On 24 October 2009, the State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg and the Saatchi Gallery, London with support of the London Friends of the State Hermitage will jointly present Newspeak: British Art Now, featuring some of the most exciting artists to have emerged in the UK in the last few years and are largely unknown in the wider art world. This exhibition forms part of the Hermitage 20/21 project, an ambitious program aimed at showcasing the best of contemporary art in the Hermitage and expanding the display of 20th century art.

The first section of this exhibition will premiere at the State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, while an expanded version in two parts will open at the Saatchi Gallery in London starting summer 2010 through to January 2011. The Hermitage exhibition will be shown in the Nikolaevsky Hall of the Winter Palace, a magnificent gallery looking out over the Neva River.

This autumn, the BBC will broadcast School of Saatchi, a new TV series aimed to discover the next generation of artistic talent in Britain. The 4-part program is part of the Modern Beauty Season, a range of programs coming to BBC Two and BBC Four this autumn which look at the concept of beauty in modern art.

In School of Saatchi, following a selection process by artist Tracey Emin, critic Matthew Collings, art collector Frank Cohen, the Head of Art Galleries, Barbican, Kate Bush, and Charles Saatchi, six people have been chosen to attend an art school established uniquely for them, where they will develop their work under the tutelage of leading British artists and figures from art world. The selection panel and Charles Saatchi, will than select one of them to have their work exhibited in Newspeak: British Art Now, at the State Hermitage Museum. The name of the winner will be declared in the State Hermitage on 16 December, 2009, one month before the close of the exhibition. The selected artist is also offered the additional opportunity of receiving a free studio for three years in London’s Chelsea provided by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in partnership with the Saatchi Gallery.

Prof. Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage Museum and the Head of the Hermitage 20/21 project and Dimitri Ozerkov, Ph.D., Curator of the exhibition and the Head of Contemporary Art Department at the State Hermitage Museum have worked closely with the Saatchi Gallery in order to bring the show to St Petersburg. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue which includes an introductory essay by Prof. Mikhail Piotrovsky, and essays by Dimitri Ozerkov and Patricia Ellis.

Newspeak: British Art Now in St Petersburg features about 50 works by  Hurvin Anderson, Jonathan Baldock, Pablo Bronstein, Spartacus Chetwynd, Steven Claydon, William Daniels, Dick Evans, Tessa Farmer, Robert Fry, Sigrid Holmwood, Mustafa Hulusi, Scott King, littlewhitehead, Alastair MacKinven, Goshka Macuga, Ryan Mosley, Arif Ozakca, Ged Quinn, Barry Reigate, Daniel Silver, Fergal Stapleton, Donald Urquhart, Jonathan Wateridge and Toby Ziegler.

The constant sponsors o  the Hermitage 20/21 project are "Coca-Cola Export Corporation", "Ilim Group" and "Renaissance Construction". The HSBC bank and the "viWine" group of companies have joined to the project’s partners recently.
The general media sponsor of the project is "Afisha" magazine.

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Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage

Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage, and Nigel Hurst, Director and CEO of the Saatchi Gallery at the opening of the exhibition

Dimitri Ozerkov, Curator of the exhibition, Philly Adams, Director of the Saatchi Gallery, Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage, and Nigel Hurst, Director and CEO of the Saatchi Gallery, at the opening of the exhibition

Mattew Collings, British art critic and broadcaster, and Sir Norman Rosental

At the exhibition

Catalogue of the exhibition

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