On 22 September 2021, the 253rd Summer Exhibition will begin at London's Royal Academy of Arts. Themed Reclaiming Magic, the world's largest exhibition of contemporary art with open submission will showcase a total of over 1,000 artworks in a wide range of media, including painting, sculpture, photography, printmaking, architecture and film. The pieces are selected and hung by members of the Royal Academy, who also exhibit themselves. The result will be an eclectic mix of recent works by first-time exhibitors as well as emerging and established artists. Until 2 January 2022, the artistic community is thus offered a platform not only to present their work, but also to sell it.
This year, the Summer Exhibition is coordinated by the well-known artist and Academy member Yinka Shonibare along with a group of other artists. His aim is to create an inclusive exhibition that reflects the diversity of human expression under the theme Reclaiming Magic. It will go beyond western art history to focus on the transformative powers of the magical in art and a return to the intuitive, joyful aspects of art-making. To accomplish this, Shonibare plans to include artists who are not traditionally exhibited at the Royal Academy, including self-taught artists, artists with disabilities and artists from the African diaspora. In doing so, he aims to expand the conventional notion of art, create a more inclusive environment and focus on those who have been marginalised or overlooked and erased or exploited by the western art scene in the past.
