Exhibition at The Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland
15 Rutland Square Edinburgh Scotland EH12BE
Exhibition dates: July 5 - August 1
In a new photographic series celebrating Glenrothes, Canadian artist Sylvia
Grace Borda produces a visual ode to this former Scottish new Town. Looking
at the town's garden city status and the location as a significant point
for Modernist public art delivery in Scotland - the artist ventures into
a place where no one without relatives or a personal connection to the
place would likely vacation or visit.
New Towns were considered cities for the future, liberators of the past,
and ready to serve the needs of the citizen. The commissioning of a New
Town artist was envisioned as a way to complete the beautification and
integrity of the townscape. Importantly, Glenrothes was the first New
Town in Scotland to employ a dedicated artist as part of its urban planning
and civic development scheme.
In Glenrothes, the legacies of sculptural intervention have been similarly
complemented by the amount of available green space; hence the town's
longstanding status as a garden city. Since its inception, the town has
been continually landscaped and, as a result, buildings often appear as
though they reside within a park rather than in an urban city.
For the realisation of this project, Sylvia has endeavoured to create
both what she calls 'urban archaeology' à the creations of both
a photo archive and a conceptual artwork of the Glenrothes urbanscape.
In the production of the artwork, the juxtaposition of 'ordinary' images
of landscape and objects regularly decontextualise the geography so a
viewer might read the pictures in relation to colour, form, and composition;
however, the images are themselves actual representations of a specific
location. Influenced by the work of photographers Stephen Shore, Geoffrey
James, Lewis Baltz and William Egggleston, the suburban attributes of
Glenrothes have become part of an interplay between the familiar and the
uncommon.
This duality in the photographic work is intended to challenge the viewer's
response. Is it possible to see beauty in a New Town? A place to visit
or to avoid? Indeed, the artist decided to 'holiday' in Glenrothes to
inform the work, and each day she chose an area to document in detail.
The focus of the photographic series is also effectively timed to coincide
with the 60th anniversary of Glenrothes (1948-2008), and during a period
when many of the public areas of the Town are undergoing redevelopment.
Hence the resulting artwork and the photo archive together comprise a
typological approach to re-appraising the environment; while at the same
time examining what has made Glenrothes unique as a former New Town. The
latter is especially worth reinforcing when one considers that the visionary
outputs of New Town development in Scotland are often left unheralded.
The Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland 0131 229 7545
Glenrothes buildings
About the artist:
A Vancouver-based artist, Sylvia is a research associate at Emily Carr
University (Canada), and a guest lecturer at Queen's University Belfast
and Krems University, Austria, with interests in socio-historical issues,
architecture, and art. She is best known for her art and research about
East Kilbride, Scotland's First New Town (see www.eknewtown.com)
Her exhibition history spans over a decade with solo and group show, and
awards include: City of Culture Artist, Surrey, Canada (2008-2009); Innovation
Award, LightHouse, Scotland's Centre for Architecture, Design and the
City (2006); and Urban Culture Public Art Award, Millennium Commission
for Cities of Culture, Liverpool (2005-07*)*.
World Architecture : e-architect
- a guide to key buildings across the globe
Scottish Buildings
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Architecture
Buildings / photos for the Glenrothes New Town Architecture page welcome:
info@e-architect.co.uk
Glenrothes New Town : page
- adrian welch / isabelle lomholt