ON OUR RADAR

Instructions2LiveBy

An interactive Preston Street Union event invites participants to seek out wise words and helpful hints in fact and fiction.

Leigh Curtis

Preston Street Union is holding an interactive event at Exeter Library on Saturday 28 January. Taking how-to guides and self-help manuals as inspiration, #Instructions2LiveBy will discover wise words and helpful hints in the library collection.

Participants will be guided through the library or can pick up an instruction card and seek out their own way through fact and fiction from cookery to children’s books.

Preston Street Union Instructions To Live By online #InstructionsToLiveBy online

The library event is part of an ongoing project combining random phrases from books and magazines to create new texts which began during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020.

Derived texts were shared online and in the windows of people’s homes.

Hand-written phrases on riso-printed posters have since been displayed at bill-posting sites around the city and have featured in the Exeter Phoenix Platform series, which offers South West artists opportunities to test ideas and new work and develop their practice.

The project has also been featured on Social ARTery, an artist-led community platform.

Preston Street Union Instructions To Live By bill-posting #InstructionsToLiveBy bill-posting

Preston Street Union is an Exeter-based affiliation of artists who make collaborative work.

Formed in 2015, Preston Street Union contributed to Art Week Exeter (now Art Work Exeter) in 2017 and 2018 and performed Serge/Surge, a Royal Albert Memorial Museum commission, the following year.

Anyone may come and go, the second stage of the trade- and migration-themed commission, took place in February 2020.

Subscribe to The Exeter Digest - Exeter Observer's essential free email newsletter

Your personal information will be processed and stored in accordance with our Privacy Policy

#InstructionsToLiveBy is from 10.30am-12.30pm on Saturday 28 January 2023 at Exeter Library.

The event is drop-in: booking is not required.

To find out more visit the Preston Street Union website.


Democracy doesn't work when people don't know who is deciding what on whose behalf and what the costs and consequences of those decisions will be.

Exeter Observer is proving that reader-funded media can deliver the independent public interest journalism our local democracy needs.

Upgrade to a paid Exeter Observer subscription to support our work and get access to exclusive premium content and more.

More stories
Clifton Hill sports centre redevelopment site

Second undervalue sale of Clifton Hill sports centre site after buyback loss leaves city with £3m less than initial market value

Council sold land for £2.14m – at £2.11m discount – then bought it back for £3.037m before selling again for £3.375m at £425,000 discount with £225,000 sweetener after also agreeing to spend net £600,000 on preparation, marketing and disposal costs.

Mary Arches car parks redevelopment site aerial view

300-bed “co-living” blocks to trump social housing vision for Mary Arches car parks

More people could be crammed into Eutopia Homes complex than current car parking spaces after Exeter City Council commits to “homes for the people of Exeter” on Liveable Exeter North Gate site.

Exeter Public Spaces Protection Order boundary map

Exeter City Council renews Public Spaces Protection Order for three more years

Measure introduced to curb anti-social behaviour in 2017 extended to 2028 following consultation limited to selected consultees.

Alison Hernandez and James Vaughan

Police and Crime Commissioner Alison Hernandez launches Devon & Cornwall Police “accountability board”

Monthly board meets in private with press and public excluded without publishing advance agendas or minutes to ensure force is delivering an “effective and efficient police service”.

Eutopia Homes Exmouth Junction build to rent development rear elevation

First Exeter build to rent flats marketed at £1,375-£2,350 per month with “affordable” units costing £1,080-£1,800 plus bills

Eutopia Homes rents in Exmouth Junction block would leave many workers with substantially lower income than Joseph Rowntree Foundation minimum for a socially-acceptable standard of living.

Northbrook Swimming Pool campaign demonstration Exeter Guildhall 13 May 2025

Campaigners compel Exeter City Council to reconsider Northbrook pool closure with 2,250-strong resident petition

Pressure on council intensifies after freedom of information request responses confirm £3.5 million budget cuts included potentially unlawful decision to close swimming pool without public consultation or impact assessment.