Sad Day at Spacex ... But High Hopes for 2015

It was a sad day today (21 November) at Spacex, as I did my final volunteer shift. The exhibition programme has been curtailed now that Spacex funding has been slashed by the Arts Council, and Scott King’s De‑Regeneration was the last show in the current programme - at least until the outcome of a new funding bid is known.

This week has been especially busy for Spacex staff with the new bid being finished, a visit by Exeter Uni Arts Society to the gallery, and a series of workshops with primary school children. The last of these was on Friday afternoon.

The kids took a tour of the exhibition and then made their own images and models using projectors, wire, scrap store materials - and a lot of imagination. Despite, or perhaps because of, the weather we also had a number of adult visitors who seemed to enjoy viewing the exhibition alongside the lively and enthusiastic 6 year-olds. 

Although not to everyone’s taste, for me this has been a good exhibition to finish with. It combines humour and cartoon art with some serious questions about the role of public art. It is a hard balance to pull off well but I think that Scott King managed it. The kids particularly enjoyed the illuminated pylon, and a number of them made excellent models of it in the workshop sessions. 

Spacex will continue to run events in the gallery during the first quarter of 2015. Then, hopefully, it will be back with a new programme of exhibitions and activities, subject to the approval of new funding by the Arts Council. We’ll all keep our fingers crossed.

Spacex in the 1980s

You can still add a message of support on the Spacex website here (messages will not appear until they have been moderated).