News

Faculty of Arts Showcase

As some of you know, the showcase space in the FAB foyer was originally conceived in 2015 as part of a cabinet of curiosities project space to highlight research across the Faculty. The History of Art department’s 50^th anniversary display showed what a strong, department-led presentation can deliver. 

New Programme to Highlight Research

To increase strategic use of the showcase, the Art Collection curatorial team has worked with the Faculty on a new proposal, enabling staff and students to develop displays selected through a Faculty process.

While this programme gets underway, the Art Collection team has supported a new display by a Coventry artist, aligning with the University’s cultural strategy and its commitment to strengthening the city’s arts ecology.

This gives colleagues time to propose exhibitions for consideration. The Art Collection team will provide support and a small interpretation budget of £250 including VAT. If proposals are not forthcoming or viable, the young talent group from the Art Collection Committee will curate displays featuring other Coventry artists. Please see the paper for further detail on the policy and how to apply. 

Mead Gallery Forward Programme

Your proposals may also connect with our upcoming programme and help generate broader engagement and impact. Our schedule for the next academic year is: 

Autumn Term 2026

British Art Show 10: 1 October 2025 -10 January 2026

The British Art Show, held every five years, is the UK’s major survey of contemporary art. Coventry is the opening venue for its 10th edition, launching across the Mead, Herbert Art Gallery, and Coventry University.

I hope it would be possible to include any related departmental activity or events in the city-wide programme that is being curated around the core exhibition. 

Curated by Ekow Eshun, its themes include:

• A People Yet to Come: alternative futures, myth, and new forms of kinship
• Inner Visions: dreams, memory, and the subconscious
• Listen to the Land: ecological attention to the more‑than‑human world
• Traces of History: fragments of suppressed or unstable histories 

Summer Term 2027

George Shaw

George Shaw paints Tile Hill, the area immediately beyond the cemetery from campus. Using enamel paint, his work addresses themes of memory, urban environments, and British working‑class identity.

If you would like to discuss any of this, do please contact me.

Very best wishes

Sarah

Sarah Shalgosky (she/her)

Principal Curator, University of Warwick