This process was well underway during the early construction phase when we worked with Stills Gallery to advertise for an emerging photographer. Andy Mather was selected and has been capturing images of the development from the first excavations and will continue through to the completion of 1 New Park Square.
Our partnership with the Scottish Poetry Library attracted over 70 applications and we commissioned poetry for the new Mach1 building from poet Rachel Plummer. Janette Ayachi, a London-born Edinburgh-based Scottish-Algerian poet, produced fascinating proposals to name the streets with short poems inspired by the work of the 12 Poets at Edinburgh Park who were immortalised in bronze during the initial Edinburgh Park development in 2005.
“Working with an inspirational thinker such as poet Janette Ayachi has brought fresh ideas to how we can make the public realm site specific to Edinburgh and her proposals make an elegant link to the history of poetry on the site and our future plans to commission poetry across the development. We felt that as Edinburgh has the honour of being a UNESCO City of Literature, Edinburgh Park should be an exemplar of how to work with poets and writers on the important design challenge of placemaking.” - Matthew Jarratt, Arts Consultant for Edinburgh Park
