What's on - Exhibitions Archive

Concrete Dreams: Just Can’t Get Enough

Presented 75 years after Basildon in Essex was designated a New Town, ‘Concrete Dreams: Just Can’t Get Enough’ reflects on the influence of the Britain’s post-war new town movement on cultural identity, and the impact of policy decisions on individual lives.

Opening Celebration | Leonora Carrington: Avatars & Alliances

Join us for a special evening event to celebrate the opening of ‘Avatars & Alliances’, Leonora Carrington’s debut exhibition in the East of England!

YAK: Gen Z Dreaming

What is the purpose and future of art? Who has the power to shape it? How might Firstsite evolve in the years to come? Ponder these questions through the eyes of the next generation.

Lunar Lullabies

Join Colchester’s own Jane Taylor on a celestial adventure, inspired by her timeless poem, “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.”

David Lock: In-between Us

Experience an exciting blend of existing work and never-before-seen paintings form London-based artist David Lock in his first solo public exhibition that delves into the portrayal and consumeristic reproduction of the male form, from antiquity to the present day.

Launch Day | Lunar Lullabies

Join us for a fun and creative free family day to celebrate the opening of our stellar new exhibition, Lunar Lullabies!

Lucy Harwood: Bold Impressions

Immerse yourself in the life and work of local artist Lucy Harwood (1893 – 1972).
Featuring over 100 bold and beautiful paintings – including landscapes, still live and portraiture – step into a world where colour and energy collide, as Harwood’s artworks command the space, their vibrancy and confidence.

Claire Cansick: You and I Are Earth

What effect do we have on the landscapes around us? You and I Are Earth charts the devastating effects of climate change and the human impact on the environment across the world.

Opening Celebration | David Lock: In-between Us

Join us for a special evening event to celebrate the opening of ‘In-between Us’, David Lock’s first solo exhibition in a public gallery, 

Level Best: Sunshine Coast

Journey through the Sunshine Coast with Level Best. Experience over one hundred diverse artworks created over the last decade, by artists with additional needs from the Level Best art studio.

Sculpture at Firstsite

See artworks by artists Ryan Gander, and Bharti Kher in our new sculpture park.

Wyrd Flora, YAK and Motanafas Collective: Power of Place: Earth, Gather, Form

‘Power of Place: Earth, Gather, Form’ is an exhibition co-curated by Lora Aziz (Wyrd Flora), Firstsite’s Young Art Kommunity (YAK) and Motanafas Collective which reflects young peoples’ personal experiences and stories from two very different locations, the mountain region of…

Michael Landy: Essex Man (after Collet)

See artist Michael Landy’s artwork ‘Essex Man (after Collet)’ (2021) – a larger-than-life standing figure in our Welcome Area made from a hand drawn reproduction of the original ‘Essex Man’ illustration by Edward Collet in a 1990s Sunday Telegraph.

Michael Landy: The Essex Way

See a large-scale collage along our building’s magnificent 140m curved wall, created by artist Michael Landy.

Opening Celebration | Lucy Harwood: Bold Impressions

Join us to celebrate the opening of our new exhibition, Lucy Harwood: Bold Impressions Be the first to experience the first major exhibition of Lucy Harwood’s work since 1975.  Immerse yourself in the life and work of the late…

YAK: Zero Contract: Zero Contact

In association with Essex County Fire and Rescue Service Exploring the Hidden Costs of Convenience Have you ever considered the real cost of convenience?  Zero Contract Zero Contact explores the issues and risks affecting young people working in Colchester’s…

Autumn Exhibitions Opening Celebration

Join us for a special opening celebration for the opening of two brand-new exhibitions: Wyrd Flora, YAK and Motanafas Collective: Power of Place: Earth, Gather, Form, and YAK: Zero Contract: Zero Contact on Sat 4 Nov 2023 at 12:00…

EVEWRIGHT: Libation

EVEWRIGHT: Libation is a previous exhibition. For information about current and upcoming exhibitions please visit Exhibitions.       ‘Libation’ marks EVEWRIGHT’s first solo exhibition in a public gallery, showcasing a collection of new and seminal works spanning 20…

@background_bob and his amazing friends…back again!

Essex artist @background_bob returns to Firstsite for his third energetic and uplifting exhibition. ‘Back again!’ features over 270 collaborative artworks created by @background_bob with leading international street and graffiti artists including Mr Doodle, Shepard Fairey and Wrdsmith, other big…

Distanced Assemblage: Imagine Lantern House

Contribute your artwork to the Mehdi Jalalaghdamian: Art In Exile exhibition by creating your own Lantern House. Suitable for adults and children of all ages, this fun and thoughtful creative activity is for the whole family.

Mehdi Jalalaghdamian: Art In Exile

Master rug-maker, Mehdi Jalalghdamian, draws attention to the experiences of refugees and asylum seekers worldwide through the traditional craft of Persian rug making

Opening Celebration | EVEWRIGHT: Libation

Join us for a special evening event to celebrate the opening of ‘Libation’, EVEWRIGHT’s first solo exhibition in a public gallery,  Be the first to experience this important and thought-provoking exhibition, showcasing new and seminal works by EVEWRIGHT, spanning…

Julian Opie: Imagine you are driving are yellow car, 2004; Imagine you are driving a blue Honda (2004)

‘Imagine you are driving a yellow car’, (2004) and ‘Imagine you are driving a blue Honda.’ (2004) are life-size automobile sculptures by Julian Opie.

BIG WOMEN

Join us for a BIG exhibition celebrating the creative achievements of women in art, curated by one of Britain’s most significant contemporary artists – Sarah Lucas.

Reena Saini Kallat: Leaking Lines

Reena Saini Kallat explores the violence and fragility of national borders by juxtaposing the outlines of boundary lines from across the world with images of the landscapes which they divide.

Opening Celebration | BIG WOMEN

Join us for a special evening event to celebrate the opening of our hotly anticipated new exhibition, BIG WOMEN.

Be the first to experience this thought-provoking and entertaining exhibition curated by one of Britain’s most significant and exciting contemporary artists – Sarah Lucas.

Denis Wirth-Miller: Landscapes and Beasts

This exhibition, the largest retrospective of Denis’s work to date, seeks to showcase the breadth of his paintings, and highlighting the influence he had on Francis Bacon and vice versa.

Simon Carter and Jevan Watkins Jones: Shore Lines

Imagine two drawings by two artists drifting across a five-mile stretch of salt-water, merging and morphing on the surface as they meet. Artists Simon Carter and Jevan Watkins Jones collaborate in this collection of charcoal drawings inspired by their…

Opening Celebration | Denis Wirth-Miller: Landscapes and Beasts

Be the first to experience this eagerly awaited exhibition, presenting the largest retrospective to-date of work by Essex landscape artist and former alumni of the art school, Denis Wirth-Miller.

The Singh Twins: Slaves of Fashion

See vast intricate and colourful artworks from internationally acclaimed artists, The Singh Twins. Delve into hidden details of Europe’s colonial past and its legacies, including current debates around ethical trade, responsible consumerism and decolonisation and racism.

The Singh Twins: Slaves of Fashion exhibition activities

Enjoy free participatory art activities as part of the current exhibition, The Singh Twins: Slaves of Fashion.    Lightbox activity The Singh Twins make their lightbox artworks by moving images around on a computer. They think carefully about where…

Opening Celebration | Mehdi Jalalaghdamian: Art In Exile

Join us to celebrate the opening of our Museum of the year Exhibition, Mehdi Jalalaghdamian: Art in Exile.

Keep Being Amazing

Explore the ground-breaking Firstsite Holiday Fun programme through vibrant artworks in this interactive exhibition celebrating the fun, friendly and creative ethos of Holiday Fun and the families who attend.

We are Invisible, We are Visible (WAIWAV)

Artist Chisato Minamimura performs an intervention aiming to highlight a deaf perspective of creativity as part of We Are Invisible We Are Visible.

Life with Art: Benton End and the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing

Established by artist-gardener Cedric Morris and his partner Arthur Lett-Haines, the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing at Benton End became the centre of a diverse community of artists, writers, and horticulturalists throughout the 1940s and 1950s. With…

Life With Art Exhibition Tours

Exhibition curators Simon Carter and Mel King of Colchester Art Society lead a tour of ‘Life with Art’ focusing on the different artists involved, and how they went about sourcing and selecting the artworks. 

Opening event | Keep Being Amazing

Join us for this special free event as we celebrate the opening of our new exhibition ‘Keep Being Amazing’

@background_bob and his amazing friends – guess who’s back!

Young Essex artist Background Bob returns with a brand-new exhibition, showcasing over 200 stunning artworks by leading international street and graffiti artists, tattooists, sculptors and fine artists.

Michael Landy’s Welcome to Essex documentary

Artist Michael Landy talks ‘Essexism’ with comedian Russell Kane, artists Elsa James and Maria Anastassiou, sociologist Professor Pam Cox and The Only Way is Essex legend, Amy Childs.

Opening Celebration | Life with Art: Benton End and the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing

Join us for the opening of Life with Art: Benton End and the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing, and be the first to see artworks from the iconic artists that were influenced by the Benton End art…

Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2021

Firstsite is delighted be working in partnership with New Contemporaries to be the first gallery to exhibit Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2021, as part of the celebrations for our building’s 10th anniversary year.

The Great Big Art Exhibition

The Great Big Art Exhibition is a celebration of creativity across the UK. This gallery exhibition features thousands of artworks shared with Firstsite over social media.

House Share

House Share reveals the thoughts and experiences of young people during the three UK lockdowns, and their changing relationship to the home

Michael Landy’s Welcome to Essex

‘Michael Landy’s Welcome to Essex’ invites you to explore, celebrate and question the recent history of Essex and its contemporary portrayal in popular culture.

Art for Life: An exhibition made with key workers

Discover different perspectives of the pandemic and reflect on your own in this poignant exhibition. Feel connected through art, creativity and shared experiences.

Michael Landy’s Break Down: 20 Years

An exhibition that offers an opportunity to revisit and explore artist Michael Landy’s radical project through archive materials, press clippings, video recordings and photographs.

Panel Discussion: Welcome To Essex

Journalist and author Tim Burrows leads a panel discussion including artist Michael Landy to discuss about England’s most misunderstood county .

My name is not Refugee

Discover a new view of life in Britain, in an exhibition of artworks chosen by a group of refugees and asylum seekers living in Colchester. An Arts Council Collection National Partners Programme Exhibition.

Phyllida Barlow

A presentation of artist Phyllida Barlow’s sculptures in our Welcome Area, leading our reopening following the first UK lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mark Titchner: Some questions about Colchester

Artist Mark Titchner has produced a new series of public artworks across Colchester, entitled ‘Some questions about Colchester’, which are placed in the windows of vacant shop units around the town centre. This follows on from Mark‘s exhibition at…

Rachel Spender: Essex Saltmarsh from the Air

See our local landscape from a different perspective in an exhibition of black and white photographs of Essex saltmarshes by Essex based artist and photographer, Rachel Spender.

@background_bob and his amazing friends

An uplifting exhibition featuring artworks from artists across the world, brought together by @background_bob.

Sonia Coode-Adams: Lockdown Garden

‘Lockdown Garden’ features tranquil watercolour landscapes of the garden at Feeringbury Manor, created by the artist during the imposed lockdown.

Tell me the story of all these things

Firstsite and the Arts Council Collection present ‘Tell me the story of all these things’, featuring artworks made by some of Britain’s best-known artists, including Tracey Emin, Sarah Lucas, Cornelia Parker and Gillian Wearing – each selected by radical…

Colchester and Ipswich Art Societies: Borders

The Colchester and Ipswich Art Societies explore their mutual border, the River Stour, in an exhibition that celebrates the thriving creativity of the region, the joy of making and the enjoyment and well-being gained through experiencing art.

Afro Futures_UK: Unravelling New Futures

An exhibition of digital and multimedia art, ‘Unravelling New Futures’ explores how the intersection of the black experience, technology and historical narratives can inspire new ways of thinking critically about the future. Through video, performance and sculpture, this exhibition…

Kevin Howbrook: Colour Coded

Kevin Howbrook: Colour Coded is an exhibition of large-scale digital prints that show what familiar texts, like the ‘Bible’ or ‘The Empire Strikes Back’, look like if each word is represented by a colour. Kevin Howbrook is an artist…

Unboxing Alex Frost

Unboxing Alex Frost is an exhibition of videos and sculptures made from products that feed our ‘on-the-go’ lifestyle, like frozen pizzas and supermarket sandwiches.

Antony Gormley: Field for the British Isles

Experience this vast and iconic artwork at Firstsite, celebrating community, individuality and togetherness. Field for the British Isles, which consists of 40,000 tiny individual terracotta figures, is the largest single artwork in the Arts Council Collection and its arrival…

Aidan Moesby | Sagacity: The Periodic Table of Emotions

Sagacity is a live and responsive installation based around the Periodic Table, reflecting the emotional state of its location. Its installation at Firstsite shows the current mood of our visitors, and will record the feelings of participants from November…

Chance & Control: Art in the Age of Computers. Created by the V&A – touring the nation.

    Since the 1960s, artists and programmers have used computers to create prints, drawings, paintings, photographs and digital artworks. ‘Chance and Control’ draws on the V&A’s rich international collection of computer-generated art and includes work by pioneering digital…

Super Black

In the first of its brand-new series of Arts Council Collection National Partner exhibitions, Firstsite is staging Super Black – an exhibition that asks, ‘What does it mean to be black in England today?’. Led by people from Essex’s…

What’s the problem? A YAK & flyingleaps exhibition

Climate change, politics, rights, capitalism and health – these are the pressing issues facing young people today, according to Young Art Kommunity (YAK), Firstsite’s young people peer-led group which organises events and activities within the gallery and the wider…

Lilah Fowler: Code Clay, Data Dirt

London-based artist Lilah Fowler makes artwork that examines the effect and consequence of technology on our contemporary landscape, revealing how the ‘natural’ and the ‘man-made’ are interwoven a state that she refers to as ‘nth nature’. For Firstsite Fowler…

Anna Berry: Breathing Room

‘Breathing Room’, is a large-scale, experiential, kinetic light installation by artist Anna Berry and collaborator/engineer Clive Doherty. A tunnel lined with cones, the work creates a strange and otherworldly immersive experience through its apparent “breathing”. On the outside, the…

Siobhan Coen: Unknown Knowns

Siobhan Coen creates immersive environments by reworking the component parts of digital communications—RGB light, the pixels that make up images, and the spoken word—inviting us to experience how their qualities, more than their subject matter, affect what we perceive…

Mark Titchner: Some questions about us

Artist Mark Titchner explores the tensions between the different belief systems that inform our society, be they religious, scientific or political. He works across a number of media including digital print, wall drawing, video, sculpture, and often employs motifs…

Ian Giles: Outhouse

Ian Giles: Outhouse FREE Outhouse is a mobile queer space traveling across East Anglia. The transparent walls of the cylindrical structure feature photographs and ephemera related to historic and contemporary LGBTQI+ culture from the East of England. This space…

Elsa James: Black Girl Essex

Drawing on the original conception of the gallery surrounding the Berryfield Mosaic as ‘Colchester’s sitting room’, Firstsite has re-conceived the space as a working studio for the next 3 years— a site for not only the presentation of art,…

Roy Colmer: An Optical Haze of Colour

Roy Colmer (1935-2014) was a London-born artist known for photomontages, films and colour intensive paintings. Responding to the widespread availability of new, electronic media in the 1970s, Colmer sought to reproduce in paint, the patterns and effects familiar to…

Cory Arcangel: BACK OFF

Thoughts on violence, aggression, and surveillance; as seen through retro gaming, military technology and fashion. A survey featuring drawing, photography, lorry lights, a laser, a drum machine, and a baby monitor, as well as a new series of prints…

Magda Archer | Problems with Modern Life

Problems with Modern Life is a new poster exhibition by artist Magda Archer. Bursting with colour and a love of typography, Archer’s artworks juxtapose retro and often optimistic imagery with popular words or phrases; mimicking online memes in their…

Courage Calls To Courage Everywhere: The Making of the Millicent Fawcett Statue for Parliament Square by Gillian Wearing

Courage Calls To Courage Everywhere is an exhibition documenting the creation of Turner Prize-winning artist Gillian Wearing’s recently-unveiled statue of Suffragist leader Millicent Fawcett, situated in Parliament Square, London. It features a number of artworks drawn from Wearing’s celebrated photographic…

Zoe Beloff | Emotions Go to Work

‘Emotions Go to Work’ is an interactive installation by New York based artist and filmmaker Zoe Beloff. It investigates how technology is used to turn our feelings into valuable assets. Ever since the 19th century, people have been collecting…

susan pui san lok | A Coven A Grove A Stand

Rediscovering the persecution of witches, reimagining the landscape. An evolving installation combining sculpture, sound and moving image, with hand-crafted pieces from local communities. A Coven A Grove A Stand is a major exhibition by the artist susan pui san lok. The…

flyingleaps: Art on the streets (II)

Following the success of the initial presentation in 2018, Firstsite is pleased to present a second collaboration with ‘flyingleaps’, an organisation that commissions artists to create posters in response to contemporary politics, events and ideas. Launched on the day of…

Raqs Media Collective: Not Yet At Ease

Co-commissioned by 14-18 NOW 2018   Not Yet At Ease explores the history of psychological disorders resulting from conflict and the stigmas attached to them. Using poetry and performance, this immersive artwork is inspired by letters written by soldiers during…

Legacy: Two works on hope and memory

Legacy: two works on hope and memory is a Crafts Council touring exhibition showcasing ceramic installations to commemorate the centenary of the First World War. The exhibition brings together work by ceramic artists Julian Stair and Clare Twomey. For Stair and Twomey, clay is a material that is…

BRONZE AGE c. 3500 BC – AD 2018

Phyllida Barlow • Louise Bourgeois • Martin Creed • Alberto Giacometti • Diego Giacometti • Subodh Gupta • Eva Hesse • Jenny Holzer • Thomas Houseago • Matthew Day Jackson • Hans Josephsohn • Bharti Kher • Anna Maria…

Play It Again: The art of remaking

‘Play It Again: The art of remaking’ features ‘remade’ objects, events and films, produced by artists and the public. The exhibition showcases how history, contemporary culture and our own everyday experiences inspire repetition, remaking and reenactment in different forms….

Scott King | A New Life in Frigg

Do you remember:When you knew your neighbours?When shop assistants were not machines?When you could still telephone your bank?When a holiday was at home, not abroad?When summer seemed to last forever?When you felt that you belonged? If you answered YES…

Lata Upadhyaya | Transit: The Identity of a White Van

Transit: The Identity of a White Van’ is an artwork by Essex based artist Lata Upadhyaya. An ordinary white Ford Transit van has been transformed; now enveloped in a graphic design that reflects the rich diversity of contemporary Britain and the…

The Britishness Project

‘The Britishness Project’ is a groundbreaking exhibition that explores national identity through art. From September to December 2017, eight professional artists undertook residencies for one term at seven schools and education organisations in Colchester, Harlow and Harwich. During this…

Chip Night

The Koestler East of England Exhibition curated by Firstsite’s Young Art Kommunity Firstsite, in partnership with the Koestler Trust, is delighted to present Chip Night, an exhibition of artwork, writing and music from prisons, secure hospitals and people on community…

Float. | NUA showcase: Each To Their Own

Float. have teamed up with BA(hons) Fine Art students from Norwich University of the Arts for a one day pop up exhibition. Experience live art installations all day, with an open critique at 3pm. Float. is an open platform inviting…

Rose Finn-Kelcey | Power for the People

Power for the People brings together over four decades of work by highly-acclaimed and influential British artist Rose Finn-Kelcey. Born in Northampton in 1945, Finn-Kelcey attended Ravensbourne College of Art and Design before moving to London in 1968 to study…

Wunderkammer: A cabinet of curiosities from Colchester collections

Exhibition opening event 10 March, 6 – 8pm In collaboration with Colchester and Ipswich Museums. Firstsite is making its very own Wunderkammer; a cabinet of curiosities that will grow over the coming years to surround the Berryfield Mosaic sited…

Grayson Perry: The Life of Julie Cope

Grayson Perry ‘The Life of Julie Cope’ is a unique presentation consisting of tapestries, woodcuts, ceramics and tiles designed by the Turner Prize-winning artist for ‘A House for Essex’ (2015), the building designed by the artist in collaboration with FAT…

Film and Video Umbrella: Lawrence Lek

Geomancer As part of a new partnership, Firstsite is screening selected works from Film and Video Umbrella’s (FVU) impressive back-catalogue based on the gallery’s yearly programme themes. In 2017/2018 Firstsite is exploring identity and the second film to be…

We: You, Me

Emerging curators explore identity   This autumn Firstsite has invited three emerging curators based in the east of England to explore contemporary identity through their own areas of research. In a unique group exhibition JMC Anderson, Charlie Bryan and Laurie Taylor Straiton bring together…

Lubaina Himid: Warp and Weft

Warp and Weft is a survey of works by the 2017 Turner Prize winner, Lubaina Himid. A key figure in the Black Arts Movement, Lubaina Himid first came to prominence in the 1980s when she began organising exhibitions of…

Ed Gold: Other Worlds

We are celebrating the work of Essex-based documentary photographer Ed Gold in a major exhibition. Entitled Ed Gold: Other Worlds, the presentation is made up a hundred photographs taken over a period spanning almost thirty years. These have been…

BP Portrait Award 2016

Selected from 2,557 entries by artists from eighty countries around the world, the BP Portrait Award 2016, organised by the National Portrait Gallery, London, represents the very best in contemporary portrait painting. From parents to poseurs, figurative nudes to famous…

Zhang Enli : Gesture and Form

Firstsite is delighted to host a major solo exhibition by the celebrated Chinese artist Zhang Enli. The centerpiece of the presentation will be a site-specific intervention that will span the entirety of the gallery’s 140-metre curving wall. This monumental…

Gee Vaucher: Introspective

Introspective is Gee Vaucher’s first major institutional show in the UK, and spans the artist’s career of more than forty years. It charts Vaucher’s journey from local activity to international ambition, from domestic concerns to world politics, and from healing…

Flipside: Circuit Festival

YAK’S two week takeover of the gallery. Exhibitions, interactive installations, gaming café, dance battles, film screenings and workshops spin new perspectives as you encounter a shifting world of opposites, thresholds and scale. Don’t stay in the dark – join…