Undressed Art Overtakes London Exhibit

A flame burns out of a metal bench, and at unscheduled intervals a naked young man appears and sits at the other end of the seat. This work by Roger Hiorns, “Untitled” (2005-2010) is the most memorable item in “British Art Show 7” at the Hayward Gallery in London. The undressed youth sees to that. (“it is within the uncomfortable relationship between doubt and belief in our contemporary present that Hiorns’s sculptures operate”). It may be a metaphor for something, and raises interesting questions, such as: If you were to buy “Untitled” (2005-2010) on the art market, would the nude come with it, and if so, where would you keep him? ARTKABINETT art collector social often likes undressed art.

The nude on the bench is a good metaphor for the whole show: It’s striking to look at, and resistant to rational explanation. Not that that’s bad. As such things go, British Art Show 7 is rather good. It contains a large, rambling selection of works, all contemporary and made in Britain.

Of these, some are, like the Hiorns piece, intriguing. Spending too much time with some of the other works might destroy the will to live. Emily Wardill’s “Sea Oak” (2008), for example, consists of 51 minutes of blank film projection, accompanied by interviews with members of a left-leaning Californian think tank. That sounds like a metaphor too.

The selectors have cast their net widely. Among the 39 artists on show is Alasdair Gray, best known for his novels. Several others, including Hiorns, Wolfgang Tillmans (artwork shown left) and Sarah Lucas have featured on Turner Prize shortlists. The rest will be unknown, except to contemporary-art-spotting anorak types.

Through paintings, sculpture, installations, video, film, performance and all points in between, British Art Show 7 explores the ways in which contemporary British art conjures histories - distant or near, longingly imagined or all too real - to illuminate our present moment.

Subtitled In the Days of the Comet, British Art Show 7 takes as its motif the idea of the comet as a harbinger of change, a measure of time and a marker of historical recurrence. Besides reflecting these and other cosmological concepts, the works propose alternative ways of thinking about the 'here and now'. Many of the 39 artists and artists' groups included in British Art Show 7 have made works especially for the exhibition.

Touring to four cities in the UK, British Art Show 7 is an exhibition that unfolds in time as well as space. At London's Hayward Gallery, where - uniquely - the exhibition will be seen under one roof*, there will be a number of premieres, including new films by Anja Kirschner and David Panos, and by Elizabeth Price, as well as new works by Christian Marclay, Steve Claydon, Charles Avery and Tris Vonna-Michell.

Reflecting the exhibition's orbit, Tris Vonna-Michell presents a spoken word piece written on a road trip between the locations where the exhibition comes to land, and Gail Pickering broadcasts a beguiling large-scale performance live from her studio.

Widely recognised as the most ambitious and influential exhibition of contemporary British art, British Art Show is organised by the Hayward Gallery and has taken place every five years since 1979. Curated by Lisa Le Feuvre and Tom Morton, British Art Show 7 opened in Nottingham. Following its London showing at the Hayward Gallery, it travels on to venues in Glasgow and Plymouth.