SPIKE ISLAND OPEN STUDIOS 2026
Exhibition, Open Studios, Performance, Screening, Workshop
Visit event website →Share
Spike Island Open Studios
Image by Lisa Whiting
SPIKE ISLAND OPEN STUDIOS 2026
Step right up for a spectacular weekend celebrating Spike Island Open Studios – the hugely popular annual event offering behind-the-scenes access to the building’s vast network of studio holders, as well as UWE Fine Art studios and Spike Print Studio. From 1-3 May, enjoy street food, performances, exhibitions, screenings and free workshops across the building, with opportunities to meet artists in their spaces and celebrate Spike Island’s 50th year.
FRIDAY 1 MAY: 6-9pm
SATURDAY 2 MAY: 11am-5pm
SUNDAY 3 MAY: 11am-5pm
See the full programme here. Selected events and exhibitions presented by UWE students and recent graduates are listed below:
FRIDAY
BAR AND PERFORMANCE SPACE: CIRQUE DU SPIKE
Friday 1 May, 6-9pm
UWE BA Fine Art Studios
Roll up! Roll up! For a creative extravaganza of talent and misfortune at the Fine Art Big Top Circus, celebrating the dazzling skills of UWE’s Fine Art students and Spike Island friends. Enjoy drinks and party snacks! Expect to be astounded and confused.
SATURDAY
DROP-IN CHATS: WITH UWE MA FINE ART/CURATING PROGRAMME LEADERS
Saturday 2 May, 1-3pm
Outside MA Fine Art studios
Interested to find out more about doing an MA in Fine Art or Curating? Chat to Dr Steven Paige, Programme Leader, MA Fine Art, or Dr Marianne Mulvey, Programme Leader, MA Fine Art: Curating, about UWE’s postgraduate arts courses, run in partnership with Spike Island and other cultural organisations across Bristol and the South West.
MENDING WORKSHOP: DARN YA SOCKS!
Saturday 2 May, 2-4pm
UWE BA Fine Art Studios
Learn how to mend holes in clothing by darning, in a cosy workshop with tea, biscuits and CDs. Materials and test fabric provided but bring your holey socks and damaged clothing if you can! With BA Art and Writing student, Amelia Gardner.
SCREENING: ONEIRIA
Saturday 2 May, 4-5pm
Associates Space
Oneiria is a programme of short films from the country of dreams: where people, objects and values shimmer and morph into other versions of themselves and nothing is quite as it seems. Featuring work by Associates Guy Undrill, Rachel Gillibrand, Zoe Parker Moon, Finlay Thompson and Annie McGill.
SUNDAY
WORKSHOP: CRAFTY CLOWNS WITH ZINNIA COLLECTIVE
Sunday 3 May, 11am-1pm and 2-4pm
UWE BA Fine Art Studios
11am-1pm: Drop into this fun crafty accessory workshop, and make clown hats and cuffs, and circus-inspired flower crowns using collage, drawing and sewing.
2-4pm: Clown life drawing. Roll up and draw some crazy costumed clowns. All materials provided, no experience required!
WORKSHOP: CLAY STORYTELLING
Sunday 3 May, 1-4pm
Ground Floor Kitchen
A clay workshop encouraging new connections, collaborations and the sharing of stories. Build your own clay tiles, trinkets, or candle holders to be fired and collected at a later date. With Associate Holly Lewin and UWE Graduate Fellow Noah Cole.
DROP-IN CHATS: WITH UWE MA FINE ART/CURATING PROGRAMME LEADERS
Sunday 3 May, 1-3pm
Outside MA Fine Art studios
Interested to find out more about doing an MA in Fine Art or Curating? Chat to Dr Steven Paige, Programme Leader, MA Fine Art, or Dr Marianne Mulvey, Programme Leader, MA Fine Art: Curating, about UWE’s postgraduate arts courses, run in partnership with Spike Island and other cultural organisations across Bristol and the South West.
SCREENING: Docile Sodom (Where Does It End?)
Sunday 3 May, 3.30-4.30pm
Associates Space
A screening of Docile Sodom (Where Does It End?) by artist Simone Marconi, followed by an introduction and screening of Signs of a Colonial Era by artist Eliza Rawlings.
EXHIBITIONS, INTSALLATIONS AND CURATED SPACES
Friday – Sunday
OPEN EXHIBITION
UWE BA Fine Art Studios
Undergraduate students from across Fine Art present their latest work in this large-scale group show, featuring sculpture, painting, performance, film and installations.
EXHIBITION: THE BROOKE BOND VAULTS, EST. 1992
Project Space 1, UWE BA Fine Art Studios
The Brooke Bond Vaults is a little-known archive striving to preserve the materiality of art-making in a hyper digital age. For Spike’s 50th anniversary, every studio-holder was invited to donate an object. Collecticians pH. Martha Fox and pH. Amelia Gardner use a secretive and unorthodox preservation method – revealed this Spike Open 2026 – as they unlatch their industrial doors to the public for the first and only time. You may smell it before you see it…
EXHIBITION: WANTING TO SIT WITH SOMEONE
Project Space 2, UWE BA Fine Art Studios
This group exhibition curated by George Lawrence aims to scrutinise impulses of comfort and company through material fragilities.
EXHIBITION: AMNIOTE
Project Space 3, UWE BA Fine Art Studios
An exploration of industrialism and biology. The decay of body into ground, the corporeal: the body capable of weathering, embryo as mildew and rust. Curated by Mack Shahini.
EXHIBITION: MA FINE ART
UWE MA Fine Art Studio and Hallway
UWE MA Fine Art students present their work, across two interlinking spaces: MA STUDIO & HALLWAY, on the ground floor, adjacent to the BA Fine Art studios. The work reflects the students’ preoccupations and research around materiality, labour, gender, mythology and language and our current challenging social and political contexts.
PROJECT: ACCESS BRISTOL
By UWE MA Fine Art Studio
Access Bristol is a growing research project developed by UWE MA Curating students investigating accessibility across Bristol’s cultural institutions.
Visitors are invited to share their supportive experiences, as well as barriers faced when accessing Bristol’s cultural spaces. This marks the project’s progress towards becoming a submission-based, community-informed resource.
SOUND INSTALLATION: PRIVATE PARTS
Ground Floor Toilets
Questioning our engagement with public and private spaces, Private Parts reflects on the mechanics of thought within a vulnerable site, asking whether the voice we hear is internal or imposed. By Annie McGill.
PERFORMANCE: MYSTERIOUS ADVENTURE
Throughout the building
Artist Ayuko Dan explores the world around her through a mysterious, durational performance.
INTERACTIVE INSTALLATION: THINGS TO TAKE HOME
First Floor Mezzanine
An interactive installation and continuation of a recent project, Things To Take Home. Giving discarded billboards a second life, fold back the layers, reveal and conceal. Play the role of the urban landscaper. By Associate Connie Ballantyne.
See the full programme events and exhibitions on Spike Island’s website.