Bloc Projects

Looking for a space to hold an event, workshop or exhibition?⁠ ⁠ Our gallery is available for hire for public and private use, including exhibitions, events, meetings, workshops, performances, photoshoots and more. ⁠ ⁠ Limited availability left in 2026 with more options opening up for 2027. Get in touch to find out more: info[at]blocprojects.co.uk 💌⁠ __ ⁠ ⁠ Bloc Projects Members receive a discounted rate on gallery hire, alongside other benefits including opportunities to show work at Bloc Projects, artist development within the Kaleidoscope Network, peer networking and professional development. ⁠ ⁠ Be part of a vibrant community of artists and creatives with our membership scheme while supporting our programme! More details on how to join via the link in our bio / our website.

Making Room for Children and Art is a free symposium on artist-parent-child collaborations and other strategies for continuing a creative practice alongside caring for children 🎨⁠ ⁠ By @assuntaruocco_studio with @blocprojects and @artworkingparents , hosted by @sheffmuseums ⁠ 📆 Wednesday, 27 May, 12-4pm⁠ 📍 Millennium Gallery, Sheffield ⁠ ⁠ Convened by artist and researcher and lecturer in Fine Art @unilincolfineart @assuntaruocco_studio Making Room for Children and Art brings together artists, curators, researchers and art workers to share, discuss and develop thinking around intergenerational collaboration and the conditions that support artist-parents/carers and children in cultural institutions, studios and public spaces.⁠ ⁠ Contributors include: 📷 3) Shirley Cameron, artist, Sheffield, on her pioneering collaborative practice with her daughters from the 1970s onwards. 📷 4)Hettie Judah, curator, writer and co-founder of the Art Working Parents Alliance, presenting from her new book ‘How to Enter the Art World...’ (Hoxton Mini Press, 2026) 📷 5) Jo Harrison, co-founder of the Art Working Parents Alliance, on the Alliance’s work building networks, visibility and advocacy for artist-parents across the UK. 📷 6) Assunta and Lou on their collaborative practice from 2020-ongoing. 📷7) Ellie Barrett, artist, on the Sculpture Kit, a resource developed with her daughter Nora, which will be available to play with on the day. 📷8) Magda Bielesz, artist, on her drawings and performances made in collaboration with her son Maurycy. 📷9)Karolina Korupczynska on the Mothership Studio at Stryx Gallery, Birmingham, a creative studio space with integrated childcare provision. ⁠We are fully booked at the moment. If you have booked a place and are no longer able to attend, please contact [email protected] so we can offer your place to someone on the waiting list. The link is in bio to register for the waiting list. Poster Image Credits: ⁠ Performance/installation Pyramid Colours⁠ by Shirley Cameron, Mappin Gallery, Sheffield, 1986⁠

Bloc Projects is delighted to present Art is Ours, Mine and Yours!, the first major solo presentation by Assunta and Lou Art Club, a parent-child artist duo whose collaborative practice began in 2020, when Lou was four.⁠ ⁠ 📍 Bloc Projects, Sheffield⁠ ✨⁠ Launch Event: Sat, 23 May, 3-5PM ⁠ 📆 23 May — 13 June 2026⁠ 🎟️ Free & open to all⁠ ⁠⁠ What started as @assuntaruocco_studio and her daughter Lou drawing together in their home/studio during lockdown has grown into a wider art club, bringing children, parents and carers into shared processes of making through drawing, digital print and textiles. ⁠ ⁠ For this exhibition, Assunta and Lou bring their studio into the gallery. Soft digitally printed textiles, collaborative drawings, workshop materials and works made with other children and parents/carers become part of an open environment where visitors of all ages are invited to make themselves comfortable, spend time with the work, draw and take part.⁠ ⁠ Come down on Saturday 23 May to celebrate with us!⁠ ⁠ Image Credits ⁠ Image 1: Assunta and Lou, Image 2: Workshop Documentation by Saul Argent

We are pleased to announce 'Designs for Spaceships #1' by Emma Bolland, a showcase in our Reception Space at Bloc Projects.⁠ This is a new initiative for an invited artist within our Members Scheme to display and sell some limited edition works in our gallery.⁠ ⁠ Launching on Sat 23 May, 3-5pm, coinciding with our next Key Strand exhibition by Assunta and Lou Art Club 'Art is Ours, Mine and Yours!' in the main gallery. ⁠ ⁠ The works for 'Designs for Spaceships #1' are selected from a large body of collages, drawings, and assemblages produced and used by the artist as ‘objects to think with’. Using found images, drawing, papers, pure mineral pigments, stationary and metal, these small works operate as satellites and moonlets orbiting around and through larger ‘public’ works.⁠ ⁠ This showcase brings seven of these objects out of the plan chest and into the light. Limited edition giclee prints and works are available on request.⁠ ⁠ @emmabollandstudio ⁠ ⁠ Emma Bolland is an interdisciplinary artist and writer. They approach their practice with speculative, sci-fi sensibilities. Drawing on diverse histories such as those of Constructivism, the visual practices of theosophy, and astronomy, they often use materials that also suggest magical and metaphysical properties. Their work is physically and conceptually informed by their physical and mental disabilities but is not about them.

We’re pleased to host Deeqa Ismail (@deeqa_deeqa_deeqa ⁠) for a Kaleidoscope Network talk at Bloc Projects on Thursday, 21 May. ⁠ ⁠ 📅 Thursday, 21 May*⁠ 🖥 6 - 7:30PM, Online⁠ ⁠ In Soft Borders, Hard Walls, Deeqa Ismail will explore how her artistic practice connects with family archives, particularly through materiality and sound, to create sonic worlds that extend beyond time and space. She will consider what diversity in spaces looks like for emerging artists beyond the performative and institutional framework, drawing on her experience as a Somali-British artist and curator from London, now living in the North West. She will interrogate the gap between institutional claims of inclusion and the realities faced by emerging artists navigating hybrid cultural identities. Deeqa has taken part in exhibitions and public programmes at Tank Gallery in South London, KALEID Editions in East London and Agora Collective in Berlin, Germany. She is currently doing a practice-based research degree at Manchester School of Art and Design. ⁠ ⁠ *This is a Members-only event and is presented as part of the Kaleidoscope Network⁠ programme. To join our community or find out more, see: blocprojects.co.uk/membership ⁠ ⁠ Book your spot through our link in bio or website, blocprojects.co.uk 🎆⁠ ⁠__⁠ Deeqa Ismail (b. 1988, Hargeisa, Somalia) is a Somali-British artist based in Stockport, Manchester. She works with sculpture, printmaking, sound, video, and installations, often incorporating analogue processes and Somali sonic archives. Her work explores both shared and personal experiences of hybrid identity and the in-between spaces.⁠ ⁠ Image Credits: Deeqa Ismail ⁠

Join parent-and-child artist duo Assunta (@assuntaruocco_studio ) and Lou for a free art workshop to draw, paint, scan and print together! 🖍️⁠ ⁠ Bloc Projects are excited to host this free art workshop facilitated by Assunta and Lou, a parent-and-child artist duo who have been working together making digital prints, drawings and paintings for over five years. To celebrate and share the fun, we are inviting fellow parents/carers and children to come make art with Assunta and Lou this half-term.⁠ ⁠ There are three different workshop slots to choose from —⁠ 📅 Tue, 26 May, 2-4PM / Thu, 28 May, 11-1PM / Fri, 29 May, 2-4PM⁠ 📍 Bloc Projects, Sheffield ⁠ 🔗 Register at the link in our bio! ⁠ ⁠ The workshops will take place inside the Bloc Projects gallery, which has been transformed into an immersive making space as part of their first solo exhibition, Art is Ours, Mine and Yours!⁠ Work made in the workshops may become part of the exhibition, and you are always welcome to take yours home.⁠ ⁠ A few notes from us — ⁠ • We will provide aprons but recommend that you come in clothes you won't mind getting a little messy in.⁠ • All children must be accompanied by an adult.⁠ • Each ticket is for a family of up to 2 adults and up to 2 children⁠, feel free to book more if you are with a larger group.⁠ • The workshop is most suitable for children between 3 and 11 years old, but we welcome people of all ages to join in.⁠ ⁠ __⁠ Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts⁠ Council England, with additional support from the University of Lincoln and the JG Graves Charitable Trust. ⁠ ⁠ Image Credits ⁠ Assunta and Lou Holiday Art Club at Primary, Nottingham, 2025. Photos by Becky Beinart.⁠

What a perfect spring day to gather. We had a wonderful time at the beautiful Bloc Projects. We were moved by everyone who made the journey to be with us — including some familiar faces travelling all the way from Manchester and Brighton. Thank you so much to Sunshine for opening your doors and welcoming us into such a gorgeous space. Necessary Journeys continue… 🥾 @blocprojects @platformasia @howlyuan @liangjung_chen

Last week to apply for our Members Show 2026! 🙌🏾⁠ ⁠ If you’re part of our Membership Scheme, we’d love to receive submissions from you for our annual show. This year, our guest selector, artist/curator Jun Rui Lo (@ryanmoyii_ ) will be choosing four of our Membership artists to participate. ⁠ ⁠ 🗓️ Application deadline: Mon 4 May, 12pm⁠ 🔔 Artists will be notified the week of 15 May 2026⁠ ℹ️ Submission guidelines: blocprojects.co.uk/opportunities ⁠(link in bio!) ⁠ 💌⁠ Questions: [email protected] ⁠ ⁠ Work needs to be complete by the time of submission. ⁠Each selected artist will be offered a £500 fee. ⁠⁠ ⁠ __⁠ Jun Rui Lo is a Hong Kong-born artist and curator based in Manchester. Approaching art as an emotional response, they make and curate with an interest in identity politics and the aesthetics of ambiguity. Rooted in their gender non-conformity and diasporic experience, Jun Rui’s practice responds to the fluidity and rootlessness that arise from their refusal to be anchored to any fixed identity. Through their expanded-drawing and sculpture, Jun Rui creates allegories from everyday made strange—queered, in every sense of the word.

The neo-Pagan rituals of The Rite of Ten Winds (RoTW) take place across five landscapes inspired by emerging greenhouse gas removal methods: a stone circle in a basalt quarry; a pyrolysis chamber in a miscanthus field; a raceway pool churning with microbes and algae; a haunted peatland; and an AI-plotted forest. Rituals have historically been a way for communities to bind themselves to each other and to place. In our current era of disconnection - to each other, to our environment, and even to ourselves - it is a powerful cultural technology that could be just as impactful as science and government policy in shaping our future. RoTW will be on view at @blocprojects from 2-7 May. Supported by @co2rehub , funded by the Natural Environment Research Council. Additional support by @broadwaycinema @nearnow using public funding by Arts Council England.

Making Room for Children and Art is a free symposium on artist-parent-child collaborations and other strategies for continuing a creative practice alongside caring for children 🎨⁠ ⁠ By @assuntaruocco_studio with @blocprojects and @artworkingparents , hosted by @sheffmuseums ⁠ 📆 Wednesday, 27 May, 12-4pm⁠ 📍 Millennium Gallery, Sheffield ⁠ ⁠ Making Room for Children and Art brings together artists, curators, researchers and art workers to share, discuss and develop thinking around intergenerational collaboration and the conditions that support artist-parents/carers and children in cultural institutions, studios and public spaces.⁠ ⁠ Speakers include Shirley Cameron, Jo Harrison, Hettie Judah and more. A making and play space will be active throughout the day, with artists and play workers present to support families. ⁠ ⁠ Free lunch provided for all attendees. Places are limited, so do register early! Link in bio to register. Travel bursaries are available. ⁠ ⁠ —⁠ Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, with additional support from the University of Lincoln.⁠ ⁠ Image Credits: ⁠ Performance/installation Pyramid Colours⁠ by Shirley Cameron, Mappin Gallery, Sheffield, 1986⁠

A quick look at the short film programme from the 'Waving Kites' film screening, organised by the Chinese Independent Film Archive at Newcastle University next week at Bloc Projects! ⁠ ⁠ ⁠📅 Friday, 1 May, 6-8pm ⁠ 📍 Bloc Projects ⁠ ⁠⁠🎟️ Free & open to all ⁠ ⁠ Moderated by artist and friend of Bloc Projects Clara Cheung, the screening will also include a Q&A with Bobby Yu 余淑培, director of 'Lykke Til'.⁠ ⁠ ⁠ Reserve your spot using the link in our bio / below: ⁠ tinyurl.com/wavingkitessheffield 🪁 ⁠ ⁠ Waving Kites is curated by CIFA, with the support of the BFI Screen Heritage Fund, awarding National Lottery Funding. ⁠ ⁠ Screening three short films:⁠ ⁠ Simon Says, Simon Says 呼~⁠ Dir. So SIU Chi Yan 邵知恩, 2022, 30m, Drama⁠ ⁠ Lykke Til 祝君安好⁠ Dir. YU Shuk Pui Bobby 余淑培, 2023, 30m, Drama⁠ ⁠ The Dispute 原來我是不速客⁠ Dir. Fredie CHAN Ho-lun 陳浩倫, 2022, 34m, Documentary⁠ ⁠ —⁠ Waving Kites: Hong Kong Diaspora Cinema UK Tour, showcases Hong Kong diaspora cinema, with screenings taking place in Newcastle, Manchester, Edinburgh, Sheffield, Southampton, and London from April to May 2026. The programme traces a range of perspectives, from hope to disillusionment, separation and exploration, the struggle to settle, and reflections shaped by global capitalism and xenophobia. Together, they span diasporic experiences from the 1980s to more recent waves of emigration, moving between Hong Kong, the United States, and the United Kingdom. ⁠

Bloc Projects is pleased to host 'The Rite of Ten Winds', a new interactive VR experience by artist Yambe Tam.⁠ ⁠ Opening times:⁠ 2 - 6 May, 12-5pm⁠ 7 May, 11am-4pm⁠ ⁠ The project envisions a future symbiosis between science and spirituality, nature and technology in the British countryside. These new relationships unfold through a series of neo-Pagan purification rituals, drawing inspiration from emerging greenhouse gas removal methods, as well as Zen Buddhist and Shinto practices which recognise nature as a sovereign force.⁠ ⁠ These immersive rituals are positioned as part of a crucial cultural shift, and propose a future where biosphere and technosphere converge to reawaken a lost kinship with the earth and combat the climate crisis.⁠ ⁠ @yambetam ⁠ —⁠ Yambe Tam is an interdisciplinary artist based between rural Oxfordshire and London, whose work spans immersive media, video and installation. Her work has been exhibited at institutions including FACT, Liverpool, the Barbican, the Science Museum and the Black Hole Initiative at Harvard, amongst many others. ⁠ ⁠ Her practice uses the digital screen as a scrying mechanism to conjure an array of speculative futures that could arise from our uncertain era of technological acceleration and climate collapse. Drawing from experiences of Zen monastic life, she uses game engines and 3D animation software to contemplate the formlessness and impermanence of digital & physical realities. Her current research investigates the disappearance of sacredness in the modern world, and how this has contributed to widespread environmental and social decline.⁠ ⁠ Credits⁠ Programming by Albert Barbu.⁠ Music Composition by Seán Clancy.⁠ Supported by CO2RE Hub, funded by the Natural England Research Council. Additional support by⁠ Broadway’s Near Now using public funding by Arts Council England.⁠ ⁠ (This exhibition is part of "Hosted at Bloc Projects" series of hire events)