Exhibitions - Looking Ahead

Works from the Government Art Collection
20 June–20 September 2026
Take a bold, heartfelt journey into the emotional lives of young people from in and around Plymouth. Shaped through a series of conversations and workshops that have taken place over the last 12 months with a diverse group of teenagers and young adults from across the city, this exhibition will feature powerful artworks from the Government Art Collection, including by contemporary British artists such as Alvaro Barrington, Alberta Whittle and Barbara Hepworth. These will be paired with raw, honest reflections from those aged 13-25. To coincide with the exhibition, a Children and Young People's Open will also be on display reflecting the themes of art and emotion.

Gillian Ayres
4 July–20 September 2026
This exhibition will consider the extraordinary practice of British artist Gillian Ayres (1930-2018), one of the leading abstract painters and printmakers of her generation. Ayres was shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 1989, elected to the Royal Academy in 1991, and appointed a CBE in 2011. Her paintings and prints are held by major museums and galleries worldwide including Tate, the British Museum, MoMA New York, the Yale Center for British Art, and the National Gallery of Australia.

Grenfell
24 October 2026–24 January 2027
Grenfell by award-winning artist and filmmaker Steve McQueen will travel to The Box in autumn 2026. This unflinching 'critical exercise in remembrance' was filmed in December 2017 in response to the tragic fire that took place earlier that year on 14 June at Grenfell Tower. The national tour of Grenfell has been made possible with the support of the National Lottery through Arts Council England and from Art Fund. It has been organised in collaboration with Tate Liverpool, Tramway and The Common Guild in Glasgow, Chapter in Cardiff, The MAC Belfast, The Box and Midlands Arts Centre in Birmingham.

The Way We Live
24 October 2026–24 January 2027
This ambitious exhibition will consider the implications of planner Patrick Abercrombie and Plymouth City Engineer and Surveyor James Paton Watson’s 'A Plan for Plymouth' (1943) which outlined ideas for the rebuilding of the city after The Blitz, and Jill Cragie's film The Way We Live (1946) which shows family life in post-war Plymouth. Both address the shared themes of community, inequality, access to housing, education and healthcare and visions for the future. Developed with external curator Beth Hughes, the exhibition will feature contemporary art responses across two galleries, plus additional spaces that will highlight archival collections related to Plymouth’s post-war period and community responses, encouraging audiences to explore issues such as class, social and climate justice.

Image credit
Steve McQueen, Grenfell, 2019 (still). Courtesy the artist.