Hidden Door is delighted to announce that we will be bringing the old Royal High School on Calton Hill to life for a ten day festival of live music, visual art, dance, theatre and spoken word.
The property, which has mostly lain empty since the school closed in the late 1960s, will be used to celebrate Scotland’s exciting new and emerging creative talent, before work begins to transform it into Scotland’s new National Centre for Music.
The festival will completely transform the entire complex from 9 – 18 June 2022.
Inside the vast building, forgotten rooms will be transformed into performance spaces and given over to artists to fill with installations. The audience will be encouraged to explore the myriad of passageways, corridors, nooks and crannies that make up this remarkable building.
One of the most impressive rooms, the central debate chamber, will host specially commissioned in-the-round performances and spectacular events that respond to the unique space.
Outside, a stage will be built for large music performances and a bar will take over the front terrace, giving festival goers a unique view on the city.
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.
Barratt East Scotland, which includes both Barratt Homes and David Wilson Homes, has fundraised £16,000 for their new charity partner, St Columba’s Hospice Care.
Taking on the seven hills challenge to reach the top of Calton Hill, Castle Rock, Corstorphine Hill, Craiglockhart Hill, Braid Hill, Blackford Hill, and Arthur’s Seat, 19 Barratt East employees completed the capital city hike in under seven hours as part of their fundraising efforts.
St Columba’s Hospice Care is an independent charity that has been providing vital hospice and end of life care to people with incurable illness and their families for over 40 years. Throughout the pandemic, the Hospice Team has continued to offer their services to those who need it most across Edinburgh and the Lothians – be that at home, in care settings or at the Hospice itself.
The donation from the Barratt East Scotland team will help to ensure the hospice can continue to offer its support to people in local communities across the capital. As well as nursing and medical care, the Hospice offers patients and their families whatever social, practical, emotional and spiritual support they may need, from physiotherapy and counselling, to immersive art and music therapy.
Alison Condie, Managing Director at Barratt East Scotland, said: “St Columba’s Hospice Care carries out incredible work supporting patients and their families. We’re pleased to be able to help with our donation and hope it allows them to continue to provide these crucial and important services.”
Speaking of the donation Amanda Southey, Corporate Development Manager for St Columba’s Hospice Care added:“We’d like to say a huge thank you to the employees of Barratt East Scotland for their incredible efforts.
“Challenges like ‘7 Hills’ raise vital funds for the Hospice and help us to deliver high-quality, specialist care and support to those that need it most across Edinburgh and the Lothians.
“After what has been a very challenging year for us, we’re delighted to have the support of such an enthusiastic team and can’t wait to see how our new partnership develops over the coming year!”
As part of its community benefits programme, the five-star housebuilder works with a wide range of local causes, and has continued to step up its efforts through the Barratt and David Wilson Community Fund.
Now in its third year, the Community Fund pledges to donate £1,000 each month to a charity or organisation in the east of Scotland. Charities are nominated by and voted for by employees of Barratt Homes and the focus for the fund continues to be on organisations that improve the quality of life for those living in the area.
ditto ditto ditto is a cross-media installation in our Hillside space which marks a significant point in Alison’s expansive research project around weather.
Building on two years of archival, performative and collaborative research ditto, ditto, ditto includes new writing, sound, custom wallpaper, moving image and sculptural elements. The exhibition title comes from time spent in the Scottish Meteorological Society’s archives, where Alison examined personal weather diaries and found this phrase often used as short-hand for ‘same again/ likewise/ repeats’.
ditto, ditto, ditto invites viewers to navigate discrete and rich elements, each of which shifts scale: from personal and embodied, to global systems of observation; from analogue and local, to mass-media digital infrastructure.
The exhibition unveils implicit authorities in anecdotal diaristic notations of weather, offering a point of stark contrast between this historic sense of stability and the faltering rhythms of climate breakdown that forms a backdrop to the project.
Pre-booking is not necessary, but please note that you may have to queue to enter the exhibition due to ongoing social distancing measures.
Satellites Programme is Collective’s development programme for emergent artists and producers based in Scotland.
The former Royal High School has been put on the open market by the City of Edinburgh Council for interested parties to submit development proposals in return for a long lease of the building.
The Council’s Finance and Resources Committee agreed in January in a private session that the historic and iconic building on Calton Hill would be remarketed, signifying the start of a new chapter for the site which lies at the heart of Edinburgh’s original World Heritage Site.
Any proposals need to ensure a sustainable long term future for the Royal High School, be of the highest architectural quality and take into account the conclusions drawn by the Scottish Ministers following the public inquiry.
Councillor Rob Munn, Convener of the Finance and Resources Committee, said:“This an important step forward for the future of this iconic site and means we can identify the best value option for the city and our residents in the future.
“We know there are a number of interested parties and having it back on the market allows them to submit any development proposals.”
Councillor Joan Griffiths, Vice Convener of the Finance and Resources Committee, added: “There was unanimous agreement earlier in the year to remarket the old Royal High School and I look forward to seeing the options presented to us at a future committee which could occupy this very important building, so prominent in our World Heritage site.“
Helpless Portobello schoolgirl abandoned on freezing winter’s night
A 20 year old man who caused the death of an underage girl by buying her alcohol and abandoning her on a freezing winter’s night has been jailed for three yearsand two months.
When Ewan Fulton, then 18, left 15-year-old Mhari O’Neill, she was not wearing a jacket and was too drunk to walk.
A dog walker found her body on Calton Hill the next morning. on 7 December 2018.
Pathologists said the probable cause of the teenager’s death was hypothermia, with intoxication.
Last month Fultonappeared at the High Court in Edinburgh andadmitted killing Mhairi, who was 15, after buying her alcohol and abandoning her on Calton Hill on 7 December 2018.
Fulton pleaded guilty to culpable homicide. He admitted taking part in sexual activity with the under-age schoolgirl, culpably and recklessly endangering her health and life, and exposing her to risk of injury and death.
Ewan Fulton, who was 18 at the time, bit and throttled Mhari O’Neill, before abandoning her.
Fulton first met Mhari through social media site Yubo.
On the fateful night Fulton said he had bought a large bottle of vodka for them to share after he travelled to Edinburgh from Livingston to meet her.
Fulton told police Portobello High School student Mhari had been so drunk that she kept falling off a bench and could not walk. He claimed he was starting to panic and knew he needed to get the last train home. He maintained he told her several times he was leaving, but did not get a response as she was “unable to speak”.
The following day Fulton, a shop worker, sent Mhairi a text asking: “Are you alive?” He also sent text messages to friends, explaining: “I had no choice but to leave, what was I supposed to do?” and “I got her drunk she’s 15”. He told another friend: “That girl has a family and if I had stayed she would be alive.”
Fulton, from Livingston, abandoned the girl “in a remote and exposed location” in a state of partial undress without means to contact anyone and failed to seek help for her.
The culpable homicide charge stated Fulton behaved with “utter disregard” for the consequences of his actions towards her.
Det Insp Susan Balfour from Police Scotland’s major investigation team said: “This has been a distressing time for Mhari’s family and our thoughts remain with them and her friends.
“We welcome the conviction of Ewan Fulton and hope it brings some comfort to Mhari’s loved ones.”
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.
All of our grounds, shop, takeaway coffee Kiosk, and restaurant The Lookout will also be open so make some plans and let us welcome you back to Calton Hill. Opening hours are 10am-4pm Thurs-Sun throughout May, and 10am-5pm Tues-Sun from 1 June.
Collective’s events programme also resumes this month.
We’re really looking forward to fully opening our doors to visitors again.
Social distancing measures will be in place to keep you safe – if you have any concerns or questions about visiting Collective drop us a line at mail@collective-edinburgh.art
Join us at Collective for a weekend of free, socially distanced, outdoor play and crafty activities for local families and under 12s.
Taking inspiration from Christian Newby’s new large-scale textile work in the City Dome, Collective Play: Warp/Weft invites children and families to take part in creative play and fibre art activities across the site!
Throughout the weekend:
Try your hand at weaving with artist and maker Rhona Jack as the City Observatory pillars become a giant loom!
Claim your free fibre craft and play pack, designed by Rhona with everything you’ll need to make your own tapestries using recycled materials
Visit Christian Newby’s exhibition, Boredom>Mischief>Fantasy >Radicalism>Fantasy: learn about the tools Christian used to create his textile work, and see how many different motifs you can spot in the tapestry
Collective PLAY: Warp/Weft is free, donations welcome, but booking either a morning or afternoon slot via Eventbrite is required.
Every care has been taken when organising this event to ensure the safety of visitors, staff, and to adhere to COVID-19 government guidelines:
Pre-booked tickets for a morning or afternoon session will allow us to maintain a safe number of visitors to Collective Play at all times.
Materials packs have been carefully packaged using sanitised hands and will be yours to keep after the event.
Children and adults will be asked to sanitise their hands before taking part in the giant weaving activity, and numbers will be limited to ensure social distancing.
All play will take place outdoors. Collective is based in a large public park, Calton Hill and, after taking part in the on-site activities, we encourage families to take their materials packs out into the park to explore.
Tickets are limited and previous events have sold out so early booking is recommended – all details and booking link are on our website here:
Rhona Jack is a multi-disciplinary artist, living and working in Dundee, whose practice is formed by a combination of sculpture and fibre art, often blurring the lines between art, craft and design.
She graduated from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design in 2017 and is currently a Committee Member of GENERATORprojects.
Recent exhibitions include ‘Wear and Tear’ (Nomas* Projects, Dundee, 2021), ’Women in Print’ (Zane Bennett Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, 2020), Platform (City Art Centre, Edinburgh, 2020), Reduct (Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 2020), Satellite (Summerhall, Edinburgh, 2018), Inside:Outside and An Isolated Process (both MERZ Gallery, Sanquhar, 2020).
The city’s plan to regenerate Granton Waterfront has been shortlisted for the Scottish Design Awards 2020.
Selected as a finalist for the best Architecture Masterplan award, the Council’s development plan with Collective Architects sets out to boost affordable housing, transform streets to promote active travel and respond to the climate emergency in Granton. The award nomination recognises the project’s ‘fresh approach to creating a vibrant, inclusive and sustainable coastal quarter’ in Edinburgh.
Three further regeneration projects by the Council and city partners have also been shortlisted for the Scottish Design Awards 2020.
A housing development in Greendykes featuring modern, energy efficient Council homes has been nominated for the best new affordable housing award, while the restoration of the Edinburgh Printmakers and landscaping for the Calton Hill City Observatory renewal – both part funded by the Council – are also up for awards.
The winners are expected to be announced by the Scottish Design Awards at a virtual ceremony on 10 September.
Council Leader Adam McVey said: “Our City is growing and adapting and the new homes and communities being built are meeting the demands of our rising population and meeting our environmental responsibilities.
“We have one of the largest house-building programmes of any local authority and we’re making good progress towards our target of building new affordable and social homes. These homes are not only low carbon but are prioritising the wellbeing of current and future residents by ensuring sustainable communities and delivering high quality design.
“The £1.3bn transformational plans we have for Granton and our sustainable new homes in Greendykes are perfect examples of how we’re working to achieve this.
“Granton is one of the country’s leading sustainable developments and offers us the opportunity to work with the local community to create a new and eco-friendly waterfront neighbourhood, and it’s fantastic to see these projects nominated for national architecture awards.”
Depute Leader Cammy Day said: Our regeneration of Granton will deliver thousands of fantastic and much-needed new homes, creating countless new jobs and apprenticeships in the process.
“I’m looking forward to seeing us transform the area into the destination waterfront it has always deserved to be. We’ve also made a commitment to become a net-zero carbon city by 2030 and projects like this will help us deliver on that goal.
“We face big decisions about how we continue to regenerate parts of our City going forward, and recognition like this from the Scottish Design Awards – for how the Council is leading the way in sustainable, desirable new home design and supporting the restoration of incredible historic spaces – is very welcome.
“Now that construction can get back underway, we’re also seeing a number of other high profile sites take shape which will further reinvigorate derelict and underused parts of Edinburgh. We’re committed to building on this and our Choices for City Plan 2030 sets out a number of bold options for how our Capital can continue to flourish if we make certain planning, design and redevelopment decisions.”
The Granton Waterfront Development Framework offers a new approach to creating a vibrant, healthy and sustainable coastal quarter in Edinburgh.
Led by Collective Architects, the framework sets out an ambitious place-based, inclusive approach to regeneration which positively responds to the climate emergency.
It offers Edinburgh and the wider region the opportunity to make a step-change in how it develops in a sustainable, resilient and responsible way. Approximately 3,000 new homes of mixed size, typology and tenure feature in the plans alongside pedestrian-centred streets which promote active travel.
Anderson Bell Christie was appointed to deliver 75 new energy efficient homes for social and mid-market rent in Greendykes.
The result is a ‘Lifetime Neighbourhood’, appropriate for all generations and accessibilities with a community growing space, a communal heating system and building design with natural light, mental wellbeing and dementia friendly elements in mind. The site sits next to a new play park, providing excellent outdoor space for the family homes which are adjacent.
The Edinburgh Printmakers is located within the former headquarters of the North British Rubber Company.
The redevelopment project by Page/Park Architects has transformed a derelict building into an accessible multi-use arts complex centred around printmaking production. It features a visitor attraction with two galleries, shop, café, education space, an office, archives and large print studio, with many original materials retained or upcycled.
HarrisonStevens developed a concept design around constellations and planetary orbits to complement the restoration of the City Observatory on Calton Hill.
Working with the Collective Gallery’s artist in residence, Tessa Lynch, the design creates a sense of place and time, with landscaping to link up geological features with architectural, planting to illustrate the passing of the seasons and the use of traditional alongside contemporary materials.
