Every year, the Royal College of Art reveals one of its most human exhibitions. HIDDEN, returning 24th–28th February 2026 at the Battersea campus, turns the spotlight away from students and visiting stars and toward the people who keep the institution running day to day. Technicians, librarians, administrators, IT specialists: the infrastructure of the RCA, suddenly visible as makers in their own right.
More than 70 staff members will present work this year, spanning sculpture, painting, photography, ceramics, animation and beyond. It’s a reminder that creative practice doesn’t stop at job descriptions — and that the expertise supporting students often comes from deeply personal artistic lives happening in parallel, usually out of sight.
Among the highlights is D.I.Y: Analogue Riso Posters by Digital Print Technical Instructors Alba Ceide Rodriguez and Claudia Espart Hernandez. Developed through a collaborative workshop for staff, the project uses collage and Risograph printing to foreground making as a collective act — less about individual authorship, more about shared energy and community. @rca_printlabs
Jewellery artist and Metal Specialist Technical Instructor Jake McCombe presents a selection of silver and brass pieces drawn from multiple collections. Precise, tactile and materially assured, the works demonstrate the kind of technical fluency that quietly underpins the RCA’s workshops every day.
Administrative Assistant Oonagh Quinn contributes Intimates of “Waiting for a Cuppa”, her first appearance in HIDDEN. These paintings zoom in on fragments of a domestic scene — the slope of a torso, a hand resting on a hip, the soft gravity of a relaxed body — transforming casual moments into something tender, almost sculptural.
More than a staff show, HIDDEN functions as a portrait of the RCA itself: a dense creative ecosystem sustained not only by its students and faculty but by the skilled individuals who maintain its tools, spaces and systems. It’s an exhibition about what usually stays backstage — and why that matters.
HIDDEN, 24th – 28th February 2026, The Hangar space in the Studio Building
RCA Battersea campus, Howie Street, London SW11 4AY rca.ac.uk/hidden-2026
Tuesday – Friday 1PM -8PM Saturday 10AM – 3PM
About
HIDDEN is a unique annual exhibition celebrating the creativity and diversity of technical and
non-academic staff at the Royal College of Art.
Established in 2003, this exhibition has been successfully showcasing the ‘hidden” talent and
expertise of the RCA’s non-academic community. HIDDEN demonstrates and encourages the value
of the often unseen skills, creativity, commitment, excellence and technical knowledge of its staff,
who are the backbone and support for many of the students at the RCA.
