LONDON, 03 May. - (ANA) - The Royal Academy in London is delighted to present the 256th Summer Exhibition, a unique celebration of contemporary art and architecture, providing a vital platform and support for the artistic community from 18 June to 18 August 2024. 

 

British sculptor Ann Christopher RA has co-ordinated this year’s Summer Exhibition and with the Summer Exhibition Committee, will explore the idea of making space. For the Summer Exhibition 2024, Ann Christopher RA said, “I plan to explore the idea of making space, whether giving space or taking space. 

 

This can be interpreted in various ways: to make space can mean openness – making space for something or someone, also making space between things. It is my belief that the spaces in between are as important as whatever those spaces separate.”

 

Works by invited artists this year will include Ackroyd & Harvey, Vivien Blackett, Diana Copperwhite, Andrew Pierre Hart, Permindar Kaur, Radhika Khimji, Kathy Prendergast, Rachel Whiteread and Charmaine Watkiss. In addition to the large number of public submissions, Royal Academicians and Honorary Academicians will be showing works, including Ron Arad, Frank Bowling, Michael Craig-Martin, Anselm Kiefer, Conrad Shawcross, Clare Woods and Rose Wylie. There will also be memorials to the Royal Academicians Michael Hopkins, Sonia Lawson, Mick Moon and Joe Tilson. 

 

In the courtyard will be a monumental textile sculpture by British artist Nicola Turner, which is made of found organic matter, including horsehair and wool. The work explores the intersection between life and death and will interact closely with the statue of the RA’s founding President, Sir Joshua Reynolds.

 

The Architecture rooms will be curated by Assemble RA, who said, “Spaces for making form a critical part of our creative economy and yet these spaces are increasingly pushed out of cities. Assemble invited contributions that reflect on spaces for making: workspaces, studio spaces, manufacturing spaces, industrial spaces, assembly spaces. 

 

We want to celebrate the messiness and exploration these places of production entail, while embracing failure and making room for unconventional and enterprising ways we find to continue making together. We welcomed submissions that focus and reflect on making as process, unfinished works, material samples, industrial prototypes, working models, workspace artefacts and agricultural elements. 

 

Making space is a complex, multifaceted and collaborative process and we strongly encouraged collectives and individuals or organisations outside of the architecture and art world to contribute.” Architects will include Elsie Owusu and Nigel Coates

exhibiting for the first time as Royal Academicians, as well as some specially invited creative practices such as Structure Workshop and the art collective, Cooking Sections.

 

 

 

 

One of the founding principles of the Royal Academy of Arts was to “mount an annual exhibition open to all artists of distinguished merit” to finance the training of young artists in the Royal Academy Schools.

 

The Summer Exhibition is the world’s largest open submission contemporary art show which has taken place every year without interruption since 1769. It provides a unique platform for emerging and established artists to showcase their works to an international audience, comprising a range of media from painting and printmaking to photography, sculpture, architecture and film. Royal Academicians are automatically entitled to submit up to six works to the Summer Exhibition and the rest of the exhibition features work by those invited by the committee and external entrants.

 

The members of the Summer Exhibition Committee serve in rotation, ensuring that every year the exhibition has a distinctive character, with each Royal Academician responsible for a particular gallery space. Works from all over the world are judged democratically on merit and the final selection is made during the eight-day hang within the galleries. 

 

The majority of works will be for sale, offering visitors an opportunity to purchase original work. Funds raised support the exhibiting artists, the postgraduate

students studying in the RA Schools and the work of the Royal Academy.   - (ANA) -

 

 

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