One of the UK's biggest showcases of contemporary art is back. British Art Show opens its tenth edition in Coventry on 2 October 2026, before beginning what will be its longest national tour to date, produced by Hayward Gallery Touring as part of the Southbank Centre's 75th anniversary programme. Titled 'A Chorus of Strangers', the exhibition brings together work by more than 30 artists, including Turner Prize winners Jesse Darling and Jasleen Kaur alongside Kudzanai-Violet Hwami, Alvaro Barrington, Matthew Krishanu, Lindsey Mendick, Osman Yousefzada and Emma Talbot. Curated by the writer and broadcaster Ekow Eshun, the show takes human connection as its theme: how we respond to people we perceive as different from ourselves, and what empathy and shared imagination might look like in uncertain times. The edition arrives against a backdrop of political division, climate anxiety and distrust in institutions, but it is also deliberately pitched as a snapshot of the art being made across the UK right now, with a focus on work from the past five years. That survey function has always been the show's signature: staged every five years since 1979, the British Art Show has featured everyone from David Hockney and Bridget Riley to Sonia Boyce and John Akomfrah, and more than 2.3 million people have visited it across its history. This time the show will travel further than ever. After Coventry, where it runs until 10 January 2027, 'A Chorus of Strangers' heads to Swansea in February 2027, then to Bristol and Sheffield, before completing its tour in Newcastle Gateshead in summer 2028. The touring model remains one of the exhibition's defining features, carrying a national snapshot of contemporary practice to audiences well beyond London, with each venue adding its own local programming around the core exhibition. Details of the full tour schedule will be confirmed as the Coventry run progresses.