The tenth edition of the British Art Show, curated by Ekow Eshun and exploring contemporary art in Britain since Brexit, arrives at the Herbert.
The British Art Show 10: A Chorus of Strangers is in Coventry from 2 October 2026 to 10 January 2027, spread across three venues: Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, the Mead Gallery at Warwick Arts Centre (University of Warwick), and the Delia Derbyshire Building at Coventry University. It's the tenth edition of the British Art Show, produced by Hayward Gallery Touring, which has been putting together a broad overview of contemporary art in Britain since 1979. Over four decades it's reached millions of visitors and shown many of the country's most influential artists.
This edition is curated by writer, curator and broadcaster Ekow Eshun, former director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts, whose other projects include In the Black Fantastic at the Hayward Gallery and The Time Is Always Now at the National Portrait Gallery. He's framed the show as a direct engagement with the state of art and the nation since Britain left the European Union, asking how art can foster empathy in divided times. The title, A Chorus of Strangers, turns on the relationship between self and other, individual and collective, human and non-human, and the show is built around three themes: Moments of Being, Ways of Living and States of Nature.
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It's part of the Southbank Centre's 75th-anniversary national programme, which aims to reach one million people across more than 40 UK towns and cities. The show is touring three venues, and Coventry is one of them, so you can catch it across the city rather than at a single spot. Entry at the Herbert is included with admission, and it runs from 2 October 2026 through to 10 January 2027.
