ArtHouse Jersey and Art for Guernsey recently announced an Open Call for artists of any discipline to submit proposals for the Channel Islands Contemporary Art Show 2026.
The exhibition of new works inspired from the diverse voices, social realities, ecosystems and global connections of the present day Channel Islands.
The opportunity is open to artists from the Channel Islands and from anywhere in the world. They are particularly looking for proposals of works that consider an experience or perspective of the Channel Islands that engages with an experience of the Channel Islands itself, as a place that has its own particular and complex histories, ecology and social realities. The selected work will feature as part of a touring exhibition project produced by Art for Guernsey and ArtHouse Jersey in association with Passerelle Centre d’Art Contemporain (Brest) in 2026.
This is the second edition of The Channel Islands Contemporary Art Show which first launched in 2023 and saw over two thousand people come through its doors in 2024. The curation of the exhibition is based on a spirit of dialogue, experiment and artistic rigour supported by the exhibition’s curatorial team across Guernsey, Jersey and Brittany, France. The exhibition aims to offer new perspectives on how the Channel Islands relate both to their own past, their present realities and to a wider global future.
The Channel Islands Contemporary Art Show 2026 will open at ArtHouse Jersey in March 2026 and then tour to Art for Guernsey in St Peter Port in summer 2026.
Back in 2023 Art for Guernsey and ArtHouse Jersey announced their intention to work together, joining forces to promote the Channel Islands – collaboratively to France and other jurisdictions. The partnership came to fruition following a cultural diplomacy field trip to Rennes in June 2022 where the organisations engaged with local galleries and museums, as well as the cultural services of the city, with the view of exploring artistic collaborations aimed at building connections between the respective jurisdictions.
Through this process, the two organisations identified a shared vision for how art can make concrete contributions to society, and in particular how it can connect communities, opening new and more positive dialogues across a wide range of topics.
This is the second iteration of the Channel Islands Contemporary Art Show, and also launches a new partnership with Passerelle Centre d’Art Contemporain in Brest who will participate in the curation of the exhibition with a view towards future artistic exchange of artists between both regions.
Head of Programme for ArtHouse Jersey, James Tyson, said: “We are really excited to be embarking on the second edition of this group exhibition that pulls together artists from across the Channel Islands and further afield, brings us closer to cultural partners in France and inspires connections and new perspectives of the Channel Islands today from across the globe. The first edition was remarkable in its breadth of artists working across different media and techniques to get under the surface of the Channel Islands and to look beyond our immediate horizons in time and space. We are looking forward to seeing how this next exhibition takes shape for its opening in Jersey in spring 2026 before touring to Guernsey in the summer.”
Founder and Chairman for Art for Guernsey, David Ummels, said: “We are delighted to be planning version two of the Channel Islands Contemporary Art Show, and we’d like to make it a tradition. I think it’s great to connect with our friends at ArtHouse Jersey – we share a passion for art and its wider benefits and it’s refreshing for the teams to work together and learn from each other. It’s a good stepping stone for artists and their professional development. It’s a key duty of art organisations like ourselves to create those opportunities for artists to think about a particular narrative and to show their art and get well known. In terms of cultural diplomacy, we’re pleased to team up with Passerelle Centre d’Art Contemporain in Brest. It is in the interest of both islands to build wider relationships with the region of Brittany, and art is an authentic way of building bridges with other jurisdictions.”
Pictured: Artist Leo Boyd, left The Waves Go Out and In Again, right Guernsey Vs Godzilla
