Nothing Gallery

An artist has been given a grant to put on an exhibition consisting of nothing but an empty gallery.

Simon Pope, aged 40, said the aim was to encourage people to walk around the empty rooms and discuss memories of other galleries.

He said the work in Cardiff's Chapter Arts Centre divided opinion, but some visitors had "got a lot out of it".

It has been funded by the Arts Council of Wales and the Sciart Wellcome Trust, a charity promoting art and science.

Pope, who represented Wales at the Venice Biennale art festival in 2003, said: "You can simplify the context and ignore my intentions, but there are also people who know the work and see it in an informed way. Obviously, there's a split reaction. There are those who love it and those who wonder why I've done it. There are three distinct audiences: the people I've worked with in Chapter over the last few weeks, those who come to the event who know the wider context and don't trivialise the work, and people who have no idea what's in here."