RA Schools Show 2021
17 June - 4 July 2021
The Weston Studio, McAulay Gallery and RA Schools Studios
Tues–Sun, 10am–6pm
Admission free but booking is required (book your ticket here). Your free ticket gives you access to all our free displays, shops and cafés.
Following a year-long pause due to Covid-19, the RA Schools Show returns. 16 artists – having just completed their postgraduate study at the RA Schools – transform their studio spaces to show new work.
Please note:
• Tickets are currently sold out but if you'd like to visit, please contact us and we will do our best to accommodate you.
• The show is only partially accessible to wheelchair users. For more information, please visit our access page.
• Visit the RA Schools digital platform which is a parallel experimental project space.
• This exhibition contains some adult content and flashing lights. If you have any questions please ask a member of staff.
The RA Schools is at the heart of the Royal Academy. Each year the RA Schools hold an exhibition of the final year students’ work, but due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the 2020 Schools Show didn’t go ahead. Instead, the Class of 2020 became the Class of 2020x1, and this year’s exhibition presents the culmination of four years’ study.
In 1920, Keeper Charles Sims RA declared that the RA Schools should be a centre for “research and experimentation”. 100 years later, the RA Schools Show comprises drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, installation, moving image, embroidery, performance and interventions into the fabric of the building itself. There is an installation exploring the use of electromagnetic fields in scientific research, a film-screening set within a labyrinth of aircraft fuselage, a polling station, a dust ball collection, a fish in a tank driving a Lamborghini and – maybe – a swimming pool atop the RA’s roof.
The Class of 2020x1 are already establishing their practices with presentations at Glasgow International, White Cube Viewing Rooms, South London Gallery, Kunstverein München, The Sunday Painter, Kupfer, Whitechapel Gallery, and New Contemporaries, among others.
Exhibiting artists: Ayo Akingbade, Irini Bachlitzanaki, Paul Barlow, Tania Blanco, Alexandre Canonico, Clara Hastrup, Harminder Judge, Toby Jury Morgan, Lidija Kononenko, Amanda Kyritsopoulou, Carlos Maria Romero aka Atabey Mamasita, Olu Ogunnaike, Liv Preston, Agnieszka Szczotka, Sofia Restorp, Jenkin van Zyl.
Tues–Sun, 10am–6pm
Admission free but booking is required (book your ticket here). Your free ticket gives you access to all our free displays, shops and cafés.
Visit the digital platform and explore works in the show
Performance timetable
This year's RA Schools Show includes live performances. Please note: capacity is limited .
Amanda Kyritsopoulou
The Landlord, 2021
Timetable:
Friday 18 June : 12.00 / 15.00 / 17.00
Friday 25 June : 12.00 / 15:00 / 17.00
Friday 2 July : 12.00 / 15.00 / 17.00
Approx 20 minutes. The performance takes place in Amanda Kyritsopoulou's exhibition space.
Agnieszka Szczotka
Review, 2021
Timetable:
Saturday 19 June : 15.00 / 15.30 / 16.00
Sunday 20 June : 15.00 / 15.30 / 16.00
Saturday 26 June : 15.00 / 15.30 / 16.00
Sunday 27 June : 15.00 / 15.30 / 16.00
Approx 15 minutes. Meeting point at the information desk in the RA Schools corridor.
Installation view, RA Schools Show 2020x1, 2021 Photo: Andy Keate
Installation view, RA Schools Show 2020x1, 2021 Photo: Andy Keate
Installation view, RA Schools Show 2020x1, 2021 Photo: Andy Keate
Installation view, RA Schools Show 2020x1, 2021 Photo: Andy Keate
Installation view, RA Schools Show 2020x1, 2021 Photo: Andy Keate
Installation view, RA Schools Show 2020x1, 2021 Photo: Andy Keate
Installation view, RA Schools Show 2020x1, 2021 Photo: Andy Keate
Installation view, RA Schools Show 2020x1, 2021 Photo: Andy Keate
Installation view, RA Schools Show 2020x1, 2021 Photo: Andy Keate
Installation view, RA Schools Show 2020x1, 2021 Photo: Andy Keate
Installation view, RA Schools Show 2020x1, 2021 Photo: Andy Keate
Installation view, RA Schools Show 2020x1, 2021 Photo: Andy Keate
Installation view, RA Schools Show 2020x1, 2021 Photo: Andy Keate
Installation view, RA Schools Show 2020x1, 2021 Photo: Andy Keate
'Just because your chicken dances upon impact doesn't mean it is still alive', Film still, 2021
Installation view, RA Schools Show 2020x1, 2021 Photo: Andy Keate
RA Schools Donors
Julia and Hans Rausing
Dunard Fund
The Band Trust
Adrian Cheng
Lady Alison Deighton
The Garfield Weston Foundation
Mrs Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler
Nicolette and Frederick Kwok
The Mead Family Foundation
Milner Educational Trust
The estate of the late Miss Constance-Anne Parker
Jake and Hélène Marie Shafran
Sir Siegmund Warburg’s Voluntary Settlement
Dunard Fund
Ronald and Rita McAulay
Cheneviére Travel Award
Sir Roger de Grey Memorial Fund
The Eranda Rothschild Foundation
E Vincent Harris Fund
J Heritage Peters
Maintenance Fund
Ivor Rey Scholarship Fund
Schools Portfolio Fund
The estate of the late Mrs Pauline Sitwelll
Starr Fund
Patricia Turner Award
Vandaleur
Archie Sherman Trust
Artist’s Collecting Society
Charlotte Bonham-Carter Charitable Trust
William Brake Charitable Trust
John S Cohen Foundation
Ron Dennis
The Gilbert and Eileen Edgar Foundation
Epson
Eranda Rothschild Foundation
Peter Greenham Fund
The Charles Michael Holloway Charitable Trust
Mr and Mrs Mark Loveday
Mr Nelson Leong
Leverhulme Trust
The Normanby Charitable Trust
The Maccabaeans
Dr Lee MacCormick Edwards Charitable Foundation
The Machin Foundation
The Batia and Idan Ofer Family Foundation
Christina Ong
Red Butterfly Foundation
The estate of the late Mr Ivor Rey
Peter Rippon
Bianca Roden
The Rose Foundation
Archie Sherman Charitable Trust
David and Deborah Stileman
The South Square Trust
Sir Paul and Lady Smith
Stanley Picker Charitable Trust
South Square Trust
The Stewarts Foundation
The Nina and Roger Stewart Charitable Trust
The Adrian Swire Charitable Trust
The Swire Charitable Trust
Tileyard Studios
Celia Walker Art Foundation
Mr W Galen Weston and the Hon Mrs Hilary Weston
The Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation
And others who wish to remain anonymous
RA Schools Patrons
Alex Haidas and Thalia Chryssikou
Anne Cortazzi
Anthony and Sally Salz
Brian D Smith
Carol Sellars
Catherine Ferguson
David and Alison Sola
David Remfry RA and Caroline Hansberry
Emma O'Donoghue
Hugo Eddis
Itxaso Mediavilla-Murray
Jim Moyes
John and Carol Wates
Lorna Anne Barker
Marek and Penny Wojciechowski
Mark and Fiona Hutchinson
Miss Sarah Straight
Mr and Mrs Jonathan and Sarah Bayliss
Mr and Mrs Mark Loveday
Mr and Mrs Maurice Wolridge
Mr Charles Irving
Mr Christopher Kneale
Mr George Maher
Mr Jeremy and Dr Julie Llewelyn
Mr Mark Garthwaite
Mr Philip Bennett
Mr Richard Clothier
Mr William Loschert
Mr William Ramsay
Mr William Tree
Mrs Alexandra Nash
Mrs Alkistis Koukouliou
Mrs Anna Lee
Mrs Catherine Farquharson
Mrs Diana Wilkinson
Mrs Dominic Dowley
Mrs Elisabeth Lenz
Mrs Jane Smith
Mrs Jennifer Coombs
Mrs Kirsten Tofte Jensen
Mrs Kit Kemp MBE
Mrs Marcelle Joseph
Mrs Marcia Green
Mrs Sarah Harvey-Collicott
Ms Cynthia Corbett
Ms Mouna Rebeiz
Ms Ruth Fox
Nicolette Kwok
Paul and Susie Kempe
Peter Rice Esq
Philip and Val Marsden
Professor and Mrs Ken Howard RA
Rosalind Clayton
Rosalyn and Hugo Henderson
Sam and Rosie Berwick
Swag and Nupur Ganguly
The Lady Myners
RA Schools Ambassadors
Rebecca Salter RA
President of the Royal Academy
Rob Suss
Chair of the RA Schools Campaign
Royal Academician Ambassadors
Marina Abramović Hon RA
Basil Beattie RA
Eileen Cooper RA
Gary Hume RA
Vanessa Jackson RA
Farshid Moussavi RA
Chris Orr RA
David Remfry RA
Yinka Shonibare RA
Hannah Bays
Charlie Billingham
Lady Sarah Chatto
May Calil
Matthew Darbyshire
Lord Mervyn Davies
Lady Alison Deighton
Emilia Fox
Kira Freije
Clive Humby
Kit Kemp
Tarka Kings
Chris Kneale
Nicolette Kwok
Aarti Lohia
Helena Morrissey
Hannah Perry
Sarah Pickstone
Prem Sahib
Sir Paul Smith
Hélène Marie Shafran
David Stileman
Emma Vernetti
Jan Verwoert
Sarah Walter
Tom Worsfold