Royal West of England Academy allows AI into its Annual Exhibition

The deadline for entries to the Annual Open Exhibition of the Royal West of England Academy (RWA) closed at midnight yesterday.

I'm wondering how many entries they got this year.

That's because they have this year allowed people to submit AI entries.

I gather a lot of artists have been very upset about this - as one might expect given that, by definition, AI means an artwork cannot be the original work of the artist.

Some ventured to comment on the error of the RWA's ways - and promptly got banned from commenting on their Instagram account!

I notice social media posts about the RWA Open latterly have had no scope whatsoever for comments.

I then went back though Instagram looking at other posts inviting entries for the RWA Open and not one of those I looked at had comments.

I rather think they may regret the notion of inviting AI artwork.

Should any other art society think it might be a good idea to be cutting edge and introduce AI as an option for acceptable media, I'd highly recommend you look at the RWA Exhibition when it opens

The 173rd Annual Open Exhibition at the Royal West of England Academy (RWA) in Bristol will run from 12 September 2026 to 3 January 2027. It showcases over 500 contemporary works—including painting, sculpture, and photography—across historic galleries, with all featured art available for purchase. Google AI

Plus maybe have a look at some of the other posts about this 

For any other society anticipating doing similar, consider for a moment how you can possibly have a rule which states that this is all the artist's own original artwork - AND that the society allows AI to play a part.

By definition, the latter is NOT "all the artist's own work"!

It's a complete nonsense!