Jonathan Baldock selected for the inaugural biennial exhibition 'Towner International'

'Towner International' is a new biennial exhibition of contemporary art that takes place for the first time at Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne from 6 October 2020 to 11 April 2021. Following an open call, 24 artists were selected by an esteemed panel including Polly Staple (Director of Collection, British Art, Tate), Turner Prize nominated artist Mike Nelson, and Noelle Collins (Exhibitions & Offsite Curator, Towner Eastbourne)

The exhibition features artists living and making locally in Sussex, Kent and Hampshire, as well as those based nationally and internationally. The Brewers Award of £10,000, sponsored by Brewers Decorator Centres, will be awarded to one of the exhibiting artists along with mentoring from the Towner team.

Artists include: Adam Chodzko, Ailbhe Ní Bhriain, Alexi Marshall, Arpita Shah, Ayo Akingbade, Benedict Drew, Carla Wright, Ian Land, Jack Shearing, Joe Packer, Jonathan Baldock, Julia Crabtree and William Evans, Maeve Brennan, Marianne Fahmy, Mohammed Sami, Mu-Tien Tammy Ho, Omar Vega Macotela, Paul Becker, Rita Evans, Ryan Orme, Saskia Olde Wolbers, Sherko Abbas and Stuart Middleton.

'Towner International' aims to address how artistic communities are recording and responding to the economic, political, cultural, and environmental changes that are unfolding across the world today. These themes are explored through work in a wide range of mediums from photography and moving image to sculpture, installation, ceramics, painting and print. Video works reflecting on the geo-political situation in Iraq and textiles reworking ideas of colonial photography sit alongside reflections on diasporic cultural displacement, memory, trauma and the human impact on the environment. Notions of identity, community, collaboration and time are also threaded through 'Towner International', addressing these themes from both a global and domestic socio-political viewpoint.