Southampton City Art Gallery to Reopen with Major New Acquisitions and Landmark Exhibition

Southampton City Art Gallery will reopen to the public on Saturday 7 March 2026 following a £2.23 million refurbishment programme, unveiling a dynamic series of new displays including significant recent acquisitions shown together for the first time.

At the heart of the reopening is Centrifugal Forces (2024), a major new sculpture by internationally acclaimed British artist Laura Ford. The work was purchased with support from the Arts Council England/Victoria and Albert Museum Purchase Grant Fund and the Friends of Southampton’s Museums, Archives and Galleries.

Ford is known for blending reality and imagination in richly crafted sculptures that explore memory, history and social themes, working across materials from textiles to ceramics.

Among other highlights is a newly acquired video installation by British artist Ian Giles. Originally commissioned by a space arts and shown at God’s House Tower in 2024, Everyone Involved was acquired with support from Art Fund. The four-channel film centres on A Gay Song, regarded as the first LGBTQIA+ protest song recorded onto vinyl in 1972. In 2024, Giles reunited the original band to re-record and film the track 52 years after its original release.

The gallery will also display a group of works on paper gifted from the Dennis Andrews and Christopher Whelan Collection, received with Art Fund support in 2024. The selection includes pieces by leading 20th-century British artists Elisabeth Frink, Paul Nash, John Craxton and John Piper.

Visitors will further see a series of charcoal drawings by Southampton-based artist Julian Grater exploring the rapidly changing high Arctic, originally exhibited during his 2023 solo show Arctic Mirage at the gallery.

Major New Exhibition: Emma Richardson

The reopening also launches a major exhibition by British artist and musician Emma Richardson. Titled Levitate Me: Desire, Ecstasy and The Sublime, the exhibition presents a vivid series of oil paintings exploring desire, euphoria and the power of the natural world through a female lens.

Alongside these contemporary additions, highlights from the gallery’s nationally important collection will return to display, with some works selected directly by the public via social media. A selection of rarely seen works on paper, digitised during the temporary closure through the Arts Council England-supported Unlocking Collections project, will also be available to explore.

Photographs documenting the refurbishment, captured by award-winning Southampton architectural photographer Joe Low, will be on show.

The refurbishment, funded through the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s Museum Estate and Development Fund and administered by Arts Council England, safeguards the Grade II* listed Civic Centre Gallery and preserves the city’s nationally significant art collection.

Councillor Alex Winning, Leader of the Council, said:

“We are proud that Southampton holds one of the finest regional collections in the UK. This is largely due to the generosity of individual donors and grant giving bodies which have provided exceptional support over the years and continue to do so today. We hope that this will carry on long into the future to support our wonderful gallery for residents of Southampton and our many visitors to enjoy.

I can’t wait to see all the new artworks as well as Emma Richardson’s exhibition in this wonderful space that is such a great cultural asset for our city.”

Leanne Manfredi, National Programmes Lead, Arts Council England/V&A Purchase Grant Fund at the Victoria and Albert Museum, said:

“The Arts Council England/V&A Purchase Grant Fund supports the purchase of a wide range of material for the permanent collections of non-nationally funded organisations in England and Wales. We are delighted that the major new acquisition, Centrifugal Forces, 2024, by the internationally acclaimed artist Laura Ford has been acquired by Southampton City Art Gallery. Its place in the newly refurbished displays form part of a series of exciting new acquisitions shown for the first time since they have come into the collection. The work will inspire audiences for years to come.”

Laura Ford added:

“I am thrilled to be included in the Southampton City Arts Gallery hugely impressive and internationally renowned collection, and I would like to thank all those who have made the purchase possible.”