New Contemporaries

New Contemporaries is an organisation in the UK that works to support emerging artists at the beginning of their careers by introducing them to the visual arts sector and to the public through a variety of platforms, including an annual exhibition.

Selectors have in the past included Ryan Gander (2013), Rosalind Nashashibi (2012), Pablo Bronstein (2011), Michael Landy (2007), Angus Fairhurst (2006), Jane and Louise Wilson (2005), Tacita Dean (2004), Rebecca Warren (2003), Sarah Lucas (2002), Chris Ofili (2001), Gavin Turk (2000) and Susan Hiller (1999).

The importance of regional impartiality is recognised in the anonymity of the contributor's school, age, and nationality during the selection process and by the annual exhibition having no fixed location.

Andrew Lambirth wrote in 1986 that “it wasn't until 1969 that the year that the colour cover of the catalogue looked like an Alpine Advertisement for poster paint – that the students decided to take over selection themselves.

In one interesting movement toward complete democratisation, the 1981 committee “in order to encourage a larger entry of works” asked for all submissions to be made in the form of slides and then created a slideshow that could be arranged at will “to give a more complete idea of what is going on in art colleges at the moment.” The final exhibition in this student-led format was staged in 1986 with a catalogue which contained a historical introduction (and post-script), to the exhibition by Andrew Lambirth, New Contemporaries Past and Present.

[6] This essay also includes a number of published letters from previous contributors such as RB Kitaj, Bert Irvin, Michael Sandle, Richard Wentworth, and Derek Jarman.

Artists who participated in the exhibition during this period include Helen Chadwick, Anish Kapoor (both 1977), Antony Gormley (1978), Mark Wallinger (1981), Peter Doig (1982), Dexter Dalwood (1983), and Catherine Yass (1984).

For the first time, the exhibition was made independent from the art colleges, and supported by professional administration, inviting a panel of selectors each year to pick contributors.

In 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and the impact it had on the arts, New Contemporaries staged an online platform, selected by artists Alexandre da Cunha, Anthea Hamilton and Linder.