New Contemporaries

30 Jan-12 Apr 2026

Overview

New Contemporaries, the leading organisation supporting early career and emerging artists, has announced details of its annual exhibition, taking place in 2026 at the South London Gallery (SLG) and MIMA, Middlesbrough. 26 emerging and early career artists from across the UK have been selected to take part in the prestigious touring exhibition by artists Pio Abad, Louise Giovanelli and Grace Ndiritu.

Founded in 1949 by artists for artists, New Contemporaries has always been a barometer of contemporary practice, spotlighting early-career artists who go on to define generations, including David Hockney, Paula Rego, Mona Hatoum, Chris Ofili, Tacita Dean, Mark Leckey, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Michaela Yearwood-Dan and Jake Grewal.

The 2026 exhibition showcases 26 emerging and early-career artists from across the UK: 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.
 
Works in the exhibition span painting, sculpture, installation, photography and moving image, illustrating the full breadth of artistic practice across the UK. Presented thematically in both the SLG and MIMA exhibitions, 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.