Biba, masks and spooks: what’s on this autumn
Brighton & Hove Museums is delivering a massive autumn lineup across its sites, mixing major style retrospectives, Saturday-night TV spectacle, interactive art, and eerie local history.
At Brighton Museum & Art Gallery, fashion takes centre stage with The Biba Look: Photography and Fashion, opening 3 October 2026 and showcasing rare Barbara Hulanicki archival images alongside original mail-order garments that defined a generation.
Pop culture fans can go behind the scenes of Saturday-night television in Making The Masked Singer, opening 24 October 2026 and featuring outlandish costume art by local creators Plunge Creates. Meanwhile, opening on the same date, families can step into Magic Place, an interactive digital installation by Genetic Moo that reacts in real time to visitors.
The gallery also presents Where are all the Lesbians?, opening 3 October 2026 to highlight hidden queer history; And So I Watch You From Afar, an eco-focused photography exhibition opening 2 October 2026; and Young Carers. Big Voices. A Fairer Future., opening 6 October 2026 as a photo series celebrating local young carers. Meanwhile, football culture continues to shine in Brighton & Hove Albion: Stand or Fall, the permanent gallery that launched in August to honour 125 years of Seagulls history with historic memorabilia, fan stories, and a detailed hybrid stadium model.
Over at the Royal Pavilion, the popular DRAGONS exhibition continues through 1 November 2026. Visitors can explore the Palace of Dragons, discovering the mythical beasts carved, painted, and woven into the building’s lavish interiors alongside the Fire and Water: Dreaming of Dragons gallery display.
At Hove Museum of Creativity, Photoworks and visual storytelling lead the season with a headline exhibition featuring photographer Alma Haser for the Photoworks Festival, opening 24 October 2026. Film lovers can also experience the newly refreshed film exhibition celebrating the pioneering legacy of the Brighton School filmmakers, alongside hands-on discovery in the Wizard’s Lab and showcases of local Sussex craft makers.
While the Booth Museum of Natural History remains temporarily closed for major refurbishment, curious visitors can still get behind the scenes with special Booth Museum diorama store tours running on select dates throughout October.
To round out October in spooky style, Preston Manor opens for Ghostly Gatherings, steering brave visitors through dark halls and servants’ quarters at one of the UK’s most haunted houses on atmospheric Friday night tours on 2, 9, 16, 23, and 30 October 2026.
