Exhibition

Towner International is a new biennial exhibition of contemporary art that will take place for the first time at Towner Eastbourne from 6 October 2020 to 11 April 2021. Following an open call, 24 artists have been selected by an esteemed panel including Polly Staple (Director of Collection, British Art, Tate), Turner Prize nominated artist Mike Nelson, and Noelle Collins (Exhibitions & Offsite Curator, Towner Eastbourne)

The exhibition features artists living and making locally in Sussex, Kent and Hampshire, as well as those working and exhibiting nationally and internationally. The Brewers Award of £10,000, sponsored by Brewers Decorator Centres, will be awarded to one of the exhibiting artists along with mentoring from the Towner team.

Artists include: Adam Chodzko, Ailbhe Ní Bhriain, Alexi Marshall, Arpita Shah, Ayo Akingbade, Benedict Drew, Carla Wright, Ian Land, Jack Shearing, Joe Packer, Jonathan Baldock, Julia Crabtree and William Evans, Maeve Brennan, Marianne Fahmy, Mohammed Sami, Mu-Tien Tammy Ho, Omar Vega Macotela, Paul Becker, Rita Evans, Ryan Orme, Saskia Olde Wolbers, Sherko Abbas, Stuart Middleton.

Towner International hopes to address how artistic communities are recording and responding to the economic, political, cultural, and environmental changes that are unfolding across the world today. These themes will be explored through work in a wide range of mediums from photography and moving image to sculpture, installation, ceramics, painting and print.

Video works reflecting on the geo-political situation in Iraq and textiles reworking ideas of colonial photography will sit alongside reflections on diasporic cultural displacement, memory, trauma and the human impact on the environment. Notions of identity, community, collaboration and time are also threaded through Towner International, addressing these themes from both a global and domestic socio-political viewpoint.

Read more about Ayo Akingbade, our 2020 winner.

The Brewers Award is generously provided by Brewers Decorator Centres, the country’s leading independent supplier of decorating materials. Founded in Eastbourne in 1904, Brewers is a family run business with a focus on delivering a high standard of service and expert advice.