‘Stunning’ new cultural hub opens in Newhaven
Creative Labs are GO! Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop proudly unveiled the new Creative Laboratories building on Thursday – an architecturally stunning facility specifically designed for sculptors.
Situated on old railway sidings in Newhaven, North Edinburgh Creative Laboratories will create a cultural hub, dedicated to the research and production of contemporary visual art.
Designed by Sutherland Hussey Architects as an inspiring environment where artists can make and present work, the new facility is equipped with viewing and meeting spaces designed to bring audiences closer to the art being made.
It features a 22.5m high triangular tower – a new addition to the city’s iconic skyline – and the development of the site has resulted in a significant area of land being re-gifted to the public by ESW as an extension of the adjacent cycle pathway where wildflower meadows have been planted.
The building has been fully funded by the Arts Funding Prize for Edinburgh administered by Foundation Scotland by means of a £3 million anonymous donation.
Irene Kernan, director of Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop (ESW) said: “This is an amazing opportunity for Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop which will enable us to fulfil our ambitions to create a world class sculpture centre in the city.
“We are very fortunate to have an internationally renowned architectural practise on our doorstop in Sutherland Hussey Architects. The Arts Funding Prize represents a major investment in future generations of artists and will be a major resource for our local community in Newhaven as well as the city as a whole.”
Bob Benson, Foundation Scotland Trustee and Chair of the Judging Panel added: “The donors have let us know they could not have been more pleased with the outcome of the Arts Prize competition. On their behalf, Foundation Scotland is delighted to have funded this building, which we expect to achieve social and community benefits, not just artistic ones.
“Being open to the community and integrated into its neighbourhood, it will be a space for artists to work in and also a place for the public to engage in the visual arts.”
A single storey pavilion surrounds an outdoor courtyard linking a series of internal and external environments for events and the production and exhibition of work. Incorporating sculpture bays, project spaces, and a bronze foundry the new facilities will complement those already in use at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop’s Bill Scott Sculpture Centre (also designed by Sutherland Hussey) which opened in July 2012.
To mark the beginning of ESW’s new international programme, Swedish artist Johanna Billing will begin her project How Do You Do? this month and a mini-retrospective of her acclaimed film work will be exhibited in January.
How Do You Do? attempts to capture the collective knowledge, expertise and erudition of Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop’s community by soliciting contributions from members and artists who have been involved with the organisation. Johanna will compile a book that will be part manual, part portrait of the organisation reflecting the scope of contemporary sculpture and the ambiguity of its borders. It aims to survey the ideas, skills and interests of ESW’s members and simultaneously the activity and concerns of a generation of contemporary artists.
On exhibition in the covered sculpture bays, a specialist stone-working space, are Jessica Harrison’s series of carved Kilkenny Limestone sculptures 00:09:34. These sculptures are scaled up from hand-sized clay maquettes made by participants and draw the viewer onto and into the surface of the forms to engage in a mimetic relationship with the hand that produced them. Each stone is titled according to the time spent handling the clay in making the original maquette, the collective title of which increases as the series grows.
A print commission by Miranda Blennerhassett and Bronze edition by Kate Ive will also launch with the opening of the new building; sales from the editions will continue to support the programme at ESW:
Miranda Blennerhassett’s specially commissioned print edition ESW explores the relationship between art and architecture by using the architect’s drawings for Creative Laboratories as their starting point. Informed by her research into Brian Dillon’s discussion of the theory of the ruin, the edition of 25 screen-prints will focus on “the fleeting moment that exists between a building having been built and the moment that the doors open and it begins to function and take on its own life beyond any control of the designer”.
Kate Ive has chosen to make a small artwork Dressed which relates to the construction of the Creative Laboratories by working with a large, life-size steel nail. Sculpting the nail by hand to inlay a delicate lace pattern (referencing Grinling Gibbons’ Cravat) the artist transforms a functional mundane object into something precious. Ive’s specially-commissioned artist’s edition has been cast by the artist in bronze onsite in ESW’s new facilities.
Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop has commissioned a multi-disciplinary collaboration between designer Catherine Aitken and sculptor David Murphy to design furniture for use throughout the new buildings. At the heart of the Edward Marshall Trust commission was the notion that the designs would both be conceived and realised on site at ESW, involving staff and studio holders and helping to promote the range of facilities on offer.
At the heart of the new facility, the tower is a statement of ESW’s progressive, interdisciplinary ambition.
It will act both as a visual and cultural beacon attracting visitors to the complex. The triangular tower will house a newly-commissioned sound installation by Tommy Perman, Professor Simon Kirby and Rob St. John which will launch in the New Year: Concrete Antenna sonically explores the past, present and (potential) future of the Workshop’s site via sound gathered from audio archives and specially made field recordings. The installation subtly responds to the movements of visitors, creating a unique experience for every listener. It will extend by gathering new audio throughout the months it is on site.
Creative Laboratories will enable sculptors to make ambitiously-scaled pieces while public facilities – including a cafe situated to overlook the production of sculpture – will encourage greater interaction between artists and their local and international publics.
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