TRACTION PROJECT SPACE

Traction is a new artist-led space developed by artist/curator Erika Cann, supported and housed within Positive Light Projects, on Exeter’s Sidwell St.

 

Set in the left hand side of the building's large street-facing windows, the gallery provides a flexible space to test new ideas and present work in all formats, in a 24/7 accessible location. 

 

The gallery's focus is to develop ideas and to provide experience and support for young and emerging artists, showcasing high quality, critically engaged, contemporary visual art to a diverse audience in Exeter city centre.

 

The aim is to provide opportunities to artists at the early stages of their career, not only to exhibit but to access advice and guidance on the curation, marketing and presentation of their practice. The first year’s programme will stage 5-6 exhibitions, curated by invitation or selected by open call and will include an exhibiting opportunity for a Foundation Diploma graduate from Exeter College, selected during their end of year exhibition.

 

This kind of targeted support is a key part of the ethos of the space, complimenting that of the wider community support ethos of Positive Light Projects.



current and UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS

STILL
Lucie Sivier-Voller

17 July - 11 September

In moments of rest, life continues to move through us; the work here is an exploration of motion and stillness, attempting to find what a moment of pause might feel like. ‘A memory that’s not mine, a handheld photograph, silence and thought.’

Her work often focuses around the human condition, introspection and expression.

Dance, movement and performance have a strong presence in and alongside her visual practice, which explores themes of strength, fragility and fluidity through her study of gesture.

Lucie works in a range of mediums including oils, cold wax, inks, watercolour, pyrography and charcoal. She enjoys working with the quality and niche of each medium to create a sense of authenticity, process and spontaneity.

For the artist, the exhibition is a fusion of ends and beginnings - her first solo exhibition, awarded to her around this time last year as she completed her studies and three year journey at Exeter School of Art. Now studying Fine Art Painting at Camberwell College of arts UAL, Lucie is originally from East Devon and is excited to be bringing this work to a city that feels like home.

Lucie has exhibited her work in the following juried shows: Green and Stone Summer exhibition (2023 and 2024); The Royal Academy Young artists summer show (2024); South West Academy of Fine and Applied Arts (2023 and 2024); Art Unlimited International (2023); Thelma Hulbert Open (2023). She has recently become an academician with the South West Academy of Fine and Applied Arts.

Too Close To Home
Zoë Whatley

19 September - 14 November

Opening evening: 19 September, 6pm - 8pm

Too Close to Home is a cross-site exhibition between Traction Project Space and Gallery333 (Exeter Phoenix) which uses the concept of extraterrestrial life to examine ideas of community, exclusion and escapism. Aliens and outer-space hold a constant presence in many elements of contemporary culture whether political, scientific, pop-cultural or folkloric and often provoke strong and polarizing responses and opinions. The exhibition examines concepts of place and locality by linking and unifying the two disparate gallery locations with playful and accessible installations.

Zoë’s art practice combines natural and manmade elements to create varied mixed media installations. Her work explores humans’ complex and fluid relationship to nature and environment by viewing humans and technology as a part of nature rather than separately to it.

PAST EXHIBITIONS