Castle Mills: Then & Now | Whose Gallery is it Anyway? challenges traditional notions of art curation and invites the community to take charge of our gallery space. Anyone will be able to bring in their own creations, choose where to display artworks on the walls, and book the space to meet, workshop, make new work and creatively respond to the freely evolving exhibition. We aim to reflect on our heritage and social role, encouraging people to curate and add to the exhibition as they see fit. This interactive experience promotes discussion and learning in a welcoming environment. The exhibition invites a wide array of artistic expressions, including printmaking, drawing, textile, sculpture, and performance. With the display evolving continuously, we reflect on the role of curation and the ownership of gallery spaces. Through this project, Edinburgh Printmakers aims to redefine the gallery as a communal space, posing the question: Whose Gallery is it Anyway?
From 19th April – 30th June, anyone will be able to make work in our learning studio and gallery, bring in their own creations, and choose where to display artworks on the walls. Alongside the open exhibition in the gallery, we will host a series of talks and discussions exploring the relationship between the curator, artist and audiences and debating why people want to make and connect with the arts and heritage in today’s world. We want to engage the broadest community to take part, respond, and play in our large gallery space through their own creative practices and activities.
GUIDELINES FOR bringing ARTWORKs
1. Any visual work can be brought into the gallery to be submitted
2. Works should be suitable to be hung on the wall with masking tape or blu tack, or be put onto a shelf
3. Anybody who adds in work to the exhibition should be aware that a member of the public may leave their piece, move it, or put it into a box and not be shown
4. Works can be signed and titled or left anonymous
5. Works are not for sale and cannot be taken away from the Gallery
6. Should you like, you are welcome to use our exhibition labels templates to label your artwork. Typical information includes the artist name, title, date, and medium of your work
7. EP is not responsible for damage to the works during the extent of the show
8. Works will need to be collected within a month after the end of the exhibition, or EP will have the right to repurpose them as they see fit
9. Those who add in work to the show should sign their names in the exhibition book, and get in touch with our Front of House team via info@edinburghprintmakers.co.uk should they like to be kept updated with information from the show;
10. EP will not interfere with the curation of the space, but may remove artworks deemed to be a health and safety risk, excessively violent, discriminatory, or that include hate speech
11. Performances such as music or dance are welcomed in response to the changing exhibition. You can book a time slot here or read further for more information on how to book the space.
12. We can't allow the hanging of heavy works on the walls as they will damage them. Works can only be attached with blue tack or tape or placed on the shelves or floor.
Due to the public interest in this exhibition and to try to make sure we can show as many people's work as possible, we have decided for now to restrict the number of works people can bring to one large work up to 210mm x 297mm or two smaller works that together add up to that size.
GUIDELINES FOR CURATING THE SPACE
1. You are welcome to move artworks around the space, add artworks in from the box, or take artworks away and put them back in the box.
2. You are not permitted to take away artworks from the Gallery space.
3. You are welcome to update our interpretation guides to the exhibition space to reflect how you have chosen to curate the space and add new labels.
GUIDELINES FOR ACTIVItiES, WORKSHOPS AND CREATIVE RESPONSES
The EP Gallery 1 measures 5.8 metres by 11.1 metres with a capacity for 60 people standing or 40 seated and can host many diverse creative and community-based activities. We are offering this space free of charge for any activity, event, or creative workshop you’d like to organise. This could be an already existing activity that you might like to move to a different space to reach a broader audience, or a newly developed project. We also welcome improvised creative responses to the evolving exhibition – so feel free to book a time and be inspired in the moment!
Time slots are 1 hour long, please book as many you need in a row considering time for set up and tidy up.
The main goal of EP’s project is to actively challenge the norms defining the ownership of the gallery space by giving the widest public agency over it. If you’re planning a public event, we request that this will be free admission, ticketed to £5 or less per person or include a Pay What You Can option. Edinburgh Printmakers will not take any cut from the tickets sale.
Organisers will be responsible for managing their own bookings and advertising their events/activities - EP will then reshare any promotional material on our channels. If you're organising a meeting for an existing group, please let us know if you'd like to have the gallery closed to the public during the length of the meeting/activity.
If you’re planning on using inks, other liquid materials, or any sort of cooking / food prep please get in touch by emailing ilaria, EP Heritage Engagement Officer, to discuss details on how to protect the floor and take care of ventilation and any security hazards.
