The Box reveals a stellar lineup for Autumn/Winter exhibitions

23rd September 2024

Plymouth's award-winning museum, The Box, is continuing to bring the best historic and contemporary art to the South West, with an autumn/winter season that reflects Plymouth’s striking coastal setting and military history.

Land Sea Sky: Ingrid Pollard, JMW Turner & Vija Celmins
19 October 2024 - 12 January 2025
in partnership with ARTIST ROOMS, Tate and National Galleries of Scotland

JMW Turner (1775-1851) is one of Britain’s best-loved artists. The Box will show 11 of his works - three paintings and eight watercolours - from the Tate collection this autumn/winter; watercolours and oils depicting waves, wind, clouds and skies showing how he captured the essence of land and sea before the invention of photography. It will also show a selection of Turner watercolours and prints from its permanent art collection.

Turner’s works will be shown in dialogue with a recent body of work by multi-media artist, photographer and researcher Ingrid Pollard MBE (b.1953). Although working in different media more than 200 years apart, the two artists’ works are connected by their close observation of nature.

Pollard spent two years travelling across Devon to create Three Drops of Blood, unearthing the folk histories of ferns and botanical gardens and exploring how flora and fauna inspired the county’s historic lace making industry. Several of her unique bark boxes, framed images and prints have been acquired by The Box through the Freelands Art Fund. Examples of Devon lace and archival material relating to ferns from The Box's collections will also be on display.

Like Turner and Pollard, internationally acclaimed Latvian-American artist Vija Celmins (b.1938) also takes inspiration from the world around her.

23 of her extraordinary prints and drawings drawn from the ARTIST ROOMS national collection will be presented as part of Land, Sea and Sky this autumn/winter in partnership with Tate and National Galleries of Scotland.

For more than five decades, Celmins has repeatedly returned to the same subjects, sustaining a practice of deep focus and astonishing skill in a range of media. Her intense images of natural phenomena bring a careful focus to seemingly limitless aspects of nature, from star-filled night skies to the surface of the ocean and the desert floor, or the intricate construction of a spider’s web.

Paul Rooney: Broken Token
From 19 October 2024

Artist Paul Rooney’s film commission is part of the 14-18 NOW Legacy Fund, a national partnership programme led by Imperial War Museums, following the success of 14-18 NOW, the UK’s official arts programme for the First World War centenary (2014-2018).

Using the Falklands conflict of 1982 as a starting point, Rooney has worked closely with a group of Plymouth veterans, creatives and musicians to explore the concept of home during a time of conflict. Broken Token features images of domestic spaces, familiar places and objects that are important to the veterans with their recollections set to a melodic folk ballad.

Osman Yousefzada: When will we be good enough?
2 November 2024 - 9 March 2025

Artist Osman Yousefzada is working with The Box on a significant body of new work for its St Luke’s exhibition gallery on Tavistock Place. Yousefzada's inter-disciplinary practice draws on his personal experiences growing up as the son of migrants from South Asia to make broader political observations about power, class and labour.

Yousefzada’s thought-provoking sculptural installation tells stories of global power and exploitation that are as relevant today as they have been for centuries. His inspiration centres on the links between colonial histories and today’s information age, and his realisation that many of the underwater cables that transmit digital information are laid along the same colonial seafaring routes that were taken by British ships centuries ago.

Yousefzada’s sculptural installation includes a flotilla of boats, busts of figures such as Musk and Zuckerberg to represent the power of corporations, alongside work from The Box’s collections.

The Planet Ocean exhibition continues throughout autumn/winter 2024 and has been extended until 27 April. With specimens, objects and artworks drawn from the natural history, social history and art collections, this show uses the overarching themes of plankton, pollution, people and planet to share objects and stories; inspiring hope in the face of the climate crisis and empowering everyone who visits to become ocean advocates.

The Box is also working on two bicentenary programmes this season. Devonport 200 is a citywide commemoration that marks the 200th anniversary of the founding of Devonport – once a separate town named Dock. Over the last two centuries, the area has experienced profound change; moving from a prosperous, independent town to become part of Plymouth in 1914; experiencing extensive bombing during the Second World War; social deprivation during the latter part of the 1900s and major regeneration during the last two decades. Working with local partners and community members, The Box will mark the bicentenary through a new film commission and co-curated displays in its galleries.

Events connected to The Triumph of Art by artist Jeremy Deller, the nationwide performance that will round off the National Gallery’s bicentenary celebrations, will also move up a gear at The Box from October with a performance of Deller’s seminal work Acid Brass, creative workshops and film screenings. The Triumph of Art marks how festivals are part and parcel of art, culture and civic life, and how art and artists can be catalysts of collaboration and joy. The Box is one of four national partners who are taking part along with Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design in Dundee, Mostyn in Llandudno and The Playhouse in Derry/Londonderry.