Contemporary exhibition inspired by Jill Craigie's 1946 film 'The Way We Live', with works by Do Ho Suh, Rachel Whiteread, Gavin Turk and others, and a restored screening of the 1946 film.
The Box opens The Way We Live on Saturday 24 October, a new exhibition that runs through to 21 February 2027. It's a big one, with contemporary art spread across two galleries, and separate spaces for archival collections and community responses.
The title comes from Jill Craigie's 1946 film The Way We Live, which took a radical approach by casting local residents rather than professional actors to ask how people wanted to live. Alongside it is A Plan for Plymouth (1943), the post-war rebuilding plan for the city after the Blitz, drawn up by planner Patrick Abercrombie and City Engineer and Surveyor James Paton Watson. Both look at community, inequality, and access to housing, education and healthcare, and the show asks you to think about class, social and climate justice. Curator Beth Hughes has brought together contemporary responses to those themes, and the exhibition takes its name and spirit from those two starting points.
The line-up of artists is a long one: Do Ho Suh, Rachel Whiteread, Jasleen Kaur, Caroline Walker, Anne Tallentire, Hetain Patel, Andrea Luka Zimmerman and Gavin Turk, with new commissions by Hannah Starkey and Jacqui Poncelet. In the Media Lab, there's a newly rescanned and restored version of Craigie's The Way We Live screening, and A Plan for Plymouth is on display in the Bridge Gallery. The Box itself is Plymouth's award-winning museum, art gallery and archive, housing six collections that range from art and human history to film, photography and archival material.
Every week we pick 🏆 the 5 best 🏆 things to do in Plymouth and send them to your inbox. Just one weekly email, no spam.
By submitting your email, you accept our Privacy Policy
It's free to get in, though booking is advised. Open 10.00am to 5.00pm, 24 October to 21 February.
