Signal Open 2026 Exhibition

Signal Arts Centre in Bray runs its Signal Open exhibition from Monday, 3 August to Sunday, 16 August 2026, the fourteenth year the gallery has staged an open-submission show. Any artist can apply to show up to six pieces, and a selection committee of working artists chooses what goes on the walls. It gives amateur and professional artists based in County Wicklow the same wall space for two weeks, with no theme imposed on the work.

What to expect

Signal has run a rolling programme of exhibitions since the centre was set up in 1990, with a new show roughly every fortnight. The Open is the one show each year where the walls are not curated around a single artist or theme; instead the selection committee picks from submissions covering painting, drawing, print, textile and mixed media, so the finished hang is a genuine cross-section of what County Wicklow’s artists are making that year. Work is for sale during the exhibition, with the centre taking a standard commission. The gallery is a converted building on Albert Avenue in Bray town centre, close to the seafront, and shows change often enough that regular visits rarely repeat the same work twice in a season.

Getting there

Signal Arts Centre is on Albert Avenue, just off Bray’s Main Street and a short walk from Bray Daly DART station. Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann services stop in the town centre, and there is on-street parking nearby, though spaces can be tight on summer weekends.

While you’re in Bray

Bray’s seafront and Harbour Bar are a ten-minute walk from the gallery, and the exhibition makes a natural stop on a day that takes in the Esplanade and Bray Head. There is more to see in Bray and across Co. Wicklow.

Good to know

• Dates: Monday, 3 August to Sunday, 16 August 2026 (14th annual Signal Open)
• Venue: Signal Arts Centre, 1a Albert Avenue, Bray
• Price: free to view; work is for sale during the exhibition
• Recurrence: annual, every August