Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre presents British Art Show 9

Hayward Gallery Touring’s landmark exhibition British Art Show 9 (BAS9) will open in Manchester on Friday, May 27, following its successful iterations in Aberdeen and Wolverhampton. British Art Show is recognised as the most ambitious recurrent exhibition of contemporary art produced in the UK, taking place every five years and bringing the work of some of the most exciting contemporary artists to four UK cities.

Featuring 47 artists and focusing on work made since 2015, British Art Show 9 reflects a precarious moment in Britain’s history. During this time politics of identity and nation, and concerns of social, racial and environmental justice have pervaded public consciousness. The artists respond in critical ways to this complex context, imagining more hopeful futures and exploring new modes of resistance. They do so through film, photography, painting, sculpture, and performance, as well as projects that don’t sit easily in any one category.

The exhibition is structured around three main themes—Healing, Care and Reparative History; Tactics for Togetherness; Imagining New Futures—and has been conceived as a cumulative experience, adapting and changing for each of its four host cities.

In Manchester, the exhibition will showcase 19 artists whose works directly address BAS9’s three main curatorial themes. Their projects aim to extend our understanding of identity to beyond the human, often blurring the boundaries between art and life. Through their works, they propose alternative futures, economies and ways of living together.

The exhibiting venues in Manchester are HOME, Manchester Art Gallery, Castlefield Gallery and the Whitworth. The exhibition features new works, ambitious immersive installations, and special commissions that engage with local histories and cultures in Manchester. It includes a programme of artists’ films and there is a dedicated website that enables artists to share work online.

The participating artists for BAS9 in Manchester are: Hurvin Anderson; Michael Armitage; Simeon Barclay; Oliver Beer; Than Hussein Clark; Oona Doherty; Sean Edwards; GAIKA; Patrick Goddard; Anne Hardy; Andy Holden; Joey Holder; Elaine Mitchener; Grace Ndiritu; Hardeep Pandhal; Hetain Patel; Abigail Reynolds; Katie Schwab; and Caroline Walker.

Selected highlights of BAS9 Manchester: 

The culmination of Simeon Barclay’s commission, Precariously Perched on the Edifice of Ruins (2021-2022) consisting of video, sound, sculpture and neon works which touch on sampling, de-industrialisation, cultural hierarchy, self fashioning, class and taste.

Anne Hardy’s spectacular large-scale installation Liquid Landscape (2018) that combines objects, lights, sounds and special effects into a sensory experience that uses the idea of a city almost underwater as a way to consider fragility, resilience and shifting emotions.

Andy Holden’s The Estate of Hermione (2021), an installation of work by self-trained artist Hermione Burton (1925–c.1990) whose paintings Holden first discovered by chance in a flea market, and new film.

Patrick Goddard’s RAW (dancefloor edition) (2022), an experiential intervention created using paving designed to deter rough sleepers, and an installation of his new film commission Animal Antics (2021), an absurdist commentary on the Anthropocene featuring a woman and her talking dog.

Katie Schwab’s new commission blueprint of an emotion (2022) which evolved through research and community discussion on ideas of repair, alchemy and civic identity. It comprises a new wall painting and collaborative tile work, shown alongside a large-scale tapestry, maquette and weaving samples from the Whitworth’s rich textile collections.

An extended reality film installation by Joey Holder, The Abyssal Seeker (2021), which charts the journey to a deep-sea lake that has so far remained undiscovered by science.

Caroline Walker presents her new emotive series of paintings portraying the work of female midwives and maternity nurses.

The exhibition is accompanied by a publication and a wide-ranging programme of creative learning and engagement, which will further extend the reach of BAS9 beyond the gallery walls.

British Art Show 9 is a Hayward Gallery Touring exhibition presented in collaboration with the cities of Aberdeen, Wolverhampton, Manchester and Plymouth. Curated by Irene Aristizábal and Hammad Nasar.

BAS9 continues its national tour to Plymouth in autumn 2022.

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