Group Exhibitions - Art - Artforms - British Council

ArRum portraits (1 panel of 2)  Artist: Sam Piyasena

	Art (group exhibitions)

The origins of the group or collective exhibition can be traced back to the 18th and 19th century salons - focused almost exclusively on traditional oil on canvas paintings hung densely in ‘academy’ style. Subsequent incarnations have adapted to the type of work exhibited and the broad range of stylistic approaches evident in contemporary art has bred a new flexibility of approach to exhibition making.

The criteria for selection of artists may still be dictated by the choice of media but is more commonly determined by thematic links or affinity of concept. Group exhibitions often encompass the entire scope of contemporary practice including film, video, photography, sculpture, installation, painting, drawing, printmaking, sound and performance. Selection process by committee has gradually been replaced by a greater degree of authorship on the part of the curator, historian or artist selector.

The Belle Vue Studio: Unknown Sitters

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What we do in this area

Our group exhibitions slice through all visual art disciplines to present thematically linked works in a range of media. Aftershock is an exhibition of contemporary British art that provided audiences in China with their first opportunity to see major works by some of the most significant modern British artists, whilst Long Distance Information traces the way in which British sculptors have responded to the changing world around them. Please have a closer look through our current and archived group exhibitions.

Passports: Great Early Buys from the British Council Collection

Passports is curated by artist Michael Craig-Martin and focuses on the Collection’s great strengths – buying from artists at early stages in their careers and showing works of art internationally.

Long Distance Information

Bill Woodrow Long Distance Information British Council Collection Courtesy of the artist

Long Distance Information is part of a larger British Council programme, The New Silk Road, and traces the way in which British sculptors throughout the 20th century have sought new means through which to express themselves and the world around them.

You have not been honest

Roger Hiorns Benign (2005) Digital video projection 11’ 43” Images courtesy the artist and Corvi-Mora, London

Ranging in subject matter from intimate domestic portraits to narrative documentary, this exhibition features an innovative generation of British artists mixing influences from cinema, home video and archive to question the truth of the camera against actual reality.

ArtSchool Palestine

ArtSchool Palestine is an initiative founded by like-minded individuals from the UK and Palestine, with support from Visiting Arts, Charles Asprey and Sacha Craddock, the Qattan Foundation, the British Council and the Arts Council.

Echo Room

Phillip Allen Beezerspline (Light Version) (2002) Collection of Jake Miller and Jean Thomas, London, courtesy the Approach, London Copyright the artist/Photo: FXP, London

Echo Room is an exhibition of contemporary British art, curated for Alcalá 31 by Victoria Combalía in close collaboration with the British Council. The exhibition attempts to show some of the prevailing themes that have emerged amongst British artists over the past decade, and to relay them with new emphasis to audiences beyond the shores of the United Kingdom.

Aftershock

Damien Hirst Girls, Who Like Boys, Who Like Boys, Who Like Girls, Like Girls, Like Boys 2006 Diptych: Butterflies, scalpel blades, razor blades, stanly blades and household gloss on canvas Courtesy of the artist and Jay Jopling/White Cube, London © the artist Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

Aftershock is an exhibition of contemporary British art, selected specially for China, which will provide audiences there with the first opportunity to see major works by 12 of the most significant artists of the generation which came to prominence during the early-mid 1990s.

Supernova

Bringing together a group of works by contemporary British artists, Supernova examines new tendencies in geometric abstraction. Artists included in the exhibition are Haluk Akakce, Philip Allen, Keith Coventry, Liam Gillick, Gary Hume, Sarah Morris, Dan Norton, Toby Paterson, Tony Swain, Richard Wright and Toby Ziegler.

History in the Making

Damien Hirst Mother and Child Divided (foreground, exhibition copy 2007 [original 1993]), Argininosuccinic Acid (background, 1995) © the artist. Photo: J Fernandes and S Drake.

The first single exhibition to bring together works by all the past recipients of the Turner Prize, which was set up in 1984 to celebrate new developments in contemporary art and is now regarded as one of the most important art awards in the world.

Archived Group Exhibitions

Black-Box Recorder

Exhibition of video works by twelve young artists, united by a thematic approach, exploring conventions used in TV and filmmaking such as narrative structures, humour, vox pop and performance to camera.

Search through archived Group Exhibitions