Spike Island

11/09/2026

You are invited to the launch of our new exhibition, Beverly Buchanan: 'Weathering' 🎉

Friday 25 September, 6–11pm

Discover the largest European survey exhibition of Beverly Buchanan (b.1940; d.2015), bringing together five decades of sculpture, painting, drawing, earthworks, artists’ books and rarely-seen archival material.

Rooted in the landscapes and histories of the American Southeast, Buchanan developed a singular practice shaped by memory, materiality and place, exploring the enduring legacies of slavery through the histories embedded in architecture, landscape and everyday materials.

Book your place at the link in our bio 🔗

Beverly Buchanan, 'Buchanan self-portrait in mirror on Konica' (1976). Courtesy of Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York © The Estate of Beverly Buchanan

11/09/2026

You are invited to the launch of our new exhibition, Beverly Buchanan: 'Weathering' 🎉

Friday 25 September, 6–11pm

Discover the largest European survey exhibition of Beverly Buchanan (b.1940; d.2015), bringing together five decades of sculpture, painting, drawing, earthworks, artists’ books and rarely-seen archival material.

Rooted in the landscapes and histories of the American Southeast, Buchanan developed a singular practice shaped by memory, materiality and place, exploring the enduring legacies of slavery through the histories embedded in architecture, landscape and everyday materials.

Book your place at the link in our bio 🔗

Beverly Buchanan, 'Buchanan self-portrait in mirror on Konica' (1976). Courtesy of Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York © The Estate of Beverly Buchanan

10/09/2026

Thank you for coming to our 50th birthday! 🎉

Thank you to all those who joined us to celebrate 50 Years of experimentation, and the artists that founded Artspace in 1976.

Known today as Spike Island, we remain deeply artist-centred in everything we do. That spirit of radical experimentation and collectivity has carried Spike Island through decades of change; through landmark exhibitions, an extraordinary list of artists who have worked and exhibited here, and an international reputation.

But one thing will always remain the same: Spike Island will always be a place for artists.

A huge thank you to the performers from across Spike Island’s community and to our event partners and staff for making this celebration happen.

Special thanks to:
.studio .stew .pirater Al Cameron, Veronica Ryan, John O’Connor





Here’s to the next 50 years and to safeguarding this extraordinary place for Bristol!

All images courtesy Spike Island (2026). Photography by Jessie Myers

03/09/2026

BIDDING OPEN: Win exclusive prizes in our silent auction 🎁

To celebrate our 50th anniversary, we are organising a silent auction of special offers generously donated in support of Spike Island.

UP FOR GRABS:
⭐ A rare private visit for up to 10 guests to Lypiatt Park in Gloucestershire, the extraordinary former home and sculpture park of renowned British sculptor Lynn Chadwick (1914–2003)
⭐ An exclusive, out-of-hours tour of the Royal Academy of Arts hosted by Artistic Director Helen Legg
⭐ A 3-night stay at Durslade Farmhouse, Hauser & Wirth Somerset, with a private exhibition tour led by Senior Director Dea Vanagan
⭐ A unique artwork hand-drawn by Aardman Animations co-founder Sir Peter Lord

Bidding will close at 11.59pm on Saturday 5 September

Place your bid online at the link in our bio 🔗

Special thanks to Lypiatt Park, Aardman Animations, the Royal Academy and Hauser & Wirth Somerset for their generous support

1. Image courtesy Lypiatt Park
2. Image courtesy Aardman Animations
3. Image courtesy Helen Legg
4. Image courtesy Hauser & Wirth Somerset

02/09/2026

Spike Kids ⚡

This summer, we invited some of the children in our community to make a zine based on what they find interesting in our current exhibition by artist Nancy Lupo.

The outcome was our first Spike Kids Zine, filled with questions, drawings, observations and collages.

⛰️ 'The tinfoil peaks reminded us of: tiny silver mountains, the sea, fortune tellers'
👼 'The wall relief looks like a portal to another world. It could be where the angels have lunch'

Pick up a free copy of the Spike Kids Zine in our galleries this week, before our current exhibition season ends this Sunday 6 September.

The zine was created by kids, for kids, facilitated and designed by Jasmine Smail.

Learn more about our events for kids and parents on our website 💻

Design by Jasmine Smail, photography by Emily Widdows. All images courtesy Spike Island

01/09/2026

Last chance to see Nancy Lupo: 'Several Chickens Later', open at Spike Island until Sunday 6 September

"Lupo’s wilting fantasies thrive on instability. Any sense of immersion is fractional, undermined as much by unmet desire as by the fragility of illusion. Yet puzzling over these suspended attractions is a consuming pleasure, like longing itself—full of endless distances, tenuously bridged and imperfectly mitigated by the objects of our fancy." — Alex Bennett, Art Forum

Learn more about Lupo's exhibition at the link in our bio 🔗

Nancy Lupo: 'Several Chickens Later' (2026). Installation view at Spike Island, Bristol. Images courtesy the artist, photography by Rob Harris

31/08/2026

This week's the week 🎂

Spike Island's 50th Anniversary Summer Party is happening this Saturday, and you're all invited 🫂

We'll be joined by Noods Radio who are programming DJs in the sculpture yard from 7–9pm. You'll hear sounds from residents MICA and Andy Payback, who'll be spinning everything from soul, funk and RnB to synth pop and electronica 💿

While they're playing, the sculpture yard transforms into an outdoor bar with organic wine producers Limeburn Wines, Bristol brewers Left Handed Giant, and soft-drink connoisseurs YEW.

Grab final tickets today and we'll see you this weekend!

Link in bio 🔗

Design courtesy iodo
Images courtesy the artists

27/08/2026

26/08/2026

SI50 SUMMER PARTY: Live art guest-produced by Perpetually Stew

Meet the live artists joining us to celebrate 50 years of Spike Island on Saturday 5 September 🎂

JOHNNY MORGAN-JONES
Johnny Morgan-Jones (aka Buoys Buoys Buoys) is a folklorist, multidisciplinary artist and arts facilitator from Swansea who retells folk histories and interrogates unreliable narrators through the lens of Q***r masculinity, land memory, contemporary ritual magic, and working class Welsh folk culture.

ELEANOR DUFFIN
Eleanor Duffin is a visual artist from Wexford, Ireland, currently based in Bristol. Her installations, performance lectures and published writings explore relationships between language, materiality and the body, engaging strategies of autofiction to foreground relational and decolonial approaches to making. Drawing from Marxist and feminist theory, alongside animistic beliefs rooted in her Irish heritage, she approaches materials as co-workers within the making process.

HATS ASTON
Sculptor and filmmaker Hats Aston creates original forms using recycled industrial paper to construct sculpture, costume and sets that explore and respond to the materials she works with.

SAMUEL FORDHAM
Samuel Fordham is an artist, educator and printmaker based in Bristol. Samuel has developed a community-led practice engaging with ideas focused on the presence of lived experience and the importance of photography’s material form.

Performing alongside

Book your place today via the link in our bio 🔗

Design by iodo
Images courtesy the artists

25/08/2026

September's reading group: 'Chiquitita' by Pedro Carmona-Alvarez 📚
Tuesday 8 September, 6–7.30pm

'I'm frightened of my dreams, of everything I don't know, but also of everything I know.'

Loosely inspired by Pedro Carmona-Alvarez’s own experiences of fleeing Chile, 'Chiquitita' is a tender novel about flight and exile, the passing of time and the experiences that remain with us, refusing erasure.

Join us to discuss the book and its themes with East Bristol Books, in an informal discussion led by Dan Eltringham and Andrés Anwandter. Please read the book in advance of this event.

Sign up today at the link in our bio 🔗

Image courtesy Akoya Publishing (2026)