London arts centre unveils new season featuring playable exhibition

London’s Battersea Arts Centre has unveiled its spring 2026 season.

It includes world and UK premieres, building takeovers and two festivals.

The centre’s creative director, Pelin Başaran, said: “This season brings together bold, radical work that engages with the world as it is: complex, political, playful and alive.

“The programme speaks directly to communities and voices that are often marginalized, creating a season that is energising, provocative and unafraid to take risks.

“It invites audiences to consider what connects us, what we desire, and how we nurture one another in the imagining of alternative world.”

Krishna Istha’s Second Trimester blends memory and Bollywood in a bold family tale (Image: Chris Frape)

The season opens with A Public Address, a month-long takeover co-produced by BAC and Quarantine as part of Wandsworth’s year as the Mayor’s London Borough of Culture.

From February 16 to March 14, it stages four works by Manchester theatre collective Quarantine, including the world premiere of Why I Am and Why I Am Not.

The two-part show includes The Balcony, with 12 people giving speeches from BAC’s balcony, and The Rooms, a live installation inside the building.

Quarantine will also stage 12 Last Songs, a 12-hour show about work, and The People of Lavender Hill, an audio walk about local residents.

In March, Italian artists Silvia Calderoni and Ilenia Caleo bring The Present is Not Enough, an immersive show inspired by cruising as a communal social practice.

In April, BAC follows with the world premiere of its production Second Trimester.

Monica reimagines maternal legacy through queer performance in May (Image: Tristan Perez-Martin)

Trans performance artist Krishna Istha created the show with their mother, Geetha Shankar, and director Milli Bhatia, exploring generational stories of pregnancy, loss and memory in a cinematic, Bollywood-inspired style.

In May, Pablo Lilienfeld and Federico Vladimir stage Monica, a UK premiere reworking maternal legacies through a queer, non-traditional lens.

Swingers: The Art of Mini Golf is a headline UK-premiere playable art exhibition running June 17 to July 26.

It features nine mini-golf holes designed by top female artists worldwide, including Miranda July, Kaylene Whiskey and Turner Prize nominee Delaine Le Bas.

The playful installation takes over BAC for six weeks.

Bloom and Homegrown also return in May.

BAC artistic director and CEO Tarek Iskander said: “BAC has always been a place where artists are trusted to take risks — with ideas, form and the questions they’re asking of the world.

“This season reflects that spirit, from work originated and developed here in our building on Lavender Hill, to artists from across the world coming through our doors.

“That belief in creative freedom goes hand in hand with our commitment to widening access with Pay What You Can tickets, so that ambitious, exceptional art and performance can be experienced by as many people as possible.”