You are invited to celebrate the opening of our summer exhibitions, Tohé Commaret: Mijitas and Nancy Lupo: Several Chickens Later.
Discover the most significant presentations of Commaret and Lupo’s works in the UK to date, as both present newly commissioned work at Spike Island this summer. Two new moving image pieces from Commaret expand on her catalogue of short films that drift at the threshold between documentary and fiction, approaching social realities through magical realism. Rosa—a new work commissioned by Spike Island and realised as part of the PONTOPREIS MMK 2026—follows several women from different backgrounds, all living in the suburbs of Paris, whose lives become suddenly entangled through a secret diary.
A corpus of newly commissioned sculptures from Lupo probe aspirations, ambiguities and material culture. The exhibition prolongs the reverie and the longing for domesticity, refusing a reality-check and looping back into wistful illusion. Although the mirage is tired, its feeble flame still somehow persists. These new works see Lupo playing with the scale and industrial grandeur of Spike Island’s galleries, evoking the fragility of our endeavours, and the futility of our fantasies.
Alongside exploring our summer exhibitions, catch vinyl DJ sets from Noods Radio resident Amaia and Whitts, who will be spinning everything from funk, disco and groove to bass, dubstep and post-club from 8pm onwards in our onsite café-bar Emmeline. Cocktails, local wine and beers, and alcohol-free options will be being served throughout the evening.
Coinciding with our summer opening, Spike Print Studio presents Hammer Chen: Light of Magic, an exhibition of copper photogravure prints by Hammer Chen. Hammer Chen’s work is shaped by themes of memory and travel. Photogravure possesses a unique, almost archival quality, evoking a sense of nostalgia through near-cinematic imagery. Chen draws on this quality to explore the shift from documentation to personal perception. In 2025, Chen was awarded an Arts Council England DYCP grant to research non-toxic approaches to copper photogravure. This exhibition brings together the results of this research, where technical enquiry meets a more sustainable practice.
TOHÉ COMMARET
Tohé Commaret (b. 1992, France) is a Franco-Chilean filmmaker, who studied at the Beaux-Arts de Paris and Le Fresnoy.
Commaret has exhibited in solo and duo exhibitions including Mala Onda, ZOLLAMT MMK, Frankfurt (2026); Dorothea von Stetten Art Award, Kunstmuseum Bonn (2026); Miss Recuerdo, Fondation Pernod Ricard, Paris (2025), and Otis, Otis, Otis, FORDE, Geneva (2024); and in group exhibitions at MAC VAL, Vitry-sur-Seine (2025); Galerie Édouard Manet, Paris (2023), among others. Her films have been part of screenings and festivals including the Berlinale Shorts, in competition (2025 and 2023); Centre d’art de Labège (2024); Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2024); La Biennale de Lyon (2024); LE BAL, Paris (2024); Louvre, Paris (2024); MAC VAL, Vitry-sur-Seine (2023); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2023); Maison Populaire, Montreuil (2022); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2022). She has received several awards such as the Dorothea von Stetten Art Award (2026); PONTOPREIS MMK (2026); Grand prix essais art vidéo at the Côté Court Festival, Cannes (2024 and 2022), Cinema Jove (2024) and FNC Montreal (2024); Silver Moon Award (2023); among others. Her work is represented in the collections of Musée d’art moderne, Paris and MAC VAL, Vitry-sur-Seine.
NANCY LUPO
Nancy Lupo (b. 1983, USA) received her BFA from The Cooper Union, New York City, NY and her MFA from Yale University, New Haven, CT.
Selected solo exhibitions of Lupo’s work include: Meow Meow Real Estate, Nicoletta Fiorucci Foundation, London (2026); Tom, Stadtgalerie Bern (2026); Disko, Kevin Space, Vienna (2025); Princessletthewind, Kunstverein für Mecklenburg und Vorpommern, Schwerin, Germany (2025); Scripts for the Pageant at the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego, CA (2019); The Square at Noon at the Visual Arts Center in Austin, TX (2019) ; Parent and Parroting, Swiss Institute, New York City, NY (2016). Her work has previously been acquired by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA and Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw. In 2024, she has been appointed as a professor at Kunsthochschule Mainz. She lives and works in Berlin.
PARTNERS AND SUPPORTERS
Nancy Lupo, Several Chickens Later includes a work co-produced by the Nicoletta Fiorucci Foundation (London) and Spike Island, bridging the two solo presentations. With thanks to Raven Row, London. The exhibition is generously supported by the Nancy Lupo Commissioning Circle.
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.
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