The London Open 2015, Whitechapel Gallery

A must for any contemporary art aficionado this summer is the Whitechapel Open. Since 1932 this triennial has been known for showcasing the hottest emerging talent in contemporary art, and has helped to launch the careers of artists such as Anish Kapoor, Julian Opie, and Grayson Perry. Originally limited to artists aged over 26 and living east of the historic Whitechapel water pump, the remit of this exhibition has since been expanded in 2012 to include all artists living and working in London. But don’t be fooled by the London postcode; the selection is as cosmopolitan as the capital itself, with artists hailing from all over the globe.

Who's exhibiting at the Whitechapel London Open?

This year the London Open has seen a record number of applications with just 48 out of the total 2,133 submissions selected by a mixed panel, which included writer and critic Ben Luke, artist Angela de Cruz, collector Nicoletta Fiorucci, as well as Whitechapel Gallery curators Daniel Hermann and Poppy Bowers. Emerging artists will also sit cheek-by-jowl against more established names including innovative hand-held camera artist Emma Hart and Royal Academy graduate painter Mary Ramsden, offering a wider context to view the work.

Whitechapel Gallery exhibition theme

The theme this year has been coined as ‘manual labour and the ways we work’, with works spanning a wide range of media, notably abstract and figurative painting, participatory and conceptual art. It's all about innovation and unconventional methods this year – take for example the onsite brick sculpture by the father and daughter duo, bricklayer Brian Watts and artist Demelza Watts. Also not to be missed are Nelmarie Du Preez’s dramatic video work of a robotic arm repeatedly stabbing a knife between the artist’s spread fingers, Eva Stenram’s cryptic, illusionistic photos and Lothar Götz’s kaleidoscopic wall paintings.

Some of the works are also on sale, so if you’re for the next big thing that contemporary art has to offer, look no further!