granton:hub and Edinburgh College of Art invite the local community to discuss what could happen with local spaces, places and landscapes.
Pop along on Friday (25th February) between 3 – 7pm to the heritage exhibition.
Find out about Granton, its past and its future as told by the local community.
Edinburgh College of Art students will present their findings, whilst over a cuppa you can read and hear about Granton’s rich industrial #heritage.
Exhibition
22.01.22 – 01.05.22
Open Thursday – Sunday, 10am – 4pm
Free
COLLECTIVE are delighted to launch our 2022 programme with a presentation of Cauleen Smith’s film H-E-L-L-O, which brings together themes of historic erasure, presence and loss.
H-E-L-L-O takes John Williams’ famous five-note musical motif from Stephen Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind, translating it into a greeting for sites across post-hurricane Katrina New Orleans.
The various interpretations of the sequence speak to the enduring spirit of the city. Although situated in the geography of New Orleans, Smith’s film allows us to contemplate Edinburgh’s relationship to its own landscape, inhabitants and history in a time of turbulence and change.
Cauleen Smith is an American born filmmaker and multimedia artist, best known for experimental works that address African-American identities. Smith currently teaches at the California Institute of the Arts.
H-E-L-L-O will be screened on loop in the City Dome from 22 January – 1 May. Entry is free and there is no need to pre-book, but some social distancing measures will be in place.
Collective is currently open Thu-Sun, 10am-4pm (Tue-Sun, 10am-5pm from April 2022).
Funded by Creative Scotland, The Flourish Jewellery Project is an exciting craft jewellery project. Working in partnership with North Edinburgh Arts and Four-Square’s Womanzone, Jewellery Artists, Lisa Arnott and Jessica Howarth have enabled women who are recovering from trauma from domestic violence, drug and alcohol addiction, social isolation, and economic hardship to develop new skills in jewellery design and making.
Working with a variety of organisations who support women, Lisa and Jessica created a series of outreach jewellery sessions introducing and enabling the women to make rings, pendants and bangles from silver. For these participants, being part of this project has provided a space for them to dare to dream and have a moment in their week where their creativity is realised.
From the outreach session, 12 women then went on to engage with the project on more intensive weekly jewellery and metalwork sessions. During this time, they learnt the foundations of metal and jewellery work which included saw piercing, soldering, texturing and shaping metal.
Despite the various challenges the women experienced, the project has provided materials, travel and childcare alongside safe and high-quality jewellery workshops.
Having never made any jewellery out of metal at the start of the project, the women from the Flourish Jewellery Project have now produced a small collection of silver jewellery which will be on display at the project’s exhibition, which takes place from 22nd until the 25th January at Custom House in Leith.
The exhibition, which is sponsored by fine jeweller, Hamilton & Inches, with support from the Scottish Goldsmith Trust and Scottish Historic Building Trust, will display beautifully handcrafted items.
Lisa Arnott (above) and Jessica Howarth said: “We were both delighted to have received funding from Creative Scotland for the Flourish Jewellery Project.
“By working in partnership with Foursquare’s, Womenzone project and North Edinburgh Arts in Muirhouse we have been providing jewellery making opportunities for women from across the city.
“This project has enabled women who have experienced trauma, social isolation and/or economic challenges to develop traditional jewellery making skills.”
A Flourish participant said: “The Flourish Jewellery Project has made me find myself. I’m shocked at who I was when I first started coming as to who I am now”.
Earlier this Autumn the Flourish Jewellery Project was featured at The New York Jewellery Week 2021’s the ‘Power of Jewellery’ and was shortlisted for a Creative Edinburgh Award for Best in Collaboration.
Lisa and Jess (above) have also taken part in research undertaken by University College London and Birmingham City University and collaborated with a host of local artists and designers.
This has included Professor Sandra Wilson from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, furniture designer Colin Parker, web designers Erin Smith and Zena Walczynska, illustrations by Kinship Press, Photographer Shannon Tofts and Media Scotland who are co-producing a film reflecting the women’s experience of the project.
The project is now becoming a community interest company and has secured further funding to enable six women to continue to develop their jewellery training further.
Hidden Door will return in 2022, breathing life into a secret new location in Edinburgh. We are now inviting visual artists to get involved.
For next year’s festival we’ve found a stunning, forgotten complex in the city centre which we plan to transform into live music venues and performance spaces for theatre, dance and spoken word, alongside pop-up bars and a multitude of art exhibition and installation spaces.
We’ll reveal more about our new venue in the new year, but for now we are inviting submissions to our visual art programme; seeking innovative and striking projects across a variety of artistic disciplines.
Our main aim is to create opportunities for artists so we are particularly looking for projects that allow artists to develop their practice and encourage new graduates and emerging artists to apply. We do however welcome applications from artists at any stage in their career.
Each project selected will receive a fee of £500 towards the artist’s time plus project expenses, as well as free access to the festival.
The deadline for visual art submissions is Monday 24 January – please help us spread the word and share this with the creatives in your life!
We’ll be launching our calls for other art forms in the New Year.
Exhibition
03.12.21–13.03.21
Open Thurs – Sun, 10am—4pm
Launch Event
Friday 03.12.21, 7–9pm
Book free tickets here
In 2011, the explosion of riots in English cities prompted much moralising from Scotland’s political, policing and media establishments on why the outbreak never reached Glasgow. Not for the first time, the country’s elites appeared to be attributing the lack of rioting to the particular characteristics of Glasgow’s working class communities.
The fearful part of it was the absence is a new exhibition by writer Joey Simons which investigates the periodic eruption and absence of rioting in Glasgow, and its effect on the shape of the city.
Taking its title from Henry Cockburn’s observations on the ‘terrible silence’ and ‘fearful absence of riot’ that characterised the great demonstrations in Scotland in support of parliamentary reform in 1832, Joey’s exhibition pieces together a constellation of historical and contemporary sources to explore a recurring pattern of response and erasure to collective violence in the city.
For the exhibition, Joey presents a montage of audio-visual material, texts, poetry, a wall drawing and audio. Videos made by Joey and the photographer Jack Wrigley depict their friends reciting texts ordered around riots and their relationship to silence, language, violence, geography and weather.
Recitals take place on sites of historical riots in Glasgow, today many of which are derelict, demolished in preparation for private development, or in the process of gentrification.
Join us on Friday 3 December, 7-9pm, to celebrate the opening of the exhibition. This is an open event and all are welcome. Much of the event will take place outdoors in our new ‘Play Shelter’ so please dress for the weather!
Numbers inside the exhibition will be monitored in line with social distancing advice so a short wait may be required.
Capacity is limited due to social distancing so please RSVP by booking a free ticket on Eventbrite.
Thirteen creative projects from Edinburgh-based artists and creative organisations are taking place thanks to more than £253,000 National Lottery funding through Creative Scotland.
And If Not Now When? – a new audio-visual installation being exhibited at National Museum of Scotland; Open Book – a project aimed at making literature accessible to diverse populations and Positive Imaginings, an innovative outdoor show presenting the issue of climate change for young audiences are among 44 projects in total sharing in £903,734 of funding.
And If Not Now When? (above) is a new work from sound-designer Philip Pinsky and film-maker Karen Lamond. The interactive audio-visual installation aims to inspire a re-imagining of our urban spaces and what our human experience of them is and can be.
The installation will be on public display at National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh from 1st to 14th November 2021 (during COP26).
Co-creator and sound designer Philip Pinsky says: “Through our work we are inviting the public to experience a transformed urban reality with the aim of inspiring social change and provoking answers to the question, how can we respond to the climate emergency?”
Open Book uses literature as a tool for combating social isolation, supporting wellbeing, inspiring creativity and amplifying marginalised voices.
Open Book’s co-founder and development director Marjorie Lotfi says: “Participants describe our groups as ‘a lifesaver’, an ‘oasis’ and a ‘way to connect’ with others when they feel isolated by geography, disability or circumstance.
“Funding means we can continue this work from Shetland to Ullapool to Stranraer, in community groups, groups for the elderly and refugees and migrants, in prisons, and in public sessions in English, Gaelic, Scots and Arabic.”
Speactram is the debut album from vocalist, lyricist and poet Marcas Mac an Tuairneir. This debut release will see Marcas embrace the Gaelic language whilst showcasing musical influences from the genres of pop, pop-folk, R&B and dance.
A key element of this new work will be an exploration of LGBTQ’s place within the Gaelic corpus.
Marcas Mac an Tuairneir says: “I am grateful to Creative Scotland for seeing the worth in me as an artist and this new development in Gaelic music.
“As an urban new speaker of Gaelic, it is important to me that Gaelic arts represent the myriad experiences of the community across Scotland and in Canada too.”
Finally, Positive Imaginings is a new outdoor show from Rowanbank Environmental Arts & Education CIC.
Director Arran Sheppard said: “Creative Scotland funding will enable us to bring the Positive Imaginings show to communities in Edinburgh and Glasgow during COP26, giving children from disadvantaged backgrounds the opportunity to engage with the Climate Emergency in a creative and empowering way.”
Iain Munro, CEO, Creative Scotland said: “Thanks to the generosity of National Lottery players who raise £34 million for good causes across the UK every week, our Open Fund awards are helping artists and creative organisations develop innovative projects that enrich the lives of people across Scotland, while raising questions about the important issues of our time and ensuring our collective creative voice continues to be heard.”
A full list of recipients of Open Fund awards is available on the Creative Scotland website.
Exhibition
02.10.21–21.11.21
Open Sunday – Thursday 10am – 5pm
Launch Event
Friday 01.10.21, 7–9pm
Book free tickets here
Collective is delighted to present a new installation by Glasgow-based artist Mina Heydari-Waite.
Building on discourse around Iranian diasporic identity, Mina invites viewers into a new immersive set. Composed of sculptural objects and a sound work, this installation creates a dreamscape that holds the audience in a conversation about ritual sites, moments of rupture and Social Dreaming.
In sleep it made itself present to them translates the embellished architecture of Persepolis – an ancient city in modern Iran rich in cultural meaning and ambiguity – into a digital space, rendering it flat and geometric. Processing the elaborate motifs of Persepolis through graphics programmes, Mina prepares them as a CNC-machined, flat-packed kit.
An integrated sound work is made in collaboration with sound artist Claude Nouk and reconstructs fragments of conversation with Mina’s mother, Hamideh Heydari-Waite, a psychotherapist and anthropology researcher based in London.
Their conversation explores and expands on ‘Social Dreaming’, a practice that distinguishes dreams from the dreamer and explores their possibility to uncover wider collective meanings. In this exhibition, Persepolis itself becomes an emblem of this collective mode of dreaming.
Join us on Friday 1 October, 7-9pm, to celebrate the opening of the exhibition. This is an open event and all are welcome. Much of the event will take place outdoors in our new ‘Play Shelter’ so please dress for the weather!
Numbers inside the exhibition will be monitored in line with social distancing advice so a short wait may be required.
Please RSVP by booking a free ticket on Eventbrite.
Today, a brand new exhibition that celebrates the remarkable life and achievements of renowned explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922) will be unveiled by the South Georgia Museum.
The exhibition ‘Shackleton’s Last Quest’ is launching on 17 September, 100 years after Shackleton’s last voyage, the Quest Expedition, set sail from London.
The new exhibition focuses on Shackleton’s untimely death and his final resting place at Grytviken on the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia, and showcases the significance this small British Overseas Territory played in his story. It will also look at his life and the personal qualities that made him so extraordinary, resulting in him still being revered around the world today, a century after his death.
As part of the exhibition, some key objects never before seen outside South Georgia have been brought together for the first time and include the original Hope Cross – the wooden cross that topped the memorial cairn built by the men of the expedition at Hope Point, King Edward Point in 1922.
Shackleton’s grave in summer (L) and in midwinter (R).
It is fitting that Shackleton was in South Georgia when he died. His final diary entry reads: ‘A wonderful evening. In the darkening twilight I saw a lone star hover, gem-like above the bay.’
Image credits Julie Shaughnessy (L) and Deirdre Mitchell (R)
As well as being online at https://sgmuseum.gs/shackletonslastquest the exhibition will be mirrored at the South Georgia Museum at Grytviken, for visitors to the island to see.
It was Shackleton’s wife who decided that South Georgia would be his final resting place and many people make the pilgrimage to his grave to pay their respects, in non-Covid times.
When visitors are able to return to the Museum (which has been closed since March 2020 due to the pandemic), they will also be able to discover more about his life and final voyage through this exhibition.
The Shackleton-Rowett Antarctic Expedition (known as the Quest Expedition) was Shackleton’s fourth and final expedition, aiming to circumnavigate the Antarctic continent.
Large crowds gathered as the ship, Quest, left St Katherine Docks in London on 17 September 1921, with a crew comprising eight shipmates from the famous Endurance Expedition, who were keen to return to southern waters.
However, this was to be Shackleton’s last journey and after arriving at the quiet waters of King Edward Cove in South Georgia on 4 January 1922, he unexpectedly died in the early hours of the following morning.
His untimely death saw an outpouring of grief across the world and came to be seen as the end of the heroic era of polar exploration. Shackleton was buried on 5 March, two months after his death, at the whaling station Grytviken, South Georgia.
The original crow’s nest, which along with the cabin is one of the last vestiges from Quest, will also be making the journey to South Georgia where it will be the centrepiece of the exhibition at the Museum.
This is the first time it will leave its current home in All Hallows Church by the Tower of London to travel back to South Georgia to mark this significant anniversary. Before it heads south to the Antarctic, the Quest Barrel – as it is also known – will be on display at Shackleton’s birthplace in Ireland, at the Shackleton Museum, Athy. In spring 2022 it will continue to South Georgia to take its place in the exhibition.
Alison Neil, Chief Executive of the South Georgia Heritage Trust (SGHT), the UK charity which manages the Museum (above) on behalf of the Government of South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands (GSGSSI) said: “South Georgia is synonymous with Shackleton, as the island played host to the beginning and the conclusion of the ill-fated Endurance Expedition (1914-1917) and is also Shackleton’s final resting place.
“As a guardian of the island’s fascinating heritage, the South Georgia Museum is delighted to have developed this new exhibition. Given Shackleton’s deep associations with South Georgia, it is fitting we will be marking the centenary of the launch of the Quest Expedition and Shackleton’s untimely death in this way.
“The exhibition will mark what is considered the end of the heroic era of polar exploration, focusing on Shackleton’s final resting place and the significance South Georgia played in the story. It will consider his life and those enduring qualities that made him such a revered figure in polar world history and bring him to a new audience.”
Visitors to the exhibition, both online and at South Georgia Museum will learn more about the details of the voyage, hear about how Shackleton came to be buried on the island, and explore objects and images that are being exhibited for the first time.
These include items from Shackleton’s funeral such as the banner that led the procession from the Grytviken church to the cemetery – a Norwegian tradition brought to the island by the whalers.
The exhibition also makes connections to other institutions with collections and links to Shackleton and polar exploration, through virtual ‘loans’. These digital loans include Shackleton’s diary, his Quest cabin clock and a full replica model of Quest.
The online exhibition can be found at https://sgmuseum.gs/shackletonslastquest
It is hoped that the exhibition at South Georgia Museum will be open from this coming season or the next, depending on travel restrictions.
Travelling Gallery has announced the relaunch of its Spring 2020 exhibition, Shapes of Water, which was paused due to the pandemic. The new autumn tour will take place from 2 September to November across Scotland.
The Travelling Gallery will be stopping off at North Edinburgh Arts in Muirhouse on 15th September.
Travelling Gallery, an exciting event supported by EventScotland through Scotland’s Year of Coasts and Waters 20/21 and Scotland’s Events Recovery Fund, has invited three thought-provoking and exciting young artists to produce new work reflecting their individual perspectives on our relationship with coasts and waters.
The mobile art gallery – which drives contemporary art to all corners of the country – will feature an exhibition of drawings, riso prints, audio and film work from the three artists when it takes to the road later this week.
Its Autumn tour will begins outside Edinburgh’s City Art Centre today (Thursday 2 September) before visiting venues across the country.
The three exhibiting artists are:
Suzie Eggins works across drawing, printmaking and sculpture and uses her imagination as a microscope to examine the cells and structures of our natural environment to create beautiful geometric drawings and installations. For Shapes of Water, Eggins turns her attention to Scotland’s water and explores the idea that our thoughts and emotions can affect our environment.
Amy Gear is a mixed media artist based in Shetland and characteristically uses her Shetland dialect to outline her artistic practice, using local words to describe the coast and landscape.
Her drawings and paintings go beyond the traditional ideals of a beautiful landscape and instead explore the connections between body and land. For Shapes of Water, Amy departs from a piece of writing inspired by her Shetland Grandparents describing the comfort in witnessing steely storms and angry waves; knowing that the unrest will benefit the buoyant sea life. The resulting artwork is a playful and cherished tribute to family and the sea.
Rhona Mühlebach is a Swiss filmmaker based in Glasgow and her films capture the atmospheric Scottish landscape placing intriguing narratives into the natural environment. For Shapes of Water, Mühlebach is making a stylish crime thriller set in Galloway Forest Park and investigating Sudden Oak Death which can be transmitted by rainwater and carried via rivers and streams.
Speaking of the exhibition, David Patterson, Curatorial and Conservation Manager, said: “We’re thrilled to be back on tour again, and to be able to showcase new work by three exciting young artists, all based in Scotland.
“We greatly appreciate the ongoing support of EventScotland through the Year of Coasts and Waters 20/21 and Scotland’s Event Recovery Fund.”
Convener of Culture and Communities at the City of Edinburgh Council, Councillor Donald Wilson, said: I’m delighted that the Travelling Gallery will be hitting the road, picking up where it left off last year and taking this fantastic exhibition to audiences around Scotland.
“Once again, the Travelling Gallery has devised a fascinating and varied exhibition which I’m sure will appeal to visitors across the country.”
Vice Convener of Culture and Communities at the City of Edinburgh Council, Councillor Amy McNeese-Mechan, added: “As a Council we are committed to making art and culture as accessible as possible to as many people as possible.
“This is the ethos of the gallery itself and through supporting this mobile gallery, art is brought straight into the hearts of town centres. I hope everyone takes the opportunity to pay the exhibition a visit.
Paul Bush OBE, Director of Events at VisitScotland, said: “We are pleased to be supporting Travelling Gallery’s Shapes of Water exhibition as part of Year of Coasts and Waters 20/21.
“Scotland offers the perfect stage to celebrate our coasts and waterways and this unique exhibition will give audiences an opportunity to experience these inspirational artworks as the mobile art gallery tours Scotland.”
The current Scottish Government Covid 19 guidance will be adhered to throughout the tour. In order to keep staff and visitors safe currently 2 visitors or 1 household can visit the gallery at a time, and all visitors will need to leave contact details.
The gallery door will be open and the fan running to increase ventilation, and staff will clean touchpoints regularly between visitors.
Tour dates
Exhibition Launch – Thursday 2 September – City Art Centre Edinburgh
Saturday 4 September – Portobello High Street ( Porty Art Walk)
Monday 6 September – The Ripple Project, Restalrig Road South, Edinburgh
Saturday 11 September – Portobello High Street ( Porty Art Walk)
Tuesday 15 September – North Edinburgh Arts
Friday 17 September – WHALE, Wester Hailes, Edinburgh
Thursday 14 – Mon 18 October – Summerlee Museum, Coatbridge
Friday 22nd October – Queen Margaret University, Musselburgh
Monday 1/2 November – East Renfrewshire
More dates will be added to the tour.
HIDDEN Door have revealed plans to transform a disused warehouse into a vast exhibition and performance space as part of their 2021 arts festival in Granton this September.
The festival group is launching a crowdfunder to pay for use of the warehouse space. They explain:
This year’s five day festival is taking place outdoors, on land next to the Granton Gasworks, from 15 – 19 September. However, the open air venue isn’t suitable for visual art exhibitions, so we have now got the chance to make use of a nearby warehouse as well, if we can raise the necessary funds to make it happen.
The additional venue will double the footprint of the festival, allowing us to exhibit the work of recent art graduates whose degree shows were cancelled due to COVID-19. The graduates, proud parents and audience members alike will be able to immerse themselves in the exhibition experience whilst staying safe and covid-compliant.
To support the plans, we are set to launch a crowdfunder to raise £10,000, with supporters able to pick from a wide range of rewards including an immersive treasure hunt experience through the festival grounds, exclusive hand-printed T-shirts from Acorn Print Studio, VIP passes for the festival and limited edition prints by Hidden Door artists.
The visual artists will be chosen from Hidden Door’s Graduate Support Network, launched earlier this year to support recent graduates. These artists will be paid for their work through the proceeds raised from this year’s Crowdfunder. For many of them, it will be their first paid creative opportunity.
Hannah Stewart, Project Manager, said: “Graduates across Scotland have missed out on the opportunity to exhibit their work because of the onset of a global pandemic. This has greatly impacted their introduction to the industry and their subsequent livelihood.
“It goes without saying that the last 16 months have been challenging for everyone, especially the Arts and Culture sector. These artists are not only trying to establish themselves and their career, but to reinforce the importance and value of art and culture during these unprecedented times.
“As a festival that celebrates the artistic integrity of Scotland and the wider UK, it is Hidden Door’s duty to help alleviate these artists’ feelings of being devalued, discouraged and despairing.
“We at Hidden Door want to help give these emerging artists the exhibition they deserve. We also want to make sure Scotland doesn’t miss out on the fresh creativity and drive that enriches the country.
“We have the venue and we’ve found the talent; we just need the community’s support to make it happen!”
The crowdfunding campaign will be launched on Kickstarter soon.
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