Exeter on the art map

Two key Exeter art venues dominate the June edition of a-n magazine. Exeter Phoenix gets the front cover, featuring work by Fiona MacDonald, who is currently showing there with Ann Gathmann. Meanwhile while Spacex get a double-page spread on their show Random Acts of Art, where Volkhardt Mueller and Martha Crean talk about the collaborative relationship between artist and curator.

All will be well in the garden

First meeting of Nexus artists with curator Matt Burrows of Phoenix Galleries. Four Exeter-based practitioners, including me, have been tasked with putting together a coherent event that explores artists' networks and includes work from people in our networks, but which doesn't look like a traditional white cube show.

Our starting point has been some kind of garden landscape in which different work, events, conversations and interactions can take place. The discussion is lively and interesting but I keep catching echoes of Peter Sellers in Being There. "Sometimes plants escape from the garden," I'm saying. Or "The garden can be a series of enclosed spaces, where one space leads on to another."

Hmmmm.

Nexus, 16 July - 1 September 2010, Exeter Phoenix Galleries, Exeter EX4 3LS

Departure of Stowage, arrival of Strandbeest

Took down Stowage on morning of 15th May and packed it all up ready for transport to Macclesfield in June, where it will feature as part of the Barnaby Festival. For the time being, at least, I can focus on two other projects happening this summer: my own show Flown and a group event exploring artists' networks called Nexus.

Then on to the opening of Theo Jansen at Spacex. This Dutch artist and engineer creates amazing strandbeests (or beach animals). They are huge mechanical creatures, possessing basic nervous sytems, which are powered by the wind. A 14-metre strandbeest known as Ventosa Siamesis will arrive in Devon this summer to explore Exmouth beach 25-27 June, before visiting Exeter city centre 2-4 July.

The gallery houses artefacts, drawings and film relating to the strandbeests until 3 July.

Spacex, 45 Preston Street, Exeter EX1 1DF15 May–3 July.

Flights for Flown

Detail of one of three monotypes from a series Flown that will feature in my forthcoming exhibition at National Trust Greenway, near Brixham. It was made by tracing the flights of passing birds directly on to the window, then using the window surface as a printing plate.

Gabrielle Hoad: Flown 2 June - 27 June, Barn Gallery, National Trust Greenway, Devon TQ5 0ES

Night at the (art) movies

Just a quick mention for another Spacex event, the South West Open Film Screening, which happened last night. A well-chosen programme, lasting around 75 minutes, represented the variety of artists' approaches to film-making, from the contemplative to the documentary.

With the immigration debate at full throttle, there couldn't have been a better time to show Katie Davies' Commonwealth about a citizenship ceremony in Sheffield Town Hall. I also rated Edward Adam's Somerset Scott - a deceptively simple film consisting of two long-shots of a lonely bagpiper playing in the incongruous setting of a Somerset village. They were among a number of films focusing on national identity and British eccentricity - in all its glorious diversity.

Not-so Random Acts of Art

This week, Spacex unveiled the results of recent residencies by artists Volkhardt Mueller, Amy Feneck and Lady Lucy. Under the title Random Acts of Art, the three artists have been exploring the city's vibrant West Quarter and making work in response.

It's always fascinating to see your home city through someone else's eyes, but Amy Feneck has made a truly outstanding piece of work that transcends its local origins. A touching portrait of the veteran CND campaigner Terry Timlett, her film has topical relevance, reflecting as it does on issues of social responsibilty and the 'independent spirit' versus community values.

Its skilful construction belies any notion of randomness. It pairs Timlett, reading a transcript of his own words, with a young actor interpreting them as a role. As well as presenting a fascinating piece of oral history, Epilogue has a lot to say about the way we build personal and ideological narratives.

Ends 1 May. Events throughout the two-month residencies have been blogged on a special Spacex site.