LONDON — All art is part of an ecosystem. At first glance it seems that Britain’s artists and art spaces are concentrated in London, with its many museums, commercial galleries, fairs and studios. But the capital is just one node in a broader landscape of art making and exhibition across the country. Smaller towns, villages and rural areas are home to a wide range of institutions and galleries – often in unexpected places.
Bristol, in the south west of England, is home to a robust contemporary art scene. Spike Islandfor example, is an international center for contemporary art that hides cavernous exhibition spaces and more than 70 subsidized artist studios behind an unassuming facade. The current exhibition, Gray unpleasant landis a collaborative effort by artists Sophia Al-Maria and Lydia Ourahmane. Drawing on their experiences as immigrants to Britain, they explore the myriad mythologies of England as a nation – and the dark side of how these mythologies are constructed and maintained. An hour’s drive south takes you to the town of Bruton, home of Hauser & Wirth Somerset and galleries such as Bo Lee and Workmanfounded by Jemma Hickman and former senior director of H&W Somerset Alice Workman.
Towns and cities on the south coast of England have a disproportionate concentration of high-quality contemporary art institutions, perhaps because they are within striking distance of the capital and are much cheaper. Artists and curators have moved to places like Hastings, home of Hastings Contemporary; Folkestone, which boasts a ambitious three-year programme; and Eastbourne, where Stadtholder combines varied exhibitions with a public art program. Many are complemented by nearby, independent, artist-focused spaces, such as Devonshire Collective in Eastbourne. Currently, a solo show by Harun Morrison explores language and miscommunication, taking cues from the local beach environment while insisting on complex environmental, social and creative sensibilities.
Since 2011, Tracey Emin’s hometown of Margate, Kent, has been home to Turner contemporarywhich is housed in a David Chipperfield Architects-designed building on the seafront. They are currently on display protectthe largest retrospective to date of British artist Anya Gallaccio, whose installations include a hanging curtain of Kentish apples that slowly wither and rot over the course of the show. The exhibition highlights the surrounding community: Gallaccio worked with the curators and education teams to produce An apple a day, a school program designed to help local children discover Kent’s heritage and culture through its orchards.
The historically artistic village of St Ives in Cornwall, where the Tate has an outpost, has long been known for its artistic residents, who previously included Barbara Hepworth (whose studio and garden are open to visits), Ben Nicholson and Naum Gabo. However, many other towns and cities are now making a name for themselves as cultural locations, especially in former industrial centers. For example, Middlesbrough is home to the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Artwhere a group exhibition, On the way to new worldstakes a refreshing and radical approach to perception through work by disabled, deaf and neurodiverse artists. The exhibition, curated by artist and activist Aidan Moesby, includes a new commission from Małgorzata Dawidek that explores the connections between the local history of potash mining and her experiences managing her medical condition with potassium, a mineral derived from potash, creating connections between the body and the landscape. The city is also home to one Art weekwhich takes steps towards building artist communities from the ground up through initiatives such as open calls.
University towns are also important locations for groundbreaking contemporary art, such as Modern Art Oxfordwhich has just reopened after a major renovation, and Ketel’s garden in Cambridge, where Jim and Helen Ede’s art collection sits among inspiring preserved interiors next to a temporary exhibition space currently displaying dreamy paintings by Zimbabwean artist Portia Zvavahera.
Talbot Rice Gallerythe University of Edinburgh’s public art gallery, seeks to connect the wider ecosystem of art galleries and museums in Britain with the specifics of its location in Scotland. “We position our major group exhibitions as part of the national conversation,” said director Tessa Gilbin Hyperallergic“and create exhibitions that seek to depolarize debate by exploring (and celebrating) the complexity within each topic. In 2025, the 50th anniversary of the gallerye To mark this anniversary, Talbot Rice presents a solo exhibition by Wael Shawky, as well as a group exhibition exploring children’s relationship with the key challenges we face today.
In addition to large-scale, publicly funded institutions in big cities, there is also an abundance of small-scale projects in small towns and rural areas, which are less easy to categorize. Taking art out of the urban white cube environment poses challenges in terms of audience development and financing, but also offers the opportunity to rethink the expected parameters within which art is created and displayed.
Haarlem Art Space is a commercial organization based in the beautiful market town of Wirksworth in Derbyshire. Dedicated to championing rural contemporary art, this collaboration takes place in spaces in a pub and a hotel and forms an integral part of the city’s communal areas. Curator Kristian Day explains that Haarlem Artspace aims to enable ‘the research, development and presentation of art, inspired by our unique rural location’ with work that explores ‘themes such as ritual, magic and folklore, the incredible local history (and prehistory) investigates. ), the region’s distinctive geography, and both its environmental awareness and connectivity.” The organization, which recently transformed its leadership, inaugurates its new program with a solo exhibition by Tom Sewell. Archipelago is an exercise in world-building and speculative fiction about assemblage and sculpture, using signage, ritual and rural identity in a place where folk traditions such as Morris dances, MaypolesAnd Dress well continue to this day.
London may be the beating heart of the British art scene, but it would sadly decline without its arterial network of galleries, museums and project spaces in often unexpected corners that appeal to audiences at both local and national levels, from the tip of Cornwall to the capital of Scotland.
