British Art Show

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The British Art Show (BAS) is a major survey exhibition organised every five years to showcase contemporary British Art. The current exhibition in the series, referred to as BAS6, is touring a number of major cities within England in 2005 and 2006. Each time it is organised, the show tours to three UK cities. It has become so large that it usually requires a number of venues to accommodate it. As a snap shot of Contemporary British Art the exhibition has some equivalence to the biennial exhibitions of the Whitney Museum of American Art.

The exhibition is normally selected by three people who are appointed for their knowledge of contemporary art, Previously these had been artists and critics but more recently they have been selected from curators.

Of recent shows, the most regarded was that of 1995 which spotlighted the emergence of the Young British Artists. The 2000 show is thought to have been less successful, as the selectors were curators who sought to promote their own artists, resulting in an unwieldy group of 40. The 1990 show caused controversy as it did not include any Scottish artists although the exhibition was opening in Glasgow as part of their European Capital of Culture programme. The 2007 BAS includes a large number of artists born outside the UK. As the exhibition opened at the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead there was some comment that there were few artists represented from the North East of England.

[edit] External links

• Google listing of news coverage for British Art Show 6 (2005).
  • The listing provides useful coverage of the latest BAS for readers and those who wish to expand this article.