When renovating Observatory House, our vision was to restore the exterior and preserve it for the future, and to create a stylish interior which allows the period features of the House to stand out while firmly connected to the times we live in and to contemporary artistic practice.
To achieve this, we turned to contemporary artists who have graduated from some of our previous artist development programmes. Rachel Adams, Thomas Aitchison, Rabiya Choudhry and Christian Newby were commissioned to create integrated new artworks specially for the renovated House. All these artists are interested in the intersection between art and design, aiming to bring art back into contact with everyday life. The artworks commissioned for Observatory House include:
Christian Newby is based in London, his practice is focused on drawing and through it he questions ideas of labour, authorship and materiality define the fine and applied arts. Christian has created a hand painted series of tongue-in-cheek site-specific series of wall paintings subverting typical western art tropes, featuring bored harlequins, with wilting fruit and flowers.
Rachel Adams is a sculptor based in Glasgow who produces works which explore the relationship between furniture design, sculptural forms and decorative craft techniques. For Observatory House Rachel has produced a spectacular tie-dye ceiling work and bespoke lighting inspired by Begonias for the Astronomers Suite.
The unique kitchen in Observatory House has been designed and built by Thomas Aitchison, an artist and cabinetmaker based in Edinburgh. The forms and layout of this fully functioning kitchen have been conceived as a folly to mirror the iconic National Monument better known locally as ‘Edinburgh’s Disgrace’.
Rabiya Choudhry, an artist based in Edinburgh. They make work paintings across a range of media and scales: from murals and large-scale canvases to miniatures, small, painted sculptures, text-based artworks and fabrics. Rabiya has created a new wallpaper design inspired by the history of stargazing in the Observatory site.
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