Before & After; Fragments of Origin

Before & After; Fragments of Origin opens at the Urban Room Levinsky Gallery Space on 9 October, running through to 18 October. It's a group show bringing together 31 artists and performers from the CAMP membership, all working around the same starting point: the cultural relationships we had with the natural world before global extraction changed the way ecosystems work. The exhibition asks what's been lost, what's still here, and how those relationships might change from here on.

It's a wide-ranging show that fills the new gallery space at the University of Plymouth with sculpture, installation, film, sound, performance and wall-based work, so there's a fair bit to take in. The live side of things comes together during Plymouth Art Weekender, with a few specific interventions to mark down. On Saturday 17 October, Laura Denning presents The Tarot of the Weather (Weathered Women Walking) at 12:00, followed by Mark Leahy's performance Cream of the Crop at 14:00. On Sunday 18 October, Caroline Collingridge reads her poetry at 15:00.

There's a bit of history behind some of the work. Cream of the Crop was developed during a solo residency at Live Art Ireland in 2023, and it mixes improvised movement, speech and action. Collingridge's poetry reading looks at what happens when ancient wisdom is lost to human-induced climate change. Both sit within that broader question the show is asking about what we've lost and what we can still hold onto.

The exhibition is free, and the gallery is open 11:00 to 17:00 every day from Monday to Sunday, so you can drop in whenever suits you. You'll find it at the Urban Room Levinsky Gallery Space in the Roland Levinsky building, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth, Devon PL4 8AA.