Welcome Building®, near Temple Meads will host five international exhibitions, including a tribute to the late Bristol-based photographer Martin Parr, as Bristol Photo Festival returns from Wednesday 14 October to Sunday 15 November 2026 for its third edition with the theme of Time Machine
A floor of Welcome Building®, a new multi-award-winning workplace at 4 Glass Wharf in Bristol, is set to be transformed into a free public gallery this autumn, inviting visitors into the building in the heart of the city’s business district.
As one of the main exhibition hubs of Bristol Photo Festival 2026, the office building will welcome members of the public alongside its usual workplace community to the international biennial, hosting exhibitions, talks, tours and events.
Among the exhibitions will be Common Sense, presented as a tribute to the late Martin Parr, one of Britain’s most influential photographers and the inaugural artistic director of Bristol Photo Festival.
Originally created using inexpensive colour photocopies, Parr’s project challenged conventional ideas about how photography should be exhibited and will now be shown in the distinctly unconventional setting of a contemporary Bristol office building.
Welcome Building® will also host Maria Lax’s series, Stray Sod, exploring folklore, storytelling and uncertain landscapes, and Photo Kegham curated by Kegham Djeghalian Jr, drawing on the archive of Gaza’s first commercial photography studio founded in 1944 by his grandfather, Kegham Deghalian Sr.
The unusual venue has been made possible through a collaboration supported by Bristol BID, bringing together Bristol Photo Festival and partners from the city’s commercial property sector. The partnership is designed to open up spaces that would not normally be used for public culture, while creating closer links between Bristol’s business and creative communities.
Sabrina Shutter, Senior Project Event Manager at Bristol BID, says of the collaboration: “Bristol has an incredible creative community and a thriving business community, and we want to create more opportunities for those two worlds to come together.
“Welcome Building® is a brilliant example of what can happen when we look at corporate spaces differently. By helping connect Bristol Photo Festival with businesses and property partners, we can unlock new places for culture, bring extraordinary art to new audiences and give people another reason to explore this part of the city.
“We hope this partnership encourages more businesses to think creatively about their spaces and the role they can play in Bristol’s cultural life.”
Welcome Building® will also host the Festival’s opening event from 6–9pm on Wednesday 14 October 2026, alongside guided tours and a three-day masterclass with Magnum photographer Olivia Arthur.
Andrew Clarke, Vice President, UK Office Development at Trammell Crow Company, explains: “Welcome Building® has been designed as much more than simply a place to work, so we’re delighted to see part of it transformed for Bristol Photo Festival.
“Opening the building to a major cultural event is a fantastic opportunity to welcome new people into the space and connect those working here with Bristol’s wider creative community. It demonstrates how modern workplaces can contribute to the life of the city around them, and we’re looking forward to seeing the building take on an entirely different character during the Festival.”
Across Bristol, the wider Festival will feature exhibitions at Arnolfini, Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, Bristol Cathedral, IC Visual Lab, Centrespace Gallery, and Redcliffe Caves.
Highlights include Joy Gregory’s Catching Flies with Honey at Arnolfini, Akshay Mahajan’s People of Clay and Sheida Solemani’s Persistence Studies at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, and George Hallett’s Home & Exile at IC Visual Lab.
The Festival’s opening week will also include artist talks, curator tours, workshops, live music and the Time Machine Festival Symposium at Arnolfini on Friday 16 October 2026.
Alejandro Acín, Director of Bristol Photo Festival, says of this year’s edition: “Time Machine brings together artists and curators whose work reminds us that the present is never singular. Every photograph carries traces of multiple temporalities, memories that continue to shape us, histories that refuse to disappear and futures that remain open to possibility.
“At a time when cultural organisations across the UK face significant challenges, this edition is also a testament to the power of collaboration. It has only been possible through the commitment of artists, funders, partners and communities who believe that this festival can help us better understand the complexity of the world we inhabit.”
The 2026 edition follows Bristol Photo Festival’s 2024 event, which attracted more than 115,000 visitors across venues throughout the city.
Welcome Building® exhibitions will be free to visit and open 12–6pm Thursday to Sunday, during the Festival.
