ELREC are organising a very exciting workshop in partnership with Heriot-Watt University exploring people’s perception of their language and how it can be reflected in a form of art.
Join us for this very creative course. Attendance at all the sessions is not necessary, you can come along to as many sessions as you wish. All materials and food are provided
Need more information? email mrostami@elrec.org.uk
Major fashion exhibition ‘Beyond the Little Black Dress’ opens this weekend
A new exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland deconstructs the little black dress, examining the radical power of the colour black in fashion.
From design classics to cutting-edge catwalk creations, Beyond the Little Black Dress (1 July to 29 October 2023) brings together 65 striking looks from collections and designers around the world.
nms.ac.uk/BeyondLBD
The colour black can be interpreted in many subtle and often contradictory ways. The exhibition explores how its complexities have made the little black dress simultaneously expressive of piety and perversion, respect and rebellion; from the well-mannered cocktail attire of the early 20th century to the leather and latex worn by members of punk and fetish subcultures.
Beyond the Little Black Dress opens with a simple, short black dress designed by Coco Chanel in 1926. Considered radically modern, it disregarded convention entirely in both the stark design and sombre shade, that had traditionally been associated with mourning.
At the time it was hailed by US Vogue as “the frock that all the world will wear”. The ‘little black dress’ became a wardrobe staple, a symbol of femininity and a byword for chic, with each new silhouette capturing the spirit of its time.
The little black dress remains a blank canvas for broader political and cultural shifts. It can challenge social norms around race, gender and sexuality to reflect evolving ideals of beauty and identity, proving its infinite capacity for reinvention.
Visitors to Beyond the Little Black Dress, which is supported by Baillie Gifford Investment Managers, will discover a century of fashion in a series of themed, immersive displays. Iconic early pieces by Yves Saint Laurent, Dior and Schiaparelli will be juxtaposed with recent looks by ground-breaking contemporary designers and brands like Gareth Pugh, Simone Rocha and Off-White.
A section of the exhibition highlights Black British designers whose work explores both Blackness in terms of identity, and the role the colour black plays in crafting an Afrofuturistic aesthetic.
Elsewhere, the exhibition considers how perceptions of the colour black differ in a global context, while a film from Osman Yousefzada shines a light on the inequities of fast fashion, as well as global concepts of beauty.
A series of garments demonstrate how smart technologies are establishing a blueprint for a more sustainable future. A new commission by designers VIN + OMI incorporates nettles and horsehair sourced from Highgrove, the private residence of The King and Queen, exploring nature-led alternatives to fast fashion.
Georgina Ripley, Principal Curator, Modern and Contemporary Design at National Museums Scotland, said: “Few garments are as iconic as the little black dress, which has often been held up by the fashion industry as the one piece every woman should have in her wardrobe.
“It has evolved dramatically in the century since its creation. From a simple shift dress which helped democratise women’s fashion to a bold political statement, it has moved through various iterations which reflect changing ideals of beauty and body image.
“Displaying classic couture, avant-garde pieces and garments that make a political statement, this exhibition will explore its enduring success, and ask why, in the fickle and fast-paced fashion world, the little black dress has achieved that rare status of being truly above the fray.”
Sam Pattman, Philanthropy Manager at Baillie Gifford Investment Managers said: “We are delighted that our successful relationship with National Museums Scotland continues with our support for Beyond the Little Black Dress.
“This exciting exhibition takes a fresh look at a timeless classic, examining how it has remained in style for nearly a century and displaying a dazzling selection of garments from those worn by royalty to truly avant-garde creations at the cutting edge of the fashion industry.”
National Museums Scotland’s internationally significant fashion and textiles collection comprises around 50,000 objects and is one of the largest in the UK.
The collection includes textiles dating back to the 14th century and clothing and accessories dating from the 16th century to the present day. Beyond the Little Black Dress follows the acclaimed exhibition Body Beautiful: Diversity on the Catwalk.
The exhibition is curated by Georgina Ripley, Principal Curator, Modern and Contemporary Design, National Museums Scotland, Dr Sequoia Barnes, Guest Curator and Carys Wilkins, Assistant Curator Modern and Contemporary Design, National Museums Scotland. It will be accompanied by a programme of events.
The accompanying book Little Black Dress: A Radical Fashion edited by Georgina Ripley, £30.00, is published by NMS Enterprises Ltd – Publishing.
#BeyondLBD
Saturday June 3 to Sunday 2 July 2023
Admission: Free
nms.ac.uk/declaration
#DeclarationOfArbroath
The Declaration of Arbroath has gone on display at the National Museum of Scotland for the first time in 18 years.
The display has been organised in partnership between National Museums Scotland and National Records of Scotland, who are custodians of the Declaration. The famous document will be on show from 3 June to 2 July 2023.
The Declaration of Arbroath was last displayed 18 years ago at the Scottish Parliament. The iconic and fragile 700-year-old document, which is cared for and preserved for future generations by National Records of Scotland, can only be displayed occasionally in order to ensure its long-term preservation.
The Declaration was due to be displayed in April 2020 to coincide with its 700th anniversary, but this was postponed due to the pandemic. The new summer date has been chosen to give as many people as possible the rare chance to see one of Scotland’s most important historical documents.
The Declaration of Arbroath is a letter dated 6 April 1320, written by the barons and freeholders of Scotland, on behalf of the Kingdom of Scotland, to Pope John XXII asking him to recognise Scotland’s independence and acknowledge Robert the Bruce as the country’s lawful king.
The letter also asks the Pontiff to persuade King Edward II of England to end hostilities against the Scots, so that their energy may be better used to secure the frontiers of Christendom.
The Declaration was probably drafted at a meeting of the King and his council at Newbattle, then written up in the scriptorium of Arbroath Abbey. Written in Latin, it was sealed by eight earls and about 40 barons. It was authenticated by seals, as documents at that time were not signed. Only 19 seals now remain.
Alice Blackwell, Senior Curator of Medieval Archaeology and History at National Museums Scotland said, “It is great to be able to display the Declaration of Arbroath here at the National Museum of Scotland, the home of our nation’s material history and the country’s most visited attraction.
“We look forward to welcoming many visitors to enjoy the rare opportunity of seeing this hugely significant document in person.”
Culture Minister Christina McKelvie said: “The Declaration of Arbroath is of great historic and cultural interest to people living in Scotland as well as the sizeable Scottish diaspora around the world.
“I hope people from across the country, and further afield, will take this rare opportunity to visit our wonderful national museum to view this iconic document which has played such an important part in the history of our country.”
Dr Alan Borthwick, Head of Medieval and Early Modern Records, National Records of Scotland, said: “The Declaration of Arbroath is one of the most significant documents we have in our collections.
“At National Records of Scotland we are hugely proud of the role we play in conserving it to ensure it is still here for future generations to see and study.
“We hope people from Scotland and beyond will take this rare opportunity to see it for themselves.”
The Declaration was written during the long Wars of Independence with England when, despite the Scots’ success at the Battle of Bannockburn, Robert I had not been recognised as king by either Edward II or by the Pope, and had been excommunicated by the latter.
At this time, the Pope desired peace between England and Scotland, so both could help in a crusade to the Holy Land. The Declaration sought to influence him by offering the possibility of support from the Scots for his long-desired crusade if they no longer had to fear English invasion.
After receiving the Declaration, the Pope urged reconciliation between the warring sides and a truce was agreed in 1323. A peace treaty was signed between England and Scotland in March 1328 and the following year the Pope issued a papal bull permitting the anointing and crowning of a King of Scots.
The peace was short-lived, however, as the Second War of Independence broke out in 1332 and went on for 25 years.
Decades: The Art of Change 1900-1980
Opening Saturday 29 April 2023
Free
National Galleries Scotland: Modern Two
Decades: The Art of Change 1900-1980, is an exploration of the modern art scene, from 1900 through to the 1970s. See how artists have captured changes in society as you move through the free exhibition, opening at Modern Two this Saturday (29 April).
You will discover how the mood and atmosphere of the work reflects and embodies each changing decade with works that have been carefully selected to best represent the period.
Filling all of Modern Two and spread across six rooms, the journey begins at the turn of the last century, in 1900. Meet the French artists who painted with electrifying colour in the first room, with work by Henri Matisse and André Derain.
Their brightly coloured landscape paintings were so radically different that the artists were given the derogatory label ‘Fauves’ – meaning ‘wild beasts’. The term stuck and Fauvism had a major impact on British and particularly Scottish art.
Two new acquisitions, by Scottish Colourists FCB Cadell and JD Fergusson, feature in this room. JD Fergusson, who was born in Leith but lived in Paris before the First World War, was one of the key Scottish artists of the twentieth century.
Painted in 1911, Flowers and Pink Box, has bright bold colour and confident, energetic brushwork. Fergusson’s work of this time often had sexual overtones and covert erotic references. In this painting, the pink box depicted is believed to have been used to store his condoms.
This is the first still life by Fergusson to enter the national collection. The Rose and the Lacquer Screen, by FCB Cadell, combines several of his favourite still-life props: a rose in a transparent vase, a black fan and its trailing ribbon and a detail of the lacquered screen that dominated the drawing room of his house in Edinburgh’s New Town.
Moving into the 1930s, artists such as Piet Mondrian believed that abstract art could change society. This room features work by Alexander Calder, Paule Vézelay and Ben Nicholson.
Entering the 1940s, abstraction and idealism were replaced by grim realism. Paintings and sculptures by Francis Bacon, Joan Eardley and Bet Low, created during and immediately after the Second World War, speak of a new reality, reflecting the harsh times. Benno Schotz’s sculpture Lament (1943) speaks of the Holocaust while William McCance’s Atom Horizon refers to the bombing of Hiroshima.
The 1950s saw a battle between Abstraction and Realism, played out in the shadow of the Cold War and the nuclear age. This is illustrated in Decades: The Art of Change 1900-1980 by two mural projects created for the great Festival of Britain exhibition of 1951, which are shown together here for the first time.
Josef Hermann’s project shows a row of miners - builders of a new social order; Victor Pasmore’s mural project is instead a daring essay glimpse of spiralling abstract forms. The art of the 1950s reaches into the future yet seems steeped in anxiety.
The display from the 1950s also features exceptional works by Alan Davie, Louise Nevelson, Fernand Léger, Eduardo Paolozzi and Elisabeth Frink.
Art became celebratory, playful and experimental in the 1960s. Sculptors abandoned traditional materials such as bronze and marble for ‘soft sculpture’, exemplified in the work of Jann Haworth, Yayoi Kusama and Duane Hanson’s iconic Tourists.
A firm favourite with visitors to the Modern, Tourists, captures the banality of post-war, consumer society with humour and warmth. Although these two figures are presented as a couple, they were cast from life but never even met. David Hockney’s etching of two gay men in bed dates from 1967, the year in which homosexuality was legalised in England and Wales.
Throughout the 1970s, artists took Abstraction and Minimalism to extremes. Fred Sandback’s Untitled, 1971 – two coloured cords which cut across the corner of the room – questions the very notion of art as something with three-dimensional form or narrative meaning.
The Keiller Library presents a witty and original focus on the motif of the hand in Surrealist art and writing. Drawing on works by artists like Man Ray, Edith Rimmington and Salvador Dali, from the national collection’s world- class holding of Surrealist books and archive material.
From a time when the motor car was just beginning to populate the roads to the dawn of the space race, the world changed significantly in the 80-year timespan that the exhibition covers. This selection of one hundred works from the national collection shows ways in which artists have continually pushed the boundaries and created art which defines its time. These pieces still have the power to shock and make us think about our world today and the changes and innovations to come.
Director-General of the National Galleries of Scotland, Sir John Leighton, said: ‘National Galleries of Scotland is delighted to reopen Modern Two with an exhibition that celebrates the strength of the national collection.
“Featuring a fascinating range of works by many of Scotland and the world’s greatest artists, Decades: The Art of Change 1900-1980 encourages visitors to think about how art can both reflect and change the way we see the world around us. We welcome you to join us on a voyage of discovery through 80 years of bold artistic achievement.’
Simon Groom, Director of Modern & Contemporary Art, said: ‘Decades is an amazing opportunity to discover the rich range and depth of art from the national collection in the 20th century.
“Arranged by decades – starting with the beautiful paintings of Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, and the Scottish Colourists, the show takes us on fascinating journey to see how artists as diverse as Francis Bacon, Joan Eardley, Eduardo Paolozzi, Yayoi Kusama, Bridget Riley, David Hockney, and Joseph Beuys reflected and gave shape to our experience of the 20th century.’
Glacial Narratives: Cracks in the Ice is on until Sunday (16 April) at Custom House in Leith (entry on the wharf side) from 11am until 6pm, as part of the Edinburgh Science Festival.
Glacial Narratives: Cracks in the Ice is an innovative and experimental multi-artform exhibition about ice from four artists who have spent considerable time in Arctic environments, and have developed a complementary series of artworks inspired by their experiences. These works will not only raise awareness of the wonder of ice as a material, but will also ask questions about its disappearance. The artists are:
Adam Sebire (https://www.adamsebire.info) – film-maker and video artist
Elizabeth Bourne (https://www.philotera.com/about/) – painter and photographer
Martin Disley (https://martindisley.co.uk) – sound artist, researcher and developer
Mary Walters (https://www.mary-walters.com) – print-maker, multimedia artist and producer of the exhibition
It has been funded by Creative Scotland’s Open Fund, and supported by Tinderbox Collective, University of Edinburgh Department of Geosciences, Scottish Historic Buildings Trust and the University of Svalbard in Norway.
The National Flood Forum are joining forces with The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) to create an exhibition highlighting peoples experience of flooding.
The exhibition will take place as part of the Flood & Coast Conference at Telford International Centre in June 2023.
People who have been flooded are being asked to share artwork, poetry and / or photographs that show their experiences of being impacted by floods. There may also be the opportunity to attend the event and give your personal experience of flooding.
Tracey Garrett, CEO, National Flood Forum, said: “We would like to increase understanding between the industry and those who flood and putting this exhibition of flooded people’s experiences into the Flood and Coast Conference, gives a chance to do just that.’’
Terry Fuller, CEO at CIWEM, said: “We want our conference to place communities at the heart of our thinking and discussions.
“Flood & Coast provides a great opportunity to raise the importance of community engagement amongst the flood risk professionals and decision makers who attend. It is personally important to me that everyone with an interest in flood and coastal risk feels welcome and able to participate”.
For more details and to submit your contribution visit:
https://zealous.co/ciwem2/opportunity/Flood-Coast-2023-Your-flood-experience-story/
Throughout the month of March, West African female artists collective, Aya Editions, will be exhibiting ‘Our City’ at Gleneagles Townhouse’s Lobby 37 as its next exclusive cultural installation. The exhibition is available to view daily between 9am and 7pm for the public, and for members and hotel guests throughout their visit to Townhouse.
Aya Editions – a digital space that encourages and promotes West African female artists to showcase their work, combating inequalities in the creative industries – was co-founded by Carina Tenewaa Kanbi, an Edinburgh native of Scottish Ghanaian heritage, and Victoria Cooke in 2020.
Carina and Victoria recognised that women were underrepresented in West African visual arts so founded the collection to help female artists create, promote and sell their work. They believe women’s contribution to creating and safeguarding cultural heritage is so often obscured because of the social and institutional barriers they face to take part in creative industries. Carina and Victoria wanted to remove these barriers and encourage women to take part and continue to contribute to creative industries.
‘Our City’ captures the movements and moments of urban life across West African and Scottish cities and explores the real and imagined city through the lenses of seven young West African and Diasporan female photographers; Hady Barry, Keren Lasme, Clarissa Rötzel, ASK, Chantal Azari and Azumi. Final artist to be confirmed.
‘Our City’ follows each woman’s journey through their city and challenges the stories often told by men that came before them. In doing so, the images within the exhibit celebrate the female gaze, reminding us that among the chaos, there is calm. Through desperation, there is beauty; in mundanity, there is joy, play and patience.
Whilst firmly rooted in these women’s experiences, ‘Our City’ moves beyond representation to explore the varied and divergent photographic practices that take us through fashion, landscape, photojournalism and street photography, reminding us that cities are neither static nor linear and that they are as much imagined as they are real.
Gleneagles Townhouse is celebrating the exhibition’s opening and International Women’s Day on the 8th of March with a special event exclusive to Townhouse Members.
Aya Editions will host a panel discussion on the role of cultural and creative industries in promoting gender-inclusive cities and what we can do together to make a difference, as well as a DJ set from Emma Korantema to finish the evening.
National Galleries of Scotland announces Decades: The Art of Change 1900-1980, an exploration of 80 years of art at the newly reopened Modern Two
Decades: The Art of Change 1900-1980
29 April 2023
Free
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern Two)
The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern Two) in Edinburgh will reopen on 29 April 2023 with a spectacular new exhibition, Decades: The Art of Change 1900-1980.
This fascinating, free exhibition will take a journey through 80 years of art, from 1900 to the 1970s. Spanning a period of dramatic change, moving from the birth of the motorcar to the dawn of the space race, each work on display will be drawn from the Gallery’s world-class collection of modern art.
Decades: The Art of Change 1900-1980 will take visitors through a series of six chapters across six rooms at Modern Two. Each chapter speaks of a particular moment from across the twentieth century, when artists rebelled against the previous generation, creating works which came to characterise a period.
Beginning with French artists who painted with electrifying colour, the first room includes work by Henri Matisse and André Derain. Their brightly coloured landscape paintings were so radically different that the artists were given the derogatory label ‘Fauves’ – meaning ‘wild beasts’. The term stuck and Fauvism had a major impact on British and particularly Scottish art.
Two fabulous new acquisitions, by Scottish Colourists FCB Cadell and JD Fergusson, feature in this room. Leith-born JD Fergusson, who lived in Paris before the First World War, was one of the key Scottish artists of the twentieth century.
Painted in 1911, Flowers and Pink Box, is vigorous and confident in its brushwork, bright and clashing in colour. The Rose and the Lacquer Screen, by FCB Cadell, combines several of his favourite still-life props: a rose in a transparent vase, a black fan and its trailing ribbon and a detail of the lacquered screen that dominated the drawing room of his house in Edinburgh’s New Town. These new acquisitions have been generously donated by private owners.
Moving into the 1930s, artists such as Piet Mondrian believed that art could change society. This room will feature work by Alexander Calder, Paule Vézelay and Ben Nicholson.
Entering the 1940s, abstraction and idealism were replaced by grim realism. Featuring work by Francis Bacon, Joan Eardley and Bet Low, these paintings and sculptures, created both during and immediately after the Second World War, speak of a new reality.
The 1950s saw a battle between Abstraction and Realism. This is illustrated in Decades: The Art of Change 1900-1980 by two mural projects created for the great Festival of Britain exhibition of 1951, which will be shown together here for the first time. Josef Hermann’s project shows a row of miners – builders of a new socialist order; Victor Pasmore’s mural project is instead a daring essay glimpse of spiralling abstract forms. Exceptional creations by Alan Davie, Louise Nevelson, Fernand Léger, Eduardo Paolozzi and Elisabeth Frink will also be on display, making up the 1950s presentation.
Art became celebratory, playful and experimental in the 1960s. Sculptors abandoned traditional materials such as bronze and marble for ‘soft sculpture’, exemplified in the work of Jann Haworth, Yayoi Kusama and Duane Hanson’s iconic Tourists.
Throughout the 1970s, artists took Abstraction and Minimalism to extremes. Fred Sandback’s Untitled, 1971 – two coloured cords which cut across the corner of the room – questions the very notion of art as something with three-dimensional form or narrative meaning.
The Keiller Library will focus on the motif of the hand in Surrealist art and writing. Drawing on works by artists like Man Ray, Edith Rimmington and Salvador Dali, from the national collection’s world-class holding of Surrealist books and archive material.
Radical, questioning and experimental, this selection of one hundred works from the national collection shows ways in which artists have continually pushed the boundaries and created art which defines its time. These pieces still have the power to shock and make us think about our world today.
Director-General of the National Galleries of Scotland, Sir John Leighton, said: ‘National Galleries of Scotland is delighted to reopen Modern Two with an exhibition that celebrates the strength of the national collection.
“Featuring a fascinating range of works by many of Scotland and the world’s greatest artists, Decades: The Art of Change 1900-1980 encourages visitors to think about how art can both reflect and change the way we see the world around us.
“We welcome you to join us on a voyage of discovery through 80 years of bold artistic achievement.’
TURNER IN JANUARY
1 January – 31 January 2023, open daily 10am – 5pm
Royal Scottish Academy
The Mound, Edinburgh. EH2 2EL
0131 624 6200 | nationalgalleries.org
Admission free
Opening on New Year’s Day 2023, the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) is pleased to welcome back visitors to their yearly tradition: Turner in January.
Scotland’s famous collection of Joseph Mallord William Turner watercolours was left to the nation by the great art collector Henry Vaughan in 1900. Since then, following Vaughan’s strict guidelines, they have only ever been displayed during the month of January, when natural light levels are at their lowest. Because of this, these watercolours still possess a freshness and an intensity of colour, almost 200 years since they were originally created.
Turner in January, the annual exhibition of these watercolours in Edinburgh, is a keenly awaited tradition for many people in Scotland. The 38 watercolours include dramatic landscapes from the Himalayas, the Swiss Alps, and the Isle of Skye, grand visions of Venice, and captivating seascapes. They will take you on a journey through Britain, Europe and beyond, and guide you through the life and career of this iconic artist.
Turner was the most famous British artist of the 19th century. In a career spanning over 50 years, he experimented constantly with technique and colour and created landscapes that still astonish today.
Turner developed new ways of painting in watercolour and revolutionised ideas of what could be achieved in the medium. Through a combination of exceptional talent and incredible hard work, Turner was able to capture in paint the sublime beauty of the natural world.
Taking over two large, spacious rooms within the Royal Scottish Academy, Turner in January contains all 38 watercolours from Henry Vaughan’s gift to the nation, plus the exciting addition of the mesmerising Bell Rock Lighthouse (1819).
In 2023, NGS is delighted that this much-loved annual exhibition is made possible thanks to players of People’s Postcode Lottery.
Charlotte Topsfield, Senior Curator of European & Scottish Art at the National Galleries of Scotland, said: ‘As we enter the New Year, Turner’s watercolours bring light to the dark days of January.
“The brilliantly preserved Vaughan Turners, and their accompanying tradition, hold a special place in the hearts of our visitors. We look forward to welcoming you back’.
Doctor Who Worlds of Wonder
9 Dec 2022 – 1 May 2023
National Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh
nms.ac.uk/doctorwho
#DoctorWhoWoW
The Scottish premiere of the exhibition Doctor Who Worlds of Wonder opens at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh this weekend. In celebration of the television show’s Scottish connections, a suit worn by David Tennant to play the Fourteenth Doctor in special episodes airing next year, will also go on display in the museum.
This ground-breaking new exhibition, which runs from 9 December 2022 to 1 May 2023, explores the science behind the global hit television series Doctor Who and gives fans a chance to experience the Doctor’s adventures from a scientific perspective.
Produced by leading experiential design experts Sarner International under license from BBC Studios, the exhibition invites fans of all ages to explore the role science has played in the world’s longest running action-adventure show. The eight zones set within this educational exhibition cover a diverse selection of exciting scientific topics while drawing in content from across the full canon of Doctor Who.
Doctor Who Worlds of Wonder offers a thrilling exploration of science for both established fans of the TV show and newcomers alike. Actor, director and author Mark Gatiss – writer of several episodes of Doctor Who – narrates the exhibition, guiding this journey through space and time.
Mark Gatiss said: “So many people who have gone on to work in science have had their interest piqued by watching Doctor Who, and one of the amazing things about the show is i2ts ability to make us wonder. I’m thrilled to be part of the exhibition and I do hope as many curiously minded people as possible take the opportunity to visit at the National Museum of Scotland.”
A range of hands-on immersive experiences and interactive features take visitors on a journey through Cosmic Curiosities, a TARDIS Tech room and the science behind time travel asking whether it really is possible. In the Monster Vault, visitors also come face to face with the Doctor’s most famous foes including Cybermen, Weeping Angels and Daleks.
Alison Cromarty, Head of Exhibitions & Design at National Museums Scotland, said: “We are tremendously excited that the premier of this exhibition opens at the National Museum of Scotland this weekend.
“From the wonder of the science fiction of the TV show to our present-day understanding of the big scientific topics it touches on, there is something for everyone.”
Ed Cookson, Projects Director, Sarner International: “For almost 60 years Doctor Who has been exploring mind-bending scientific developments. The iconic characters, monsters, stories, and settings of the television series provide a perfect guide through the wondrous worlds of space, time and science.”
Doctor Who has strong Scottish connections. To date three Scots have played the role of The Doctor, Sylvester McCoy, David Tennant and Peter Capaldi (the Seventh, Tenth and Fourteenth, and Twelfth Doctors respectively) with a fourth, Ncuti Gatwa, recently announced as the new Doctor.
A suit worn by David Tenant in a series of special episodes airing next year will be displayed alongside companion Catherine Tate’s costume by the entrance to the exhibition. Other notable Scottish cast members have included Companions Karen Gillan and Neve McIntosh as well as Michelle Gomez as Missy (The Master), with Alan Cumming having also appeared recently as King James VI & I. Another Scot, Steven Moffat, was showrunner from 2008 to 2017.
The show has featured several other Scottish icons. The Loch Ness Monster appears in 1975’s Terror of the Zygons with Tom Baker, while the Picts featured along with the 9th Legion of the Roman army in 2017’s The Eaters of Light (which starred Peter Capaldi and Michelle Gomez). Other episodes set in Scotland include 2006’s Tooth and Claw, set in the Highlands and Under the Lake/Before the Flood (2015), set in Caithness.
The National Museum of Scotland is supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery in mounting the exhibition.
The exhibition is proving to be hotly anticipated with tickets for the opening weekend already sold out. Pre-booking is recommended, tickets are available from www.nms.ac.uk/doctorwho
National Museums Scotland Members free.
Book in advance to save, general admission: Adult £12-16.50, Over 60s £11-15.50, Student, Unemployed, Disabled, Young Scot £10-14.50, Child 5–15 £8-12.50, Under 5s Free
10% off family bookings*
Discounts available for groups of 10 or more
*10% off when you buy up to three Child 5–15 ticket alongside up to any two Adult, Over 60s, Student, Unemployed, Disabled, Young Scot tickets, with a maximum of five tickets in total. Cannot be used in conjunction with National Museums Scotland Member tickets or any other discount or promotional offer.
