The top 10 Ultra-Contemporary artists, most widely exhibited in the last year

For our final edition of the summer data newsletter series, we bring you the most exhibited ultra-contemporary artists in the past year. This list includes both solo and group shows and is limited to artists that we classify as ultra-contemporary (born after 1974), that have exhibited in the last 364 days.

The sheer number of exhibitions that each of these artists has participated in within the space of a year is impressive. This number might be standard for the world’s most infamous artists whose art exists in museums and private collections globally, and who are represented by multiple galleries, but for ultra-contemporary artists to be averaging just over two exhibitions a month is impressive. This could be signalling a growing shift to a focus on the art of the future and an increasing demand for ultra-contemporary art worldwide. The exhibitions that contributed to the high scores of these artists were for every imaginable form of institution: from non-profits, galleries, and museums to biennales and art fairs.

Alicja Kwade
(b. 1979, Poland)
Global rank: 52
National rank Germany: 13
National rank Poland: 1
38 exhibitions

Maks Dannecker
(b. 1976, Germany)
Global rank: 2,060
National rank: 271
37 exhibitions

Laure Prouvost
(b.1978, France)
Global rank: 79
National rank: 8
31 exhibitions

Patrizia Casagranda
(b. 1979, Stuttgart)
Global rank: 8,423
National rank: 1,164
28 exhibitions

Zhanna Kadyrova
(b. 1981, Ukraine)
Global rank: 767
National rank: 6
27 exhibitions

Rashid Johnson
(b. 1977, United States)
Global rank: 239
National rank: 70
27 exhibitions

Alfredo Barsuglia
(b. 1980, Austria)
Global rank: 1,033
National rank: 33
26 exhibitions

Nikita Kadan
(b. 1982, Ukraine)
Global rank: 411
National rank: 4
25 exhibitions

Tabita Rezaire
(b. 1989, France)
Global rank: 370
National rank: 41
23 exhibitions

Kapwani Kiwanga
(b. 1978, Canada)
Global rank: 207
National rank: 3
23 exhibitions

Let’s take a closer look at our top scorer, the sculptor and installation artist, Alicja Kwade. Examining the past 364 days we can see just how diverse the exhibitions that she participated in were, with multiple shows at museums, galleries, art fairs, and biennales. A substantial portion of these exhibitions were group shows, with just 3 solo shows in this period. Her last solo show was Petrichor in the winter of 2022 at 303 Gallery, New York, the title referring to “the distinctive earthy scent that briefly lingers after rainfall on parched soil”. During this time, she’s exhibited in no less than 18 countries and has experienced a 13.33% uptick in her ranking, which is a particularly substantial growth for someone ranked as highly as her.

Alicja Kwade, Petrichor, 2022 303 Gallery, New York, 2022

It’s clearly been a busy year for these artists and we send our congratulations. Equally so to the tirelessly working artists who have also reached many milestones and participated in a number of shows in the past year, but that didn’t make the top 10.