The Errant Collaborators (a play within a play) – MIRROR exhibition brings over 40 artists together to reimagine painting

<p>The exhibition launches with a free public opening on <strong>Thursday 23 October, 5pm to 7pm</strong>. <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/opening-event-the-errant-collaborators-a-play-within-a-play-tickets-1691841135379?aff=oddtdtcreator"></a><a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/opening-event-the-errant-collaborators-a-play-within-a-play-tickets-1691841135379">Register for the opening event via Eventbrite</a>.</p>

<p dir="ltr"><em>The Errant Collaborators (a play within a play)</em> explores the tensions of painting, authorship, display and control. By collapsing the boundaries between studio and gallery, the project creates an unpredictable environment where artworks and ideas collide.</p> <p dir="ltr">The exhibition contrasts the “reflexive live-ness” of studio-making with the fixed, calcified mode that paintings are often expected to adopt in galleries. Instead, uncertainty and doubt are invited into the gallery space, where works form <strong>uncomfortable relationships</strong> that challenge the roles of artist, curator and the paintings themselves.</p> <p dir="ltr">Dan Howard-Birt, artist and curator of The Errant Collaborators (a play within a play): “I think that there is a lot that we take for granted when making exhibitions. There's no reason why artworks need to be finished, or evenly distributed about a room, we just tend to make exhibitions like that, and the consequence is that visitors are quickly lulled into performing their familiar look or short-think or shuffle-around-to-the-next-piece routine. </p> <p dir="ltr">“Exhibition makers needn't be so polite with artworks, or perpetuate a way of curating which isolates artworks to make them special. I have complete faith in artworks and believe that they are more robust than we often give them credit for. Artworks are at their liveliest when they are in the studio and this exhibition aims to bring some of that liveliness or uncertainty or experimentation out into the gallery."<br /></p>

<p dir="ltr">The project includes contributions from over 40 artists, with projects led by <strong>Josef Back, Freddie Bannister, Miles Graham, LLE (Casper White, James Moore &amp; Abi Birkinshaw), Ian Malhotra, Johanna Melvin, millimetre (Kate Scrivener &amp; Finlay Taylor), Rebecca Willing</strong> and others.</p> <p dir="ltr">Rather than presenting works in isolation, paintings are hung atop one another, inserted into cut-outs, or pressed into dialogue with their neighbours. Under these conditions, paintings are not given the safe space of the white cube but are <strong>forced to “fight for their lives”, holding their own while reflecting and absorbing the moods, energies and weaknesses of their neighbours</strong>.</p> <p dir="ltr">Andy Cluer, Exhibitions Producer at MIRROR, Arts University Plymouth: “MIRROR is proud to host this ambitious project, which pushes the boundaries of how painting is made, displayed and understood. By bringing together more than 40 artists in a spirit of collaboration and experimentation, this exhibition exemplifies the bold and questioning work that MIRROR is here to support.”<br /></p>

<p>Dan Howard-Birt is a painter with a longstanding interest in what exhibitions mean in a time when their function as the primary site for “art-events” is shifting. Through projects like <em>The Errant Collaborators (a play within a play)</em>, he works to extend the reflexiveness and provisionality of the studio into gallery contexts, often in collaboration with other painters who share these concerns. Learn more about his practice on <a href="http://www.lidoprojects.com/dan">Lido Projects</a>.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Visitors will also have the opportunity to hear directly from Dan Howard-Birt during a special tour:</p> <p><strong>Exhibition tour with Dan Howard-Birt</strong><br /><strong>Monday 17 November 2025, 6pm to 7:30pm</strong><br /><a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/exhibition-tour-with-dan-howard-birt-the-errant-collaborators-a-play-with-tickets-1691780865109?aff=oddtdtcreator">Register free via Eventbrite</a>.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Located within Arts University Plymouth’s city-centre campus, <a href="https://mirrorplymouth.com/">MIRROR</a> is a public gallery dedicated to supporting contemporary visual art. Welcoming hundreds of visitors each month, the gallery plays a key role in Plymouth’s reputation as the regional capital of visual arts.</p><ul><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><strong>Exhibition dates</strong>: 24 October to 17 December 2025</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><strong>Opening event</strong>: Thursday 23 October, 5pm–7pm (<a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/opening-event-the-errant-collaborators-a-play-within-a-play-tickets-1691841135379?aff=oddtdtcreator">register here</a>)</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><strong>Location</strong>: MIRROR, Arts University Plymouth, Tavistock Place, Plymouth, PL4 8AT</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><strong>Admission</strong>: Free, all welcome</p></li></ul> <p>Find full details on <a href="https://mirrorplymouth.com/whats-on/the-errant-collaborators-a-play-within-a-play">MIRROR’s website</a>.</p>