The Exchange
The Exchange
For almost 120 years, Newlyn Art Gallery has been bringing the best in contemporary art to audiences in the south west. In 2007 the gallery was redeveloped and we opened a second venue, The Exchange in Penzance. With two venues we are able to offer a wide and varied programme across two sites, showcasing the very best of national and international contemporary art, as well as work by some of the best artists currently working in the region.
At The Exchange our huge gallery is regularly used as a project space in which artists and curators test new ideas, from The Penzance Convention held in May 2012, to Shezad Dawood’s astounding exhibition running summer 2012. A major contemporary art space, The Exchange enables audiences to see work on a scale never before accessible in the region. It is also used as a venue for live performances, film screenings and community events.
The Exchange has a striking undulating glass façade which runs the entire length of the building, a former telephone exchange. A dramatic, changing light display, designed by Penwith-based artist Peter Freeman illuminates the glass panels according to the exhibitions and time of day and year. At the centre of The Exchange is a large T-shaped Gallery. The unique shape and proportions provide a versatile and welcoming showing space.
The Exchange has a large and airy cafe serving light lunches, delicious Origin coffee, a full range of teas, hot chocolate, soft drinks, and a delicious selection of locally made cakes, pastries and biscuits.
There are two shops at The Exchange; the well-stocked Gallery Bookshop has a varied range of books on art, architecture, photography and design, as well as books for children. New books and products are added regularly to link with the current exhibitions. There is also a wide selection of art magazines and greetings cards. Adjacent to the Bookshop, The Pop-Up Shop re-invents itself, with a carefully chosen range of items, reflecting the theme of the current exhibition.
Admission is free
An Art Pass is available from the galleries' shops. This enables unlimited access over a seven-day period to Penlee House, Tate St Ives, Barbara Hepworth Museum and Leach Pottery, plus discounts at our shop.
Facilities
- Facilities
- Parking
- Toilets
- Restaurant/Cafe
- Shop
Accessibility
- Disabled access
- Disabled parking
- Disabled toilets
Tickets / Price Guides
| Ticket Type |
| Free Admission |
Opening Times
Open all year
SUMMER Opening Hours (To 3rd November 2012) Monday – Saturday 10am – 5pm WINTER Opening Hours (From 6th November 2012) Tuesday – Saturday 10am – 5pm
CURRENT SHOW
Patrick Lowry American Dream 27th April – 5th July 2013
For American Dream Patrick Lowry is constructing a full-sized replica of the façade and garden of a 1950s American suburban home complete with a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air.
Conceived as a response to, and comment on, the current crises of capitalism and our consumption-driven society American Dream looks back to the seductive beginnings of the consumerist revolution that now dominates western societies and continues to expand globally.
In addition to the installation, Lowry has created prints based on American suburban housing plans and presents In The Suburbs, a 1957 film extolling the new suburbanites as model citizens and consumers.
Patrick Lowry is an artist based in Cornwall whose installations explore environments within social contexts.
The exhibition has received support from Chevrolet, Christopher Rowe Ltd, Feast and Solo Building Supplies. Please note the gallery will be closed on Saturday 6th July for a private function.
American Dream is accompanied by Postcard to Penzance, a series of talks and discussions intended as a platform for ideas, ambitions, dreams and wishes for the future health of our town. Join in the conversation, whether by debate or by sending a Postcard to Penzance. See details of Opening Debate below.
FUTURE SHOW
John Newling Ecologies of Value 20th July – 14th September 2013
This major survey exhibition presents a selection of John Newling’s work, from the 1970s to the present day. John Newling is a pioneer of British public art, exploring religion, the natural world and the social and economic systems of society.
Works in the exhibition that play with ideas relating to money and religion include replicas of high street cash machines made in copper, large glass bowls stained with the dirt and debris cleaned from the surface of 50,000 two-pence coins and sculptures related to the act of taking communion inthe Christian church.
Newling has also produced artworks through horticultural processes. Two silver-lined hydroponic growth tents contain young Miracle Trees (Moringa oleifera), a species with uniquely generous properties for healing and nutrition. Through carefully regulated levels of light, carbon dioxide and water, the tents simulate the trees’ native climate conditions in the Himalayan foothills of north-western India.
John Newling lives in Nottingham, and this exhibition was commissioned by, and first exhibited at, Nottingham Contemporary, 26th January to 7th April 2013.
FORTHCOMING EVENTS
▲ World Book Night: The Cafe, The Exchange, Tuesday 23rd April, 4 - 6pm.
A special edition of The Wormery literary group for World Book Night. The Worms will be distributing The Reader by Prof Bernhard Schlink and The Road Home by Rose Tremain around Penzance as well in the Gallery.
▲ Artist’s Talk - Members’ Event : The Exchange, Friday 26th April, 6.30pm.
Gallery Members are invited to join Patrick Lowry for a dry martini and a tour of his newly installed house and garden before American Dream opens to the public. Free to Gallery Members.
▲ Thinking About Drawing About Thinking About Space with Mark Pearson: The Exchange, Saturday 4th May, 10am – 5pm.
The importance of drawing to architectural design, from freehand sketching to analytical diagrams, conventional orthographic projections to perspectives and conceptual images. An absorbing one-day course of hands-on workshops and discussions investigating the relationship between drawing technique and architectural and urban design.
£36 for the day, booking essential at http://thinkingaboutdrawing.eventbrite.co.uk
POSTCARD TO PENZANCE
Accompanying American Dream, Postcard To Penzance is a fond love-letter to our town. Penzance residents are invited to contribute to a positive conversation and submit a postcard with ideas, dreams, wishes and ambitions for Penzance’s future, for exhibition and for the attention of policy makers.
▲ Opening Debate: The Exchange, Thursday 9th May, 6 - 8pm.
An optimistic panel discussion in which everyone with a view on the regeneration of Penzance is invited to contribute. Guest speakers will bring fresh ideas to the table, and questions are invited from the floor.
Supported by Cornwall Council, The Cornishman and Feast.
Free, booking essential at http://postcardtopenzancepanel.eventbrite.co.uk
▲ Fascinating ‘50s: The Exchange, Saturday 1st June, 1 - 5pm.
A rare opportunity to treat yourself to a 1950s-style fascinator with hat-maker Holly Young. £25 for the session, all materials provided, booking essential.
▲ Movie Double Bill in a café-style setting. The Exchange, Thursday 6th June, 7pm.
Enjoy a glass of wine at your table watching Rebel Without A Cause (1955, PG) and Diner (1982, 15). Instead of a £5 ticket price, we invite visitors to bring the equivalent in groceries for Penzance Food Bank, who will distribute it to local families. Penzance Food Bank will be present to talk about its work.
▲ The Wormery Literary Group: The Cafe, The Exchange, Friday 7th June, 3 - 5pm.
With special guest, author Jessica Mann. Join us as we draw back the lace curtain of 1950s suburbia - both here and across the Atlantic. Our objects of interest for this session will be: Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates: the story of Frank and April Wheeler, a bright, young couple who are bored by the banalities of suburban life and long to be extraordinary. The Fifties Mystique by Jessica Mann: Mann discusses the period’s very different attitudes to sex, childbirth, motherhood and work.
Booking essential at http://thewormery2.eventbrite.co.uk