The Royal Academy of Arts has named the artist Helen Sear as co-ordinator of its 259th Summer Exhibition, the world's largest open submission contemporary art show, which will fill the Main Galleries at Burlington House from 18 May to 15 August 2027. Sear, a British artist and Royal Academician, has chosen the theme of Fascination for the exhibition, which is sponsored by Insight Investment.

Sear's theme grows out of the present moment. Data capture and social media now run through daily life, she argues, and the images and unseen networks involved hold us spellbound, attracting and repelling us at the same time. She traces that pull back through early perspective and trompe l'oeil, through photography, the industrial printing press and digital media, to artificial intelligence, each of which stirred arguments about what it means to be human. Her question to the artists who will submit work is direct: how do we conjure other kinds of enchantment and make them active forces in the world?

She will work with a committee of five Academicians, Brian Griffiths, Liane Lang, Níall McLaughlin, Chris Orr and Bob and Roberta Smith, chaired by the Academy's President, Rebecca Salter. Each member takes charge of a particular gallery, and the committee serves in rotation, which is how the show keeps changing character from year to year.

Entry forms will be available from 5 January 2027 until 21 January, or until the cap of 18,000 entries is reached, and the Academy expects about 1,500 works to make it onto the walls. The Summer Exhibition has taken place every year since 1769 without a break, and most of what is shown will be for sale, with proceeds supporting the exhibiting artists, the RA Schools and the Academy's wider work.