Minor Attractions is excited to announce its relocation to The Newman, the city’s newest luxury hotel, for its upcoming fourth edition running 13-17 October. The move marks a major milestone for the fair, scaling up into its biggest, loudest, and most conceptually ambitious incarnation to date.

The decision to relocate follows four years of continuous growth. The move to the Art Deco-inspired hotel The Newman, in Fitzrovia, represents a rare combination: state-of-the-art luxury infrastructure and the intimate character that makes Minor Attractions what it is. With 81 rooms and suites, a European brasserie, cocktail bar and dedicated wellness floor, the hotel has quickly established itself as a new destination in London, recently described as “London’s slickest hotel”.

For its fourth iteration, we’ve dismantled our prior design, introducing key spatial and structural disruptions to optimise the experience for both visitors and exhibitors:

• Single-Floor Takeover: The fair will be staged in its entirety across 16 rooms on a single floor, eliminating navigational issues faced in previous years

• Optimised Visitor Flow: By moving many single works into bedrooms, the new layout creates an intimate, accessible environment for viewing art

• Domestic Activations: The hotel’s intimate domestic spaces will host live events, including a talk by BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! with film director, writer and comedian Simon Amstell, a Mahjong Palace takeover and a Mutt Art Review issue launch, alongside the fair’s Film Programme and Radio Residency Programme, spotlighting the most exciting London and international film and music

We feel very blessed to be able to make this move while freezing exhibitor costs — our community has supported us tirelessly over the last four years and we couldn’t have done it without you all!

See you in October 🫶

Major Futures is the new charitable initiative from cultural programming organisation Minor Attractions. Looking to provide funding for non-profit art spaces, independent curators, and event programmers, Major Futures strives to create long-term opportunities for London’s emerging creative practitioners, responding to the current lack of public and private funding in the British cultural industries.

Major Futures responds to three key areas of need for emerging cultural practitioners: capital, space, and public exposure.

Utilising our year-round infrastructure across our Minor Attractions Art Fair, Summer Sessions, and international projects, we are primed to provide both space and public exposure. From sound, to film, to publishing, our diverse and robust programming opportunities, paired with our extensive international audience, function as a launchpad for exciting new voices.

Additionally, by structuring Major Futures as a charitable initiative, we hope to be able to add capital by creating tangible value for our audience. Thus far, much of our programming is either low-cost or free of charge; our art fair has always been free entry, while our Summer Sessions programming caps ticket prices at between £5 and £15. By asking our audience, from collectors to students, to consider contributing what they can afford, our team will be able to foster young talent and present them with the next generation of art stars.

For Minor Attractions 2026, Major Futures is raising funds for the participation and programming of three separate initiatives during London Art Week. Plicnik Space Initiative (non-profit art space), Jean Watt as A Place to Rest (independent curator), and Umi Ishihara and Fiona Ye as FlatLine City (event programmers) have been selected to present a room, single art work, and an event, respectively.

In order to raise capital for this, we are hosting a charity auction on September 23rd, 2026, at Shoreditch Arts Club in collaboration with Filthy Fox Auction Club. Additionally, all of our tickets for Minor Attractions this year will allow for optional donations. We are also seeking independent donations to support this and future projects.

Register Your Interest

Following the Rise Art x Minor Attractions collaboration with Santi Gallery and artist Sean Pearl, we’ve paired up again to present two new bodies of work by Australian-born, London-based artist Eva Dixon and British painter Deborah Lerner.

View the Collaboration

Eva Dixon’s practice is driven by a seductive engagement with labour, utility and material culture. The artist explores homo-eroticism in sport and porn, the space race, lesbianism, and industry, working across painting, sculpture, and assemblage.

Eva repurposes military textiles, rip-stop nylon, emergency blankets, industrial hardware and discarded functional materials, treating the studio as a site of physical experimentation where making is led by the demands of the work itself. Discreet and sometimes racy advertisements inform the next stages of Dixon’s practice and speak to the loss of historical artefacts in the wider LGBTQ+ community, where fictioning is a prevalent tool passed down through generations.

Deborah Lerner’s paintings explore the material possibilities of paint and how it can be used to raise broader questions around the human experience. Deeply affected by Jack Whitten’s notion of using "formal as a means to arrive at subject", Lerner allows surface, edge, colour, and composition to bring into being characteristics often lacking within our contemporary society.

Eschewing fixed narratives, the work instead invites sustained attention, embracing ambiguity and the coexistence of seemingly contradictory ideas. Rooted in close observation of the everyday, Lerner’s practice is informed by the overlooked textures of the urban environment, where bubble wrap, textured wallpaper and other found materials become as significant as brushes or palette knives.

For more information and to see available artworks, check out the Rise Art x Minor Attractions Collaboration page.

Why Art? asks our favourite artists and art workers why they pursue art

1. Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Carlotta. I’m a German artist and gallerist based in London and EU —you might know me as Carlotta S. My work broadly deals with the personhood of the gallerist and how it can seep into the artist’s work.

2. What is the ⁠best piece of art you’ve consumed recently?

I loved Marina Xenofontos’ presentation at the Cypriot Pavilion for this year’s Venice Biennale. Her work is sensitive and almost whispering while being incredibly precise. Also, I recently saw Robyn perform “Dancing on My Own,” which is as close as I’ll ever get to a religious experience.

3. ⁠Most overrated piece of art recently?

That’s a shady question! Anne Imhof at Sprüth Magers in London didn’t do it for me. The paintings were kind of whimsical?

4. ⁠Why Art?

I think it’s less about why and more about what it does.

Follow Carlotta S. on Instagram here

Why Art? asks our favourite artists and art workers why they pursue art

1. Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Tim Kinsella. I play music most of most days, but I also write in the mornings. Both the music and the writing happen in a few different ways and take different forms and the music especially is usually collaborative.

2. What is the ⁠best piece of art you’ve consumed recently?

Man, we are compulsive consumers of records and books, plus we see live music a few nights a week along with a weekly visit the art museum. So it’s really crazy to try to think of a best anything. But I guess I’ve been very excited about Radu Jude’s films, especially Do Not Expect Too Much at the End of The World & Bad Luck Banging or Looney Porn. Also, I saw a Honey Dijon DJ set the other night that really felt like she was absolutely proving why she sets the standard.

3. ⁠Most overrated piece of art recently?

I honestly find this even more difficult to answer than picking a favorite. It's not any of my business what other people are drawn in by. There's “art” and there's “entertainment” a there's a thousand different ways to distinguish between the two. Also, for all kinds of reasons, I am compulsive about consuming art. The practice of being an attentive audience for it resonates with my biases; political, spiritual, and philosophical. It's truly just not in my character to talk down on anyone else's art. If we want to expand the definition of art to include entertainment, I don't expect much from it. I enjoy what I enjoy, but I don't know much about the rest. So I can't say.

4. ⁠Why Art?

Well, as Madonna once famously said, “Life is a mystery,” and it remains mysterious however large or small you choose to take it in. I certainly don’t trust the version of reality that the dominant forces of our civilization impose upon us. So I don’t know where else to look but Art.

Follow Tim Kinsella on Instagram here

Why Art? is a new segment asking our favourite artists and art workers why they pursue art

1. Who are you and what do you do?

I’m Sammy Loren and I’m the founding editor of America’s Greatest Tabloid On The Rag.

2. What is the ⁠best piece of art you’ve consumed recently?

I read a 900 page Philip Roth biography. The one by the super canceled writer. It’s amazing and also interesting how often people wrote each other long, erudite letters in mid-century America.

3. ⁠Most overrated piece of art recently?

I didn’t go but the Venice Biennale looked pretty over hyped tbh.

4. ⁠Why Art?

Why art? The galleries give out free booze and the people are all hot. What else is there?

Join us for the OTR x Minor Attractions London Issue Launch at The Glove That Fits on 29/05. Find tickets here.

The wait is over! Summer Sessions is here! Get ready to brave the heatwave and enjoy 7 events over 3 nights across London. We’ve been prepping for this since the end of last year and we’re excited to watch it take shape, celebrating some the most exciting emerging artists working today.

Ahead of the event, there are a few last minute FYIs we want to share:

• The Cantilever Launch Party has been moved to The Social, 5 Little Portland St, London W1W 7JD. Too many people wanted to come; we needed more space. There are still a few tix available, so get them (for free) here.

• Tickets to our collaboration at M.O.T with Meet in the MIDI are now only £5. DJ extraordinaire Karim Bitar at Meet in the MIDI will bring the heat alongside FAUZIA, Escape to Nowhere and Mouna Press to keep the Bank Holiday vibe rolling.

• Our collaboration with Sunday School x BOOT MAG is going to be loud, it’s going to be chaotic, and it’s going to be upstairs in The Flat at the Old Blue Last. We’ve transitioned our sets into the top floor space after circumstances out of our control left the live space unavailable. That’s showbiz, baby.

All events will have a few tickets available at the door, so if you don’t book, don’t worry – just come down. See you there.

Summer Sessions 2026 is proudly supported by:

Why Art? is a new segment asking our favourite artists and art workers why they pursue art

1. Who are you and what do you do?

I am a writer, editor, and community builder. My work circulates at the intersection between emancipatory politics of bodies in space, social disobedience, and civic creativity. Most recently, I have investigated the sociopolitical dimensions of affect: how emotions function as sites of both oppression and resistance, and how our feelings are constructed by, and sometimes push back against, systems of power. Along with this, I’m also the editor-in-chief of the street newspaper Arts of the Working Class.

2. What is the ⁠best piece of art you’ve consumed recently?

Generally, I avoid "consuming" art and resist treating it as an entertaining experience. Even though I am often in contact with art practices through my work, I encounter art very intentionally. In a way, it is a spiritual meeting, a way of receiving with gratitude, rather than consuming with voracity. Last time I felt I met art was at the Laughter in Summer album presentation by Beverly-Glenn Copeland at Volksbühne in Berlin.

3. ⁠Most overrated piece of art recently?

I think art is a very subjective experience that doesn't speak universally, so mine is not an evaluation of quality, but an assessment of my own seeking. I just came back from the Venice Biennale, and I would say Florentina Holzinger's SEAWORLD. Aesthetically and physically striking, but I couldn't engage further than on a reflection of the conditions of desolation and loopy exhaustion of the contemporary subject in a perpetually crumbling and self-polluting world. Which, at this point, is self-evident and a bit rhetorical.

4. ⁠Why Art?

I am enthusiastic about everything that is the fruit of human experience and a way of interpreting/bending it. Specifically about "Art", I am interested in observing the constant struggle of "art" in emerging and transforming itself, as the friction between socio-cultural expression and the material conditions sustaining it.

Follow Arts of The Working Class on Instagram

Summer Sessions, our new multi-venue festival highlighting music, performance, publishing and film, launches next Thursday, beginning with our South London night at Avalon Cafe and M.O.T.

Staged in a different part of London each day, the festival will collaborate with a host of venues across the city, engaging with local and varied creative communities to showcase the best of emerging culture.

FRIDAY 29/05

SATURDAY 30/05

Why Art? is a new segment asking our favourite artists and art workers why they pursue art

1. Who are you and what do you do?

I’m Ade Sanusi, a cultural strategist and founder of Art Meets Culture. I build platforms, events, and partnerships that connect artists, brands, and audiences in a way that actually moves culture forward. My focus is on creating spaces where art isn’t just seen, but experienced, understood, and valued.

1. What is the ⁠best piece of art you’ve consumed recently?

I recently spent time in Nigeria and had the pleasure of experiencing a range of works from artists across the country. The energy, storytelling, and cultural depth in the work felt incredibly raw and honest. It reminded me how powerful local context is in shaping art that truly resonates beyond borders.

2. ⁠Most overrated piece of art recently?

Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian (2019), the banana duct-taped to a wall, still feels overrated to me. While I understand the commentary on value and the art market, the reaction often outweighs the work itself. When something sells for millions based on concept alone, it raises the question of whether we’re engaging with the art or just the hype around it.

3. ⁠Why Art?

Art is how we document culture, identity, and emotion in real time. It’s one of the few things that can shift perspective, spark conversation, and create connection across completely different worlds. For me, art isn’t optional, it’s how we understand ourselves and where we’re going.

Follow Art Meets Culture on Substack and Instagram

Last year, we collaborated with Rise Art on an extended online presentation with a selection of works and critical commentary from its exhibiting galleries.

That collaboration now extends into a year-round series of focused presentations, each produced with a single gallery. This month, Santi presents five new prints by Florida-born, London-based artist Sean Pearl.

Small in scale but dense with symbolism, each etching pulls from the long history of image-making, layering recognisable motifs into a set of restless and self-aware prints – accompanied by a short text from the artist.

View the Collaboration

Having begun working with Santi for the first time at last year’s edition, they embody so much of what Minor Attractions is about. Uncompromising in their ambition and deeply devoted to London as a context, they were the perfect gallery to kick off this new project. Likewise, Sean Pearl is an artist who has begun making waves in London’s art world, producing layered works that reflect a contemporary aesthetic alongside a commitment to traditional techniques.

We look forward to continuing this project and keep platforming galleries that we feel are doing innovative work in today’s contemporary art landscape.

Why Art? is a new segment asking our favourite artists and art workers why they pursue art

1. Who are you and what do you do?

I am the founder and director of LUmkA (2023), a gallery exhibiting the works of artists who specialize in interdisciplinary and experimental media. I just moved from NYC to London and opened Privacy Index, a group exhibition (on view through 11 April) organized in collaboration with Big Brother Watch, Electronic Frontier Foundation, and No 2 ID. The exhibition stages works by Ruby Chen, Nicholas Cheveldave, James Hoff, Miles Scharff, Linx Peng, and Ivo Nagel; collectively, the artists reflect and expose the conditions of surveillance and data mining, while also suggest self-representation through encryption.

1. What is the ⁠best piece of art you’ve consumed recently?

I saw Alice Neel’s portrait of Ethel Ashton a few days ago ... good painting is good painting. It’s hard to do a nice reclining nude, but she makes it look so simple.

2. ⁠Most overrated piece of art recently?

I don’t see bad shows. Sorry, boring answer.

3. ⁠Why Art?

What else is there to do? Probably a lot, but it’s all I can think about, and I honestly cannot imagine doing anything else. I created LUmkA to be a space to show all of the artists that I adored and excite me. Now it’s grown to be a home. My favorite part of the job is waking up, opening the gallery, and having all of those who inspire me sit down for a chat.

LUmkA’s exhibition Privacy Index is open until April 11th at 55 Curtain Rd, London EC2A 3PT.

Why Art? is a new segment asking our favourite artists and art workers why they pursue art

Ivo Pacheco is a Director at Soft Commodity.

1. What is the ⁠best piece of art you’ve consumed recently?

Joseph Beuys’ works on paper at Thaddaeus Ropac, and the new season of Love Is Blind. Both, in different ways, deal with performance, projection, and the fragile architecture of belief.

2. ⁠Most overrated piece of art recently?

I’m not entirely sure, but the Katharina Grosse situation at Basel 2025 is up there. At a certain scale, totality can start to feel less like risk and more like expensive inevitability.

3. ⁠Why Art?

Because it remains one of the few places where people can dress up ideology, desire, class anxiety, and spiritual confusion as “form” and call it culture. More seriously, art is still a useful machine for producing attention, contradiction, and meaning, even when it fails, which is often when it becomes most interesting.

Follow Ivo and Soft Commodity on Instagram for updates and programming.

Summer Sessions Tickets Now Available!

Find a full line-up here and get your tickets below:

Summer Sessions Tickets

Why Art? is a new segment asking our favourite artists and art workers why they pursue art

Maguelone Marcenac (Mag) is a London-based curator and creative director, whose interdisciplinary approach oscillates between contemporary fine art, performance, music and the subculture. At The Mandrake Hotel, she has developed a series of immersive events that bring experimental practices into a hospitality context, most notably the long-running Artist-in-Residence programme. With past residents including filip custic, Olaolu Slawn and Magnus Westwell, she regularly explores how artistic expression within sound and visual environments can push boundaries beyond institutional limits. From 30th March-3rd April, Mag welcomes Bullyache to the residency, for a unique series of open studios, intimate listening sessions, and an immersive performance delivered in response to the London premiere of their latest production, ‘A Good Man is Hard to Find’, at Sadlers Wells.

1. What is the ⁠best piece of art you’ve consumed recently?

I went to see Paradiso: Reverie at the Bangkok Kunsthalle, curated by Oat Montien. The show invited artists to explore dreaming as a political tool for imagining alternative futures. It unfolded like a collective ritual, mixing performance, films, group hypnosis and trance-like, soul-calling singing. We were pulled into the hallucinatory worlds of the artists’ fantasies and nightmares, dreaming with them. What stayed with me was how the work functioned as a form of quiet activism, reclaiming cultural traditions through a modern queer lens.

2. ⁠Most overrated piece of art recently?

One show that left me conflicted was Klára Hosnedlová at White Cube. It’s beautiful; the installation is undeniably well-executed, and the embroidery works show mad levels of precision. But, I find that it sits within a strand of exhibitions that veer towards what is trending and fashionable. It felt closer to a stage set than to an exhibition. I left moved more by the scale than by the commentary or core message.

3. ⁠Why Art?

Because it’s the environment in which I naturally feel most at ease. I feel very stimulated by the breadth of emotions, conversations and human exchanges that I get from art. I learn a lot from being surrounded by artists, who each have their own field of expertise they share with me. It’s also the ultimate form to express what’s troubling you or what you’re obsessing over, making your feelings legible to others.

Follow Mag on Instagram for updates and programming details.

Summer Sessions Tickets Now Available!

Find a full line-up here and get your tickets below:

Summer Sessions Tickets

3 Days. 7 Venues. South - East - Central.

Summer Sessions is excited to announce the initial line-up for its inaugural 2026 edition, featuring London’s most exciting young artists across three days of events.

Partnering with the likes of Meet in the MIDI, Sunday School x BOOT MAG, and new music streaming app Cantilever, Summer Sessions brings you sets from the best of London’s emerging music scenes, ranging from electronic to punk.

Events also include performances by sound artists such as afromerm, readings hosted by Soho Reading Series and Casual Encounterz (along with a collaborative publication 👀), a talk hosted by Arts of the Working Class, and a showcase of the 24/25 FLAMIN Fellows.

Tickets for all events are now available through ARTSVP. Find the link below to book yours now:

Book Tickets Here

Why Art? is a new segment asking our favourite artists and art workers why they pursue art

1. Who are you and what do you do?

I'm a novelist and an essayist. And I also teach writing at Columbia! I live in Brooklyn, a five minute walk from Prospect Park. I spend all of my free time biking around and hanging out with my friends and reading 700 page 19th century novels. I recently went roller skating with my friends on drugs.

1. What is the ⁠best piece of art you’ve consumed recently?

I got sent an advance listen of the new Aldous Harding album, Train on the Island. It sort of brought me to tears! I find her to be so underrated as a songwriter. So weird and so perfect.

2. ⁠Most overrated piece of art recently?

I'm really big on sincerity right now. The new novel I'm writing is the most earnest thing I've ever written. So I don't really have a specific answer to this question but I would say art that is overrated is art that doesn't know you can be ironic and sincere at the same time...

3. ⁠Why Art?

I have a really weird and specific brain and making art helps me make sense of my weird and specific brain + the weird and specific world. I can't process anything in my life unless I write it down. I am grateful every day for my creative practice, which allows me to be silly + deep + crazy + floaty all at the same time.

Pre-Order paperback copies of Sophie’s novel Paradise Logic from Waterstones here.

Early Bird Registration for Summer Sessions Open

Registration for Early Bird access for Summer Sessions by Minor Attractions is still open. Early Bird release is 18th March, 2 days before the General Admissions release. Register now to get those ticket listings sent straight to your inbox with the link below:

Register for Early Bird Access

REGISTRATION FOR EARLY BIRD TICKETS OPEN UNTIL MARCH 18TH

Early Bird registrations get access to tickets two days before General Admissions go live – use the link below to sign up:

EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION FORM

SNEAK PEAK 👀👀

We’re excited to be partnering with London-based tastemakers, including Meet in the MIDI, Sunday School and new music streaming service Cantilever, to deliver a rich and diverse programme over the three days of Summer Sessions.

Extending from our programming at last year’s Minor Attractions, where Meet in the MIDI’s Karim Bitar played our Opening Night party and our Soho Radio residency, we’re excited to be joined by old friends and new, always with a focus on the best of London’s contemporary culture. Across electronic, punk, noise, and contemporary classical, Summer Sessions highlights the most exciting emerging artists today.

Join us for talks, screenings, performances, readings and more – stay tuned for further info over the coming weeks as we share what we have in store.

Why Art? is a new segment asking our favourite artists and art workers why they pursue art

Michael Sangster is a Director of Season 4 Episode 6 and noise musician, primarily using manipulated and resampled field recordings.

Victoria Shen is an interdisciplinary artist with a focus on sound and performance based in San Francisco. Her practice is concerned with the materiality of sound and its relationship to the human body.

1. What is the ⁠best piece of art you’ve consumed recently?

We saw Dark Fox at Strange Brew in Bristol and it was insane. An imaginary universe and the epic tale of a galactic fox cult come to life in the form of projected animation, music, dance and a guy running around the stage in a cape and a latex mask – truly genuine outsider art. It was the most sincere thing either of us had seen in a long time, staggeringly so. We also had a sick time looking at pickled animal parts at The Hunterian Museum in London, it’s tiny and we were there for two hours. Special mention to Rodin’s Gates of Hell in Paris!

2. ⁠Most overrated piece of art recently?

Michael:

I’ve been lucky enough that pretty much everything I’ve seen in the past month has been great, so I’m struggling to think of something that stands out as egregiously bad. Sorry that’s a boring answer - maybe the food in Paris, which just flat out sucked across the board. Even the Thai food was bad.

Victoria:

We’re generally pretty good at avoiding things that we know are gonna be bad, but I hated the KAWS show at SF MoMA. It’s whole-cloth commercial, irredeemable kitsch and uncritical pablum. And hideous to top it all off.

Michael:

I also hate KAWS.

3. ⁠Why Art?

Michael:

I’m pretty bad at articulating myself with words, so I make and work in art because it’s less about explaining and more about letting people feel something directly, without smoothing it out. I don’t want to talk or write about how something made me feel and inevitably fall short, I want to try to demonstrate what it felt like.

Victoria:

Art is a space of radical freedom where anything is possible and nothing has to justify its existence in advance. It’s one of the few places left where openness, risk, and imagination can exist without permission. I make art because those spaces of liberty are essential, not just for artists, but for imagining how we might live otherwise.

Follow Michael and Victoria on Instagram for upcoming events and tour dates.

Early Bird Registration for Summer Sessions Open

Registration for Early Bird Tickets for Summer Sessions by Minor Attractions now open. Early Bird release is March 18th, 2 days before the GA release of March 20th. Be sure to register for free with the link below:

Register for Early Bird Access

Why Art? is a new segment asking our favourite artists and art workers why they pursue art

First things first – our Soho Radio show from Monday:

Karim Bitar is a broadcaster, curator, DJ and founder of music curatorial studio Meet In The MIDI.

1. What is the ⁠best piece of art you’ve consumed recently?

Kerry James Marshall: The Histories at Burlington House. The scale and execution of the works alone awakened something in me, but this was an ode to art history like no other. Great to see the Black American experience no longer as a footnote but as a central, generative force of painting's grand traditions.

2. ⁠Most overrated piece of art recently?

The London Eye NYE fireworks display. A stale operation. I sound ungrateful as we're lucky London can do this. And I'm a hypocrite because I never go to watch it. But why would I? Year-on-year it's a missed opportunity for Superbowl half-time show levels of anticipation. I don't want to see fireworks. I want the keys in the hands of a creative director and stories told by drone and laser.

3. ⁠Why Art?

It's non-negotiable. Art is born from the instinct to mark and locate ourselves in time. It's not something that you choose to engage in. It's a condition of being human. We're leaving traces in everything we do to say we were here.

Follow Meet In The MIDI on Instagram for upcoming events and listen to Karim’s regular show on Soho Radio.