards an open and inclusive future. As part of Teesside University and closely connected with the School of Arts & Creative Industries, MIMA is dedicated to collaborative learning, research and innovation.

The New Contemporaries Programme is generously supported by Arts Council England, Art Fund, Culture Ireland, the Emerging Artist Circle, Fenton Arts Trust, Henry Moore Foundation, TFA London and OMNI. Our 75th Anniversary Fundraiser, held in partnership with Christie’s, was made possible by the generous contributions of contemporary artists and led by our Development Committee.