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Group exhibition "Who decides?"


  • National Museum Cardiff Cathays Park CF10 Wales (map)

The museum's collections belong to everyone, but only a small number of people normally make decisions about what is collected and how it is displayed.

Is this fair?

Who Decides? is curated by service users from The Wallich, a charity supporting people who have experienced homelessness in Wales.

Contemporary Art for Everybody

The art work in Who Decides? has been selected from the large collection of paintings, sculptures, films, prints and drawings that the Museum and the Derek Williams Trust have acquired over the last 10 years.

Featured artists: Alexander Adams, Frank Auerbach, Richard Billingham, Peter Blake, Frank Bowling, Mark Boyle & Joan Hills, Paul Brewer, Andrea Büttner, Anthony Caro, Claudi Casanovas, Olga Chernysheva, Hans Coper, Alan Davie, Richard Deacon, Natalia Dias, Elena Elgina & Igor Makarevich, Geraint Evans, Laura Ford, David Garner, Merlin James, Andrew Levitas, Richard Long, John Meirion Morris, Dan Rees, Paula Rego, Lucie Rie, Shani Rhys James, Terry Setch, George Shaw, Anthony Stokes, Bedwyr Williams, Bill Woodrow and Clare Woods.

The exhibition also features an installation of over 70 ceramic works from the private collection of the gallery owner Anita Besson (1933-2015). This outstanding collection, bequeathed to the Derek Williams Trust in 2016, features work by 13 makers including Lucie Rie, Hans Coper, Ryoji Koie and Claudi Casanovas and will be displayed together in the exhibition for the first time.

You Decide

You can also contribute to Who Decides? by voting for your favourite work to be ‘released’ from the store and placed on public display.

Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales wants to involve more people in our work. By making our collection more accessible to all, this exhibition aims to create a more democratic and accountable museum - a space where everyone can enjoy contemporary art.

Who Decides? celebrates 10 years of contemporary collecting and the 25 year partnership between Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales and the Derek Williams Trust. Since 1992 The Trust has been central to the development of one of the UK’s outstanding collections modern and contemporary art.

Later Event: June 3
Till We Have Faces