It was quite the year – here’s what we got up to!
January
The year began with the opening of Back Toward Oneness, an exhibition co-created by Farwa Moledina and the Date Palm Tree Group at Bullingdon Community Centre. Working with around 350 Muslim mothers, carers and children, this project explored family connections, faith and motherhood through recycled materials and collective making.
Moledina also designed beautiful new mats for our team to use during Make Play, adding to the spectacular experience at our early years sessions.
February
After a spectacular exhibition run, attracting 13,474 visitors, the first major survey exhibition of Belkis Ayón’s work in a UK institution closed. Using a printmaking process called collography, Ayón used her exceptional technical skills and innovative use of this method to produce richly detailed and enigmatic artworks which recreate the cultural and spiritual world of the Abakuá.
March
Pioneering and influential, Barbara Steveni often worked outside the art gallery creating artworks that were multidisciplinary and research based. I Find Myself brought together some of her most influential works come including restagings and artist interventions. The exhibition also included new commissions from Laure Prouvost, Anne Bean and Eloise Hawser.
The exhibition’s Preview Party featured Anne Bean’s performance, as facsimile archival material, shredded to form confetti, was blasted from hand-powered confetti cannons across the gallery space. Visitors were showered in tiny pieces of paper, each of which was then carefully collected and displayed as part of the exhibition – stored in hessian sacks, sitting in a wheelbarrow.
April
Art on the Out was an archival display which explored the history of artist placements and projects that took creative practice beyond the walls of Modern Art Oxford. It brought together materials from the 1980s and 1990s, showcasing residencies in schools, hospitals, and occupational therapy centres. These deeply participatory projects fostered collaboration between artists and students, teachers, prisoners, and patients, expanding where and how art could take place.
May
Artist collective Leap Then Look met with Modern Art Oxford’s Young Creatives to help inform their new commission, ahead of the opening of Movements for Staying Alive.
“These were a really busy and fun 4 days. It gave us the chance to explore some new ideas with other people – like cutting up clothes to see how sleeves, hoods and trouser legs could be built into wearable sculptures to prompt movement. Exploring different forms and what they might elicit in terms of movement or framing everyday movements for us to see them back in the context of art making. Working with the group allowed us to think about what motivates teenagers to act physically; not only what sorts of sculptural form might initiate or encourage movement but to think about what conditions young people might need to feel they could play.”
June
Ahead of Movements for Staying Alive, Estampa opened their commission, which used Artificial Intelligence to analyse and present our archive of participatory work, as well as the movements of the team as they cared for the objects and documents.
One visitor wrote: “Estampa’s commission is such an innovative take on archival work, inducing reflections on the collective work and activities that build an archive and keep it alive. I also loved hearing about the technology used to create the several pieces.”
July
Movements for Staying Alive brought together new commissions alongside recent and historical works, which value the importance of movement as a means to learn, connect, and foster a sense of community. Rather than focusing solely on visual experience, the exhibition encouraged you to engage with the artworks through your body.
August
We were joined by creatives and adult learners for our hands-on evening class, ‘Drawing Across Difference’. Participants discovered how bodily movement and inner rhythms can spark creativity, drawing on themes from Movements for Staying Alive and Jane Castree’s interactive sculptures in the gallery.
Young people and families also got creative with our free holiday workshop, ‘All Shapes’. According to participants, it was “a great space to create and breathe.”
September
During the month of September, the team was joined by two Crankstart scholars from the University of Oxford.
Ash Capon and Ambrose Ellis-Keeler each supported the team, alongside developing their own creative responses to their time at the gallery, and their behind-the-scenes insight during the installation of Prophetic Dreaming.
October
This October, we were thrilled to open the first major institutional retrospective by pioneering digital and para-disciplinary artist Suzanne Treister (b. 1958). Spanning more than forty years, the exhibition maps Treister’s visionary practice and investigations into new technologies, networks of power, alternative belief systems, and the futures they prefigure.
Treister’s two series of tarot cards, HEXEN 2.0 and HEXEN 5.0 offer a fascinating insight into the artist’s relationship with cybernetics, alternative knowledge-systems, and so much more.
Our Young Creatives also met to explore Treister’s exhibition, and created beautiful lino-printed tarot cards in response to her artwork. This year, we were thrilled to be able to support our Young Creatives beyond the age of 18, offering opportunities to volunteer, gain. work experience within the gallery, and return as paid consultants to inform our next year of programming. Three of our Young Creatives also achieved a Gold Arts Award, a fantastic achievement, equivalent to an additional A-level!
November
A whole year since our grand reopening following a multi-million pound renovation! Thanks to David Kohn Architects and the many individuals, trusts and foundations whose generous support has made the transformational refurbishment of our ground and lower-ground public areas possible, we now get to welcome you all to our Studio, Social Space, Ground Floor Gallery, and the spectacular Emma Hart-designed Café.
We were also delighted to launch our Book Club, examining classic art school texts in a relaxed, social environment. As one participant wrote: “what i always wanted to learn, discuss, and be exposed to.”
December
Your generous donations helped us to end the year on an incredible high as we hit our target and raised more than £15,000, allowing us to co-create inclusive, creative experiences for all.
As a result, we’ve been able to develop and refresh resources from sensory maps and packs to BSL experiences, to ensure all visitors enjoy a rewarding experience of the highest quality, without differentiation. Our Ground Floor Gallery will feature exhibitions co-created with local groups and artists, reflecting and engaging the local population. In 2026, this will include the Shadowlight Artists, a collective of learning disabled artists based in Oxford, and young people impacted by parental imprisonment.
December also saw us wrap up a year of Make Play, our sensory creative space for children aged between 6 months and 5 years to explore with their parent and/or carer. This year, we were delighted to offer 65 free Make Play tickets at Rose Hill Community Center and The Westgate Public Library as we look to build our network of partner organisations.