Contemporary art exhibition to showcase work from Wales and beyond

A new contemporary art exhibition is set to open in Cardiff, showcasing work from artists across Wales and beyond.

The Artistic Museum of Contemporary Art (AMOCA) will return to Marble Hall for its second pop-up exhibition, Dialogues Wales: New Voices from the Museum Collection, running from .

AMOCA is a privately funded, non-profit institution dedicated to fostering dialogue through contemporary art. Based in Cardiff, the museum aims to connect Wales to a broader international art discourse.

Part of the museum’s foundation is drawn from the private collection developed over three decades by co-founder Anders Hedlund.

Hedlund, who established Tomorrow’s Generation Dyslexia Centre among other philanthropic endeavours, said: “Our ambition is to build a museum in Cardiff that reflects both the complexity of contemporary culture and the distinct creative energy of Wales.

“We want AMOCA to serve as a cultural bridge — connecting local communities with international voices. This exhibition is another step toward shaping an institution grounded in dialogue, visibility, and long-term responsibility.”

The museum hosted its inaugural exhibition in 2025, and Dialogues Wales: New Voices will continue to “activate Cardiff’s cultural landscape” ahead of their permanent opening in 2026.

Whereas the first exhibition foregrounded Black voices from Africa and its diaspora, this second edition focuses on the growing range of works from women and nonbinary artists in the museum’s collection.

Bringing together intergenerational practices across painting, sculpture, and material experimentation, the  artists involved interrogate abstraction, identity, and the politics of the body.

New Voices serves AMOCA’s “institutional commitment” to build a collection that expands representation, deepens dialogue, and situates Wales within an international contemporary art conversation.

A work of particular note to be included in the exhibition is Shani Rhys James’ Nitrile Gloves 2.

Born in Melbourne and based in Wales for over four decades, Rhys James’ work is known for its psychological intensity and expressive force, often exploring the interior lives of women through figuration and material presence.

Her paintings transform bodies, interiors, and everyday objects into emotional terrains, shaped by biography, memory, and lived experience, yet resisting narrative closure.

Rhys James explained: “I paint about mostly quite personal things… It’s a lot to do with feeling… the force of life.”

Over her career, she has received the Gold Medal for Fine Art at the National Eisteddfod, the Jerwood Painting Prize, and an MBE for services to art. Her work is held in leading collections, including National Museum Cardiff.

For AMOCA, the inclusion of Nitrile Gloves 2 anchors the exhibition, bridging Welsh artistic legacy with an international contemporary context.

Anders Hedlund added: “Shani Rhys James represents an essential part of that story, an artist whose work carries both local depth and universal resonance.”

Within AMOCA Dialogues, Rhys James’ work is presented alongside more than forty leading international artists including Lynda Benglis, Ewa Juszkiewicz, Elizabeth Peyton, Issy Wood and more.

The exhibition will be held in Marble Hall at Cardiff’s Temple of Peace from 15 to 18 April, with a private view on 14 April. For more information, visit AMOCA’s site here.

Participating artists: Cristina BanBan, Kinga Bartis, Math Bass, Julie Beaufils, Lynda Benglis, Merikokeb Berhanu, Sara Bermen, Darcy Brenna, Pia Camil, Cristina Canale, Saskia Colwell, Kim Dacres, Bernadette Despujols, Lunita-July Dorn, Simone Haack, Heidi Hahn, Aurel Haize Odogbo, Connie Harrison, Donna Huanca, Anna Kristine Hvid Petersen, Vera Iliatova, Ewa Juszkiewicz, Hayv Kahraman, Soli Kiani, Sally Kindberg, Maria Klabin, Chantal Khoury, Julia Kowalska, Conny Maier, Jessie Makinson, Yassi Mazandi, Cristina de Miguel, Jesse Mockrin, Bridget Mullen, Cecilia de Nisco, Paulina Olowska, Katherina Olschbaur, Elizabeth Peyton, Shani Rhys James,, Elsa Ruoy, Ann Leda Shapiro, Constance Tenvik, Issy Wood, Rachel Zhang, Anna Zimmerman, Autumn Wallace and Sixten Sandra Österberg.