Ekow-Eshun.-Credit-Zeinab-Batchelor.-Image-courtesy-Hayward-Gallery-Touring.jpg

Ekow Eshun chaired the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London from 2005 to 2010

Photo: Zeinab Batchelor, courtesy Hayward Gallery Touring

Changing Faces

Former ICA director to curate British Art Show

Arts Professional
1 min read

EKOW ESHUN has been named curator of the touring contemporary art exhibition, British Art Show, which will launch its tenth edition next year.

An author, presenter, curator, and lecturer, Eshun was the editor of Arena Magazine in the 1990s and the director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) from 2005 to 2010.

He chaired the commissioning group for the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square, and has curated major exhibitions at venues including the Hayward Gallery and National Portrait Gallery.

Launching in Coventry in September 2026, British Art Show 10 will also tour to Swansea, Bristol, Sheffield and Newcastle Gateshead, showcasing an overview of art produced in the UK during the past five years.

Eshun said, “It is a great honour to be appointed curator of the British Art Show, an exhibition that has long played a pivotal role in shaping and reflecting the discourse of contemporary art in the UK

“I am thrilled by the opportunity to engage with artists whose practices speak powerfully to our time, and to craft a show that invites reflection, provokes dialogue, and expands the ways we engage with art in Britain today.”