Following a Scotland wide invitation to final year art graduates or anyone who has graduated from an art course over the last five years, 5 artists (April Lannigan, Ben Barbour, Justine Watt, Katie Hallam and Oktavia Schreiner) were shortlisted in January 2024.
The artists were mentored by Matthew Jarratt, arts curator for Edinburgh Park, and proposals were submitted and put on exhibition in the reception of 1 New Park Square over the course of the summer and autumn.
The artists created proposals based on their interpretation of Edinburgh Park. Their ideas ranged from storytelling in the landscape; following the historic path of the Gogar burn; a sculpture to sit and contemplate the new spaces and buildings within Edinburgh Park; focus on Scotland’s geological rock mixed with modern technology and, awareness of climate change and current issues.
The public were invited to view and vote for their favourite and this was taken into account when choosing the winner.
The new contest was set up by developers, Parabola, to help in the creation of new works of public art for Edinburgh’s new ‘cultural quarter’ in the west of Edinburgh. The focus was on helping emerging artists to develop their work, establish their careers and, hopefully, lead to more commissions. Edinburgh Park already has an award winning ‘Poet in Residence’, Janette Ayachi and a ‘Photographer in Residence’, award winning Andy Mather.
Over the next six months the selected proposal will go through a technical and structural engineering review before being constructed.
Publication documenting the ambitious arts strategy for Edinburgh Park, which aims to build a respected cultural reputation for Edinburgh Park as a new destination within Edinburgh’s world-class cultural offer.
