Spike Island

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Spike Island

Award-winning 80,000 ft² contemporary arts centre in Bristol, UK ▫️ Visit our gallery and café from Wed to Sun, 12–5pm ▫️

Gallery open Wednesday to Sunday, 12–5pm (during exhibitions). Café open Tuesday to Saturday, 10am–5pm and Sunday 10–4pm.

29/05/2026

REMINDER: Join us tonight to celebrate the launch of our summer exhibitions, Tohé Commaret: 'Mijitas' and Nancy Lupo: 'Several Chickens Later' 🎉

🗓️ Tonight, 6–11pm

💿 Discover two major new exhibitions alongside vinyl DJ sets from Noods Radio resident Amaia and Whitts who, from 8pm onwards, will be spinning everything from funk, disco and groove to bass, dubstep and post-club

🍸 Cocktails, local wine and beers, and alcohol-free options available throughout the evening in our on-site café-bar Emmeline

🎟️ This event is free to attend, with booking strongly advised

Book your free place at the link in our bio 🔗

Photography by Lisa Whiting (2026). Image courtesy Spike Island

28/05/2026

‘Mijitas’ is the first exhibition in the UK by Franco-Chilean artist Tohé Commaret, opening with a launch party at Spike Island on Friday 29 May from 6–11pm. It features two new moving image commissions.

Across the exhibition, characters, places and gestures reappear in different guises. The same performers inhabit different social positions and narrative worlds, producing a series of doubles, echoes and alternative lives. Through repetition and return, ‘Mijitas’ approaches cinema as a space where identities remain unstable and stories continually re-emerge in altered forms.

Tohé Commaret, ‘Mijitas’ includes a co-commission by MUSEUM MMK FÜR MODERNE KUNST (Frankfurt) in collaboration with Spike Island and produced by Parcelles Films (Paris). The exhibition is generously supported by Fluxus Art Projects.

Tohé Commaret, ‘Can you hear me?’ (2026). Film excerpt. Courtesy the artist

27/05/2026

Nancy Lupo: 'Several Chickens Later' opens at Spike Island with a launch party this Friday 29 May, 6–11pm

'Several Chickens Later' is a major new exhibition by Nancy Lupo opening on Friday 29 May, including a corpus of newly commissioned works.

The fiction piece 'Meow Meow Real Estate' is published on the occasion of the exhibition. It accompanies and feeds its course. In this book, Lupo recounts the story of a woman looking for an apartment. The search is both literal and existential.

Several Chickens Later includes a work co-produced by Spike Island and the Nicoletta Fiorucci Foundation (London). With thanks to Raven Row (London). The exhibition is generously supported by Antenna Space.

Background image: Nancy Lupo, 'Meow Meow Real Estate' at the Nicoletta Fiorucci Foundation (2026). Photography by Keystone Photos. Courtesy Nicoletta Fiorucci Foundation and the artist
Foreground images: Courtesy the artist

25/05/2026

We’re proud to support Art in Motion (AIM) 🤝

Based at Spike Island until 2025, AIM is a Bristol-based organisation working alongside learning-disabled and neurodivergent artists to create bold, ambitious work while building confidence, connection and creative independence. They’re currently fundraising at a critical moment, and we’re helping spread the word.

For small, community-led arts organisations, funding is becoming harder to secure. At the same time, the need for inclusive, accessible creative spaces like AIM has never been greater.

This funding will help bridge an urgent gap, keep the studio open and ensure artists and projects already in development can continue to grow.

Donate today to keep AIM open:
crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-keep-aims-studio-open 🔗

Photography by Dan Weill, images courtesy Spike Island

23/05/2026

⭐ Open Studios 2026 ⭐

This year's Open Studios was an incredible showcase of Bristol's creative community, with 9000 members of the public coming through our doors across the weekend to meet Spike Island's community 🫂

Now we're looking ahead to the rest of our 50th anniversary year, with so much more to look forward to...

Next up:
✨ New exhibitions from Tohe Commaret and Nancy Lupo: Saturday 30 May to Sunday 6 September 2026
📚 BABE (Bristol Artists' Book Event): 26–27 June 2026
🎪 Spike Print Fair: 24–26 July 2026

Sign up to our mailing list today to keep up to date with our programme of events and exhibitions 🗞️

1–3, 5, 6, 8–10: Photography by Lisa Whiting, images courtesy Spike Island (2026)
4, 7: Photography by Dan Weill, images courtesy Spike Island (2026)

22/05/2026

🔊 One week to go until our summer exhibitions launch party, celebrating new work by Tohé Commaret and Nancy Lupo

🗓️ Friday 29 May, 6–11pm

💿 Discover two major new exhibitions alongside vinyl DJ sets from Whitts and Noods Radio resident Amaia

🍸 Local wine and beers, cocktails and alcohol-free options available throughout the evening in our on-site café-bar Emmeline

AMAIA
Amaia attempts to mix weird bass music on vinyl, tending towards dubstep, broken and spacious off-kilter rhythms, music which sounds like it’s crumbling apart, grime, post-club, long pauses, awkward silences, and anything by Ramadanman.

WHITTS
Having played across the UK, Whitts’ vinyl-heavy sets span funk, soul, disco and groove. Whitts has recently at Pikes (Ibiza), Shangri-La (Glastonbury), and is a regular at Beatherder Festival.

🎟️ This event is free to attend, with booking strongly advised

Book your place today at the link in our bio 🔗

Tohé Commaret: 'Mijitas' includes a co-commission by MUSEUM MMK FÜR MODERNE KUNST (Frankfurt) in collaboration with Spike Island and produced by Parcelles Films (Paris). The exhibition is generously supported by Fluxus Art Projects

Nancy Lupo: 'Several Chickens Later' includes a work co-produced by Spike Island and the Nicoletta Fiorucci Foundation (London). With thanks to Raven Row (London). The exhibition is generously supported by Antenna Space

1. Tohé Commaret, ‘Can you hear me?’ (2026) Film still. Image courtesy the artist
2. Nancy Lupo: 'Princessletthewind' (2025) Install view at Kunstverein, Schwerin. Photography by Fred Dott, image courtesy the artist
3, 4. Tohé Commaret, ‘Can you hear me?’ (2026) Film still. Image courtesy the artist
5. Nancy Lupo: ‘Hark’ (2025) Install view at Michael Benevento, Los Angeles. Photography by Ed Mumford, image courtesy the artist

21/05/2026

Spike Island is excited to be hosting BABE (Bristol Artists' Book Event) this June! 📚

🗓️ 26–27 June 2026, 11am–5pm
📍 UWE Fine Art Studios, Spike Island
🎟️ Free entry

Presented by UWE Bristol, BABE is a biennial showcase of artists’ books with 100+ artists and small presses exhibiting their works to the public for sale 📖

This edition features curators and artists from Japan, who will be showcasing bookworks and welcoming the Kujibiki Drawing Project for the first time in Bristol—a participatory language workshop exploring different types of communication.

Alongside special guests from Japan, discover work by artists and publishers from Austria, Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Turkey, and the USA as well as exhibitors from across the UK.

Learn more about BABE 2026 via the link in our bio 🔗

1. Image courtesy UWE Bristol
2. Christine McCauley, 'Stones of Stenness' (2024). Images courtesy the artist
3. Claire Gladstone. Image courtesy UWE Bristol

20/05/2026

Get to know Nancy Lupo, who’s exhibition ‘Several Chickens Later’ opens at Spike Island next Friday 29 May 👼

‘Several Chickens Later’ is a major new exhibition by Nancy Lupo, including a corpus of commissioned sculptures she’s been revisiting and altering over the last two years in a series of related exhibitions, titled:

📍 Paraselene
📍 Meow Meow Real Estate
📍 Tom
📍 Hark
📍 Final Closet
📍 Disko
📍 Hallelujah Electricity
📍 Princesslethewind
📍 Our Villas

She often describes her work as being scripted and carried by a thin thread of narrative. The fiction ‘Meow Meow Real Estate’ is published on the occasion of the exhibition. In this book, Lupo recounts the story of a woman looking for an apartment. The search is both literal and existential.

'Several Chickens Later' is the prologue to a story that wants to be over. Although the mirage is tired, its feeble flame still somehow persists.

Learn more about Nancy Lupo: ‘Several Chickens Later’ via our website 💻

1. Nancy Lupo: 'Hallelujah Electricty' (2025). Install view at Good Weather, Little Rock. Image courtesy the artist
2. Nancy Lupo: 'Our Villas' (2025). Install view at Apollo Mainz, Mainz. Photography by Lorenz Alexander Kerkhoff, image courtesy the artist
3. Nancy Lupo: 'Princessletthewind' (2025). Installation view at Kunstverein, Schwerin. Photography by Fred Dott, image courtesy the artist
4. Nancy Lupo: 'Paraselene' (2026). Install view at Spazio Veda, Milan. Image courtesy the artist and Spazio Veda
5, 6. Nancy Lupo: 'Our Villas' (2025). Install view at Apollo Mainz, Mainz. Photography by Lorenz Alexander Kerkhoff, image courtesy the artist
7. Nancy Lupo: 'Princessletthewind' (2025). Installation view at Kunstverein, Schwerin. Photography by Fred Dott, image courtesy the artist

19/05/2026

Spike Island artists at the 61st Venice Biennale 🏛️

Spike Island is proud to announce that five of its exhibiting artists and studio holders are included in the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia 🥳

The included artists are:
Éric Baudelaire
Beverly Buchanan
Lubaina Himid
Asmaa Jama
Dan Lie

Their works are included in 'In Minor Keys'—the Venice Biennale’s main exhibition, curated by the late Koyo Kouoh—as well as the British Pavillion and the Somalia Pavillion 🎨

Head to the news page of our website to learn about their exhibitions and connections to Spike Island, as well as to learn more about the works on show in Venice until 22 November 2026 💻

1. Dan Lie, 'Temple of Passages' (2026). 'In Minor Keys' installation view, Venice Biennale. Image courtesy Dan Lie
2, 3. Asmaa Jama (2026). Installation view at the Somalia Pavillion, Venice Biennale. Photography by Matteo Losurdo, image courtesy the artist
4, 5, 6. Lubaina Himid, 'Tailors'. Installation view at the British Pavillion, Venice Biennale. Photography by Eva Herzog
7. Beverly Buchanan, 'In Minor Keys' installation view, Venice Biennale (2026). Photography by Haupt & Binder
8, 9. Éric Baudelaire, 'Death Passed My Way and Stuck This Flower in My Mouth' (2021). 'In Minor Keys' installation view, Venice Biennale. Photography by Luca Zambelli Bais, image courtesy La Biennale di Venezia

14/05/2026

🎉 You are invited to celebrate the opening of our summer exhibitions, Tohé Commaret: 'Mijitas' and Nancy Lupo: 'Several Chickens Later' on Friday 29 May, 6–11pm

💿 Discover two major new exhibitions alongside vinyl DJ sets from Noods Radio resident Amaia and Whitts who, from 8pm onwards, will be spinning everything from funk, disco and groove to bass, dubstep and post-club

🍸 Cocktails, local wine and beers, and alcohol-free options available throughout the evening in our on-site café-bar Emmeline

🎟️ This event is free to attend, with booking strongly advised

TOHÉ COMMARET: 'MIJITAS'
The first exhibition in the UK by Franco-Chilean artist Tohé Commaret (b. 1992, Vitry-sur-Seine), featuring 'Rosa', a new moving image commission. Commaret’s enigmatic short films drift at the threshold between documentary and fiction, approaching social realities through magical realism. 'Rosa' follows several women from different backgrounds, all living in the suburbs of Paris, whose lives become suddenly entangled through a secret diary.

NANCY LUPO: 'SEVERAL CHICKENS LATER'
Spike Island presents Several Chickens Later, Nancy Lupo (b.1983, Flagstaff, AZ)’s largest exhibition in the UK to date. Prolonging the reverie and the longing for domesticity, the exhibition refuses a reality-check, and loops back into wistful illusion. Although the mirage is tired, its feeble flame still somehow persists. A corpus of newly commissioned sculptures, playing with the scale and industrial grandeur of Spike Island’s galleries, evokes the fragility of our endeavours, and the futility of our fantasies.

Book your place today at the link in our bio 🔗

1. Image courtesy Amaia
2, 4, 5. Photography by Lisa Whiting, images courtesy Spike Island
3. Image courtesy Whitts

Address

133 Cumberland Road
Bristol
BS16UX

Opening Hours

12pm - 5pm

Telephone

+441179292266

Website

http://www.spikeisland.org.uk/

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