Ben is now working with arts curator, Matthew Jarratt, and Pangolin Editions to bring his proposal to life in the form of a 240 x 240 x 6 cm stainless steel sculpture, which will find it's home at Edinburgh Park.
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.
During 2024, the five shortlisted artists, April Lannigan, Ben Barbour, Justine Watt, Katie Hallam and Oktavia Schreiner 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 winning sculpture: Subterranean Diversion invites viewers to reimagine the layering of histories that has taken place on this site across time. The free-flowing line depicts the historic path of Gogar Burn through what is now Edinburgh Park. At 2.4m high, the circle in the sculpture directly references the height of the culvert pipes which divert the Burn underground through the site today. With these two elements intertwined, the resulting structure also invokes the form of a Bronze Age brooch found in the Burn. Driftwood Trail proposes to extend this concept through siting wooden fragments of the Burn along its former historic route, acting as markers, seats and climbable sculptures.
