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
Aerial view of Wonford community learning centre and sports centre

Plans for unfunded £7 million Wonford community hub redevelopment approved

Exeter City Council approves own planning application to demolish, rebuild and part-refurbish existing community and sports facilities beside Ludwell Valley Park.

Existing Exeter area parliamentary and district council boundaries map

Will Devon’s eleven councils find common ground as local authority reorganisation deadline looms?

A county-wide consensus is gaining traction with most Devon councils already on board and only Exeter City Council standing in its way while County Hall has yet to make up its mind.

Exeter bus corridors map keyframe

Devon County Council plans more bus priority schemes aimed at improving journey times in Exeter arterial roads

Schemes in Alphington Road, Barrack Road, Cowley Bridge Road, Honiton Road, Topsham Road and at Exe Bridges gyratory to follow Cowick Street, Heavitree Road, Pinhoe Road and New North Road changes.

Grace Road Fields Exeter Energy plant main building indicative render

Exeter Energy plant replaces rationale for Grace Road Fields location near River Exe with reliance on air source heat pumps

Developer nevertheless seeks planning permission to build in Riverside Valley Park, claiming public open space “not bound” by local plan policy, as scheme ambition and city council environmental leadership claims begin to drain away.

Heavitree and Whipton Active Streets Trial scheme map

Devon County Council admits Heavitree & Whipton Active Streets trial led to “lack of trust” in County Hall decision-making

Focus groups held following termination of controversial trial find broad support for safer travel but also reveal perception of “downward spiral” in Exeter highways management while county council confirms it has no plans for new schemes in area.

Devon County Council leader James McInnes

Devon County Council plan to postpone local elections fails as government rejects devolution fast-track application

County council leader James McInnes sought ministerial approval for proposals despite Devon falling short of devolution white paper eligibility criteria.