Exeter Contemporary Open

Submissions for the 2026 exhibition are now closed.

Selected artists will be announced in early July.

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION 

Exeter Contemporary Open is an annual open submission exhibition for UK based artists, established in 2006 and hosted by Exeter Phoenix, a busy, multi-artform venue and contemporary art space situated in Exeter’s historic city centre. The exhibition aims to provide an important national platform for contemporary visual art with an emphasis on supporting emerging talent alongside more established artists.  

AWARDS

Selected artists will be eligible for the following awards. 

  • £1,000 Overall Award  

  • £500 Additional Award 

  • £200 Audience Choice Award 

 The judging panel will select awards once the exhibition has been installed and these will be announced/presented on the opening night. The Audience Choice award will be announced in the final week of the exhibition, as voted for by the visiting public.  

SELECTION PANEL

We are really excited to announce the two guest selectors for Exeter Contemporary Open 2026 as gallery owner Sid Motion and artist Martyn Cross, who will join Exeter Phoenix Gallery curator Matt Burrows on this year’s panel.

Sid Motion trained as an artist at Chelsea School of Art and Design and the London College of Communication. Before opening her gallery in Kings Cross in 2016, she held positions at Max Wigram Gallery, David Zwirner, and Photo London. The gallery moved to a larger space in South Bermondsey in 2019. The gallery often showcases emerging artists alongside established ones to offer broader exposure. Sid is the Founder of the South Bermondsey Art Trail, a Director of London Gallery Weekend, and serves on the Board of Trustees at Southwark Park Galleries. In collaboration with Central Saint Martins, she also gives an annual graduate prize. 

Martyn Cross is a painter and visual artist based in Bristol who regularly exhibits work both nationally and internationally. He has work in the Arts Council Collection and is a visiting lecturer at the Apollo Painting School, alongside other arts institutions. In 2025 he was artist-in-residence at the Roberts Institute of Art and he also curated the group show Softly Radiant, Half Buried at Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York. Martyn is represented by Hales Gallery, London, and Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York. 

SPONSORS