Ever / Present / Past
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Mark Dion / 200 Years, 200 Objects
Claire Barclay, Gary Burden, Dianna Manson, Malcolm Thomson / Another Kind of Balance
Talbot Rice Gallery presents a series of commissions realised in collaboration with Artlink as part of Ever / Present / Past, a yearlong programme commemorating the bicentenary of the Royal Edinburgh Hospital (REH) funded by Creative Scotland and the Heritage Lottery Fund.
For his first solo-exhibition in Scotland, Mark Dion’s '200 Years, 200 Objects' has seen a thorough research process including staff, patient and local community involvement and activity. It entailed an in-depth programme of collecting, collating and sifting of stories connected to the REH. Each year from 1813 to 2013 has been assigned an object. Each object has a story. All 200 objects are displayed in a custom built 14-metre long cabinet. The objects have been gathered from a variety of sources such as the Morningside community, the Hospital community and the Lothian Health Services Archive. In addition, Dion has made specific interventions especially for the exhibition; researched information and speculation are intertwined. Archive, historical, contemporary, loaned, donated, found and newly commissioned objects rub shoulders with each other.
Claire Barclay’s approach involved using the Lothian Health Services Archive to research the history of the therapeutic environment, from the importance of hospital architecture to the individual’s need to get lost in a worthwhile activity. Close working relationships formed between Claire and 3 people who had at some point received care within the Hospital, each working relationship taking cognisance of the skills of everyone involved. While Claire as the artist has been central to ensuring the result is a cohesive final exhibition, the joint collaborators have shaped the final outcomes. The result is an installation in the Georgian Gallery, where a common sensory language has been discovered, explored and exploited: from the feel of the coldness of medical equipment, the touch of the wooden panelling to the need to feel safe.
Exhibition Guide
Published on the occasion of 'Ever / Present / Past' at Talbot Rice Gallery, The University of Edinburgh.
Texts are available to view below or download.
The current exhibitions have been realised in collaboration with Artlink as part of Ever / Present / Past, a yearlong programme commemorating the bicentenary of the Royal Edinburgh Hospital. As a series of new commissions, these distinct projects derive from artists working closely with patients, staff, managers, archivists and local communities to reflect the experiences of people living and working in the Hospital since it opened in 1813.
White Gallery
Mark Dion’s first solo show in Scotland, '200 Years, 200 Objects,' centres upon a 14-metre cabinet containing an object for each year of the Royal Edinburgh Hospital’s history. The objects provide a complex narrative that weaves together the evolution of the Hospital, developments in psychiatry, details about daily routines, entertainment and insights into the emotional and fantasy lives of patients. As is typical of Dion’s work, which questions the forms that historical displays take, '200 Years, 200 Objects' leaves room for individual interpretation and the evocative objects carry a weight of different associations and connections.
American artist Mark Dion (b. 1961) is American artist Mark Dion (b. 1961) is renowned for a practice that combines the natural sciences and art. Connecting a rigorous conceptual training, focused on the politics of representation and display, with a personal interest in nature, his work has often taken the form of a museum display or archaeological dig. In previous exhibitions the historical work of pioneering naturalists and contemporary concerns with environmentalism and species extinction have come together with popular cultural representations such as Mickey Mouse. Dion deconstructs our relationship to nature with a self-reflexive, often wry nod to the wise.
Georgian Gallery
'Another Kind of Balance' is a collaboration between Claire Barclay and previous patients of the Hospital, Gary Burden, Dianna Manson and Malcolm Thomson. As with Claire’s previous work it reflects a precise use of materials and abstract forms that are at once familiar and strange. Here the forms speak of institutional structures and environments informed by Dianna’s recollections of the Hospital. The draped fabric elements that feature in many of the works are enlarged versions of Malcolm’s paintings and the clinical steel objects echo Gary’s soft intuitive sculptural forms. With Malcolm also carefully painting directly on to the wooden structu to the wooden structure, the work forms an intriguing holistic dialogue.
Claire Barclay (b. 1968) is a Glasgow-based artist who has exhibited both nationally, including a retrospective at Fruitmarket Gallery in 2009, and internationally. Barclay’s sculpture and printmaking often take the form of large installations, punctuated by small bespoke elements and reflecting recurrent themes. The artist works intuitively to place and balance items meaning that each exhibition is specific and temporary.
Upper White Gallery
To celebrate the Royal Edinburgh Hospital’s rich tradition of art & craft making, a series of Artlink commissioned artists have worked closely with Hospital patients to create a wide range of new products. Laura Aldridge and Laura Spring have worked with short stay patients to c Laura Aldridge and Laura Spring have worked with short stay patients to create a range of original objects, including blankets, bags, ceramics, and towels. Along the balcony, drawings made in weekly Artlink workshops at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital with artist team leader Anne Elliot have been realised as a series of prints. Created by Grace O'Hara, Maggie Keppie, Joan Templeton, Giuseppe Zappa, Gerald Smiles and printmaker Claire McVinnie, DCA print studio. Artlink has also commissioned 2 new publications from Nicola White and Alex Wilde that offer a new perspectives on the Hospital and its history. All products may be purchased online: www.artlinkedinburgh.bigcartel.com
