3 inspiring works of art
3 communities
6 visions of a better world
The Parallel Lives 2 project aims to make key works in the National Galleries of Scotland collection directly relevant to communities living in Edinburgh today. Three different communities, Leith, Wester Hailles and North Edinburgh have been allocated an artwork from the national collection and an artist to facilitate the production of new art in collaboration with people from that area.
Group 1 - Leith Life - Artist Gavin Lockhart is constructing a new Tower of Babel in response to Marcel Broothaers's Visual Tower. Gavin is creating a sculpture made from 100 fake chinese i-pods which will show hours of footage made in, or with some connection to, Leith.
Group 2 - Photographer Craig Maclean has been working with a group from Wester Hailes to collect images of the area and its residents, to be compiled into an image layering George Suerat's La Luzerne, Saint Denis with a similar image taken in contemporary Wester Hailes.
Group 3 - Artist Kevin Reid is producing a digital artwork with a group of people from North Edinburgh in response to James Edgar's portrait of the Reverend Thomas Guthrie.
The ideas behind the works of art that the groups create will be fed back into their communities through the Neighbourhood Partnerships in the local areas. The project sessions have been running since March 2008 and the finished works will be shown in an exhibition in National Galleries of Scotland in November 2008, on this website, and in the community venues in 2009.
