Goldsmiths Postgraduate Degree Show 2026
92 student booths spread across six buildings. It took me four hours, 9,550 steps and 325 photos to cover it all. I’m glad that Goldsmiths Postgraduate Art is one of the last degree shows of the season because it’s an exhausting and tough act to follow, and this year it was particularly good.
This is the fourth year in a row I’ve attended and what continues to make this degree show so exciting is that the majority of the students are primarily working in sculpture and installation. Yes, you’ll find some terrific painters, and many of the artists include drawing or canvas as part of their practice, but generally speaking most of these artists are aiming for you to have a more engaging experience than you can get from a traditional hang of rectangles centre aligned along a white wall.
Before I get to the list of things that caught my attention I want to specifically call out the group of students that collaborated in the entry room of the 4th floor of Ben Pimlott. I didn’t get to ask how these four radically different artists managed to come together but the interaction of their art and the overall hang, including a bespoke handout map, felt like a carefully curated gallery show.
Ben Pimlott 4th Floor East Wing
Hudson Cooke (@Hudson.Cooke) and Mia Grassie-Clarke (@miagrassiestudio) made contemporary references to the past with cracked pissing urns and decorative wallpaper (on vinyl and canvas), while the others turned found object sculpture on its head, with “bombs”, “weapons” and a tower of car bumpers from Zommer (@zommer_jing) and the bookcase replica by Carlotta S. (@carlottas.eu) that included paint sampled from the other works in the room. All the works were individually strong, but it was their interplay that kept me lingering and eager to learn more. Congrats on a fab collab, you four!
…and now we come to the artists and works that caught my attention and stuck in my head. Some stood out because they were exceptionally good, and others just because they were radically different than anything else being shown in the show. Presented alphabetically by first name.
1-2 - Alaina Cherry (@lanie_cherry) — A reminder of just how many different people one human being can be.
3 - Alia Hamaoui (@aliahamaoui) — The dry and sombre install was filled with materials subverted to explore how climate and geography impact labour and define identity. At least thats what I think the overly convoluted wall text meant.
4 - Alson Zhao (@alson_htz) / Diana Nway Htwe (@dianahtwe) — This was the first card I randomly plucked out of the box. It made me want to know everything about the research based install, but by then my brain was friend.
5 - Aria Nicolette Tan (@ant.art.tica_) — These large, bold confessionals appear to be fond reminiscence… until you realise they’re about the artist’s experience being groomed online as a child.
6 - Bella Hope (@bellhopp) — Art that will inspire and then regenerate, because these paper animals, slowly being consumed by living plants and moss, are biodegradable and will be buried in 2027.
7-8 - Claire Lee (@mizuperri.x) — A hand drawn (admittedly inaccurate) map, 1,500 photographs and muddy shoes are all we got to see from an 86-kilometre journey that will probably stay in the artist’s memory long after these items have been lost to time.
9-10 - Daniel Zeballos Merino (3ll400.blogspot.com) — Four barely-there drawings commanded your attention thanks to the stark simplicity of the white walled hang that stood out in a degree show filled with maximalist booths.
11 - Erin Gallagher (@eegallagher_art) — Paintings strong enough to stand on their own, but I’m still glad they were echoed with some sculptural companions.
12 - Haysom Smith (@haysommmm) — This auditorium was playing two videos but I had a much better time facing away from the screen to examine the re-covered seats while dancing along to a crackin’ soundtrack.
13 - Hyunju Oh (@ohamju) — Evocative of a fancy wrought iron fence design, these elaborate resin works, filled with found objects, were beautifully backlit thanks to the way they were hung in front of the recessed windows.
14 - Jiajing Silvia Wang (@jiajingwang_) — The staging for this exhibit about ecological extinction created a sense of meaning and weight the individual pieces could not have conveyed on their own.
15-16 - Kyra Zhang (@kyra_zhang_) — Built an actual escape room that doubled up as actual Canapé Tasting experience. Ironically locked when we arrived, I had to break in using the ladder.
17 - Leena Nasser (@mnzlee) — I don’t know if this is art or the overly elaborate setup for a tweenage girl’s birthday slumber party, but it certainly made every visitor stop and gawp.
18 - Ma Liang (@mma_liang) — Brash and bold, I’m surprised we aren’t seeing more ‘photoshopped’ style pop/culture mashup paintings from the generation of artists that have never known a life without the internet.
19-20 - Moses Tan (@kickthatmo) — In a degree show filled with performances it was ironic that this artist just decided to make a stage. Well, not actually. It was embellished with lots of wickedly twisted animatronics.
21 - Sally de Freitas (@sally.defreitas) — I got stuck looking for hidden patterns in this minimalist, geometric room that would make Sol Le Wit proud.
22 - Troy Yihao Liang (@thatflowerdude) — The most shocking thing about these dark (in both definitions) works is the artist’s statement they are based on personal experience.
23 - Xinde Ren (@xinde.ren) — I initially thought someone had gone wild with the spray paint. They’re all laser cut aluminium embellished with oil, acrylic, markers and pencils.
24-25 - Xiqi Zhu (@xiqi.zhu) — An installation about attention that rewarded every effort you made to read the amusing, dry wit details.
26-28 - Xinyi Miao (@lunacymiao) — A room filled with nothing more than simple notes documenting the daily banalities of life. I’d still be there reading them had my companion not dragged me out.
Extra Credit
There was an overwhelming amount of work in this degree show, but these six things particularly amused me in the best possible way: they made me smile and/or laugh out loud. Yes… Art is allowed to be fun.
EC1 - Felipe Pineda Rojas (@felipes.pinedas) — Every inch of floor and wall in his booth was lined with cardboard. This leftover stack was used to display his info cards, and might also be a great source of income once the end-of-term dorm students start packing up to move back home.
EC2 - Jay Jie ZHU (@jjaayyz) — Tell me you live in London without telling me you live in London. This video of an urban fox playing on an entry phone display might just be the most ‘city-living’ artwork I’ve ever seen.
EC3 - Maria Giulia Casco (@mariagiuliacasco) — This jesmonite extension plug sculpture was wonderfully done, and will be particularly appreciated by fans of the movie Christmas Vacation.
EC4 - Psymon Haze (IG preview) — Dedicated to all The Simpsons fans out there. (PS - Here’s every chalkboard gag, ever.)
EC5 - Sally de Freitas (@sally.defreitas) — If you can communicate your ethos in four words and make people laugh… do it.
EC6 - Shiyo Zhou (@shiyo00__) — Derivative? Yes. Clever? Undeniably. I love how this artist chose to create a dialogue with Will Alsop’s famous rooftop Scribble sculpture that sits atop the building.
PS - to the Film & Moving Image artists:
Yes, I explored the Small Pool but like every year I spent more time worrying I was never going to find my way out while wondering why so many traditionally structured films (linear, narrative, documentary, etc) need to be staged within unnecessarily elaborate seating rooms that only serve to distract you from the screen.
I’m not saying that I would commit to a full two hours, but I really wish all these works had been put on a loop in a proper auditorium so that visitors could sit and watch them like they’re at a film fest. It’s statistically unlikely that a random 15 seconds anyone sees once they peek through the curtains is going to be enticing enough to make them stay for the rest. If I’m going to spend time properly considering moving image then it’s essential to be given the opportunity to view them in the way most of them were probably meant to be seen: from start to finish.
I’m sure many of you have made some amazing work, but the structure of the show simply asks too much of the viewer to enable them to find out.
More Information
‘Postgraduate Degree Show 2026’ was at Goldsmiths (@goldsmithsmfa) 17-21 July, 2026
Check the official Art degree shows webpage and follow @goldsmithsmfa on Instagram for more information about the school and programme.
🔔 Please get in touch to correct any mistakes to names or IG accounts.
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