DIGITAL PLATFORM HERE

New Contemporaries launches a specially created digital platform for Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2020, showcasing the work of 36 artists selected by internationally-renowned artists Alexandre da Cunha, Anthea Hamilton and Linder, celebrating the breadth of art practice emerging from the UK’s art schools and alternative education programmes. Developed in dialogue with the selected artists and designed by Hato Press, the platform provides an opportunity to engage with some of the UK’s most dynamic art practices from the next generation of contemporary artists. 

In addition to artists' images, texts, sounds and moving image work, a newly commissioned audio response by artist and curator Morgan Quaintance is presented on the platform, alongside contributions by a new generation of UK based curators and writers including Chloe Austin, Sophie Bownes, Priyesh Mistry, Tendai Mutambu, Riet Timmerman, Lily Tonge & George Watson. New Contemporaries will be adding new content over the next few months such as workshops, artist blogs and vlogs and other digital projects. 

"The C-19 pandemic has presented some exciting opportunities as well as some real challenges to the way that we work this year. We are really delighted by our selectors’ and our artists’ willingness to respond to these changes. Our increased digital presence offers exciting ways for us to continue to support emerging and early career artists in the digital realm, as well as maintaining our relationships with our partners Humber Street Gallery and Ferens Art Gallery in Hull, and South London Gallery." Kirsty Ogg, Director New Contemporaries 

Some of the themes addressed by this years selected artists include: 

• Identity politics and Art Education: Rene Matić, Ashleigh Williams and Jung Yun Roh highlight experiences of going to art school in contemporary Britain. Themes of identity, class and multiculturalism; addressing the white gaze; and the inequalities in how education is funded for students are explored in each of the artist’s moving image works.
  
  
• Dislocation and Home: Edwin Mingard works with young homeless people to create a film that poignantly reveals the reality of their lives. Nimmi Hutnik’s ink drawings on paper narrate a single woman’s Friday night in from a personal perspective; Kimie Minobe’s moving image work is an intimate documentary of her family home in the USA.
  
  
• Cyber Identities: Through moving image Maria Mahfooz creates avatars to demonstrate experiences of racial stereotypes and from her own perspective as a young muslim woman; Chen Si-zuo transforms paintings into androgynous, animated characters in a moving image work that questions cyber femininism and gender binaries; Sangbum Ahn’s documentary film explores artificial intelligence and how this may connect to spirituality and well-being through our relationships with machines thinking and working like humans and pets.
  
  

Anthea Hamilton, 2020 selector, said: 

‘I am grateful to all of the artists who invested the time and various energies to make applications for Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2020. I’d like to thank them for trusting us with their work.’ 

Linder, 2020 selector, said: 

‘The selection process was exhilarating and offered the selection panel a unique and intimate insight into the practice and concerns of those leaving art education and about to go out into the world. There's an urgency and a sense of accelerated production in a lot of the works especially in the video works. Others offer counterpoint and contemplation, their stillness and gravitas stopped us all in our tracks.’ 

Alexandre da Cunha, 2020 selector, said: 

‘As a selector you don’t necessarily see the technique or medium, it’s more about whether the work is relevant or not. It’s so good to be able to form a show that doesn’t have an agenda. By grouping them in a very intuitive process, you end up portraying a generation.’ 

The artists selected for Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2020 are: Sangbum Ahn, Ned Armstrong, Paul Barlow, Alexandre Canonico, Chen Si-zuo, Nicole Coson, Gabriella Davies, Lúcás Dillon, Ufuoma Essi, Jake Grewal, Clara Hastrup, Nimmi Hutnik, Lily Kemp, Maria Mahfooz, Zethu Zizwe Ruby Maseko, Rene Matić, Cat and Éiméar McClay, Liam Mertens, Edwin Mingard, Kimie Minobe, Karabo Monareng, Pablo Paillole, Jung Min Park, Anne Carney Raines, Anika Roach, Jung Yun Roh, Shamica Ruddock, Sophie Ruigrok, Kirsty Sim, Anna-Rose Stefatou, Orfeo O’Leary Tagiuri, Giorgio van Meerwijk, Ahren Warner, Ashleigh Williams and Charlie Yetton. 

The BNC2020 exhibition will open at South London Gallery in December.