Open studios and closed shops

Sissy Lange Not Open Space (2013)

It was good to see a little collaboration, mutual support and sharing this weekend in Exeter between the well-established annual Exeter Open Studios event and the inaugural fringe event, NOSE 2013. This pairing helped to blur the boundaries between commercial, craft-based and ideas-led practices and give audiences an opportunity to encounter and experience a wider spectrum of art than is usually available in a traditional open studios set-up.

Shadow-curated by Stuart Crewes, NOSE stood for Not Exeter Open Studios and set out "to frame the entire City as a spectacular event, albeit at times elusive and surreptitious." While chance discovery of art is always fun, there's also the risk that too much elusiveness and secrecy will defeat the attempts of committed audience members to see the work. Indeed, unable to plan much of schedule in advance, I missed a quite a bit of what was on offer.

Events included 5 minutes dreaming, part of a wider work called This City's Centre by Blind Ditch (cancelled due to the bad weather on the day I went looking for it), Sissy Lange's Not Open Space (see above), Unexpected Collected's Open Museum, and Sam White's portable camera obscura.

I found a copy of Nick Davies' Psychogeog pack but have saved the psychogeography-inspired run around Exeter for a sunnier day. I also made it to the glorious chaos that was the PUNY GODS pop-up film festival in one of the city's empty shops. This cinematic marathon showed work by more than 60 independent Southwest film makers for nine hours a day over three days.

Puny Gods: Exeter Open Studios Edition - 52 Fore Street, Exeter

I finished the weekend with Felicity Shillingford's Trip Hazards and Sharp Edges, a tour of some of Exeter's public sculptures which were draped in hazard tape under the watchful gaze of city centre CCTV, and concluded with the inevitable arrival of private security personnel.

Felicity Shillingford Trip Hazards and Sharp Edges (2013)

During the weekend I also visited some very interesting open studios shows by Richard Rochester, Jilly Edwards, Jenny Southam, Stella Tripp, Karen Ringrose and James Romain, as well as the event's taster show at Gloss.

NOSE 2013 ran in conjunction with Exeter Open Studios from Friday 22 - Sunday 24 March 2013 at sites across Exeter.