Evening News Coverage of Public Art Project
Condemned tenements are artworks
Written by: Mark McLaughlin
A project driven by North Edinburgh Arts, however, has brightened up some soon-to-be demolished housing blocks.
The local arts group commissioned German artist Clemens Behr to paint the gable ends of two tenements, which are to be brought down as part of the 21st Century Council Homes for Edinburgh Programme, which will see the redevelopment of Pennywell and Muirhouse, North Sighthill and Gracemount and aims to deliver more than 12,000 new affordable homes over the next ten years.
Muirhouse and Pennywell alone will see 700 new homes, a 50 per cent split between affordable homes and market price housing.
In the meantime, residents have had to put up with rubble and bulldozers, so North Edinburgh Arts secured funding from Creative Scotland for a range of arts projects to brighten up the area in the interim.
NEA's Annabel Bartle said: "The public art is the final stage of a year-long art project entitled Your New Home.
"Over the last year we've commissioned artists to engage local people in a range of workshops designed to encourage them to think more deeply about the shape, form and architecture of the community that they live in.
"It took a while to introduce people to the idea that public art could actually benefit the community, and we did come up against some scepticism."
Mr Behr has spent the last week painting the gable ends of the Muirhouse buildings, and the final result is an explosion of abstract shapes.
The artist was chosen as he specialises in temporary artworks, and was seen as the perfect candidate to create art on the side of a building which is shortly to be torn down leaving no trace of the painting behind.
Roy Douglas, chair of Muirhouse and Salvesen Community Council, was impressed. He said: "I walked by the site over a period of about two or three days and watched the artist create it, and I found it really inspiring
"It was nice to see someone make use of an empty building, and see it not as derelict but a canvas.
"I went to the unveiling and watched some of the artists from NEA engage with the local kids, aged between about nine and 12, and encourage them to create their own mini arts projects on the back of it.
"The community council is fully supportive of the NEA and its projects.
"Muirhouse has seen a lot of family displacement in recent months, so anything that attempts to inject some life into the area is most welcome."
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NEW Childrens Programme
Public Art Project: Muirhouses by Clemens Behr
Muirhouses
by Clemens Behr
Young German artist Clemens Behr will create an exciting art installation on the gable ends of two vacant housing blocks near North Edinburgh Arts to celebrate the end of the year-long NEA public art project Your New Home.
Clemens will be on-site from Monday 23rd August to Friday 27th August and the community can watch him create the installation from 10.00 a.m. until dusk from Tuesday to Thursday.
Your New Home is a Scottish Arts Council funded project that commissions artists to engage, influence and inform the community and planners about the possibilities for public art to be integrated into the planned regeneration of Pennywell and Muirhouse. The project has included events, trips and workshops and involved hundreds of local residents, organisations and young people.
Clemens creates temporary artworks and installations across Europe, often outside the confines of a traditional gallery space. His unusual but compelling installations have appeared in underground metro cars and on random street corners. To create his installations, Clemens uses reclaimed materials, spray paint and basic geometric forms to create complex, disorienting ephemeral architectures reminiscent of German expressionist film sets. Please see www.clemensbehr.com for images.
North Edinburgh Arts has partnered on this project with the City of Edinburgh Council’s 21st Century Homes programme and Goethe Institut Glasgow. The project is supported by Encase (Glasgow), the UK’s premier independent manufacturer of corrugated board and packaging.
The artwork will be complete by the end of Thursday 26th August and will be removed on the afternoon of Friday 27th August. The process and results will be photographed and recorded for future publication in the press and on the web.
Please contact Annabel Bartle at annabel@northedinburgharts.co.uk or on 0131 343 2770 if you have any queries, or call into the Arts Centre between 10am and 8pm on the 24th, 25th and 26th August to find out more.
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