Nestled just off Gandy Street, housed inside the red brick walls of the Exeter Phoenix, a medley of artistic expression lies just beyond the threshold. Curated between two exhibition rooms, the Exeter Contemporary Open 2025 meditates on works from fourteen featured artists, judiciously selected from hundreds of entries by Harriet Cooper, Remi Rana Allen and the Phoenix’s own Matt Burrows. Now in its nineteenth year, the Exeter Contemporary Open has rightfully established itself as one of the South West’s most significant showcases for working artists, offering a vital platform for both emerging talent and more recognised names.

Multimedia, multi-sensory, and multi-vocal, this exhibition seeks no particular narrative, but instead provides insight into some of the most prevalent captivations in contemporary art.

It could be daunting to be presented with such a diverse assortment of work, with practices exhibited across the space ranging from painting and sculpture to film and installation. Yet the Exeter Contemporary Open manages to remain accessible without neglecting the complexities of the artworks. From Lily Wei’s whimsical painterly explorations of Third Culture identity to Chris Alton’s playful and gut-wrenching examination of bereavement in Ways to Speak Absence, there are stories to be told that find resonance across a huge spectrum of lived experiences.

As one navigates the exhibition, the eye is drawn across different levels. Kenji Lim’s Cherbub, a vibrant, more-than-human installation, hangs gazing down into the room from the ceiling. Moving further into the space, Charlotte Warne Thomas presents Comforter, one of three of her contemplative and disarming multimedia works found in the exhibition, which rotates in front of us to reveal its hidden reverse. On the floor, playing on a retro box monitor, Nancy Singh’s ruminative film Remains flickers quietly in the corner.

We are invited to shift our attention in this way, as the preoccupations of the artists flow throughout the exhibition: diaspora and in-betweenness, the anthropocentric and the non-human, spirituality and symbolism, fiction and fabrications, invisible labour and visible inequity. But the artworks, unaccompanied by wall texts, are allowed breathing space to speak to us themselves. There are new things to be encountered as we orient ourselves in different ways; while a granite and audio installation produces a multi-sensorial representation of place, inviting us to look, listen, and feel, intricate tapestries embellished with salvaged materials and an essence of inherited histories confront us head-on.

A personal highlight for me in the exhibition was encountering the work of Sophie Wake, who has been an active participant in Devon Open Studios since 2023. Formerly established as a freelance illustrator, Wake has since transitioned towards a more contemplative, personal artistic practice – a move which perhaps encapsulates the feelings of many in the busy working world. Her artworks are characterised by her use of simplistic yet powerfully symbolic forms, combined with a palette that includes earth pigments, clay, red iron oxide, and oil paint. A similar sense of introspection and intimacy finds ground in many of the artworks at the Open, where we ask what it means to live in such an entropic time, how we can begin to make sense of it, and how we can find connection through art.

Opportunities to safely and imaginatively enter the lives of others are rare. The Exeter Contemporary Open 2025 offers exactly that: acute insights into how these artists navigate the world, inviting us into these microcosms where we may recognise fragments of ourselves even as we step into the perspectives of others. The Exeter Phoenix, a vivacious multi-arts venue which also houses a myriad of other creative spaces, situates this exhibition within a wider cultural hub. The charity-registered communal space also hosts a solar-powered cinema, performance areas for music, comedy, and theatre, as well as a sociable café-bar and regular creative workshops. In a time when the arts might feel disregarded or underappreciated, it takes an oasis like the Exeter Phoenix to be reminded why creativity in all forms needs space to thrive.

If you would like an exhibition tour of the Exeter Contemporary Open 2025, there is a free upcoming tour on Sat 18th Oct at 2pm. For more information about the Open and other events at the Exeter Phoenix, their website is linked here.