Wells Art Contemporary 2023 Exhibition

This August, art lovers can experience Wells Cathedral in a whole new light when England’s smallest cathedral city hosts the Wells Art Contemporary 2023 exhibition. This annual showcase of cutting-edge contemporary art from around the world is uniquely installed in one of Europe’s greatest Gothic buildings, putting thought-provoking and sometimes challenging new work in direct dialogue with the Cathedral’s remarkable art, sculpture, and architecture.

Dates: Saturday 5 August to Saturday 2 September 2023.
FREE TO VISIT during Wells Cathedral opening hours.
Mon-Sun, 7am-6pm.

Now in its 12th year, the Wells Art Contemporary (WAC) exhibition uns in Wells, Somerset, from Saturday 5 August to Saturday 2 September 2023. The free exhibition includes an Installation Show, 31 site-specific works located throughout the Cathedral and its grounds, and a Gallery Show with 137 artworks across painting, sculpture, print, photography, drawing and more displayed in a white-wall gallery in the Cathedral’s Cloisters.

A global competition and exhibition

The open call for this year’s exhibition received over 3,000 submissions from 1,650 artists, expanding WAC’s global reach further than ever before. In addition to artists living and working across the four nations of the UK, entries were received from 55 countries in 6 continents, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt,, India, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam.

The final selection for the WAC 2023 exhibition includes over 160 works from artists based in Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Spain, Slovakia, Panama and the United States of America in addition to strong representation from the UK itself.