Outer Spaces Programme 2026

News November 2025

New Programme for 2026

Expanding Outer Spaces' support for artists across our network

We are delighted to announce our first annual cycle of public programme, encompassing a series of new commissions and partnerships, studio-residencies, and supporting international projects with a professional development focus.

Our first year of programming across 2026 will support artists to develop their practice in new directions, offering opportunities to take risks and engage in experimentation to challenge and expand their practice. Commissioning is at the core of these presentations – supporting the creation of ambitious work and its public presentation, primarily in Scotland but collaborating on select key international projects. Working in a roving manner, the programme will continue to reflect the nationwide network of Outer Spaces studios.

Hardeep Pandhal, 'Milkshake Terror!', 2025. Acrylic, watercolour pencil and sticker on paper

Courtesy of the artist

Hardeep Pandhal

In November 2025, Glasgow-based artist Hardeep Pandhal will present a co-commissioned work as part of his solo exhibition 'Saag Fish and Fingers' at the Midlands Art Centre, Birmingham, which explores the intersection of humour, politics and identity, running from 22 November 2025 - 1 February 2026. This new work brings together freestanding wooden cut-outs accompanied by a self-produced soundtrack. The work began as a satirical drawing produced by the artist, translated and transformed for the exhibition. This new co-commission is the final work produced for the show - a major mid-career exhibition - for the artist in his home town of Birmingham.

Luke Fowler

In spring 2026, artist, filmmaker and musician Luke Fowler will create a new sound commission for Outer Spaces, titled 'Mirage of Eternity'. Fowler, whose films often interrogate the disjunction between sound and image, will develop a new installation making use of obsolete analogue technology. These apparatus were originally conceived for the transmission and reproduction of sound in domestic settings. The artist considers how this folklore of 20th century technology could be re-purposed to create a complex, auditory and sculptural landscape where phantasms of voice, noise, feedback and memory are conjured ephemerally in space.

Luke Fowler, 'Patrick', 2020 (film still)

Courtesy of the artist and The Modern Institute/Toby Webster Ltd, Glasgow

"Outer Spaces will be instrumental in bringing my new sound sculpture - The Mirage Of Eternity to life. Their commitment to artist support, from production resources to providing the physical space needed to experiment, will create the foundation for this project to flourish. In a cultural landscape where risk-taking is increasingly rare, Outer Spaces is offering not just a venue, but genuine permission to explore the intersection of sound sculpture, memory, and a folklore of technology. Working with obsolete technology and materials requires time, failure, and iteration; Outer Spaces understands this and is generously providing the freedom to push boundaries to develop an exciting new body of work.” - Luke Fowler

Jamie Fitzpatrick

Opening June and running until September 2026, is a new solo exhibition from Edinburgh-based artist Jamie Fitzpatrick presented by Kunsthall Tronheim, Norway. Featuring a new body of ambitious sculptural work, installed alongside sound and, co-commissioned with Outer Spaces, painted theatrical landscape sets. Fitzpatrick’s newly-commissioned works will bring together an examination of the historical and political motivations behind statuary and landscape painting as expressions of power and land oppression, with an exploration of subjective relationships towards ethnonationalism, parenting and hereditary ties to place, weaponised visions of Arcadia and the glorification of historical figures that fight off foreign or supernatural threats. The spoken audio, music and animatronics will allow the artists’ sculptural work to ‘speak’, ‘sing’ and ‘argue’ with the audience. Addressing power structures of the past, present and future, the exhibition will encourage trespass, transgression and agency through tactile engagement.

A long-standing member of the Outer Spaces studio network, Fitzpatrick previously presented 'Crème Fraiche Amygdala Hummmm' as part of the 2025 Bank Commissions, where three artists presented new work commissioned by Outer Spaces in Glasgow’s former Clydesdale Banking Hall, an iconic building which continues to be used as meanwhile studio space.

Jamie Fitzpatrick, ‘The Transformative Stag Do’

Installation shot courtesy of Vitrine Gallery and the artist

Irineu Destourelles

As part of Glasgow International from 5 - 21 June 2026, Outer Spaces will present 'Faint Light of the World with Contradictions', a solo exhibition from artist Irineu Destourellesco-curated with Natalia Palombo.

The exhibition will explore how ambivalent historical narratives tied to one’s culture and language can co-exist within a single body and identity. Drawing on the artist’s experience as a multilingual, diasporic Creole individual, the work asks: how can one live with, and speak from, the tension between complicity and resistance? The artists' new work will translate this tension into an immersive sculptural installation using sound, light, and spatial transformation.

Irineu Destourelles, 'One Hundred and Two Houses on Fire' 2019. Digital HD file

Courtesy of the artist

“When working in a studio context, having the space to work consistently is always significant and allows me to push myself and my practice into uncomfortable, unknown territory. With generous production support and studio space from Outer Spaces towards my upcoming commission as part of Glasgow International, I am able to truly focus on creating this new work, working sculpturally with sound and light for the first time.” Irineu Destourelles

Pilot: Studio - Residencies, Glasgow and Edinburgh

From Autumn 2025, two studio-residency programmes will support artists in Edinburgh and Glasgow as part of our Pilot programme. In Edinburgh’s Fountainbridge, artists Jamie Fitzpatrick, Crystal Bennes, Thulani Rachia, Aoife Cawley and Malcy Duff are being supported to sustain their practice and create new work, without set outcomes, in a vacant retail unit. The cohort spans career stages and artistic mediums – including sculpture, drawing, printmaking, painting and installation. In Glasgow, the studio-residences are focused on supporting in a single space a group of artists working in moving image, including Chizu Anucha,

Molly M. Whawell and Sarah Forrest.

“Being invited to participate in Outer Spaces’ Glasgow studio residency programme is an exciting prospect for me, particularly because of the headspace and focus that an opportunity such as this allows for. The residency will provide me with dedicated time and space to focus on developing new work as well as a cohort of artists who are also working with moving image. The conversations that happen around the edges of a creative practice are invaluable to me - I’m looking forward to the exchanges of ideas and collective energy that comes from working alongside other artists in this field.” - Sarah Forrest, Glasgow-based Artist

Scotland + Venice

For the 61st La Biennale di Venezia, Outer Spaces is partnering with Scotland + Venice to support Scotland’s contribution to this world-renowned event. Through the partnership, three early-career visual arts professionals will spend 10 weeks in Venice, gaining hands-on experience within an international art context. An open call will soon invite applications for the Senior Exhibition Associate roles, exclusive to the Outer Spaces network.

British Council Venice Fellowships

Outer Spaces will again partner with the British Council for the Venice Fellowships Programme, when one early-career artist from our network will spend a month at the British Pavilion in Venice. Fellows will participate in a one-month group residency, spending half their time acting as Exhibition Ambassadors and the remainder of their time undertaking fieldwork in Venice to inform their creative practice and/or research interests.

Fellows at the British Pavilion, 2024. Courtesy of the British Council

Outer Spaces’ provides personalised support for artists building on our work since 2021, when we began repurposing vacant commercial buildings into space for artists, to be accessed without financial barriers. Through testing new ways of working with artists and curators we have produced sites of experimentation, making, presentation and community in over 120 properties across 13 local authorities to date. In 2025, Tiffany Boyle, who joined the Outer Spaces team as Head of Programme, says:

“I am thrilled to join Outer Spaces, who are well known in the visual arts sector in Scotland for their vital provision of working space for artists removing financial barriers. Looking forward, we recognise the need to support artists to take risks and innovate in their practice in ways beyond studio space. Our new annual programme spans collaborations on significant solo presentations, supporting new work through commissioning, residencies and more, offering a package of support for artists based on their individual practice and career stage both in Scotland and internationally.” - Tiffany Boyle, Head of Programme, Outer Spaces

“As Outer Spaces continues to hand over spaces for artists to work in and collaborate in, we also welcome Tiffany Boyle to our team to lead in our new programme direction. In 2026, we will deliver an enhanced level of support for our expanding network of artists through studio residencies and commissions, as well as an ambitious year round public programme that includes international and local collaborations.” - Shân Edwards, Director, Outer Spaces

Find out more about the programme