Sofia Hallstrom’s definitive guide to art outside of London in 2025 begins in Northern England and takes us through Newcastle, Margate, Bristol, Devon, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
In 2025, an array of exhibitions will take place across the UK and Ireland, each presenting a range of perspectives, histories, and creative practices. These exhibitions span disciplines and geographies, exploring historical narratives and urgent contemporary issues, including topics on identity, post-Brexit Britain and climate change. Highlights include immersive installations by Richard Long and Susan Derges in the rugged landscapes of Dartmoor, paintings by Ian Hommerston and Marlie Mul in the seaside town of Margate, and a powerful retrospective of Hamad Butt’s pioneering work in Ireland. Below is a selection of 2025’s unmissable exhibitions.
Northern England
MIMA, Middlesbrough: The Secret Life of Bottle of Notes
Dates: 14 March to 5 October 2025
MIMA, Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, presents The Secret Lives of Bottle of Notes, an exhibition exploring Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen’s iconic public sculpture Bottle of Notes (1993) and its role in shaping identity and civic pride in the Tees Valley. Through archival materials, drawings, models, and community responses, the exhibition uncovers the story of this towering steel artwork inspired by Middlesbrough’s industrial heritage and maritime legacy.
The show features new commissions by Webb-Ellis and Nell Catchpole alongside creative projects with local children, shedding light on Bottle of Notes as a symbol of place and artistic inspiration. Reflecting on the artwork’s 30 year impact, this exhibition opens a dialogue on public art, community, and cultural identity.
Slugtown, Newcastle: Lucien Anderson
Dates: Summer 2025
Slugtown is an artist-run gallery in Shieldfield, Newcastle Upon Tyne. In summer 2025, the gallery will present an exhibition by Lucien Anderson. The artist’s work blurs the line between function and play, combining mechanical aesthetics with a DIY approach, evoking notions of everyday resilience, ritualistic tinkering, and grassroots approaches. A Newcastle University Fine Art graduate and former Allenheads Contemporary Arts resident, Anderson has gained recognition for his inventive explorations of environmental themes, survival structures, and mobility. This exhibition promises a mix of deployable structures and installations that reflect Anderson’s distinctive blend of purpose and whimsy.
South England
243 Luz, Margate: Marlie Mul
Opening in April, Marlie Mul’s first UK solo exhibition will present sculpture, painting, and experimental design, exploring themes of urban life, fluidity, and identity. Known for her intricate yet DIY-inspired aesthetic, Mul transforms everyday objects and spaces into commentaries on contemporary existence. Through materials and transformative forms, her work challenges perceptions of the ordinary, offering new perspectives on the interplay between art and modernity. Born in Utrecht, the Dutch artist’s multifaceted practice has been showcased at Wiels Project Space (Brussels), Rob Tufnell (London), Croy Nielsen (Vienna) and Gaylord Fine Arts (Los Angeles). Mul also has an upcoming solo exhibition at Kunsthaus Glarus (Switzerland) opening in July 2025.
Roland Ross, Margate: Ian Hommerston
In March, Roland Ross will present a solo exhibition by Ian Hommerston, a painter whose work transforms mundane suburban landscapes into visual narratives. Hommerston’s distinctive approach is characterised by unusual cropping and close-ups of everyday scenes, drawing attention to objects such as books and fragments of walls, often deemed ordinary. Through his compositions, he captures fleeting moments of serenity and unease, subtly hinting at unseen stories unfolding beyond the edges of the frame. Born in Truro in 1984 and currently based in Deal, Hommerston practice celebrates the quiet beauty and latent mystery of suburban life, inviting viewers to find intrigue and meaning in its overlooked corners.
Spike Island, Bristol: Danielle Dean
Dates: 8 February – 11 May 2025
Danielle Dean’s film Hemel reimagines the history of Hemel Hempstead through archival footage and sci-fi storytelling. The film explores race, class, and labour in a post-Brexit context, piecing together real and imagined worlds. Accompanied by dystopian drawings, the exhibition critically examines societal structures and their local manifestations. Dean is a British-American artist who works across media, exploring global capitalism’s material and ideological circulation. She has exhibited internationally, with recent shows at Tate Britain (2022), Performa New York (2021), and the Whitney Biennial (2022). Her work often involves archives, video, and performance to probe societal fault lines.
Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery (RAMM), Exeter – Dartmoor: A Radical Landscape
Dates: 19 October 2024 – 23 February 2025
Dartmoor: A Radical Landscape is an exhibition exploring the deep connection between Dartmoor’s terrain and the artists it inspires. Featuring works by 18 artists working from 1969 to 2024, this exhibition explores Dartmoor’s identity as both a sanctuary of natural beauty and a contested landscape at the forefront of environmental and social challenges. From Land Art and photography to experimental film, the featured works look at personal and cultural responses to Dartmoor’s landscape and ancient woodlands. The exhibition presents newly commissioned pieces by Alex Hartley and Ashish Ghadiali, alongside works by artists such as Richard Long and Susan Derges. An extensive events programme of talks and workshops accompanies the exhibition.
Focal Point Gallery, Southend-on-Sea: Rafał Zajko – The Spin Off
Dates: 26th of March 2025
Inspired by Kiesler’s Endless Theatre, Rafał Zajko’s installation reimagines industrial heritage through sculpture, light, and performance. The Spin Off is a theatrical exploration of revival and renewal that invites audiences to consider the cyclical nature of progress and the influence of the past on future possibilities. Born in Białystok, Poland and now based in London, Zajko holds an MFA in Fine Art from Goldsmiths, University of London. Working with a range of materials such as ceramics, ventilation systems, prosthetics, and performance, Zajko examines themes of Polish folklore, science fiction, and queer technoscience. His work emphasises the industrial materials and processes that connect deeply to his heritage.
Ireland
Lismore Castle Arts, St Carthage Hall: Nicole Wermers – Marathon Dance Relief
Dates: 22 March – 25 May 2025
This summer, Nicole Wermers will present a striking large-scale installation to Lismore Castle Arts, drawing on Depression-era dance marathons to explore themes of invisible labour and societal rituals. Through sculpture and collage, Wermers examines the interplay between public and private realms, reconfiguring familiar objects to highlight the structures of social relationships and their material markers. Her work integrates art historical references with contemporary materials, in order to critique consumer culture and design. Set within the historic gardens of Lismore Castle, the exhibition is much anticipated as it continues the gallery’s tradition of showcasing contemporary art in its unique spaces.
Irish Museum of Modern Art: Hamad Butt – Apprehensions
Dates: Now until 05 May 2025
IMMA presents Apprehensions, the first retrospective of pioneering artist Hamad Butt (1962–1994), in collaboration with Whitechapel Gallery, London. Born in Lahore and raised in London, Butt was a trailblazing British South Asian, queer, and Muslim artist whose work bridged art and science. His installations, such as Transmission and Familiars, alongside his paintings, drawings, and writings, explore themes of identity, mortality, and transformation. This exhibition at IMMA marks the first showing of his works outside the UK, presenting a reflection on Butt’s legacy as a contemporary of the YBAs and a conceptual responder to the HIV/AIDS crisis.
Northern Ireland
Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast: Susan Hiller and Shirin Neshat – Can You Hear Me
Dates: Now until 1st February 2025
Susan Hiller and Shirin Neshat’s Can You Hear Me is set in the beautifully restored heritage building that houses the Golden Thread Gallery in Belfast’s city centre. The gallery spans two floors and includes spacious galleries, a projection room, Northern Ireland’s first visual art library & archive, and a Community Participation & Engagement Hub.
First shown at the gallery in 2014, Can You Hear Me remains profoundly relevant today, exploring themes of language, culture, and power. Hiller’s The Last Silent Movie (2007) revives the voices of extinct and endangered languages through haunting audio, with translated subtitles against a black screen. This evocative piece prompts reflection on cultural loss and preservation. Neshat’s Turbulent (1998), a dual-screen video installation, explores the complexities of gender and societal roles through the lens of Iranian culture. Winner of the Venice Biennale’s International Prize, Turbulent juxtaposes a male singer performing for an audience with a woman singing alone in an empty hall, embodying themes of restriction and resilience.
Scotland
Inverleith House, Scotland: Linder
Dates: 23 May – 19 October 2025
To coincide with Linder’s retrospective at Hayward Gallery touring to Scotland, Linder will present a new performance work made in collaboration with choreographer Holly Blakey, composer Maxwell Sterling and fashion designer Ashish Gupta. In collaboration with the Edinburgh Art Festival and Mount Stuart Trust, Linder will unveil a new performance piece accompanying her exhibition. This multifaceted work integrates choreography, music, and fashion, celebrating the dynamic relationship between visual and performing arts while showcasing Scotland’s cultural identity. A trailblazer for decades, Linder has consistently challenged societal norms and reshaped feminist discourse through her bold and diverse artistic practice. From her beginnings in the 1970s Manchester punk scene to her iconic photomontages, performances, music, and fashion, Linder’s work continues to interrogate and critique constructs of gender, identity, and representation.
The Hunterian, Glasgow: Margaret Salmon – Assembly
Dates: June – October 2025
Margaret Salmon’s Assembly is an exploration of collective memory and healing in post-pandemic Glasgow. The exhibition features a feminist ghost story on 35mm film, alongside sculptural works, amplifying community voices to reflect on themes of loss and resilience. By blending cinematic and collaborative processes, Assembly presents an intimate portrait of a city in transformation. Salmon is known for making films that combine poetry and ethnography, focussing on individuals in their daily lives, capturing ordinary moments with a sense of quiet grandeur while exploring universal human experiences. Salmon won the inaugural Max Mara Art Prize for Women in 2006. Her work has been exhibited at the Venice Biennale (2007), the Berlin Biennale (2010), and Witte de With in Rotterdam.
Wales
Mostyn, Llandudno: Vanessa da Silva – Roda Viva
Dates: 15 February – 31 May 2025
Vanessa da Silva’s Roda Viva celebrates the cycles of life through samba-inspired installations that blend textiles, vibrant colours, and rhythmic motion. Drawing on her Brazilian heritage, da Silva explores themes of ancestry, displacement, and joy, offering visitors a multisensory experience that captures the spirit of freedom and celebration. Born and raised in São Paulo and based in London since the early 2000s, da Silva creates work that examines nationality, identity, migration, and displacement, drawing from her experiences as a Latin American immigrant in the UK. Through sculpture, textiles, installation, and performance, she explores themes of cultural exchange, trade, and value. Blending personal narratives with political commentary, da Silva investigates how diverse histories and cultures shape identity and belonging.
Words by Sofia Hallstrom
