FIRST LOOK INSIDE EDINBURGH’S INSPIRING NEW GALLERY COMPLEX
On a morning of scudding sunshine and showers, Collective Gallery today admitted Press and friends to its new home on Calton Hill, ahead of an official opening to the public on Saturday.
After a four-year wait, Spurtle attended, half-excited, half-dreading the potential disappointment. Happily, what we found was a really well-thought-through and sympathetic redevelopment of the site, finished to a high standard, and with every prospect of future success.
Our only quibble was that the architectural model on show in the restaurant bore very little resemblance to the reality on the ground.
The Lookout is run by Gardener’s Cottage (whose original premises continue at the foot of the Hill overlooking London Road). It will offer breakfast, lunch, and fine dining in the evenings, plus fine views across Edinburgh round the clock.
By the main entrance, they’ll also staff a small coffee/snack kiosk for those on the move.
For a contemporary art space which prides itself on an international outlook, Collective’s aerial position above the capital is entirely appropriate.
From every angle, it offers novel perspectives on broad horizons. All this with dramatic atmospherics (today’s mostly cold, wet and horizontal) thrown in for free.
The Transit House is an intimate space (i.e. small) intended for school parties, group and family activities. The telescope has gone from the 1812 structure, but it still houses the two-faced ‘Politician’s Clock’.
Playfair’s beautifully renovated City Observatory sits at the centre of the complex, and now contains restored telescopes on two floors, a library (currently displaying botanical artworks), and a giftshop selling unusual items, some of which (such as an allegedly Calton Hill-proof poncho) have been created specially for Collective.
On the way out, one is struck by yet another breathtaking and tumultuous panorama.
On the northern side (overlooking Broughton), below an open-air viewing terrace, are an office and the Hillside gallery. The latter is an unfussy box which will not distract attention from anything exhibited within, and is not as cavernous as this photo suggests. At the moment, it features Klaus Weber’s monumental The Nonument, an arch poke at the Hill’s historic formality. We'll return to that later.
The City Dome exhibition space is much as before, but now drawing the attention of nameless laconic drifters you don't want to pick a fight with. Again, we’ll review Dineo Seshee Bopape’s intriguing [when spirituality was a baby] at a later date.
Finally, a word about seating. Tessa Lynch’s Turns are elegantly solid geometries alluding to the transit of stars and the telescopes that follow them. When warmer weather returns, they’ll be among Edinburgh’s finest spots from which to watch the world, the heavens, and the steadily turning hours go by.
Collective opens on Saturday … Don't miss it!
