Empty Exeter shops filled with art installations

This art piece - called Speech Bubbles - is a response to the global pandemic

Empty shops in Exeter have been filled with art installations that include second hand furniture, graffiti and balloons.

Vacant retail spaces in the city have been used by students at the university to exhibit their work.

The art is designed to raise questions about post-pandemic life and our new hopes for the future.

The exhibitions - collectively titled Now's The Time: Art Year Zero - will take place until Sunday, 19 June.

In the former Hays Travel store on the High Street, a piece called Speech Bubbles by artist Qianling Dong responds to the global pandemic by "capturing people's breath in the form of balloons, which will fill the shop window".

Empty shops in Exeter have been filled with student art

Programme director Prof Tom Trevor said: "As the culmination of this journey, the students have the opportunity to curate their own exhibitions.

"In order to realise these projects, we have been assisted by a whole range of partners, both from within the university and externally, and we are extremely grateful for this incredible support.

"My co-lecturer on the MA, Josie Cockram, and I are excited to see the outcomes of this intense year, and congratulate all the students on their sheer ingenuity, commitment and hard work in realising their curatorial ideas."

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