Top image: Tim Noble and Sue Webster, Courtesy the artists and BlainSouthern

The Royal Academy of Arts’ annual Summer Exhibition is a hotly anticipated fixture on the UK and international art calendar. Each year the gallery recruits a renowned creative figure as curator: this year sees Richard Wilson RA take the reigns, one of Britain’s most celebrated sculptors.

The theme of this year’s show? Duos. Those creative pairings whose ideas merge – and often clash – to produce defining results. “Two brains are better than one,” so goes the adage, and this exhibition proves adequate evidence to suggest it rings true. From twin sisters Jane and Louise Wilson’s immersive Chernobyl photographic display to Gilbert and George’s tongue-in-cheek East London affinity and through Jake and Dinos Chapman’s controversial humour, each pairing produces work that aptly reflects the characters who put their names to it.

Choosing to focus on artists who work as a duo, this year’s stellar line up draws across a range of mediums, from painting to sculpture through digital art. “The Summer Exhibition 2016 will be unpredictable, stimulating, and enjoyable with 10 startling rooms of contemporary art submitted from around the world by members, non-members and honorary invitees,” explained Wilson.

Running until 21st August, there’s plenty of time to check in at the various exhibitions.  There’s also over £50,000 up for grabs in the form of awards and prizes, as The Royal Academy of Arts celebrates the exhibition’s 248th year. Get immersed in the installations of Britain’s finest dream teams at this year’s event. 

Jake & Dinos Chapman – Human Rainbow II (2014)
The Chapman Brothers toy with violence, surrealism, philosophy and psychology like no other. Often controversial, always provocative, Jake and Dinos inject their uniquely wicked sense of humour into everything they create (just think back to their Shitrospectives – in which they took their most iconic pieces and reinterpreted them as small crappy cardboard versions. Brilliant.) 

Tapping into consumer culture, horror, religion and morality, these two enfant terribles’ contribution to the Summer Exhibition pays homage to Francisco Goya and George Batalille (two iconic artists who the design duo say influenced their trademark mix of playful surrealism).

Along with fifteen other international artists, the siblings will be showcasing two hand-coloured etchings from their stellar Human Rainbow II series at this year’s Summer Exhibition. Be sure to take a closer look at the detail on show, what may appear innocent as first glane becomes something far more gothic at closer inspection. “That is what I love to do, tempt the viewer and then smack them,” Dinos explains.

Kutluğ Ataman – THE PORTRAIT OF SAKIP SABANCI (2014)
Installation artist and pioneer of multi-image video creation, Kutluğ Ataman will exhibit his thrilling THE PORTRAIT OF SAKIP SABANCI (2014) at this year’s fair. Created for the tenth anniversary of the death of Turkish business leader Sakıp Sabancı, the artwork features 10,000 LCD light-up panels, each showing the portrait of some of the thousands of people who crossed paths with him. A poignant ode, the monumental sight is a fascinating realisation of how technology and art can merge as one.

Back in 2011 a full-length documentary charting the Turkish artist’s renowned career was made: it tapped into the filmmaker and contemporary artists exploration of communities;  looked into the way he would rewrite identities, and shone light onto how he blurs the line between reality and fiction.

Ron Arad RA – Spyre (2016)
Multifaceted architect-slash-sculptor Ron Arad RA is at the forefront of contemporary design and architecture. Known for his constant experimentation with the boundaries and possibilities of materials (including the structure of buildings, and his use of metals), he is recognised for his sustained excellence. As part of this year’s summer exhibition the Israeli polymath will create an exclusive installation for the RA courtyard, entitled Spyre.

Standing 16-metres high in the RCA courtyard, Spyre consists of a segmented corten steel oval cone. Each section of the structure moves at different speeds, ensuring that the unpredictable acrobatic postures of the installation are never repeated. At the tip of Spyre is a camera eye recording a live stream that will be relayed to a screen inside the RA.

Jane and Louise Wilson – Chernobyl (2010 – 2012)
Identical twins Jane and Louise Wilson have been creating photography and video-installation work from an early age. Having started out making films of small living spaces – such as bed and breakfast rooms – and one video showing them taking LSD for the first time, the Turner-Prize nominated duo began to hone their craft, documenting discarded buildings of oppressive institutions like Nazi Germany and the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant through their stark, architectural photography and haunting video installations.

And it’s the latter that is on display at this year’s Summer Exhibition as Chernobyl (2010 – 2012) dominates the Royal Academy’s upper staircase. Honing in on devastating scenes, the sisters bring a sense of humanity back to vacant locations as they explore themes of identity, and marginalisation.

RCA’s 2016 Summer Exhibition runs until 21st August.