Jimmy Cauty’s ESTATE ‘Municipal Disaster Zone Tour’ has stopped off in Muirhouse and there’s still time to experience this thought-provoking art installation before it moves on to Easterhouse.
ESTATE is a dystopian model village featuring four abandoned concrete tower blocks at 1:24 scale (approx 2 metres high) housed in a 40-foot shipping container in the goods yard off Muirhouse Avenue (beside North Edinburgh Arts).
The tower blocks – Icini Heights, HMP Camp Delta-Zulu, Roman Point and Watch Tower 4 – each serve a different function in the ESTATE and each building contains chilling scenes in miniature of mass social, economic and environmental devastation.
Visitors experience a mini-walking tour like no other. A dark, menacing environment is pierced by spotlights, floodlights and strobes against an aural backdrop of helicopters, alarms, sirens and even the dulcet tones of former Home Secretary Amber Rudd help to set the scene (and chill the blood).
There’s smoke, too, to add to a distinctly unsettling atmosphere; shrouding the brutalist tower blocks and giving them an even greater brooding presence. But for all all the darkness there is also light, and peering through the shattered windows of the blocks tiny scenes are picked out in beautiful detail.
There is so much to see through those blasted windows: a plastic duck here, a faded portrait of Queen Victoria there … but everywhere – destruction and desolation.
Cheerful it’s not, but ESTATES is a powerful experience which haunts you long after you leave the dark confines of the shipping container. As I stepped back into the Muirhouse sunlight I thought: “I must go back.”
You can still catch ESTATE at Muirhouse this afternoon and Saturday morning.
Edinburgh’s skyline was filled with an array of dazzling light last night as an incredible illumination marked one week to go until St James Quarter officially opens its doors.
You can view the highlights of the lightshow here.
The countdown is on for St James Quarter’s’ much-anticipated phase one opening, and the new fashion district was officially welcomed to the city by some of the capital’s most famous landmarks. From the Balmoral and Edinburgh Castle to Forth Ports and the EICC, all roads led to St James Quarter as the whole of the night sky was illuminated- a symbol of this new city centre integration.
With its prime location in the heart of Edinburgh, St James Quarter is set to become a welcoming, cultural and lifestyle hub for art, culture, and fashion.
Through long-term partnerships with Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Edinburgh Jazz & Blues and the Edinburgh Science Festivals – to name a few – the upcoming opening is set to complement the city’s world-renowned cultural offering and support its vibrant events calendar.
Inspired by the spirit of Arthur’s Seat and the meeting of tectonic plates, the light show represents the awakening of St James Quarter, after five years of development. Together with festival, tourism and cultural venues across the city, the display is a celebration of connectivity, bringing together landmarks throughout Edinburgh city centre, all leading to St James Square.
Over 500 light fixtures were placed around the ribbon building with accompanying projections and a soundtrack featuring local sound designer, Keith Fortune.
Mick Hay from The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo took centre stage, 55m meters from the ground, conducting the soundtrack with the unmistakable sounds of the drums, as lasers of light travelled across the city in all directions.
Rochelle Weir, Brand and Marketing Director at St James Quarter, said: “As we near the opening of phase one, the anticipation around the city is palpable.
“We wanted to bring this feeling to life, connecting with other landmarks, businesses, and partners across the city to mark our opening and cement our place on the iconic Edinburgh skyline.
“Our phase one opening is a significant moment in Edinburgh’s history, and we’re incredibly excited for the people of Edinburgh and beyond to see what lies behind the quarter. Last night’s display was just the beginning.”
Collective is delighted to present a new exhibition by Satellites Programme participant Becky Šik.
Central to the exhibition is Mercury, an experimental new moving image work. Structured rhythmically and associatively the new film interlaces an evocative, resonating soundtrack (made using homemade instruments and magnetic sound machines) with an array of high production source material.
This includes infrared night-time video of bats and 16mm footage documenting a teenager magnet-fishing in a canal; alongside a ‘cut-up’ narration juxtaposing stories of hobbyists and an amateur satellite tracker; and scientific and philosophic reflections on the nature of communication.
Concepts of ‘echo’ are central to this work, used as both metaphor and audio effect; as locating device and editing strategy. Mercury focuses on that which sits just beyond a human’s everyday perception, where invisible forces become tangible.
Bats use echolocation to navigate; solar winds interfere with radio communications; whirring magnets excite and resonate bass strings; a Theremin allows us to articulate music from magnetic fields.
The event opens this Saturday, admission free.
Find out more, including screening times and how to pre-book tickets on our website.
Satellites Programme is Collective’s development programme for emergent artists and producers based in Scotland.
Jimmy Cauty’s new installation, ESTATE, has been transported to Muirhouse for a month long residency from the end of May and throughout June 2021.
ESTATE is a dystopian model village experience featuring four abandoned concrete tower blocks at 1:24 scale (approx 2 metres high) housed in a 40-foot shipping container.
The tower blocks each serve a different function in the ESTATE and contain amusing scenes of mass social, economic and environmental devastation.
Produced by L-13 Light Industrial Workshop, ESTATE is hosted in Edinburgh by new producing collective, the Society of Spectacles.
This follows the 2016 residency of Cauty’s previous work, The Aftermath Dislocation Principle, at the Grassmarket in Edinburgh.
ESTATE Edinburgh moves out of the city centre to form part of L-13’s UK-wide MdZ ESTATE Tour, which has already been seen in Hull and Stoke-on-Trent.
ESTATE will be presented in the car park off Pennywell Road, next to North Edinburgh Arts.
ESTATE is viewed either individually or in social bubbles in pre-booked 10-minute slots scheduled every 15-minutes. Viewers then walk through a 40-foot shipping container to explore the tower blocks.
WARNING: The experience includes smoke, strobe lighting, wind, loud noise, tiny TV broadcasts, and is suitable for adults and children ages 5+.
ESTATE has been designed so it can be toured and viewed in compliance with Covid-19 hygiene and social distancing measures, and is wheelchair accessible.
As lockdown eases for the time being and the full long-term effects of the Covid-19 pandemic begin to dawn, ESTATE is a glimpse into an uncertain future that looks increasingly familiar.
Advance bookings for free entry to view ESTATE are essential.
10-minute viewing slots available to book on Thursdays to Saturdays, May 28th-June 26th (Thursday & Friday 10am – 4pm, Saturday 10am – 1pm).
ESTATE will be presented off-site in the nearby car park, near North Edinburgh Arts. To learn more and book your free place, click here.
Last week, we announced to Fringe participants that we’ll be opening show registration – for both online and in-person performances – on Wednesday 05 May, in advance of the Fringe taking place from 06 – 30 August.
This is an exciting moment for the Fringe Society; it means all the preparatory discussions we’ve been having – with artists, venues, government and all members of the Fringe community – can finally be translated into action, with visible results.
The positive response we had to last week’s announcement only confirms what I knew in my heart – that there are many people out there who are just as excited and eager as we are to see the Fringe return!
Of course, opening registration is only the start of this process – we are acutely aware of how difficult the last year has been for artists, and we’re doing everything we can to support them in making work this year and beyond.
We’ve reduced registration fees across all tiers by 25%, and removed the top tier entirely.
We’ve also announced the opening a Fringe Artist and Venue Recovery Fund: a £75,000 funding pot which is available to Fringe companies, creatives and venues to support projects that will enable a return to the Fringe in 2021 or 2022.
The fund will prioritise projects that seek to improve opportunities for access on the Fringe by underrepresented groups – you can find out more at edfringe.smartygrants.com.au/recoveryfund.
There’s certainly a lot more still to be done, but we feel this is the first of many steps we can take to support artists returning to the Fringe.
I recognise that any eagerness to restart the Fringe must be tempered by a sense of caution and responsibility.
We continue to work closely with Scottish Government and the City of Edinburgh Council, and keep a close eye on official guidance as it emerges and develops, using it to inform every decision we make.
The most recent news indicates some easing of restrictions by the end of June, which is definitely encouraging, but if the last year has taught us anything it’s that things can change at very short notice, so for those dreaming fervently of a fun-packed summer in Edinburgh, we strongly recommend an attitude of cautious optimism at this stage.
It’s also important to remember that this year’s Fringe won’t be the same as it was. Even as restrictions relax, we still expect to see some form of social distancing and other safety measures in Edinburgh this August.
Again, we’ll work with venues and other partners to figure out how best to use this information as it develops, creating clear guidance for audiences and participants. We also know that it will not be possible to produce our usual printed programme this year, though we are exploring alternatives.
While it is right and appropriate that we manage our expectations about a return to live performance, I am full of positive anticipation to see how Fringe artists channel their extraordinary creative energy into digital work at this year’s festival.
As happens with any seismic change in society, artists have responded to online life in brilliant and inventive ways, and I think it entirely correct that the Fringe – with its longstanding reputation for unleashing the creative spirit – showcases the best in digital inspiration as well.
Silver linings to the past year’s events are few and far between, but the increased availability of innovative, imaginative work – work that can be accessed virtually anywhere – is surely among them.
With this in mind, we’ve put a lot of time and energy into developing our digital infrastructure for this year’s Fringe. We’ve ensured that, whichever online platforms artists and venues want to use, we can support them to do it; they’ll also have access to our own innovative Fringe Player.
In addition, we’re creating an exciting new online events programme and meeting space to help artists and industry connect and collaborate, which we’re hoping to launch in summer.
With the seeds of carefully laid plans now blooming into life, our goal – as ever – is to support Fringe participants.
As mentioned above, registration (and the wide range of benefits and services that come with it) will open in May, and will remain open right through to the end of the Fringe with no deadlines attached.
We’re also continuing to invest in our website so that audiences can search, browse and book shows as easily as ever, helping them find the artists whose work will resonate with them for years to come.
All of our plans are being made cautiously but optimistically, and as ever, public health will be our priority. But we can take heart in the fact that the Fringe is happening. And, whether online or in a venue, I can’t wait to see you there.
Dorothy’s lockdown-inspired arts project proves a surprise hit
A 92-year-old World War Two evacuee who refuses to let crippling arthritis halt her passion for creativity has enjoyed a hit with her latest project – making colourful bead bowls.
Now Dorothy McDermott has paid tribute to the staff at Cramond Residence, who have helped her create dozens of the bowls, as orders have flooded in from family, friends, residents and staff.
The arts-loving pensioner, who trained as a silversmith, was inspired during lockdown to experiment with colourful Hama Beads, which were originally created for children, but have proved a global hit with many adults as well.
Dorothy says that creative projects have helped her enjoy a happy and fulfilled life and also provided her with a vital distraction during lockdown – and is delighted with the reaction to her latest works.
She added: “People have been putting in requests for specific styles and colours – I’ve made over 20 in just one month. I’m thrilled to bits that people like them.
“But I couldn’t have done it without the help from staff as my fingers don’t work the way they used to. I have to pick up the Hama Beads with a safety pin due to my arthritis and have to get one member of staff to help separate the brown and black beads due to my double vision.”
Widowed Dorothy has had a lifelong passion for art and told how her creative streak even helped sustain her as a child during the darkest days of World War Two.
She said: “Art has always been a passion of mine, I used to get my dad to make a hole in silver sixpences and thruppennies so I could get a wire or thread through to make necklaces.
“When I was evacuated from Edinburgh to the home of my auntie and uncle in Perthshire at the beginning of World War Two, I used to gather hazelnuts to paint and make brooches from, to keep everyone’s spirits high and bring a little bit of happiness during a difficult time.
“I’ve always made things, right through school I was painting and making jewellery. I went on to study silversmithing at Edinburgh Art College. It’s fun to see how the creations turn out and makes me feel good to see the way people have appreciated them over the years.
“I like to keep my collections unique, as I feel that makes them special – it means I can offer ‘one of a kinds’ which people quite like, especially the jewellery as no one will ever have the same.”
Dorothy’s passion for the arts sees her taking classes with other residents at Cramond Residence, Edinburgh’s most exclusive care home. This month she will lead a course on how to Tie-dye silk scarves, as well as teaching other residents how to get creative with the colourful beads.
Lisa Sohn, Lifestyle Co-ordinator at Cramond Residence said: “The drive and energy that Mrs McDermott has for the creative arts is truly inspiring – proving that age is just a number when it comes to something you are passionate about.
“Dorothy is a very sociable resident, so when her friends caught wind of her new adventure making bead bowls, many were quick to put their order in. Now even the staff are getting in on the action – from storing keys at the front door to a place for jewellery – everyone has been coming up with new uses for them.
“Dorothy is always busy crafting and making things, which she often gives to people as gifts. We look forward to seeing her wonderful creations every time, as no creation is ever the same.”
The popular mother-of-one, who has lived her entire life in Edinburgh, retired 30 years ago but continued to make jewellery, design clothes and to express herself through painting.
As her arthritis worsened, she moved into Cramond Residence, where places start from £1850-per-week. For the past seven months the dedicated care staff have been helping her continue to unleash her creativity.
Dorothy added: “Making things keeps my mind active, I’ve started becoming a bit forgetful so this gives me something to focus on and I really enjoy it. I’d say I spend several hours every week creating new designs whether it is for a new bead bowl or a painting.”
Cramond Residence is a purpose-build, £12.5m care home which opened in October 2018 and can care for up to 74 older people. It includes specialised, self-contained houses for residents living with advanced stage cognitive impairments caused by conditions such as Alzheimer’s.
Each resident enjoys a luxury room with en-suite bathroom facilities. It maintains a care staff to resident ratio of at least 1:4 at all times. As well as the beautiful gardens, it also offers a library, a hair salon, a private, fine-dining space, a physiotherapy room and a cinema.
Cramond Residence provides a combination of luxury accommodation and the highest quality of care. Set in a leafy location, it offers small group-living in nine houses, with all residents enjoying a wide range of amenities and activities, excellent food and bespoke care.
Giant new artwork – Justice for Sheku Bayoh – at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall joins the rapidly expanding Mural Trail as Scotland’s artists and arts organisations combine their voices to support Black Lives Matter
Scotland’s Black Lives Matter Mural Trail is expanding rapidly. The addition this week of 5 new artworks at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall takes the total to 24 (across Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness) with over a dozen more planned in the coming weeks, in Stirling and Dundee, as well as Glasgow and Edinburgh.
The latest additions are by Kirkcaldy artist Abigail Mills aka Abz including an impressive 5.5 meter x 6.5 meter print on the Usher Hall’s Glass Wing, and a further 4 images next to Lothian Road.
Striking, colourful and thought provoking, Abz’s work reflects her regular job as a tattoo artist, but goes far beyond that, reflecting her Scottish/Jamaican heritage and self identifcation as a “queer artist”.
The Glass Wing artwork – Justice for Sheku Bayoh – is inspired by the death in 2015, in police custody in Kirkcaldy, of Sheku Bayoh (now the subject of a recently announced public enquiry).
Aamer Anwar, lawyer for the Bayoh family, said: “The family of Sheku Bayoh & his partner Collette are deeply grateful to the artist for this mural which encapsulates for them their long struggle for justice & truth.
“It’s time that those who fly the banner of #BlackLivesMatter realised that there are also many George Floyds in the UK and their families need your support”
Abz’s work joins The Neon Requiem’s 3 portraits of female inspirations in his life – The Healer, The Nurturer and the Teacher, on display at the Lyceum Theatre, text contributions by Annie George at The Traverse Theatre, and a further 6 posters featuring words by some of Scotland’s leading BAME musicians including Emili Sande, Young Fathers and Findlay Quaye, making a remarkable cluster of creative activity by BAME artists/writers, at Edinburgh’s “theatre hub”.
“This is hugely significant, and not just for art and culture” – Cllr Donald Wilson, Culture Convenor, City of Edinburgh Council
Virtual Exhibition becomes real as staff prepare to open Ilona Szalay’s Some Are Born to Sweet Delight, Some Are Born to Endless Night at Arusha Gallery, Edinburgh
Exhibition Dates: 12 June 2020 until 12 July 2020
Arusha Gallery Opening Hours: Monday to Saturday 10am to 5pm, Sunday 1pm to 5pm.
After a little over 3 months since it closed its doors in March Arusha Gallery is set to reopen to the public. The gallery in Edinburgh’s New Town has measures in place to ensure social distancing is maintained, that staff are protected and a high level of hygiene is maintained.
Arusha runs a yearly programme of exhibitions, events and fairs, both nationally and internationally, with regular collaborations with guest artists, curators, festivals and institutions.
The Gallery has continued its exhibition programme throughout lockdown using online viewing rooms where its current exhibition Ilona Szalay’s Some Are Born to Sweet Delight, Some Are Born to Endless Night is on display.
It will remain there for those who are not yet able or comfortable with a gallery visit but last week the staff ensured that it now also hangs on the gallery’s walls ready for people to enjoy in person from Monday through until 12 July 2020.
Agnieszka Prendota, CreativeDirector at Arusha Gallery said: “We feel a huge sense of relief and release being able to open up the Gallery and share the wonderful work that our artists create with people in person again.
“It is a huge step forward. Our wonderful audiences and customers have been very supportive throughout this period but I know that we will all feel more joy for being able to come together albeit within restrictions to experience our artists’ work first hand and to reawaken parts of our souls that have remained locked up in recent months.
“We are in full mode preparing for the reopening, with a supply of masks, gloves and sanitiser to be accessible at the entrance to the gallery. We will have an A board outlining the social distancing measure within the gallery where they will move clockwise around the exhibition space.
“We have worked out that 6 people can be in the gallery at any one time. With all of these measures in place though the atmosphere in the gallery can remain relaxed and open. It’s certainly easier than navigating a supermarket!”
Some Are Born to Sweet Delight, Some Are Born to Endless Night shows a new body of work by Beirut-born Szalay on aluminium, glass and paper.
Szalay, a graduate of Central St Martins describes her work: “In the paintings we see statues petrified and bound on their pedestals. Disembodied arms which encircle with dependence and dominance.
“Broken mythological figures seemingly stunned by their own constraint and ineptitude. Gloriously ambivalent gods and goddesses remain coolly indifferent to what seethes below. And of course ‘the cage’ – the Blakian cage for the robin – the frame itself that holds the image, frozen in postures of pleasure, sensuality, pain, confusion, titillation and torture.”
Through a range of media from canvas to tracing paper, LED light to glass, Szalay engages the multitudinous dichotomies that make up both collective and individual subjective experience in her own restrained, poetic visual language.
Agnieszka Prendota added: “We are thrilled to be opening the gallery with Ilona Szalay’s show; her works are so tactile and enthralling.
“It feels right that, now again, it is possible for Edinburghs’ public to experience them in their full impact.”
Edinburgh’s culture leaders and front of house staff at Museums & Galleries Edinburgh have highlighted some of their personal favourites from the City’s art collection in a special online exhibition as part of ART UK’s Curations initiative.
Art UK is an online platform that allows public collections in the UK to share their artworks with audiences around the world with Edinburgh having approx. 1000 paintings listed.
The exhibition highlights the personal choices of our Culture and Communities Vice-convener and staff including Visitor and Monument Assistants, many of whom deliver tours and interpretation to our visitors.
Culture and Communities Convener Donald Wilson said: “This wonderful online tool has allowed us to continue to share over 1000 pieces from our collection and is a great reminder of our treasure trove. Online is a wonderful way to preserve digital exhibitions and for now is the next best thing until we can welcome visitors back to the City Art Centre.
“The choices in the exhibition are very personal and showcase a variety of artworks. The selections represent our very valued, knowledgeable and enthusiastic front of house team who give tours and share their knowledge with visitors. For mine I selected The Black Hat by Francis, I’m a fan of the Scottish Colourists and the painting itself was on display in the City Chambers during my time as Lord Provost.”
Culture and Communities Vice Convener Amy McNeese-Mechan added: “It was great to browse the collection online, however being asked to choose a favourite from our City Art Centre is almost an impossible task!
“For my contribution I selected Victoria Crowe’s Italian Reflections (1993) as it contains so many elements I love: the drenched jewel-like colours, the mysterious framed view of a winding road lined with those iconic Tuscan poplars. It was very tough to settle on one, but the beauty of the initiative is I can now curate my very own. I’d encourage everyone to explore the collection for themselves.”
In response to the recent international outpouring of support for Black Lives Matter following the killing of George Floyd in USA, Scotland’s BAME artists are stepping up, supported by leading arts organisations.
A Scotland wide Black Lives Matter Mural Trail is now popping up, with displays on a dozen arts venues and sites across Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness, with many more to follow.
Art is powerful and at a time when all Scotland’s venues are closed for the foreseeable future, they can still have a voice by offering their walls and doors to be used for this dramatic, vital statement of support for Black Lives Matter.
The artworks – colourful, challenging, moving, powerful and diverse – inspired by the themes of I Can’t Breathe and Black Lives Matter, will be created by artists from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds, all living in Scotland.
Several will be supported by additional exhibitions with local relevance. They will be in a variety of media including paint, photography, video and digital art, in a wide range of styles, including fine art, street art, text, illustrative and abstract.
The artists come from a wide range of backgrounds (including Cape Verde, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Papua New Guinea, Pakistan/Harris, USA), some trained, some self taught, combining youth and experience, individuals and artist collectives – all uniquely talented.
All will be large scale and hard to miss!
The trail is the brainchild of Edinburgh based creative producer Wezi Mhura (Iron Oxide, Struileag (Commonwealth Games 2014), AfriFest, Edinburgh International Festival) a specialist in large scale events, who pulled the idea together in just over a week, with the support of venues and arts organisations including Edinburgh International Festival, Dance Base, Queen’s Hall Edinburgh, Eden Court Theatre, Glasgow’s King’s Theatre and Theatre Royal, and many more.
One of the first to go up is at The Hub on Castlehill, which features art based on an original photograph by British born Nigerian photographer Jamal Yussuff-Adelakun, which he created with his daughter Lola (above). There will also be a series of other photos from the same session.
Scotland’s society and attitudes are shaped by its history rooted in slavery, colonialism and imperialism. There are reminders of it in every major city, in statues and buildings which were built by profits from the slave trade.
There is a wide debate opening up about how that should be represented. This Scottish Mural Trail shows a way that art can be at the forefront and stimulating the conversation, while also adding an exciting new dynamic to currently boarded up venues.
Wezi Mhura said: “The Scottish government says it recognizes the strength in its aspirations to a more equal and more diverse society going forward, and we hope this Mural Trail will help to start the conversations that need to be happening now.
“It’s been amazing to connect in with so many talented artists (with roots in so many different places) who have been so enthusiastic about getting behind this project”.
Jamal Yussuff-Adelakun said: “My daughter and I have bonded and created before when it comes to photography, but never before have we both used the medium of photography to talk about race injustice or racism.
“For me this was a new found way to have that conversation with her.”
Capital sites to follow include Queen’s Hall, DanceBase, Royal Lyceum Theatre, Festival Theatre and Meadowbank stadium.
