Artist Lab Exhibition
Signal is proud to announce its most experimental and ambitious group exhibition to date, shaped by land and protest, launching this November in their newly refurbished gallery spaces in Barrow-in-Furness. The Artist Lab features 14 outstanding artists from or connected to Cumbria. This expansive exhibition marks the culmination of 2 years of artist development, experimentation, and deep ecological enquiry as part of SIGNAL’s Artist Development Lab.
This landmark show is the first multidisciplinary group exhibition in the new venue, and it explodes with the energy that defines not only SIGNAL’s next chapter, but the generation of artists staking bold new ground in the North West’s cultural landscape.
Expect moving image and sound works influenced by elemental forces and geopolitical pressures. Sculptures informed by walking, place, and time. Photography that unearths sites of labour, process and change. Art that unpicks the social, ecological and emotional textures of place. Work that challenges, responds to, and reimagines the world around us. A place where coastlines, soundscapes, installations, ideas, and speculative environments collide.
FEATURED ARTISTS:
Cj Pitcher
David Haley
Debbie Yare
Ellie Hoskins
Giles W Bennett
Jennifer McMillan
Johannes Pretorius
Laurence Campbell
Liam Collins
Mel Galley
Núria Rovira Terradas
Natalie Sharp
Tom Mortlock-Jackson
Zoe Forster
Exhibition Times:
Fri 28th Nov-Sat 20th Dec 2025
Tue 6th Jan-Sat 31 Dec 2026
Open Tue – Sat | 10am – 5pm
Location:
Signal Gallery
Cooke’s Building
102-104 Abbey Road
Barrow-in-Furness
Cumbria
LA14 5QR
Free Entry
About
Artist Development Lab
2022—Present
Since 2018 Signal has been running Artist Development Labs, working with emerging artists based in, or with a strong connection to, Cumbria.
The labs consist of talks, workshops, mentoring and visits to inspiring locations in and around Barrow. Space is created for artists to build new networks, share and get feedback about work and ideas in progress and gain skills and knowledge around using digital technology and the natural environment within a creative practice. The 2022/23 lab inspired the series of funded TIDAL micro commissions.
The Labs have benefitted from the expertise of speakers, mentors and workshop leaders including: Charlotte Horn – Exhibitions Producer (FACT Liverpool); Hwa Young Jung – Artist; Angela Chan – Artist/Researcher; Tom Ireland – Artist and Director (Abingdon Studios, Blackpool); Steve Benn – Senior Reserve Manager (Natural England), Arts Council England, Michael Raymond – Assistant Curator, Tate Modern and artists – John Fox and Sue Gill, Marshmallow Laser Feast, Rachel Pimm, ArtFly and Mishka Henner.
The 2022 – present Lab focussed on Barrow’s coastal environment and the climate crisis and in 2024 our artists explored Piel Island considering the ways we encounter new places, and were introduced to ‘Quantum Thinking’ by Jamie Jenkinson and Amy Dickson from Jewellers in Morecambe and standing amidst the ruins of Furness Abbey, artist Joseph Doubtfire led an exploratory VR workshop.
The Labs - BTS!
The Artists
Currently collaborating with Laurence Campbell on ‘How the Land Lies’ (working title), a sonic/video installation that explores the relationships between wind, water, rocks, people and power over time in South Furness.
