At local Arts University Bournemouth (AUB), each year art exhibitions are held in coalition with TheGallery. They bring contemporary art, oil abstracts, drawings, black and white photographs, sculptures and alike to life for the whole community. Showcased are the university's own art collection, containing artwork from both staff and students dating back to the1900s. However, they also present loaned art from both public and private collections such as the John and Barbara Weeks Collection.

Students at AUB learn hands on about curating technical works due to a lot of the courses available being practical. A curator is essentially a translator for the artist. They make the artwork accessible to the public and can also assess what other activities can be created from the exhibitions. The staff at AUB aim to use their position as a university to create a hub for students where they can be educated and learn from them, not just from the exhibitions they bring to the region each year. Regarding the galleries put on show, they are changed up each year and planned two years in advance. This is because art is always changing as our community grows and new topics come to light. As Violet M. McClean, a professor at AUB, said, “exhibitions address different voices in society to a visual form.” Therefore, society and the world of art are interlinked and so keeping tabs on the two is a great way to express the stories and histories that need to be communicated. AUB hold two exhibitions a year as it allows more engagement from both the public and courses, additionally, it gives them the chance to get as much activity out of them as possible by having them on for a longer time period. However, the long gallery is held on a yearly basis and is split into four slots, with two before and two after Christmas. This doesn’t include the three summer shows held in the middle.

Currently on show (from 10th February – 27th April 2023) is Small Anthropologies, smartly put together for display by Professor Shawn Naphtali Sobers. This exhibition is based around black British history and presented is a series of works exploring everyday life and material culture all of which is from a personal perspective. The breath-taking range of artwork consists of still life, portraiture, landscape, installation, archives, and AI (which is interactive) – all used to communicate the stories hidden in everyday objects. For example, with ‘Artificial Intelligence Image Making’, it is expressed how AI software causes controversy when it comes down to what is seen as ethical in society. It also recognises how we are only just beginning to really notice and understand the impacts, as well as possibilities, such a software can provide us with. This is only a fraction of what AUB’s exhibitions have to offer.

For further information you can visit aub.ac.uk/gallery