Visual Arts - British Council

Image credit: Silk Pearce

Fifth Curator shortlist announced

This unique opportunity for an aspiring curator to select an exhibition of works from the British Council Collection for the Whitechapel Gallery in London, attracted 161 applications from 47 countries from Argentina to Zimbabwe. Find out more about the shortlist for the Fifth Curator here.

Regional Curators Networking Day

The British Council invited twelve curators from museums and non-commercial galleries in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to attend the Regional Curators Networking Day in London on the 14 October 2009.

Continuing the British Council’s series of professional development programmes, the Networking Day was an opportunity to introduce our work to a wider UK arts professional audience and to promote the British Council Collection. The programme included visits to the British Council Collection stores, the Whitechapel Gallery to see MY YARD, an exhibition of works from the Collection selected by Jeremy Deller and Alan Kane, and the opening of Frieze Art Fair.

The Visual Arts are amongst the most powerful and influential areas within the arts in Britain today. Covering a vast range of disciplines, from the fine arts through to the very latest in digital art, UK artists are pushing the boundaries of their practice to the limit and looking to the future.

We look to all areas of UK visual arts to showcase the most exciting and best work in Britain. With our network of partners overseas we plan, organise and curate high impact projects for long-term cultural benefits that reach beyond the immediate experience.

Still from Giardini 2009 © Steve McQueen

Stephen Willats - Four Pressures, Four Freedoms (1979). © The Artist.

British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale

An archive exhibition looking at the history of the British Pavilion is on display at the Whitechapel Gallery until 13 December, including letters from Lucian Freud and plans by Gilbert & George and Rachel Whiteread.

Steve McQueen at the Venice Biennale

Steve McQueen represents Britain this year at the 53rd Venice Biennale. For his exhibition in the British Pavilion, McQueen presents a new film, Giardini, which is on show until 22 November.

Deller and Kane present My Yard

MY YARD opened at the Whitechapel Gallery on 2 October and is the latest in a series of exhibitions drawn from the British Council Collection. Curated by the artists Jeremy Deller and Alan Kane, the exhibition is a celebration of British people and places.

How We Work in Visual Arts

Our main purpose is to develop and increase knowledge and appreciation overseas of the UK’s achievements in the visual arts. Have a look at how we work, our aims and objectives, how to contact us, and our Grants to Artists scheme.

Visual Arts disciplines

We work across all disciplines in visual arts, including painting, sculpture, photography, video, and drawings, so please have a look here to see examples of our current and past exhibitions and projects.

British Council Collection

For more than 60 years the British Council has been collecting works of art to promote the achievements of our artists overseas. Find out more about the history of the Collection here or visit the Collection website for artists' works, installation videos and information on many of our touring exhibitions.