EMPTY shops in Oxford city centre are set to come back to life as part of an exhibition aimed at bringing art to the people.

For 10 days next month, artist-curators Emily Alexander and Phil Marston, known collectively as Launch, will be taking over three locations to put on an exhibition called construct/deconstruct, featuring the work of three up-and-coming artists.

Miss Alexander said: “We were reacting to the lack of places to show work in Oxford and also to the amount of empty shop spaces there are in the city, and we just paired them up.

“Somebody at the Westgate Centre offered this shop space for six weeks, then we acquired a site at Oxford Castle, and a space in the High Street too.”

Between Friday, May 1, and Sunday, May 10, sculptor Neil Ayling will exhibit at Oxford Castle, artist and researcher Miguel Santos, who uses differing media for his work, will display his light installation, 10 overdrafts and 10 lights, in an empty shop unit opposite the entrance to Sainsbury’s in the Westgate Centre, and Charlotte Squire’s installation, Strange Fruit, will go on display at an empty shop in the High Street, previously occupied by The Glass House.

Mr Santos’s installation consists of a swarm of fluorescent, malfunctioning lightblulbs, while Mr Ayling’s piece looks at the differences and similarities between temporary and permanent structures, along with graffiti.

Charlotte Squire will be using found objects and cast-offs as a means of looking at class structures and tastes.

The exhibition in the Westgate Centre will be the first of several to go on display there over a period of six weeks.

Miss Alexander, 27 from Abingdon, said: “What we really want to do is get people to engage with artwork outside gallery spaces.

“It can be quite intimidating going into a gallery, so we are trying to bring work to people so they can go specifically to see it if they want, or just see it as they go past.”

Miss Alexander added: “We have chosen works that are quite animated and bright, and use light within them.

“People will be literally looking through the shop windows, so we have chosen things that will be eye-catching from the outside.”

fbardsley@oxfordmail.co.uk