Contemporary art

Find out about RAMM’s contemporary art programme and hear from some of the artists who have created new work inspired by the museum’s collections in a series of short interviews.

We work with artists to enable them to create new work inspired by RAMM’s collections. Sometimes we acquire contemporary art, you can find out more about our new acquisitions here. We also work in collaboration with local visual arts partners such as Exeter Phoenix, Positive Light Projects and Arts & Culture at the University of Exeter.

For information about exhibiting at RAMM see the reports, plans and policies page. Opportunities for artists are advertised via our news page and through social media channels.

Current & past commissions, displays and exhibitions

a close-up of the multicoloured shapes in the carpet

Céline Condorelli
Bulk: Everlasting Colour

24 Oct 2024 – 30 May 2025
RAMM partnered with the National Gallery, giving Céline Condorelli the opportunity to respond to both collections.

detail from artist Alex Hartley's work The Summoning Stones.

Dartmoor: A Radical Landscape

19 Oct 2024 – 23 Feb 2025
RAMM commissioned two major new artworks by internationally renowned artist Alex Hartley and filmmaker Ashish Ghadiali whose work is inspired by RAMM’s Dartmoor-related collections.

still from a video: a person kneeling in a circle drawn on the floor, against a black backdrop. to the left of the photo a hooded figure holds a large tambourine

Ashanti Hare
River that never rests

19 Mar 2024 – 22 Sep 2024
RAMM commissioned a performance from Devon-based multidisciplinary artist Ashanti Hare.

a woman in a yellow top with grey hair standing in front of brightly painted canvases. she is facing to the right of the image and her hair is partially obscuring her face. she is holding a paintbrush

Janet Sainsbury
Points in a Constellation

21 Nov 2023 – 19 May 2024
RAMM commissioned Exeter-based contemporary painter Janet Sainsbury in spring 2023.

Still from The Silver Wave featuring a doll wearing a fur hooded coat

Michelle Williams Gamaker
The Silver Wave

2 Nov 2022 – 27 Oct 2024
RAMM commissioned filmaker Michelle Williams Gamaker to celebrate the theme of ‘Untold Stories’.

Grace Ndiritu & particiants in 'Labour Birth of a New Museum', 2023, film still (Earth Spells, RAMM, Exeter).

Earth Spells: Witches of Anthropocene

11 Feb 2023 – 7 May 2023
RAMM commissioned artists Emma Hart, Grace Ndiritu, Florence Peake and Lucy Stein for this exhibition.

Photo: Grace Ndiritu, Labour Birth of a New Museum, 2023

Small bonfires are burning on a hill at sunset. A group of people are walking towards them.

Simon Pope
Here’s to Thee

8 Jan 2023 – 31 Jan 2023
A joint commission between RAMM and Arts & Culture, University of Exeter, Simon Pope explored the complex cultures of cider-making while collaborating with a team.

Detail of The Sweetest Thing depicting Black people loading sugar onto boats

Joy Gregory
The Sweetest Thing

29 Jan 2022 – 5 Jun 2022
RAMM commissioned Joy Gregory to respond to Devon and Exeter’s relationship with the slave trade which remains ‘hidden in plain sight’.

A detail view of Amy Shelton's work 'Biophilia'; lots of colourful pressed flowers

Amy Shelton
Biophilia: The Exeter Florilegium

18 Sep 2021 – 21 Nov 2021
RAMM commissioned Amy Shelton in April 2020 to respond to the first Covid-19 lockdown.

Close-up photograph of a child's mouth holding a seed pod with seeds in — Leonie Hampton, A Language of Seeds

Léonie Hampton
A Language of Seeds

18 May 2021 – 5 Sep 2021
RAMM commissioned Léonie Hampton to explore RAMM’s collection of seeds and herbarium sheets.

An open hand is partly submerged in water and is holding seaweed

Sea Garden

16 Nov 2019 – 26 Jan 2020
RAMM commissioned south west based artist Bryony Gillard for this exhibition, which explored the gendered relationship with the sea and seaweed.

Photo: Bryony Gillard, Unctuous Between Fingers, 2019