UCA X Clocktower Gallery Collab

Cabinet member for culture, Cllr Charlotte Cornell, said: “We are delighted to be working with UCA on this project and this fantastic first exhibition is exactly what we envisaged when we developed our plans for the Clocktower Gallery.

“We are looking forward both to seeing how this first exhibition goes and also to what UCA has in store for this space over the next 16 months.”

The new gallery is located at St George’s Clocktower at the top of the high street, which was renovated as part of the council’s Connected Canterbury programme to transform public spaces, preserve heritage and improve sustainable travel. It remains one of the city’s most photographed and famous buildings.

The inaugural exhibition is by Eszter Novák, a BA (Hons) Studio Practice (Visual Communications) graduate, who won the Industry Recognition Award for Illustration at the UCA Canterbury Grad Show 2026 Opening Night.

Titled Obscurities Overheard, Eszter described it as: “A playful literary installation exploring some of the strangest words in the English language through illustration and storytelling. . . featuring five tunnel book illustrations, each interpreting a different obscure word through humour and visual metaphor”.

The Hungarian British artist, illustrator and graphic designer added: “[I have] an incurable fascination for the weird, the comically obscure, the charmingly odd, and the wonderfully peculiar.”

The aim of the Clocktower Gallery is to blend historic and contemporary using an iconic and much-loved building for modern day art, which took its inspiration from the pioneering New York Clocktower Gallery.

Dr Charlotte Frost, Associate Dean at UCA Canterbury School of Art, Architecture and Design, said: “UCA is thrilled to be working with Canterbury City Council on the Clocktower Gallery. Our students make exceptional work, and this is a brilliant way to bring it into the heart of our beautiful city to delight and inspire everyone.

“The gallery is such a unique space and that’s great too because it stretches our students to think about how to work in new ways.

“Eszter’s work, inspired by our city of literature, is a beautiful and beguiling fit for the inauguration of the space.”

Obscurities Overheard runs from June to September 2026.

For more information, visit the galleries page on the UCA website.