Royal College of Art announces HIDDEN October 2026: a showcase of creative talent behind the world’s leading art school

The Royal College of Art (RCA) is pleased to announce HIDDEN October 2026, an expansive public exhibition celebrating the diverse creative practices and extraordinary talents of the College’s Technical and Professional Services staff. Running from 27 to 31 October 2026, the free exhibition is open to all and offers a unique window into the artistic expertise thriving behind the scenes at the world-renowned institution.

Kickstarting the new academic year following a standout February edition, HIDDEN will be hosted at The Hangar at the RCA’s Battersea campus. The exhibition spotlights works from over 50 staff members regardless of their day-to-day administrative or technical roles. Uncovering personal projects and hidden creative pursuits, the exhibition demonstrates the breadth of skills held across the College’s non-academic staff.

Visitors can expect a remarkably eclectic showcase spanning traditional fine art, design, craft, and performance. Drawing from the diversity of past editions, the exhibition encompasses media ranging from paintings, photography, sculpture, jewellery, ceramics, flower arrangements, book illustrations, posters, virtual reality experiences, computer games, sound installations, film, performance and bespoke engineering.

Featured projects include:

Madeleine Lacroix, Graduate Technical Assistant, RCA Graduate Diploma

With ‘Klein on Klein’, Madeleine Lacroix brings together two iconic ideas from topology and art in a striking brass sculpture. The piece borrows its unique structure from the Klein bottle, a seamless shape with no clear inside or outside, and wraps it in a vibrant, intense blue made famous by 20th-century artist Yves Klein. Through this interplay, the sculpture explores fluid boundaries and treats colour as a shifting material - between pigment, mythology and memory.

Florence Richardson, Technical Coordinator in Making

‘Spectral Fragments’ is an audiovisual collaboration between artist Florence Richardson and composer Luci Holland, evolved from their original work Spectral Ballroom, created within the abandoned Granton High School in Edinburgh. Drawing on archival traces, moving image and original composition, the work explores dreamlike preparations for a grand ball that exists somewhere between historical record, fragmented memory and dream.

Tess Piggott, Programme Administrator, School of Arts & Humanities

At HIDDEN, Tess Piggott will be exhibiting her creative millinery practice with a snowflake beaded hat. Made with a handblocked sinamay base, the hat is decorated with grey feathers in a snowflake formation, silver painted streaks and intricate beading. The beads include Czech glass pearls, metal batons, smoke-coloured faceted glass beads, and light-catching Swarovski cabochons.