Architecture at London's Royal Academy of Arts - Summer Exhibition 2014

Got a day to spend in London this summer? Go and immerse yourself in the Royal Academy of Arts’ Summer Exhibition 2014 which opened to the public last month.

The annual event — held every year without interruption since 1769 — prides itself as the world’s largest open submission exhibition. The program aims to provide an international platform for emerging and established artists in various disciplines ranging from painting to printmaking, photography, sculpture, architecture and film.

An introduction to Summer Exhibition 2014 from Royal Academy of Arts on Vimeo.

From an incredible 12,000 received entries this year, the hanging committee of Royal Academicians led by Hughie O’Donoghue, the coordinator of the Summer Exhibition 2014, made a selection to hang on the walls of the Main Galleries in Burlington House. For the first time, artists have submitted their works digitally for the initial round of judging. Over 1,200 artworks will go on display, the majority of which will be for sale offering visitors an opportunity to purchase original artwork by high profile and up-and-coming artists.

The Summer Exhibition 2014 will be on display until Sunday, August 17.

"Architecture plays an important part in this year’s exhibition. 140 works have been selected and hung by the architect Eric Parry RA after some early dialogue with Sir Richard MacCormac CBE RA. Focusing on the development of designs and exploration of ideas during the process of conceiving and designing buildings, Parry puts equal emphasis on incomplete or theoretical projects as completed projects.

Newly elected Royal Academicians Thomas Heatherwick and Louisa Hutton will be represented in the Architecture Room and the Central Hall; Heatherwick presents a model of his Bombay Sapphire Gin Distillery, while Hutton, from the Berlin-based practice Sauerbruch Hutton, presents two prints of her designs for M9 Museum in the old city centre of Mestre and Immanuel Church in Cologne. Other Royal Academicians represented in the Architecture Room include Ron Arad, Gordon Benson, Peter Cook, Edward Cullinan, Trevor Dannatt, Norman Foster, Spencer de Grey, Nicholas Grimshaw, Zaha Hadid, Louisa Hutton, Eva Jiricna, Paul Koralek, Leonard Manasseh, Michael Manser, Eric Parry, Ian Ritchie, Richard Rogers and Chris Wilkinson."

"Eric Parry, Principal at Eric Parry Architects, said: “The Architecture room is rich in its propositions for buildings and places. Nowhere else will you find the international juxtaposition of the work of students alongside great practitioners and it makes a fascinating survey. Three walls are hung with more intimate work at a lower register, whilst the fourth introduces film and architecture. Two plinths house models, one at the scale of the city the other at the scale of buildings.”

Other highlights will include a room curated by sculptor Cornelia Parker RA. Focusing on the theme of black and white, Cornelia Parker has invited Royal Academicians Michael Craig-Martin, Richard Deacon, Tacita Dean, and Michael Landy to exhibit works, as well as other high-profile artists such as Martin Creed, Jeremy Deller, Mona Hatoum, Christian Marclay, Laure Prouvost and David Shrigley. Many of the artists will be creating new works specifically for this room."

"In the past year, the Royal Academy has elected a record-number of Members, creating a new generation of Royal Academicians. To celebrate this renewal of the Membership, there will be a dedicated room for the display of works by newly elected Academicians, who include Thomas Heatherwick, Neil Jeffries, Chantal Joffe, Tim Shaw, Conrad Shawcross, Yinka Shonibare, Bob and Roberta Smith and Wolfgang Tillmans amongst others, and also newly elected Honorary Academicians, such as El Anatsui, Marlene Dumas and Rosemarie Trockel.

The Print Room will be overseen by Chris Orr and Emma Stibbon; and John Maine will arrange a room dedicated to sculpture. The Summer Exhibition 2014 will also feature works in memory of the Royal Academicians John Bellany (1942 – 2013), Ralph Brown (1928 – 2013), Sir Anthony Caro (1924 – 2013), Maurice Cockrill (1936 – 2013) and Alan Davie (1920 – 2014)."

"One of the founding principles of the Royal Academy of Arts was to 'mount an annual exhibition open to all artists of distinguished merit' to finance the training of young artists in the Royal Academy Schools. The Summer Exhibition has been held every year without interruption since 1769 and continues to play a significant part in raising funds to finance the current students of the RA Schools, who pay no fees for the duration of their studies.

This year, the Royal Academy will be working in partnership with BBC Arts to create a broad range of coverage on TV, radio and online about the Summer Exhibition 2014."