New Contemporaries at South London Gallery

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.

Building on over 75 years of championing new art and ideas, New Contemporaries is reimagining what artist support can be through a new, responsive and evolving model that shifts with the needs, urgencies and ambitions of artists across the UK. In response to the growing precarity faced by early-career artists, New Contemporaries is expanding its work beyond exhibitions to include advice, opportunities, community building and mentoring.

The organisation has expanded its UK wide reach ensuring that at least half of participating artists are based outside London and that its programmes represent the full breadth of today’s contemporary art practice. Through partnerships with organisations such as the South London Gallery, MIMA Middlesbrough, Forma and Hospitalfield, New Contemporaries’ new programme will now include annual residencies, studio bursaries and an artist development programme that offer participants space, time, and sustained support.

The South London Gallery (SLG) has an international reputation for its contemporary art exhibitions by established, mid-career and younger artists and programme of film and performance events. Its highly regarded, free Communities & Learning programme includes a peer-led young people’s collective; family workshops; artist-led projects on local housing estates; and a programme for looked after children.

The SLG was founded in the 19th century by philanthropist William Rossiter to ‘bring art to the people of south London’. Today the gallery comprises its original site at 65 Peckham Road; the Fire Station, which opened to the public in 2018; Art Block, a space for local children and families on Sceaux Gardens Estate and an artist-designed garden.

The SLG is a registered charity, which raises more than half of its income from trusts and foundations, sponsors and fundraising events.

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.

New Contemporaries travel to MIMA, Middlesbrough from 8 May to 16 August 2026.