Spike Island Open Studios, the celebrated annual event, takes place on the first May Bank Holiday weekend. Whilst the public galleries and café are open all year round, Open Studios offers inquisitive visitors a unique opportunity to literally get behind the scenes and explore everything at their own pace. You are invited to meet the array of artists, designers and students who colonise the building, see their work and leisurely view the exhibitions, events & activities that take place over the long weekend.
Full programme available here (PDF)
Launch event after party: 9pm-1am
Featuring music from I Know I have no collar and The Liftmen, performances from Aaron Williamson and the Feral Four and DJing delights from the I Feel Space residents Vast & Bulbous playing a prismatic selection of Disco/Italo/House..
2010 Highlights include:
Seventy artists’ studios – all studios will be open and hosted by the artists over the bank holiday weekend. Studio artists include Emma Stibbon, Sovay Berriman, Andrew Mania and Luke Jerram. The Sculpture Studios Auction also returns by popular demand for a chance to bid on original art works over the weekend.
Spike Print Studio - one of Britain’s oldest and most loved print-making collectives. Members will show their latest work and there will be prints for sale including the limited edition collection in Spike Café.
Pop-up Café Bars – Spike Island’s Café, which serves the best coffee in town, will be open for extended hours. We will also host two temporary pop-up café bars over the weekend: a Parisian-style café run by Top Floor Studios and a Seaside café in the Sculpture Yard complete with customised rock. Family workshops will continue throughout the weekend too.
New Exhibitions in Spike Islands galleries – we present a solo show of sculptural work by 2009 Rootstein Hopkins Award Winner Zoe Williams in Gallery One. Site specific performances will also take place throughout the building programmed by Spike Associates Katie Daley-Yates and Phil Owen- Spike Associates is an on-going research programme for Bristol based artists, writers and curators with over ninety members.
Residency Artist Aaron Williamson. London based artist Aaron Williamson was awarded the 2010 Adam Reynolds Memorial Bursary and presents in his residency studio a museum style display of objects from a recently ‘discovered’ tribe of medieval beggars ‘The Affilgare’. Aaron’s solo performances and videos made with his collaborators the Disabled Avant Garde and 15mm Films will also be screened in Gallery 2 throughout the Open.
Other organisations housed in the building will also open their doors including:
Public galleries Picture This (access via Mardyke Ferry Road) present continuous performances by Yael Davids and Works|Projects (access via Sydney Row) present a solo show by David Mackintosh.
Commissioning agency Situations will give tours of their new research base and the students of the Department of Art and Design, School of Creative Arts, UWE will present works in their studios.
Spike Designers will present a series of poster works and nearby artist-led space Bristol Diving School and community group Studio Upstairs will also be taking part.
