Spike Island

Free entry! Essential annual glimpse inside the secret spaces of Bristol’s brightest contemporary art hub. Usually hidden behind closed doors, Spike Island’s studios open their doors for you to experience works in progress from Bristol’s established and upcoming artists, as well as one-off performances, workshops and pop-up food and drink. Art, performances, music, exclusive beers, cocktails/mocktails and more at this years Spike Island Open Studios launch night!

Free entry! An evening of sensory hijinks: multi-disciplinary artist and DJ Olukemi Lijadu’s film and sound work Feedback explores the drum as a spiritual and communal force, and Phillip Lai’s sculptural commissions twist everyday materials into brain-teasing shapes. Catch Lijadu on the decks too, linking African diasporic beats to electronic grooves. Join us to celebrate the opening of our winter exhibitions, Olukemi Lijadu: 'Feedback' and Phillip Lai: 'RAIN / RUIN'

An exhibition of contemporary artist Nour Jaouda’s textile practice: a syncretic combination of painting, sculpture, and installation that materializes as ‘landscapes of memory'. Her intricately layered surfaces reveal fragmented narratives from her Libyan childhood and diasporic navigation between Cairo and London, examining cultural identity as a perpetually unfolding process. Spike Island is proud to present the first institutional solo exhibition by Libyan artist Nour Jaouda.

Spike Island’s communion with Guyanese-British artist Donald Locke’s five-decade transatlantic sprawl surveys his attempt to make sense of history with scalpel, glue stick, paint, and clay. Tracing a league of mediums and eras from Guyana to Bath to Georgetown to Edinburgh - this is colonial debris refracted through black radical materialism. Join us for an evening preview of new Spike Island exhibition: Donald Locke - Resistant Forms

Free entry! Essential annual glimpse inside the secret spaces of Bristol’s brightest contemporary art hub. Usually hidden behind closed doors, Spike Island’s studios open their doors for you to experience works in progress from Bristol’s established and upcoming artists, one off performances, workshops and pop up food and drink (to help get those conversations going). Spike Island launches its popular annual Open Studios with an evening of cutting-edge art and performance.