The British architecture studio Ab Rogers Design has won the international design to build a new permanent mobile museum, which will take artworks from the Government Art Collection on tour around the UK.
The tour begins in a pre-existing mobile museum across the South West then the North West of England, this summer.
From 2027, the non-profit arts organisation Art Explora will tour the new mobile museum with three 12-week exhibitions each year.
The new museum is currently being built in Telford by Torton Bodies, a mobile exhibition display vehicle firm.
The mobile museum is one of the core programmes of Art Explora UK, an arts charity founded in 2021 with a mission to tackle the social, economic and geographic barriers that prevent many people from participating in the arts.
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The mobile museum will address these barriers by setting up within walking distance of local schools and community centres in areas identified as having high deprivation and low cultural engagement. Over 36-40 weeks of touring annually, it will visit 40-45 locations, reaching 25,000 visitors and serving 130–150 schools each year.
Artworks from the Government Art Collection will feature in one exhibition annually, with national and regional partners including Tate, the National Portrait Gallery, Leeds Art Gallery, Birmingham Museums Trust and National Museums Liverpool among other national museums.
The 13-week pilot tour, 15 June to 13 September 2026, begins in St Budeaux, Plymouth, then takes the works across Devon, northeast Cornwall and then onto Lancashire
The inaugural exhibition, Shaped by the Sea, includes work by 19 historic and contemporary artists from the Government Art Collection and explores the sea’s influence on people, places and communities.
Through themes of exploration, migration and climate change, the works on display will reflect the many ways the sea has shaped the UK and the wider world.
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Artists in the exhibition include Roger Ackling, Simon Bayliss, Samuel and Nathaniel Buck, Chila Kumari, Singh Burman, Mohini Chandra, Anya Gallaccio, Lubaina Himid, Tess Jaray, Thomas Luny, Will Maclean, Zethu Maseko, Paul Nash, William Pye, Bridget Riley, Ro Robertson, Zineb Sedira, Emma Stibbon and JMW Turner.
A total of £1.6m, formed of £800,000 from DCMS and £800,000 matched by Art Explora, is being used to build the museum.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said: “I am determined that great art isn’t just for the few but for everyone, no matter where they live.
"The Government Art Collection belongs to the whole country, and this tour is an exciting step towards making that a reality. By taking the collection directly into communities, to parks, schools, libraries and public squares, we’re breaking down the barriers that have kept people from experiencing the art that belongs to everyone.
"This is what ‘Arts Everywhere’ really means in practice, and I’m proud that we’re making it happen.
“The establishment of a permanent mobile museum for the UK builds on the success of two previous Art Explora mobile museum tours, in collaboration with Tate, in 2023 and 2024 across the Midlands and the North."
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Jemima Montagu, director of Art Explora, said: “There remains a growing gap between those who have access to museums, galleries and arts venues, and those who are left behind. Art Explora is trying to bridge this divide by taking art into the heart of communities and sharing our rich national collections more widely.”
Ab Rogers, founder and director of Ab Rogers Design, which specialises in small spaces and experiential design, said: “It is not every day you get the opportunity to design a mobile museum. We wanted to capture the feeling of the circus arriving in town, creating an explosive burst of energy and anticipation that contains and nurtures extraordinary, curated collections.
"More mobile, more vibrant and more alive than any other museum, it’s a project that’s very close to my heart.”
The mobile museum builds on the Culture Secretary’s commitment of up to £1.5bn to the cultural sector over this parliament, with the Arts Everywhere Fund aiming to save more than 1,000 cherished arts venues, museums, libraries and heritage buildings across England to ensure everyone, everywhere has access to the arts on their doorstep.
The Government Art Collection was established in 1899 and is a national collection of historic, modern and contemporary British art that is displayed in government buildings in the UK and around the world.
