Join the opening of Utopias exhibition at the Upper Church at Summerhall on Friday 22 March at 6.30pm. Eighteen contemporary artists who live and work in Scotland explore concepts of ‘utopia’. Taking as a starting point Thomas More’s ground-breaking book, first published in 1516, the artists present their own responses on utopian thought in the context of contemporary politics.
Invited artists: Alessandro Di Massimo, Rhona Taylor, Calum Thom and Olivia Turner.
Selected artists: Anna Berrino, Rachael Bibby, Andy Cumming, Michael Dawson, Sally Mairs, Nikkita Morgan, Callum Russell, StAm, Marissa Stoffer, Rhona Sword, Michael Kay Terence, Jamie Watt, Matthew Wilson and Ana Yarza.
In 1516, the statesman and poet Thomas More published Utopia, a description of an ideal island nation. A century later, Francis Bacon wrote the novel New Atlantis (1627), a story about an isolated self-providing mythical island, in which the inhabitants “constructed” an ideal society, cutting itself off from the rest of the world. Today, five centuries after More’s vision, the discourse on utopia seems more pertinent than ever and concerns almost every aspect of public life. Undoubtedly, in Britain, the 2016 referendum brought the political rhetoric of utopia back to the surface, dividing collective consciousness in a catholic manner. On the one hand, the majority (going by the result at least) regarded Brexit as an opportunity to attain utopia and envisaged the UK as an isolated island which would burst forth in growth, fuelled exclusively by its own resources. For others, Brexit’s utopia constitutes an absolute dystopia and lays the ground for a dreary reality in which polyphony is forbidden and multiculturality is condemned.
ARTISTS TALKS:
*Artists Talks*
Join the invited artists Alessandro Di Massimo, Rhona Taylor, Calum Thom and Olivia Turner as they discuss their practice on the occasion of the 6th Syn Festival Exhibition ‘Utopias’.
-Monday 25 March 2019, at 6pm: Rhona Taylor and Olivia Turner
-Wednesday 3 April 2019 at 6pm: Alessandro Di Massimo and Calum Thom
A donation box in support of The Welcoming Edinburgh, a charity with a vision “of a diverse and inclusive Scotland where everyone feels welcome and can achieve their potential” will be available in the venue.
The exhibition will be running until the 4th of April 2019.
Open daily 11am to 6pm.
*Free admission*
Launch Night: Friday 22 March 2019, 6.30-8.30pm
Upper Church, Summerhall Place, EH9 10E, Edinburgh