75 artists, from final year students and recent graduates of UK arts institutions, to practitioners on alternative peer-to-peer learning programmes, have been selected to take part in New Contemporaries 2021 open submission opportunities. Alongside inclusion in the annual touring exhibition, this year’s selected artists will also feature on a newly launched digital platform supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, and have access to digital residences and projects, studio bursaries, mentorships, talks and workshops.
Selected artists for Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2021 are:
Susan Atwill, Mataio Austin Dean, Christopher Bond, Shannon Bono, Alice Bucknell, Richard Burton, Thomas Cameron, Maya Gurung-Russell Campbell, Anna Choutova, Bo Choy, Kedisha Coakley, Noemi Conan, Lauren Craig, Angelina May Davis, Femi Dawkins, Charles de Agustin, Darya Diamond, Pete G Donaldson, Freya Douglas Ferguson, Karolina Dworska, Max Göran, Janina Frye, Enorê, Aoibheann Greenan, Benjamin Hall, Tom Harker, Christopher Hartmann, Serena Huang, INCURSIONS, Asuf Ishaq, Elsa James, Nisa Khan, Sarah Khan, David Leal, Jinjoon Lee, Hannah Lim, Laila Majid, Seren Metcalfe, Haeji Min, Karabo Monareng, Willy Nabi, Christof Nüssli, Sora Park, Rebecca Parkin, Krystle Patel, Hanne Peeraer, Lydia Pettit, Sandra Poulson, Leon Pozniakow, Anne Carney Raines, Katarina Ranković, Aaron Ratajczyk, Davinia-Ann Robinson, Bryan GIUSEPPI Rodriguez Cambana, Rebeca Romero, Benjamin Rostance, Temitayo Shonibare, James Sibley, Billy Smith-Morris, Sid Smith, Sean Synnuck, Agnieszka Szczotka, Jukan Tateisi, Liorah Tchiprout, Beth Waite, Jaime Welsh, Adrianna Whittingham, Tom Connell Wilson, Nana Wolke, Zhuanxu Xu, Rafał Zajko, Orsola Zane, Adam Zoltowski and Žaneta Zukalová.
The exhibition will launch at Firstsite, Colchester 25 September – 28 November 2021 and then travel to South London Gallery 10 December 2021 – 20 February 2022. The new digital platform will compliment the exhibition allowing audiences to further engage with the artists’ work.
This year’s two-part selection process was headed by a panel of three artists comprising Hew Locke, Tai Shani and Michelle Williams Gamaker.
Kirsty Ogg, Director, New Contemporaries, said: “COVID-19 is the toughest challenge of a generation. Artists’ lives and livelihoods have been severely impacted by the precarity of the pandemic with lockdown measures preventing access to studios, materials, and peer networks as well as the postponement or cancellation of many graduate shows and work opportunities.
“Today, more so than ever, it is vital for New Contemporaries to support and to give a platform to emerging and early career artists, many of whom are directly addressing issues of equality, diversity and social justice in response to these times.
“The practice of curating is very much a practice of connection. It allows us to foster a sense of closer proximity at a time when so many artists have lost their support structures. I would especially like to thank our selectors, whose overwhelming generosity will enable 75 New Contemporaries artists to be supported by us and their achievements celebrated by all.”
Tai Shani added: “It is a truly special, and inspiring process. We began looking at the 6,500 works together online and we then looked at the shortlisted work in real life a couple of months later. This was my first encounter with physical artworks since the pandemic began and when I walked into the space I was immediately struck by the materials, textures, colours. It was moving to see the resilience of the creative process and what it yields. We were left with 75 practices that we were completely in love with and couldn’t bear to let go any of these pieces, many of which were created in such difficult conditions.”
Images:
1. Shannon Bono, WATA, 2020.
2. Elsa James, Black Girl Essex; Here We Come, Look We Here, 2019.
3. Tom Harker, Spectral Perennials, 2020.
4. Aaron Ratajczyk, A Hole in Space ATH-BER, 2020.
5. Rafał Zajko, Amber Chamber, 2020.
6. Agnieszka Szczotka, Władysław’s Teeth, 2019.
7. Jaime Welsh, The Ambassador’s Suite (Rob and Adam), 2020.
8. Bryan GIUSEPPI Rodriguez Cambana, The Sexy Smell of Growth Hormones, 2018.
