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You are here > Home > What's On > Exhibitions

Exhibitions

Immerse yourself in Durham's vibrant cultural tapestry with our curated guide to exhibitions.

Explore a diverse range of art showcases, cultural exhibits, and museum displays that highlight the richness of visual arts and heritage. From contemporary art installations to historical exhibitions, Durham offers a captivating array of experiences for art enthusiasts and history lovers alike. Stay informed about the latest exhibition openings and plan your cultural exploration in Durham's dynamic arts scene.

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Number of results: 21

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  1. A vintage Starwars poster witg many iconic characters, with the text 'May The Toys Be With You' in the yellow starwars font, on a black background.

    Add May The Toys Be With You to your Itinerary

    May The Toys Be With You

    Type

    Type:

    Exhibition

    Darlington

    From a galaxy far, far away to Hopetown Darlington, celebrate 50 years of Star Wars with one of the UK's finest collections of vintage toys, original cinema posters and memorabilia.

    Dates

    From:
    9 Jan 2027to21 Mar 2027Open 10:00 - 16:00
    More info for May The Toys Be With You
  2. An adult holding a baby in festive clothes, looking at a light installation of a bear.

    Add AGLOW 2026 - Auckland Palace and Gardens to your Itinerary

    AGLOW 2026 - Auckland Palace and Gardens

    Type

    Type:

    Christmas and New Year

    Bishop Auckland

    Bishop Auckland’s AGLOW light trail is alive!  
    Walk in wonder through one and a half magical miles of light and sound. Imagine a place where an ancient palace overlooks 150 acres of Deer Park that, as the sun sets, comes alive with wonderful lights…

    Dates

    From:
    20 Nov 2026to3 Jan 2027Open 16:30 - 19:30
    More info for AGLOW 2026 - Auckland Palace and Gardens
  3. A vintage sewing machine with a Vivienne Westwood bag.

    Add Making Westwood - The Bowes Museum to your Itinerary

    Making Westwood - The Bowes Museum

    Type

    Type:

    Exhibition

    Barnard Castle

    An extended version of the museum’s recent and highly successful exhibition, Vivienne Westwood: Rebel – Storyteller – Visionary in the Fashion & Textile Gallery. It honours one of fashion’s most provocative and imaginative British designers,…

    Dates

    From:
    12 Sept 2026to1 Nov 2026
    More info for Making Westwood - The Bowes Museum
  4. A person wearing historical mining clothes sat in a dark pit, smiling, surrounded with tools.

    Add Families October Half Term: Beyond Coal to your Itinerary

    Families October Half Term: Beyond Coal

    Type

    Type:

    October Half Term

    Stanley

    This October Half Term we will be exploring energy in all its forms – from coal, electricity and renewable energy sources to the social and cultural energy that mining communities generated.

    Dates

    From:
    24 Oct 2026to1 Nov 2026Open 10:00 - 16:00
    More info for Families October Half Term: Beyond Coal
  5. Close up of a Lego railway under construction

    Add Shildon Brick Show - Locomotion to your Itinerary

    Shildon Brick Show - Locomotion

    Type

    Type:

    Show / Display

    Shildon

    Feast your eyes on a fantastic array of intricate LEGO® creations at this year's Shildon Brick Show. Hosted in conjunction with Brick Alley Recognised LEGO Fan Community, this exhibition features a wide range of displays and trade stands to…

    Dates

    From:
    14 Nov 2026to15 Nov 2026Open 10:00 - 16:00
    More info for Shildon Brick Show - Locomotion
  6. Tom McGuinness, The Hewer, 1980s, oil on board. Gemini Collection, Zurbarán Trust

    Add Tom McGuinness: Out of the Darkness - Mining Art Gallery to your Itinerary

    Tom McGuinness: Out of the Darkness - Mining Art Gallery

    Type

    Type:

    Exhibition

    Bishop Auckland

    Our new Tom McGuinness exhibition opens on 18 February 2026. In his centenary year, the Mining Art Gallery celebrates this quiet man who communicated through his art – he did not seek simply to record details of the mining industry but expressed…

    Venue

    The Auckland Project, Bishop Auckland

    Dates

    From:
    18 Feb 2026to24 Dec 2026
    More info for Tom McGuinness: Out of the Darkness - Mining Art Gallery
  7. Impressionist seascape painting depicting a rocky shoreline with waves crashing against the coast.

    Add Impressions of Light: Masterpieces from MuMa – Le Havre and The Bowes Museum to your Itinerary

    Impressions of Light: Masterpieces from MuMa – Le Havre and The Bowes Museum

    Type

    Type:

    Exhibition

    Barnard Castle

    Impressions of Light: Masterpieces from MuMa – Le Havre and The Bowes Museum is a major partnership between The Bowes Museum and the Musée d'Art Moderne André Malraux (MuMa), Le Havre.

    Dates

    From:
    26 Sept 2026to14 Mar 2027Open 10:00 - 17:00
    More info for Impressions of Light: Masterpieces from MuMa – Le Havre and The Bowes Museum
  8. Photograph showing an older white-haired man outdoors beside a timber-clad building. He smiles in profile, wearing a black jacket and blue-grey neck w

    Add Front Row Talk: The Cornish Sketchbooks - The Bowes Museum to your Itinerary

    Front Row Talk: The Cornish Sketchbooks - The Bowes Museum

    Type

    Type:

    Exhibition

    Barnard Castle

    Join Mike Thornton, Norman Cornish's son-in-law, for an intimate walkthrough of The Bowes Museum's Norman Cornish: A Life in Sketchbooks exhibition. Discover how Cornish's sketchbooks shaped his creative practice and became a visual record of his…

    Venue

    The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle

    Dates

    From:
    8 Nov 2026Open 14:30 - 15:30
    More info for Front Row Talk: The Cornish Sketchbooks - The Bowes Museum
  9. Text reads, 'Victory Over The Sun Encounters with Light' against a multicoloured background of light emerging from darkness.

    Add Victory Over the Sun: Encounters with Light - The Light to your Itinerary

    Victory Over the Sun: Encounters with Light - The Light

    Type

    Type:

    Exhibition

    Durham

    This major exhibition brings together groundbreaking works by a diverse group of international artists who explore light in innovative and unexpected ways.

    Venue

    The Light, Durham City

    Dates

    From:
    22 Aug 2026to17 Jan 2027
    More info for Victory Over the Sun: Encounters with Light - The Light
  10. Photograph showing a curator in purple gloves displaying a bright blue metallic costume inside a clothing archive. Shelves of labelled storage boxes a

    Add David Bowie: On Tour to your Itinerary

    David Bowie: On Tour

    Type

    Type:

    Exhibition

    Barnard Castle

    Bringing together 100 highlights from the Victoria and Albert Museum's (V&A) David Bowie archive – many that have never been on public display before – David Bowie: On Tour will travel to venues across the UK across multiple years.

    Venue

    The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle

    Dates

    From:
    23 Oct 2027to30 Jan 2028Open 10:00 - 17:00
    More info for David Bowie: On Tour
  11. Photograph shows an art workshop or demonstration, with two visitors observing a woman engaged in an activity at a table. The woman doing the demonstr

    Add Bowes Lates: Framing the Landscape - The Bowes Museum to your Itinerary

    Bowes Lates: Framing the Landscape - The Bowes Museum

    Type

    Type:

    Exhibition

    Barnard Castle

    Make a Impressionist landscape and experiment with expressive brush strokes led by artist Anna Selway. Inspired by the themes and styles explored in Impressions of Light: Masterpieces from MuMa – Le Havre and The Bowes Museum, art lovers can create…

    Venue

    The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle

    Dates

    From:
    21 Nov 2026Open 18:30 - 20:45
    More info for Bowes Lates: Framing the Landscape - The Bowes Museum
  12. An ornate 19th-century lace parasol with an intricately patterned cream lace canopy. The handle is made of ivory or bone with a decorative metal finia

    Add Lace and Legacy: Fashion Treasures from The Blackborne Collection to your Itinerary

    Lace and Legacy: Fashion Treasures from The Blackborne Collection

    Type

    Type:

    Exhibition

    Barnard Castle

    Lace and Legacy: Fashion Treasures from The Blackborne Collection marks 20 years since the landmark exhibition Fine & Fashionable: Lace from the Blackborne Collection and commemorates the gift of the Blackborne lace collection to The Bowes Museum.

    Dates

    From:
    14 Nov 2026to11 Apr 2027Open 10:00 - 17:00
    More info for Lace and Legacy: Fashion Treasures from The Blackborne Collection
  13. Roger Wagner The Seeds of Eternity exhibition.

    Add Roger Wagner: The Seeds of Eternity - Exhibition at Auckland Palace to your Itinerary

    Roger Wagner: The Seeds of Eternity - Exhibition at Auckland Palace

    Type

    Type:

    Exhibition

    Bishop Auckland

    The Bishop Trevor Rooms at Auckland Palace will host an exhibition of the works of artist and poet Roger Wagner. Weaving together Biblical narratives and contemporary landscapes, Wagner's visionary paintings explore the mysteries of human existence.

    Venue

    The Auckland Project, Bishop Auckland

    Dates

    From:
    18 Feb 2026to31 Dec 2026Various Opening Times
    More info for Roger Wagner: The Seeds of Eternity - Exhibition at Auckland Palace
  14. Detail of vase with lion headed handles by Satomi Takeshiro, Hirado, 1872-90 CE

    Add Breaking the Mould: Japanese Ceramics from the Hyatt King Collection to your Itinerary

    Breaking the Mould: Japanese Ceramics from the Hyatt King Collection

    Type

    Type:

    Exhibition

    Durham

    Explore more than 250 years of Japanese ceramic art. Generously donated to the Oriental Museum in 2016 by collectors David and Anne Hyatt King, the Hyatt King collection comprises more than 2,000 ceramics spanning the eighteenth to the twentieth…

    Dates

    From:
    2 Oct 2026to1 June 2027Open 11:00 - 16:00
    More info for Breaking the Mould: Japanese Ceramics from the Hyatt King Collection
  15. Photograph of a woman leading a discussion at a dining table inside an art gallery, surrounded by framed paintings and seated attendees. Warm lighting

    Add Bowes Lates - The Bowes Museum to your Itinerary

    Bowes Lates - The Bowes Museum

    Type

    Type:

    Exhibition

    Barnard Castle

    The Bowes Museum's late-night event returns on for an atmospheric evening of art, creativity and culture after hours. Visitors can explore the museum at night and choose from creative workshops inspired by the museum's three current exhibitions,…

    Venue

    The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle

    Dates

    From:
    21 Nov 2026Open 18:00 - 21:30
    More info for Bowes Lates - The Bowes Museum
  16. An old historic book with ornate illustrations

    Add Light and Fire: 500 Years of Tyndale’s New Testament - The Faith Museum to your Itinerary

    Light and Fire: 500 Years of Tyndale’s New Testament - The Faith Museum

    Type

    Type:

    Exhibition

    Bishop Auckland

    A courageous man and his ‘naughtily translated’ book

    Dates

    From:
    15 July 2026to31 Dec 2026Open 10:30 - 16:00
    More info for Light and Fire: 500 Years of Tyndale’s New Testament - The Faith Museum
  17. Painting depicting a street scene in an industrial town with terraced houses, a horse-drawn cart, and several figures including children and adults.

    Add Norman Cornish: A Life in Sketchbooks - The Bowes Museum to your Itinerary

    Norman Cornish: A Life in Sketchbooks - The Bowes Museum

    Type

    Type:

    Exhibition

    Barnard Castle

    Step inside the working imagination of Norman Cornish in this intimate exhibition, bringing together finished drawings, paintings and watercolours alongside the preparatory sketches that shaped them.

    Dates

    From:
    27 June 2026to3 Jan 2027
    More info for Norman Cornish: A Life in Sketchbooks - The Bowes Museum
  18. Dr John Castling and Professor Christopher Gerrard with archaeology students and volunteers - Credit Stuart Boulton

    Add Archaeology ‘Open Lab’ - an Auckland Project Exhibition to your Itinerary

    Archaeology ‘Open Lab’ - an Auckland Project Exhibition

    Type

    Type:

    Exhibition

    Bishop Auckland

    Archaeologists uncovering the hidden history of Auckland Palace are inviting the public behind the scenes as historic finds from eight years of excavations are analysed in a new ‘open laboratory’ in Bishop Auckland town centre. Fridays weekly…

    Venue

    The Auckland Project, Bishop Auckland

    Dates

    From:
    16 Jan 2026to31 Dec 2026Various Opening Times
    More info for Archaeology ‘Open Lab’ - an Auckland Project Exhibition
  19. Polaroid from David Bowie's costume
fittings for Jareth in the 1986
film, Labyrinth. One of the highlights from
David Bowie’s archive travelling to ve

    Add Bowie at The Bowes Museum as part of the national David Bowie: On Tour from the Victoria & Albert Museum to your Itinerary

    Bowie at The Bowes Museum as part of the national David Bowie: On Tour from the Victoria & Albert Museum

    Type

    Type:

    Exhibition

    Barnard Castle

    Bowie at The Bowes Museum
    The Bowes museum are delighted to announce that we are bringing Bowie at The Bowes Museum as part of the national David Bowie: On Tour from the Victoria & Albert Museum.

    Dates

    From:
    1 Oct 2027to1 Jan 2028
    More info for Bowie at The Bowes Museum as part of the national David Bowie: On Tour from the Victoria & Albert Museum
  20. Sepia photograph showing members of The Durham Light Infantry leaning from the windows of a train.

    Add We Are The Durhams: The Durham Light Infantry to your Itinerary

    We Are The Durhams: The Durham Light Infantry

    Type

    Type:

    Exhibition

    Durham

    ​​​​​​​Discover the history of the Durham Light Infantry and the remarkable life stories of "The Durhams" from 1758 to today in this bold new permanent exhibition at The Light.

    Dates

    From:
    22 Aug 2026to31 Dec 2026
    More info for We Are The Durhams: The Durham Light Infantry
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