Totems for Troubling Times – an outward facing project
Christina (Tina) Kutter
Artist collective Room to Manoeuvre – Claire Gladstone, Shelley Hodgson and Christina (Tina) Kutter – will be in residence at
GROW Studios, 14 Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AQ
between 01 and 18 October 2026.
Totems for Troubling Times will include a series of sculptural installations and assemblages, container and cabinet-based pieces that function as shrines, altars, vending systems and “genuine fake relics”. By examining the convergence of the spiritual and the transactional, the project explores ways that belief, behaviour and exchange are constructed and commodified in contemporary life, and how objects accumulate meaning. Positioned within a late Capitalist context shaped by consumer culture, the language of devotional practice is juxtaposed with rituals of buying and selling, highlighting tensions between the sacred, the mundane and the profane.
Featuring 20 other guest artists and academics, an exhibition will evolve over the period of the residency and culminate in
• Ritual Celebration 16 Oct 5.30 to 8.30pm (all welcome)
• Plymouth Art Weekender 17 & 18 Oct 11am to 4pm (all welcome)
It should be intriguing, thought provoking and full of novelty.
We hope you can join us.
