The annual Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts remains one of the highlights of London’s cultural calendar, and the 2026 edition is no exception. Coordinated by artist and Royal Academician Ryan Gander, this year’s exhibition is themed around “Interconnectedness” and explores the myriad relationships and unexpected associations that bind people, ideas and artworks together.
As ever, the Summer Exhibition offers a fascinating snapshot of contemporary creativity, bringing together painting, sculpture, photography, architecture, printmaking, film and digital art. It is one of the few major exhibitions where emerging artists and members of the public exhibit alongside internationally renowned figures, making it a uniquely democratic and delightfully unpredictable experience.
Visitors are welcomed by Ugo Rondinone’s uplifting rainbow sculpture The Song is You in the RA’s Annenberg Courtyard. Functioning as a symbolic portal into the exhibition, the work immediately establishes an atmosphere of optimism and renewal. For Rondinone, the rainbow represents both survival and hope, and it perfectly encapsulates the celebratory spirit of this year’s show.
Inside, the exhibition unfolds as a visual feast. The galleries are filled with colourful tributes to nature, wildlife and the environment, from intricate botanical studies to monumental installations. A giant mycelium-inspired textile wall piece by Andreas Markusruethi and several compelling video installations reinforce the exhibition’s underlying message of interconnected ecosystems and shared experiences.
Gander’s own curated galleries are among the exhibition’s strongest. Here, his concept of a “line of passivity” runs horizontally through the space, disrupting the traditional eye-level hang and encouraging visitors to view works from fresh perspectives. One room includes provocative sculptures of political figures fashioned from recycled clothing, alongside intriguing works of video art that introduce moments of humour, unease and reflection.
While some of the densely hung galleries embody the exuberant visual overload that has become synonymous with the Summer Exhibition, the more sparingly curated spaces selected by Gander offer welcome moments of contemplation. His approach embraces a broad range of media and celebrates unexpected connections between disparate artworks, loosely fulfilling his ambition to explore “ideas of entanglement, as well as the unexpected and fortuitous connections and associations between disparate things, no matter how abstract or illogical.”
Naturally, with thousands of works selected by multiple curators, the theme cannot remain entirely coherent throughout. Yet this diversity is also the exhibition’s greatest strength. The Summer Exhibition thrives on surprise and serendipity, giving art world outsiders the opportunity to exhibit in the hallowed galleries of the RA while allowing visitors to discover new talent and purchase works without navigating gallery waiting lists.
The opening galleries, curated by printmaker Katherine Jones, focus on gardens and allotments, evoking feelings of optimism and regeneration. Highlights include Gardens are the New Galleries by Bob and Roberta Smith, alongside works by Jim Dine, Michael Landy and Olwyn Bowey. Above the gallery hangs David and Melissa Eveleigh-Evans’ striking sculptural work Vessel, suspended like ripening fruit from a vine.
A particular highlight is the intimate Weston Room, curated by Gander around themes of lightness and playfulness. Works from Ron Arad’s Eye Test series, paintings and film by Nigel Coates, and James Lomax’s Still Life (Letters) create an atmosphere of quiet curiosity and delight.
Elsewhere, painter Humphrey Ocean presents a gallery featuring standout works by Grayson Perry and Tracey Emin, whose poignant self-portrait There is an End to Everything is among the exhibition’s emotional high points. Humour is never far away, with witty contributions from Gavin Turk and Freudian Typo’s portrait of the Foreign Office’s celebrated feline resident, Palmerston.
Other memorable works include a photographic self-portrait of Marina Abramović, a still from Isaac Julien’s epic Metamorphosis project, and Kate MacGwire’s mesmerising feather sculpture, one of the exhibition’s most visually arresting pieces. There are also delightful contributions from comedian and artist Joe Lycett, including his affectionate portrait of the late Cilla Black.
There is a curatorial approach that embraces all kinds of medium including architecture, print, painting and sculpture. Gander adds intrigue to the display by introducing a horizontal line running through the galleries, which he says is influenced by the ‘line of passivity commonly used in public spaces’. This visual device pivots away from the traditional eye-level hanging height implemented by most galleries. Gander wanted to encourage recent arts graduates and degree students to submit work, and more than 30 current RA students are featured.
Ugo Rondinone’s uplifting rainbow sculpture in the RA’s Annenberg Courtyard is titled The Song is You, and acts as a kind of portal into the summer exhibition, setting the tone of the curatorial theme of Interconnectedness. Rondinone made his first rainbow poem CRY ME A RIVER in 1996, during the AIDS crisis, and for him the rainbow is a symbol of optimism but also of survival. He views the RA courtyard as a threshold, describing it as “A pause between the street and the institution, between the world outside and the world within”.
The first gallery in the Summer exhibition was selected by printmaker Katherine Jones RA, with a focus on gardens and allotments, and evokes an uplifting feeling or optimism, as summarised by Bob and Roberta Smith’s RA’s work Gardens are the New Galleries. David and Melissa Eveleigh-Evans’ eye-catching sculptural piece Vessel is suspended above the first gallery, resembling fruit hanging from a vine. Other highlights of this gallery include Jim Dine’s plant drawing, Michael Landy’s studies of weeds, and Olwyn Bowey’s image of domestic gardening.
Katherine Jones also curates gallery II, with standout pieces by Bridget Moore, Fiona Rae, Victoria Browne, Georg Baselitz and Felicitas Aga.
Culturalee loves the small Weston Room curated by Ryan Gander, featuring works associated with a theme of light and playfulness, including two works from Ron Arad’s Eye Test series, James Lomax’s Still Life (Letters) and Nigel Coates’ paintings and film Hypnerotomovie.
Painter Humphrey Ocean curates gallery IV with standout pieces including Sir Grayson Perry’s tapestry Behold Humanity and Dame Tracey Emin’s self-portrait There is an end to everything. A witty focal point of the gallery is Freudian Typo’s Thus Regard Palmerston, featuring a cat that lived and worked at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and Gavin Turk’s mischievous work Flat Tyre.
Sculptor Goshka Macuga curates gallery with Peter Liversidge’s Speaking Clock (1400) providing a soundtrack to the room, and highlights including a large photo of Marina Abramovic and a group of prints by Hughie O’Donaghue.
Gallery VI is curated by Ryan Gander and his ‘line of passivity’ demarcates the exhibition space. Rose Wylie’s Yellow Head V (Artist), two ceramic works by Lindsey Mendick and Stuart Button’s Shine, Teal Griffin’s Box featuring a puppet and props are among the standout works. Joseph Grigely’s What the Stress Amounts Tosculpture is a focal point of the gallery, created by over 500 wine bottle capsules.
Eileen Cooper curates two galleries, one of them is co-curated with Katherine Jones and highlights include Rod Melvin’s knitted piece Father, Adam Dant’s lithograph Grosvenor Square, Jim Moir’s Beetle Colour Wheeland Bob and Roberta Smith’s uplifting work Art Makes people powerful providing a note of positivityfor people in the final gallery.
Some Culturalee highlights include Mariele Neudaker’s delicate other-worldly installation Gravity prevents the atmosphere from drifting into outer space, Freddie Yauner’s surreal video What I’m looking at – on hollow, Kate MacGwire’s stunning feather sculpture, Joe Lycett’s witty portrait of the late Cilla Black and Ann Marie James’s Museum Imaginaire.
As always, the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition succeeds because it remains gloriously inclusive and endlessly surprising. Ryan Gander’s theme of “Interconnectedness” may not manifest as a tightly unified curatorial statement, but it does provide an expansive framework through which viewers can make their own associations and discoveries.
Ultimately, the Summer Exhibition is less about coherence and more about encounter: between established names and emerging talent, between different artistic disciplines, and between the artworks and their audiences. It is a joyful celebration of creativity in all its forms and an annual reminder of why the Summer Exhibition continues to occupy such a special place in Britain’s cultural imagination.
