WIP exhibition programme

Building on the foundations of Steam Works, the exhibition programme will now run as just WIP Space. The gallery’s role within the studio complex is being reshaped while the programme expands across different sites.

Each year, WIP Space will present exhibitions by artists from our six-month residency programme alongside invited practitioners. The programme will also encompass a wider range of activity, including talks, performances, events, and other forms of public programming. This expanded approach reflects WIP Space’s commitment to supporting artists at different stages of their careers and to engaging audiences through diverse and experimental modes of presentation.

Steam Works Gallery

Steam Works is a non-commercial exhibition space in Wandsworth, dedicated to presenting ambitious solo exhibitions. The name was introduced by curator Kirsten Cooke during her tenure (2023–2025), when she shaped the gallery’s early programme in collaboration with Mark Nader, director of WIP Space. Kirsten continues to advise on the programme for WIP Space.

The gallery launched in October 2023 with Welcome to Ratcatcher's Song and Dance Plague Band for Good Dogs by Dale Holmes. From the outset, Steam Works has supported artists at various stages of their careers, fostering intergenerational exchange and placing an emphasis on queering and decolonising the gallery space. The programme also engaged with critical questions around capitalism and class. Annual group exhibitions were shaped in part by Kirsten’s curatorial research project Fluid Ground, which explored exhibition-making through the lens of immersion—particularly via water—as an alternative to dominant modes of spatial control.

Originally operating on an invitation-only basis, Steam Works encouraged public engagement through exhibitions talks and performance events. With the conclusion of this phase, the space is now programmed in-house as part of WIP Space. We are reshaping the gallery’s role within the studio complex and broadening the programme across new sites. Moving forward, the exhibition programme will run under the name WIP Space, presenting exhibitions annually including from our 6 month residency artists.