It is the best time of the year, DJCAD Degree show, where almost 400 students will showcase their art and design pieces, after four years of hard work.
The artwork of 380 students will be displayed throughout the Matthew and Crawford buildings for family, friends and the public to view – transforming DJCAD into one of the largest free art venues in Scotland.
The Art & Design Undergraduate Degree Show 2026 features work from undergraduate students studying:
- Animation,
- Architecture,
- Art & Philosophy,
- Digital Interaction Design,
- Fine Art,
- Graphic Design,
- Illustration,
- Interior & Environmental Design,
- Jewellery & Metal Design,
- Product Design,
- Textile Design,
- Urban Planning,
- Environmental Sustainability.
The show will be open to the public from Saturday 23 until Sunday 31 May, with a ticketed preview for graduating students’ friends and family on Friday 22 May, alongside several late openings and events.
Students showcasing work will be assessed by external examiners on Monday 18th and on Wednesday 20th a press event and prize awards will be held.
Amongst the artworks will be a set of clay, wax and metal spheres made by Fine Art student Mathew Tilbrook, which feature on this year’s marketing material for the show.
Mature student Mathew, 51, having previously worked in the building industry, followed by a career as a teacher in Thailand his is work includes various sized spheres, up to 30cm in diameter and around 12 kilos in weight, including large bronze sculptures which took more than two months to create.
He said, “My work may be reminiscent of planets, moons and universal bodies but they are also direct representations of the materials themselves.
“I was trying to mess with the process and encourage mistakes, to push the material to do things it wouldn’t normally do and to push its limitations.
“I wanted to build a certain randomness to reflect the idea of impermanence and express my feelings and thoughts around my lived experiences of life, death and chronic illness, while reflecting natural geometric forms.”
The annual Degree Show is an opportunity for final year undergraduate students to exhibit their work, celebrate their time at the University and launch their creative careers.
The textiles department have been fundraising all year for a post-degree show event, New Designers week in London.
Running from 1–4 July 2026, brings together students from across the UK in disciplines including textiles, furniture, ceramics, glassware, jewellery, industrial design, graphics and product design.
The event, like the Degree Show, gives students the chance to meet industry professionals and is a crucial bridge between student life and proffesional work.
More information can be found here.
DJCAD has felt the crunch of the ongoing financial crisis. Last semester, the Architecture department’s staff shortages threatened the university’s accreditation with the Architects Registration Board (ARB) and the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).
In a letter to Interim Principal Professor Nigel Seaton, students warned: “It has become apparent that, without members of staff, we are jeopardising our continued accreditation. If the university loses this accreditation, it will lose the ability to host an architecture course at all.”
The situation caused significant concern among students but was ultimately resolved by the University Executive Group, highlighting the pressures the financial crisis continues to place on both staff and students.
Despite these challenges, the Degree Show has gone ahead; a crucial event for final-year students and a highlight of the university calendar, widely enjoyed by the university community and the wider Dundee public.
Professor Jeff Blackford, Vice-Principal of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, said:
“The Art & Design Undergraduate Degree Show is one of the University’s biggest events of the year.
It’s an opportunity for our graduating DJCAD students to share their work and achievements with family, friends and members of the public, while connecting them with professional communities.
We look forward to welcoming everyone to celebrate, meet and support our graduates as we launch their future careers at Degree Show 2026.”
There will be late openings until 20:00 on Thursday 28 May and Saturday 30 May.
The Jute Journal will be speaking with final-year students throughout the Degree Show to highlight the emerging talent shaping this year’s graduating group.
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