Royal Academy Summer Exhibition

The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition is the highlight of the RA's summer with its annual celebration of the best of British art and sculpture. With works from all media, by renowned and completely unknown artists, the Summer Exhibition is a unique and much loved show.

Having run for an astonishing 240 years so far, the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition gives the unknown and unpublicised artists of the UK as much space and prominece as those we see in famous galleries every day. Bringing together the great and the small, the famous and the anonymous, the Summer Exhibition is a chance to see a fantastic and eclectic collection of works all in one space.

Highlights of the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2008 are expected to be the gallery that has been curated by recently elected Royal Academian Tracey Emin, an area that is dedicated solely to photography and a memorial gallery for the works of the late RB Kitaj.

Tracey Emin is notoriously controversial in the art world and her gallery room will no doubt be a big draw for many art fans this summer. With a sign warning people that images contained within the room are shocking, Emin's contribution to the Summer Exhibition is sure to be one of the busiest parts of the Royal Academy during the course of the show. With artwork like Damien Hirst's Dead Head, which shows the other enfant terrible of the artworld next to a decapitated head in a mortuary, a painting of a woman having sex with a zebra, and an unusual sculpture created out of penises, this is not art for the faint hearted.

Painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture and architecture are all represented in the summer show, with works from each medium all inspired by the same theme. Arranged room by room with different media within each one, for 2008 the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition has chosen the subject of Man Made for it selection process, meaning you will be able to see a huge range of artworks devoted to the topic.

Around 13,000 artists submit their work to the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition last year, but of course not all of them make to the show itself. Only about 1,200 pieces will be on display at the summer exhibition for 2008, with the majority of them being on sale to the public. This is the only art show in London where anyone can submit their work for viewing and potentially reach one of the biggest art loving audiences in the country.

Highlights of the 2008 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition include a selection of glass tiles with DNA for dyslexia, blue eyes and red hair; a large plain leaf book with a burnt out bowl shape in the centre; a sculpture made from folded newspaper; a sculpture made from small red human figures made to look like a flock of birds in flight and an arrangement of white hollow bricks arranged into a towering, cylindrical sculpture.

The winner of this year's Royal Academy Summer Exhibition prize is Jeff Koons with his sculpture of a giant blue reflective egg, that is cracked to show a shining silver interior. Cracked Egg (Blue) entitled Koon to £25,000 and the accolade of being the best in show for 2008.

Tickets for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition are £8.00 for adults, £4.00 for children aged 12 to 18, £3.00 for children aged 8 to 11, and free to children under 7. Please note that the Summer Exhibition will close to the public at 1pm on Monday 16th June 2008.

Tracey Emin at Royal Academy

American Scene at British Museum

BP Portrait Award

Rothko at Tate Modern

Photographic Portrait Prize

Radical Light at National Gallery

Amazing Rare Things London

Summer in London

Body Worlds London

Body Worlds at O2

Body Worlds at Mirror of Time

Music on a Summer Evening Tickets

Free Summer Festival in London

Summer Music Festival Tickets

State Banquet at Buckingham Palace

Summer Opening at Buckingham Palace

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