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• FRIDAY 1 MAY

  BAR AND PERFORMANCES: CIRQUE DU SPIKE
  UWE BA FINE ART
  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.

  PERFORMANCE: SAMBA TECHNO
  BPM
  6.30–7pm, Outside main entrance
  A lively performance with music and dance from the BPM samba techno group.

  DJS / MUSIC: TREAD
  NOODS LEVELS
  7–9pm, Outside main entrance
  TREAD is a purpose-built mobile music studio housed inside a van. The Noods Levels team will be parked outside Spike Island on Friday night, with a selection of live DJs and tunes to welcome in the weekend.

  PERFORMANCE: HOLDING PATTERN
  EM WILLIAMS
  6.30–8.30pm, Commissioning Bay
  Hand-sanded, individually cast plaster forms pile into a slipping cairn, each unit marking effort and transformation; a durational performance of carrying, repetition and stuttering flow, inviting attention to movement, material and time.

  SSHRIPP [IS MAKING PAPER PLANES]
  HATS ASTON
  7–7.30pm, Associates Space
  The paper creature Sshripp invites you to join it in ripping chunks off its body to make paper planes, recreating childhood fun and contributing to the creature’s annihilation.

  PERFORMANCE: WHO CARES?
  MBU
  7.45–8.45pm, Associates Space
  An interactive performance using domestic crafting to interrogate the thin, satirical line between maternal nurturance and physical immobilisation, highlighting the invisible weight of caregiving. MBU is the mother and daughter collaborative practice of Emma Lilwall and Pearl Oakwood.

  STUDIO ARTISTS’ YARD PARTY
  9pm-12am, Sculpture Yard
  Spike Island Studio Artists are hosting a special after party with live DJs, light installations and a bar. The Yard Party is the Studio Artists’ annual fundraiser, supporting artist bursaries, mentoring and social events for the community of over 70 artists. Book your ticket here (£6)

• SATURDAY 2 MAY

  WORKSHOP: PAPIER–MÂCHÉ PLAYGROUND
  JASMINE SMAIL
  11am–12.30pm, Associates Space
  A family-friendly workshop exploring sculpture and construction through papier-mâché.

  PERFORMANCE: THE INVITATION
  COLIN HIGGINSON
  11am–1pm, Studio 45
  A one-to-one performance that invites audience participation through drawing and mark-making. Visitors can choose a 20minute time slot by adding their name to the schedule outside Studio 45.

  LIVE PRINTING: FLOOD, PULL, REPEAT
  SPIKE PRINT STUDIO
  12–2pm and 3–4pm, Spike Print Studio
  An interactive exhibition inviting you to view a wall of screen prints, choose one to complete with the team, and take away. Drop-in, £35 to take part.

  WORKSHOP: THE LENGTH OF MEMORY
  CAITLIN DAWKES
  12–3pm, First Floor Artist’s Kitchen
  Artist Caitlin Dawkes leads a textile workshop, inviting visitors to craft pom-poms in remembrance to add to a growing communal thread.

  WORKSHOP: PRINTING WITH NATURE
  AMBER HUMPHREYS
  1–2.30pm, Associates Space
  Artist Amber Humphreys leads a hands-on natural printing session using leaves and plant-based pigments.

  DROP-IN CHATS: UWE FINE ART AND CURATING
  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.

  WORKSHOP: MONOTYPE STILL LIFE DRAWING
  JESS PRATTEN
  2–3pm, Spike Print Studio
  Join Spike Print Studio and artist Jess Pratten to create your own multicoloured monotype prints while drawing from still life. Drop-in, first come, first served, £6 to take part.

  MENDING WORKSHOP: DARN YA SOCKS!
  AMELIA GARDNER
  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.

  TALK AND POETRY READING: AIM
  AIM
  3–4pm, Associates Spaces
  Join AIM artists as they discuss projects, exhibitions, collaborations, and commissions, followed by readings from their latest publication, The Mermaid’s Hair is Water, offering unique insights and creative perspectives.

  SCREENING: ONEIRIA
  GUY UNDRILL, RACHEL GILLIBRAND, ZOE PARKER MOON, FINLAY THOMPSON AND ANNIE MCGILL
  4–5pm, 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.

• SUNDAY 3 MAY

  KIDS WORKSHOP: DREAMS AND MAKE
  LAURA PHILLIMORE
  11am–1pm, Associates Space
  A drop-in session of playful, three-dimensional building activities for children aged 5-11.

  WORKSHOP: CRAFTY CLOWN ACCESSORIES
  ZINNIA COLLECTIVE
  11am–1pm, UWE BA Fine Art Studios
  Drop into this fun crafty accessory workshop, and make clown hats, cuffs, and circus-inspired flower crowns using collage, drawing and sewing.

  LIVE PRINTING: FLOOD, PULL, REPEAT
  SPIKE PRINT STUDIO
  12–2pm and 3–4pm, Spike Print Studio
  An interactive exhibition inviting you to view a wall of screen prints, choose one to complete with the team, and take away. Drop-in, £35 to take part.

  WORKSHOP: THE LENGTH OF MEMORY
  CAITLIN DAWKES
  12–3pm, First Floor Artist’s Kitchen
  Artist Caitlin Dawkes leads a textile workshop, inviting visitors to craft pom-poms in remembrance to add to a growing communal thread.

  DROP-IN CHATS: UWE FINE ART AND CURATING
  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.

  WORKSHOP: CLAY STORYTELLING
  HOLLY LEWIN AND NOAH COLE
  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.
  
  WORKSHOP: BOOK BINDING
  BRIAN NORMAN
  1.30–3pm, Associates Space
  Artist Brian Norman leads an introductory Casement Binding session, where you will create a single section A5 quarter bound book, learning core binding skills.

  WORKSHOP: NARRATIVE ZINES
  ANDREW WILSON
  2–3pm, Spike Print Studios
  Join Spike Print Studio and artist Andrew Wilson to create narrative zines using simple templates and collage techniques. Drop-in, £6 to take part.

  WORKSHOP: CRAFTY CLOWNS LIFE DRAWING
  2–4pm, UWE BA Fine Art Studios
  Roll up and draw some crazy costumed clowns. All materials provided, no experience required!

  PERFORMANCE: THE INVITATION
  COLIN HIGGINSON
  2–5pm, Studio 45
  A one-to-one performance that invites audience participation through drawing and mark-making. Visitors can choose a 20minute time slot by adding their name to the schedule outside Studio 45.

  SCREENINGS: FUGITIVES IN THE ARCHIVE
  SIMONE MARCONI AND ELIZA RAWLINGS
  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.

• ALL WEEKEND: INSTALLATIONS

  PRIVATE PARTS
  ANNIE MCGILL
  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.

  WEATHER CHARMER
  LINDA ZAGIDULINA
  Stairwell above Reception
  A time-based sculpture that camouflages into a radio banshee, translating Bristol’s weather data forecast for a day ahead into an instrumental soundtrack.

  PIANO MIGRATIONS
  KATHY HINDE
  Loading Bay
  The inside of an old upright piano is recycled into a kinetic sound sculpture. The movements of birds trigger small machines to twitch and flutter on the piano strings.

  SEARCHING FOR MELILOT
  KATHY HINDE
  Loading Bay
  Created by exposing and developing wild flowers directly onto 16mm film, whilst resident on a narrow boat navigating the canals of North West England.

  RESIDUAL FRACTURES
  KATHY HINDE AND HARRIET BOWMAN
  Loading Bay
  An installation featuring 16mm film and sculptural glass panels, created using salvaged glass from smashed car windows.

  DÖNEN PANSIYON
  ILAYDA AKARCA AND FLO
  First Floor Stairwell
  A site-specific, interactive installation of sound and images. It explores migration, home and memory, in fragments, and reflects on the dissonant
  process of displacement.

  ALESTAFFS AND RELATED DRAWINGS
  JO LATHWOOD
  Outside Studio 38
  Jo Lathwood presents artworks exploring the history of brewing and the people and processes behind it, alongside a limited edition beer can created in collaboration with Left Handed Giant Brewery and Spike Island.

  INTERACTIVE INSTALLATION
  CONNIE BALLANTYNE
  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.

  THE OWNERS/VISITORS BOOK
  AKIRA ISHU
  First Floor Mezzanine
  An activity around the historic Visitors Books from the founding of Artspace Bristol, now Spike Island, by curatorial fellow Akira Ishu.

  SWATCHLET
  DAISY HVNTER
  Ground Floor
  Swatchlet is a pocket-sized colour reference tool combining playful colour swatches with everyday object prompts, designed to support creative thinking, accessibility, and sensory-led artmaking through intuitive, hands-on exploration. 

  PERFORMANCE: MYSTERIOUS ADVENTURE
  AYUKO DAN
  Full building
  Artist Ayuko Dan explores the world around her through a mysterious, durational performance.

  SHOWCASE
  SPIKE ISLAND WORKSPACE
  Ground Floor Corridor
  A selection of artwork and a showreel of films made by the creative residents in Spike Island Workspace.

• ALL WEEKEND: EXHIBITIONS

  PHILLIP LAI: RAIN / RUIN
  A major solo exhibition of new work by Phillip Lai (b.1969, Kuala Lumpur), bringing together a body of sculptural commissions that continue the artist’s exploration of the material world around us. Lai’s sculptures combine everyday objects with his own intensive re-makings of them which leave you wondering what, exactly, you are looking at.

  OLUKEMI LIJADU: FEEDBACK
  Feedback is the largest solo exhibition by Nigerian-British artist, filmmaker and DJ Olukemi Lijadu. Developed through extensive research in Chicago, Lagos, and Bristol, Feedback centres around a major film commission and marks a landmark in the artist’s moving image practice. The film draws on the concept of audio feedback as a metaphor for the circulation of rhythm, memory, and cultural codes within the African diaspora.

  EXHIBITIONS, PERFORMANCES, WORKSHOPS AND BAR
  UWE FINE ART
  UWE BA and MA Fine Art Studios
  Step right up for a weekend of student-led exhibitions, performances and workshops with UWE Fine Art and Curating. Featuring Cirque du Spike – a spectacular pop-up talent show and bar, with live acts on the Friday and circus-inspired workshops on the weekend; and The Brooke Bond Vaults – a mysterious archive of donated artworks from Spike Island studio holders and staff, in honour of Spike Island’s 50th anniversary.

  THE CORRIDOR SALON
  First Floor Studios
  A display of artwork by Spike Island studio artists, with select pieces available to purchase.

  BELTANE: FIRED
  Residency Studio
  An exhibition tracing the deep, shared roots of May Day and workers’ rights within the experience of artists working today. Featuring works by Spike Island studio holders Rod Harris, Phil Root and Eleanor Duffin, as well as Spike Island Associates Mary Flower, Linda Zagidulina and Holly Williams-Richards, the exhibition examines fire rituals, protective magic, and burn out. Curated by Ruby Taylor. 

  NEW EDITION x LEFT HANDED GIANT
  CLIFF ANDRADE, SAMUEL FORDHAM AND JO LATHWOOD
  Outside Studio 39
  A display of original artworks alongside a series of limited edition beer can labels created by Spike Island studio artists, in collaboration with Left Handed Giant Brewery.
  

  BA FINE ART
  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.

  MA FINE ART
  UWE BA Fine Art Studios, Project Space 1
  UWE MA Fine Art students present work reflecting on the students’ research around materiality, labour, gender, mythology and language and our current challenging social and political contexts.

  WANTING TO SIT WITH SOMEONE
  UWE BA Fine Art Studios, Project Space 2
  This group exhibition curated by George Lawrence aims to scrutinise impulses of comfort and company through material fragilities.

  AMNIOTE
  UWE BA Fine Art Studios, Project Space 3
  An exhibition exploring industrialism and biology, curated by Mack Shahini. The decay of body into ground, the corporeal: the body capable of weathering, the embryo as mildew and rust.

  THE BROOKE BOND VAULTS, EST. 1992
  UWE BA Fine Art Studios, Project Space 1
  The Brooke Bond Vaults is a little-known archive striving to preserve the materiality of art-making in a hyper digital age. For Spike Island’s 50th anniversary, studio holders donated objects for preservation by collecticians pH. Martha Fox and pH. Amelia Gardner, using a secretive and unorthodox method. You may smell it before you see it…

  ACCESS BRISTOL
  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, contributing to a community-informed resource.