As part of the Happenstance project, current creative technologist in residence Kevin Walker invited Spike Island artists, designers and staff to contribute a postcard design to Wish You Were Here, an interactive installation for the Spike Island Open. Within just a few days, we had the following beautiful cards with drawings, prints, photos and digital designs. Amy Mason, former Spike Island writer in residence, then wrote a non-linear ... read on →

As part of this year's Spike Island Open we have invited studio holders and members of Spike Associates to submit recent video works, reflecting the rich range of moving image work produced by the artistic community here. The artists variously explore analogue film's relationship to sculpture, live performative actions to camera and the influence of other genres on Video Art, such as science fiction cinema, theatrical melodrama ... read on →

It’s nearly time for this year’s Spike Island Open! We’ve been busy for the last few weeks getting the building ready, and we’re looking forward to welcoming visitors when we open our doors tomorrow evening.   Starting with a preview and party as part of the Harbourside Arts Night with our neighbouring organisations Arnolfini, Picture This, Works|Projects and Bristol Diving School, we’ve got a whole ... read on →

After an exciting start to the project last week, things really took off on Monday as Happenstance residents Kevin Walker and Linda Sandvik brought in a whole load of gadgets and spread them across the Associates Space. Linda shares what they're working on, including two experiments that you can see at next weekend's Spike Island Open: We continued to play around with sensors and collecting data. Arduinos, ... read on →

The Sensible Stage: Staging and the Moving Image is a collection of newly commissioned texts that explore the relationship between the moving image, performance and theatricality in recent contemporary art practice. Edited by Bridget Crone and published by Picture This with Bridget Crone/Plenty Projects, the book is launched with a programme of performances during the LUX/ICA Biennial of Moving Images, 23 to 27 May. To celebrate the launch of ... read on →

We’ve come to the end of our first week of the Happenstance project and residents Kevin Walker and Linda Sandvik have had a burst of ideas about how to collect data from around the building and use it to make exciting, intriguing and maybe even beautiful visualisations and objects. Happenstance is an experiment to see what happens when creative technologists are embedded in arts organisations. Already we’ve been ... read on →

The following publications have been selected by our programme team and the artists to provide further information about our current exhibitions. These offer art historical, cultural and theoretical context to the works and their production. Dewar & Gicquel, Crêpe Suzette The Craftsman, Richard Sennett Mason Massacre, Dewar & Gicquel The Intangibilities of Form: Skill and Deskilling in Art After the Readymade, John Roberts Take Place: Photography and ... read on →

We're looking for someone with a great attitude and an eye for detail to join our staff team two days a week. Working closely with the Communications Manager, you'll play a key role in promoting Spike Island and its activities.The application deadline is Friday 27 April, 5pm. Find out more on our Opportunities page. read on →

Are you calm, patient, resourceful and a great team player? Do you have the practical and technical skills to install contemporary art exhibitions to the highest standard? We've got a full time opportunity for someone to join our team as Technical Manager, working closely with the operations and programming team on all aspects of Spike Island's technical needs. The application deadline is Wednesday 18 April, 5pm. Find out more on ... read on →

We’re excited to announce that creative technologists Linda Sandvik and Kevin Walker will spend 12 weeks here as part of the Happenstance residency project. Funded by the NESTA, Arts Council England and AHRC Digital R&D Fund for Arts and Culture, this is a pilot programme embeds designers, developers and producers within arts organisations. We're part of a trio of venues participating, along with Site Gallery in ... read on →

Spike Associates, a membership network of artists, curators, writers and other creative practitioners, have initiated a series of events to explore professional practice. They explore both critical and practical aspects of working within the arts with panelists from across the sector. Join us for future events in this series: What to Expect from a Curator on Tuesday 13 March, and What to Expect from an Arts Writer on ... read on →

Beyond the walls of the gallery here at Spike Island there are studios and offices full of artists, designers and other creative practitioners. We talked to a handful of people from around the building about what makes Spike Island such a lively and inspiring place to develop their work. This audio slideshow has been created by Nick Hand, a designer and photographer based at Spike Island, with the help ... read on →

If you can't make it down to our exhibitions resource area but would like to learn more about the work in our winter exhibitions, these titles have been suggested by artists Haroon Mirza and Suzanne Mooney. Haroon Mirza, /|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/| Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music, Christoph Cox and Daniel Warner (ed.) British Art Show 7: In the Days of the Comet, Lisa Le Feuvre and Tom ... read on →

We are looking for an experienced and motivated Technical Assistant to support Spike Island’s public programme of exhibitions and events. You'll need to be handy, reliable and a good team player. The deadline to apply for this post is Friday 2 March, 5pm. For more information, visit our Opportunities page. read on →

Welcome to Spike Island’s new website. We’ve been working hard over the last year as an organisation to think about how we describe what we are, both for our internal community and our wider audience. Are we a gallery? Artists’ studios? Offices? The answer is that we’re all of these, plus a café, printmaking studio, home to arts organisations like Picture This and neighbour to others like Bristol Diving School. ... read on →