As Hirst hits 40, meet new faces of UK art scene

The new faces of the contemporary British art scene are revealed today - and they hail from countries as far afield as Guyana, Bulgaria and Canada.

The new faces of the contemporary British art scene are revealed today - and they hail from countries as far afield as Guyana, Bulgaria and Canada.

The international range of artists selected for the prestigious British Art Show reflects how London's art scene is fast usurping New York and European cities as the place to be.

Launched in 1979 by the Arts Council, the show's aim is to survey the development of British art every five years. This year, the chosen ones were selected from a list of 500 artists living and working in Britain.

The final list of 49 artists unveiled today - a day before the original Young British Artist (YBA) and former enfant terrible Damien Hirst turns 40 - incorporates more than 18 different nationalities.

Curators of the exhibition said its diversity was a reflection of how London had become a magnet to growing numbers of international artists who were enriching the scene and re-defining the notion of "Britishness".

Andrea Schlieker, who curated the show alongside Alex Farquharson, said the original YBAs had placed London firmly in the centre of the artistic map, yet the new generation were moving away from their legacy.

"This year's artists have made the term 'British' more elastic than any other Art Show. Outside New York, London has become the main centre for gravity in which to live and work. Since the late 1980s, it has become such a magnet for artists and the climate is fantastic," she said.

Among the paintings, sculptures and live performances at this year's show, film and video installations are numerous. Zineb Sedira, who was born in France and is of Algerian heritage, has compiled a film interviewing her parents about the Algerian civil war, while Zarina Bhimji returned to her Ugandan homeland many years after emigrating to make a film. Doug Fishbone, an artist from California who last year created a sculpture in Trafalgar Square made of 30,000 bananas, has made a video which evokes the spirit of the US writer Spalding Gray.

The show is organised by the Hayward Gallery and will tour from Gateshead to Manchester, Nottingham and Bristol from September this year.

Rising stars of contemporary art

DOUG FISHBONE

The 35-year-old, born in New York, said he came to Goldsmiths College, London University, because he was accepted on the Fine Art MA course but "coming to London turned out to be the best decision I ever made". He stayed because there is a vibrant arts scene in Hackney, East London, where he lives, and he feels that art has "a real importance in London" while New York's scene is larger and possibly more corporate. He is best known for his sculpture called '30,000 Bananas', which he created last year in Trafalgar Square, London. He was awarded the Beck's Futures Student Film and Video Prize last year, and nominated for the prize this year.

ERGIN CAVUSOGLU

Born in Bulgaria in 1968, he graduated from the University of Marmara, Istanbul, in 1994, and from Goldsmiths College, London, a year later. He now lives and works in London and he has had solo shows both in Britain and Turkey. He was short-listed for the Beck's Futures Prize last year for a video installation that included close shots of oil tankers crossing the Bosphorus Strait in the dead of night.

SASKIA OLDE WOLBERS

Born in Breda in the Netherlands, the 33-year-old graduated from Amsterdam in fine art before coming to London to enrol at the Chelsea College of Art & Design in the mid 1990s. Her solo and group shows span across Europe and America and she is known for creating videos of surreal fairy tales. She was last year short-listed for the Beck's Futures Prize for a film about a man waking from a coma in the hospital where he previously masqueraded as a doctor, shot through the mesh of a hamster cage.

DARIA MARTIN

Aged 32, the San Francisco native graduated from Yale in humanities before a degree in art at the University of California in 2000. She describes her films as "like magic acts that show how the trick is done". She has had solo shows in London, including at the Tate Britain, as well as Zurich and was short-listed for the Beck's Futures Prize this year. Her films combine influences from fashion to dance with painting and sculpture.

GORDON CHEUNG

Born in London in 1975, he graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2001. He received the BOC Emerging Artist Award and the Jerwood Drawing Prize last year. He uses computers to construct images and, using a combination of collage, ink, spray paint and computer print-out, translates the images to large-scale canvases. In 2000, he helped to organise Assembly, an exhibition in east London involved more than 170 artists.