Soho Connections: Artist Takeover at Shaftesbury Avenue
Bow Arts presents a takeover of Shaftesbury’s ex-office buildings led by the Soho Connections artists in residence. Taking place over two weekends in March, experience exhibitions, workshops and more.
Coming Up at Shaftesbury Avenue
The Floor is Lava
Taking place in the ex-office spaces at Shaftesbury Avenue, The Floor is Lava presents a modular stage, inviting 40 artists to showcase sculptural works that disrupt and subvert the utilitarian architecture of the office environment.
Soho Connections: Artist Takeover at Shaftesbury Avenue
Bow Arts presents a takeover of Shaftesbury’s ex-office buildings led by the Soho Connections artists in residence. Taking place over two weekends in March, experience exhibitions, workshops and more.
Sorry about the mess
Sorry about the mess is a group exhibition of work by visual artists and writers who are also mothers, exploring the evolving relationship between motherhood and making art.
Past Exhibitions
Exhibition Dates: Frieze Week Wed 9 – Sun 13 Oct, 10am-6pm
then Thurs-Sun, 12-6pm until 3 Nov
Exhibitions are free, and all are welcome – wheelchair access via lift inside.
Take a Seat
40 unique and sculptural artist-made chairs that mischievously merged the aesthetics of form and functionality, inviting audiences to both play and sit down across Shaftesbury’s vast open plan space.
Take A Seat was a collaboration between Bow Arts and curatorial duo ha.lf, (Haydn Albrow and Flora Bradwell). Several of the participating artists created their site-specific chairs at Shaftesbury as part of a residency, responding to the building by both assimilating and rejecting the ‘desolate’ office environment.
Absurd Visions
Absurd Visions saw mechanised sculpture, film and performance create a labyrinth of bizarre and technological discovery throughout Shaftesbury’s ex-offices.
Absurd Visions featured work from Rosie Gibbens’ Parabiosis series and Tim Spooner’s A New Kind of Animal which wove themselves into the office detritus left behind in the Shaftesbury building.
Parabiosis unpacked the pregnant body with sculptures that combine ‘puppets’ and machinery. The title referred to the surgical technique of joining two living organisms together to share a physiological system. Inspired by this process and theories about artificial robotic wombs, Gibbens created various ‘birthing’ contraptions.
Teachers in Residence at Shaftesbury Avenue
Bow Arts Learning are hosting an Artist Teacher Summer Residency at Shaftesbury Avenue. Seven teacher artists are honing their practice, and exploring how developing their work can positively translate into classroom arts-based learning.
Artist opportunities
Develop professionally
Along with offering affordable studio spaces, we also provide opportunities to help you to develop professionally, such as workshops, training sessions, peer crits, panel discussions and the sale of your art through Own Art.
What’s On at Bow Arts
Bow Arts works across London to provide affordable studios and access to the arts. Take a look at what’s going on in east London.
East London Art Prize: Shortlist Exhibition 2025
Bow Arts’ East London Art Prize celebrates the talent and diversity of art made in east London. This exhibition presents 12 incredible artworks shortlisted for the second iteration of the Prize.
Bow Families: storytelling and creating a community memory blanket collage with Fatima Ali
Taking inspiration from our everyday encounters with our communities, join Fatima Ali as we create a memory blanket telling stories through collage making. Open to children and families of all ages – all materials provided.