Earth Spells: Witches of the Anthropocene
Caroline Achaintre, Emma Hart, Kris Lemsalu, Mercedes Mühleisen, Grace Ndiritu, Florence Peake, Kiki Smith, Lucy Stein
11 February – 7 May, 2023
This short film about the making of Earth Spells includes interviews with the commissioned artists
In all the artworks there is a recognition of the strangeness, or what many writers on culture refer to as the ‘uncanny’, in the face of the unfolding climate drama. Amitav Ghosh proposes ‘that non-human forces have the ability to intervene directly in human thought’.
Co-curated by RAMM’s contemporary art curator Lara Goodband with freelance curator Gemma Lloyd
Hollow Earth: Art, Caves & The Subterranean Imaginary
23 September 2023 – 7 January, 2024
Hollow Earth: Art, Caves and The Subterranean Imaginary is a Hayward Gallery Touring exhibition, developed in partnership with Nottingham Contemporary and in collaboration with Glucksman. The exhibition was divided into five sections and echoes the journey into a cave, starting at the threshold and ending in the depths. It included painting, photography, sculpture, and video, as well as objects from RAMM’s collection, from ancient history through to modern and contemporary art.
Joy Gregory, The Sweetest Thing
29 January to 5 June 2022
Acclaimed contemporary artist Joy Gregory was commissioned by RAMM to create new artwork in response to the themes of In Plain Sight: Transatlantic Slavery and Devon. This exhibition explored aspects of Devon and Exeter’s relationship with the slave trade which remain ‘hidden in plain sight’.
Gregory’s textile piece was acquired for our collections, with support from the Contemporary Art Society and Friends of RAMM.
The Sweetest Thing (The Sweetest Thing) (rammcollections.org.uk)
Amy Shelton, Biophilia: The Exeter Florilegium
18 September to 21 November 2021 in Gallery 20
RAMM launched a Covid-19 commission in April 2020. Selected by open competition from a range of proposals by artists living or working in Exeter, Amy Shelton was chosen to create her artwork Biophilia: The Exeter Florilegium, made in response to the first Covid-19 lockdown.
RAMM acquired the artwork with support from the V&A Purchase Grant and the Friends of the Museum in 2022.
Biophilia: The Exeter Florilegium (Biophilia: The Exeter Florilegium) (rammcollections.org.uk)
Michelle Sank, Breathe
18 September to 21 November 2021 in Gallery 20
Internationally-acclaimed photographer Michelle Sank exhibited her photographic series Breathe, which documented the first Covid-19 lockdown in the Wonford area of Exeter. Taken on her daily walks, Sank’s photographs offer poignant visual records of individual and shared experiences of social isolation under lockdown.
The works displayed in the exhibition were acquired by RAMM through the Contemporary Art Society’s Rapid Response Fund in summer 2020.
Breathe, Michelle Sank (rammcollections.org.uk)
Naomi Frears, In Other Words
14 September to 7 November 2021 in the Core Wall
Commissioned by RAMM to complement her solo exhibition Men Falling at Exeter Phoenix, In Other Words was a stop-motion work by Naomi Frears. It explored the expressive and communicative qualities of sleeves and arms.
Léonie Hampton, A Language of Seeds
18 May to 5 September 2021 in Gallery 21
A Language of Seeds was created by Devon-based artist and photographer Léonie Hampton. Her commission explored RAMM’s collection of seeds and herbarium sheets in dialogue with her own photographs of her family, friends and vegetable garden.
Sea Garden
November 2019 to 26 January 2020
This exhibition explored the gendered relationship with the sea and seaweed. Sea Garden featured RAMM’s first South West Commission by Bryony Gillard. Gillard explored Amelia Warren Griffiths‘ seaweed collection and its connection with contemporary ideas and conversations.
Artists included: Claude Cahun, Jo Crook, Dorothy Cross, Susan Derges, Bryony Gillard, Mollie Goldstrom & William Arnold, Sarah Gordon, Ingela Ihrman, Mikhail Karikis, Sarah Rose, Lucy Skaer.
Handle with Care
21 November to 3 December 2019
Handle with Care was an exhibition of work produced in collaboration between Exeter-based photographer Brendan Barry and a group of young carers in Devon. The photographs on display were created during a series of workshops at Devon Carers, Westbank, and at RAMM.
A selection of prints from this exhibition were acquired by RAMM in 2020.
Heinrich & Palmer, Aerial
Birds without Borders, 20 July to 3 November 2019
Artists Anna Heinrich and Leon Palmer were commissioned to create a new video for the exhibition Birds without Borders, inspired by RAMM’s migration theme. The resulting work, Aerial, was produced by using point cloud data from a CT scan of a feather and 3D laser scans of birds.
Preston Street Union
Serge/Surge on 28 May 2019
Anyone may come or go, 15 February to 29 March 2019
Exeter-based artists Preston Street Union (PSU) were commissioned in Autumn 2018 to produce work inspired by RAMM’s theme of migration. PSU explored Exeter’s historic wool trade.
Bedwyr Williams, Phizogs
21 July 2018 to April 2019
To celebrate 150 years of opening to the public, RAMM commissioned award-winning artist Bedwyr Williams to create new work. Phizogs was inspired by the array of faces and masks found in RAMM’s collections, including an Easter Island staff, a roof tile from Roman Exeter, and a 17th century gold ring. Each face represented a guest at a fictional birthday party for RAMM. Phizogs was installed around the statue of Prince Albert in RAMM’s Queen Street foyer.
Other Contemporary Art 2019-2023
Touring exhibitions and other contemporary art projects shown at RAMM.
Ruth Bell, Calling of the Tide
10 January 2023 to 11 June 2023 on the Cafe Screen
Calling of the Tide is a dance and video artwork by choreographer and artist Ruth Bell, in collaboration with composer Hannah Parry. Inspired by the Devon coastline, the work explores and responds to the shoreline as a place where the land meets the sea.
Originally created for the Exeter Northcott Futures programme.
Simon Pope, Here’s to Thee
2020-2022
Commissioned in collaboration with University of Exeter Arts & Culture, Here’s to Thee was a project by internationally-renowned artist Simon Pope. He collaborated with a team of creative practitioners and academics to explore the ecology and human cultures of cider-making.
Watch the Exeter Arts and Culture Project Video here
Kay Walsh, All His Rights
28 June to 8 January 2023 on the Cafe screen
Kay Walsh spent a year on the Quantock Hills and Exmoor National Park chronicling the red deer there. Learning to stalk with a National Trust deerstalker opened up a debate about how these wild animals remain present on the hills, raising questions of their future and the protection of their species.
Trish Morrissey: Self Portrait with Two Snails
7 Dec 2021 to 26 June 2022 on the Cafe screen
During the first Covid-19 lockdown in 2020, Trish Morrissey’s perception of time changed and she suffered from a ‘crippling combination of anxiety, claustrophobia and fear’. Instead of making new artwork, she began to grow her own food and watch snails in the garden, becoming inspired ‘to live in the moment’.
Seedscapes: Future-Proofing Nature
3 July to 5 September 2021 in Galleries 20 & 21
Seedscapes, an Impressions Gallery touring exhibition curated by Professor Liz Wells and creative producer Pippa Oldfield. It brought together five contemporary artists whose work explores global efforts to safeguard vital plant species from extinction.
Artists: Dornith Doherty, Sant Khalsa, Chrystel Lebas, Liz Orton, and Heidi Morstang.
John Walter, SOUTHCOTTIAN
19 November 2021 to 30 January 2022
SOUTHCOTTIAN (2019) was video footage of gameplay recorded inside artist John Walter’s virtual reality game of the same name, inspired by Devon-born prophetess Joanna Southcott (1750-1814).
This work drew on RAMM’s extensive collection of material about Southcott, and was installed in RAMM’s ‘Making History’ gallery where objects from this collection are still on display now.
The SOUTHCOTTIAN game is available to download online and play for free through VR headsets.
In partnership with RAMM, Walter’s solo exhibition Jezreel’s Tower was held in the neighbouring Exeter Phoenix.
Criminal Ornamentation
19 January to 17 March 2019
This touring exhibition was curated by acclaimed British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare. Showing nearly 100 works by more than 50 artists.
Artists included: Andy Goldsworthy, Sarah Lucas, Sonia Boyce, Susan Derges, Mona Hatoum, David Nash, Bridget Riley, Yinka Shonibare MBE, Timorous Beasties, Boyle Family, Philip Elgin, Cathy de Monchaux, Lisa Milroy, Caragh Thuring, and Bedwyr Williams.