Exhibitions

Featuring exhibitions from world-renowned artists alongside new arts stars of tomorrow; based in the University's Roland Levinsky Building, The Levinsky Gallery offers a sometimes provocative, sometimes beautiful and always thought-provoking experience.

All exhibitions are free and include associated events for you to learn more about the artists and exhibits through gallery tours and artist and curator talks, as well as fun events for all the family.

Previously featured artists include Turner prize winning artists Lubaina Himid and Douglas Gordon, award winning artists Tacita Dean and Vija Celmins, leading graphic designer Ivan Chermayeff and internationally acclaimed artist and sculptor Peter Randall-Page.

The Arts Institute is committed to supporting artist development and the creation of new work, regularly commissioning artists working across all art forms.

Tuesday - Friday 10:00 - 17:00

Saturday - Sunday 12:00 - 17:00

Closed Mondays (including Bank Holiday Mondays)

The Arts Institute's public programme promotes audience engagement, access to the arts, and directly supports emerging and established artists' careers. Please consider a donation to support development and delivery of our programme.

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Previous exhibitions

Heidi Morstang: Field Observations presented selected films and photographic works, made since 2001, where landscape is the principal line of inquiry exploring various ways humans intervene with and in it.
The artworks, some made during interdisciplinary expeditions to unfamiliar geographic and conceptual terrain, are an observation of a fragile natural environment, and the increasing changes in the climate that has now become a global emergency. Morstang has filmed and photographed glaciers in the Arctic, boreal forests at midsummer, rapid light changes between polar night and day, and butterflies in the Sierra Nevada mountains. They feature geoscientists searching for ancient scars of earthquakes in the Arctic, scientists dedicating their lifetime work to the study of how climate change affects butterfly populations, and the beacon of hope in the form of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.
Heidi is an Associate Professor in Photography at University of Plymouth.
Held every five years to showcase work of British artists who have made a significant contribution to international contemporary art, the ninth British Art Show (BAS9) returns to Plymouth for a second time.
This four venue, city-wide exhibition, welcomed 37 artists in total, including Abigail Reynolds, Cooking Sections and GAIKA who showed in The Levinsky Gallery. The exhibition was accompanied by a fascinating programme of films, bite size gallery insights and evening talks.
On The Move was a major presentation of Italian artist Anzeri’s practice from the last decade, alongside newly commissioned works. It was the outcome of a three-year dialogue with the artist, whose work responds to, and resonates with The Box’s diverse collections and narratives. 
Breaking the Mould challenged the male-dominated narratives of post-war British sculpture by presenting a diverse and significant range of ambitious works by women. It was the first survey of post-war British sculpture by women, providing a radical recalibration, addressing the many accounts of British sculpture that have marginalised women or airbrushed their work from art history altogether. 
This award-winning exhibition took visitors on an epic journey that traversed three states, three deserts and some 500,000 square kilometres, travelling from west to east: to places in the deserts of the Martu, the Ngaanyatjarra and the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) peoples. Using the power of contemporary art, performance, song, photography and multimedia, Songlines shared ancient stories from the world’s oldest continuing culture.

Word is...

  • f "A fantastic opportunity to see established and upcoming artists. An amazing space!"
  • . "Beautiful and inspiring work by Jem Southam!"
  • t "One of my favourites! Beautiful, subtle and atmospheric." (on Birds, Rocks, Rivers, Islands: Jem Southam)
  • i "An incredibly uplifting yoga session in the gallery this evening, amongst some of Trevor Bell's finest works!"
  • . "Absolutely stunning exhibition. Thank you so much for bringing it to Plymouth." (on Thinking Tantra)
Roland Levinsky Building