BLACKPOOL.- Launched in Blackpool at Grundy Art Gallery, Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2023 exhibition features 55 of the UK’s most exciting artists emerging from art schools and alternative peer-to-peer learning programmes.

With works selected by internationally renowned artists Helen Cammock, Sunil Gupta and Heather Phillipson through an open call, the resulting exhibition provides a distinctive snapshot of current artistic concerns and approaches spanning a breadth of disciplines.

Kiera Blakey, Director of New Contemporaries said, “The 2023 exhibition marks New Contemporaries first time in Blackpool, and an opportunity to intersect with the locations’ rich cultural history, offering new perspectives from emerging voices. This year’s exhibition brings together a unique breadth of ideas and approaches that captures the most pressing issues of our time."

The selected artists for Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2023 are: Savanna Achampong, Bunmi Agusto, Ahaad Alamoudi, Adama Dercilia Bari, Alexandra Beteeva, Cai Arfon Bellis, Matthew Burdis, Thomas Cameron,Yingming Chen, Helen Clarke, Sarah Cleary, Alannah Cyan, Nina Davies, James Dearlove, Harriet Gillett,Haneen Hadiy, Joseph Ijoyemi, Jennifer Jones, Bessie Kirkham, Noa Klagsbald, Iga Koncka, Emily Kraus,Margaret (Weiyi) Liang, Harry Luxton, Ranny Macdonald, Jil Mandeng, Anne McCloy, Phyllis McGowan, SAM (Ayrton Mendes), Zayd Menk, Efrat Merin, Rhys Morgan, Joe Moss, Lili Murphy-Johnson, Elena Njoabuzia Onwochei-Garcia, Abi Palmer, Emerson Pullman, Harmeet Rahal, Daniel Rey, Alicja Rogalska, Luke Anthony Rooney, Jeremy Scott, Holly Sezer, Emma Sheehy, Charan Singh, Jame St Findlay, Korallia Stergides, Samuel Thompson-Plant, Jiayi Wang, Sidney Westenskow, Georg Wilson, Joshua Woolford, Hester Yang, Osman Yousefzada and Samuel Zhang.

Commenting on selecting these artists at a pivotal moment in their practice, Heather Phillipson said, “As a selector for New Contemporaries, you gain access to a unique overview of current art education and what graduates are making, which is really a glimpse into the minds of the next generation. It’s a strange privilege to see so much workand the shared tactics and concerns emerging from it. It felt like receiving a whole other kind of news – reminding you that however bleak the news, making is always an affirmative action.”

Championing early-career artists, Helen Cammock commented, “In being one of the selectors this year I had the privileged opportunity to see what early-career artists are considering as significant themes to make work about. It was also a window into their processes of making – the diverse aesthetic and conceptual strategies they are exploring. There is work that explores inner worlds as well as meta discourse and then the intersectionality between. It has also been a moment to consider what is happening in arts education currently – with much video and moving image work and painting to elect from but hardly any ceramic work and no glass work. We very much missed the presence of craft-based practices and hope that somehow as a society we find a way to continue to support their development in art schools.”

Highlighting the support New Contemporaries offers emerging artists, Sunil Gupta added, “New Contemporaries is one of the few high-profile opportunities that students or recent graduates are able to apply for. It represents a very important first step in an artist’s career as many curators and galleries expect an artist to have been out of college a number of years before being considered for a show of this calibre. New Contemporaries therefore provides an opportunity to be part of a professional exhibition, reaching audiences across the UK.”

Established in 1949, New Contemporaries is the longest running and most highly regarded survey of contemporary art emerging from the UK’s art schools and alternative learning programmes with an alumnus of exhibiting artists reading like a who’s who of UK art spanning over 70 years.

As well as taking part in the annual touring exhibition, this year’s artists will benefit from inclusion in the New Contemporaries Online Platform and gain access to a range of mentoring, talks and workshops through New Contemporaries bespoke Bridget Riley Artist Development Programme.

After launching at Grundy Art Gallery, from 30 September to 16 December 2023, the exhibition will travel to the Camden Art Centre, London, from 19 January to 31 March 2024.