ACCESS ALL AREAS – Autumn 2007 exhibition and tour

‘Access All Areas’, the second exhibition in the new Travelling Gallery bus, is designed to exploit all our senses and not just sight, and includes artwork to touch, smell and listen to, as well as look at.

The gallery will be showing interactive artworks by eight contemporary artists, including solar powered thaumatropes by Stefan Baumberger and Nicole Heidtke who work together as ~ in the fields, a red heartbeat machine by German artist martinafischer13, bronze and latex football sculptures by recent graduate Peter Gannon and a sound piece featuring noises from the rural landscape by Su Grierson.

Sarah Kettley, a jeweller and researcher in the field of wearable computing, has created special textile sculptures for the exhibition, which respond to touch by purring, and Rosita McKenzie has photographed sand pyramids on Portobello beach, which have been interpreted as tactile drawings by Camilla Adams.

Travelling Gallery staff will be available in the gallery to assist visitors in interacting with the artworks, hearing loops are available on the sound works and there will be Braille and large print labels for visually impaired visitors.

The gallery will start its tour in Edinburgh on 3rd September, and will then be travelling throughout Scotland, from Caithness to Ayrshire until 7th December. During the tour the gallery will visit primary, secondary and special schools and will also be open to the public. Tour dates are posted on the gallery website at www.travellinggallery.com.

Contact:
Vicky Konieczny, Travelling Gallery Assistant
Phone: 0131 529 3930/3682
Email: travellinggallery@edinburgh.gov.uk

NOTES TO EDITORS:

1) The exhibition preview will be held from 6-8pm, 31st August at The City Art Centre, 2 Market Street, Edinburgh.

2) The Travelling Gallery is a purpose built contemporary mobile art gallery that provides greater opportunity for communities throughout Scotland to experience the quality and diversity of contemporary art at first hand. The Travelling Gallery service was introduced in 1978 by the Scottish Arts Council. In 1997 its operation was switched to the City of Edinburgh Council which continues to operate a national service. The new gallery vehicle was introduced in April 2007. This will be its second tour.

3) The Travelling Gallery receives Foundation Funding status from the Scottish Arts Council of £140,000 per year. The City of Edinburgh Council support the running of the service in kind. Other income is generated through hire fees from other local authorities who book the Travelling Gallery to tour their areas.

4) The Travelling Gallery Education Programme received an engage Scotland Visual Art Education Award in 2003, 2004 and 3005. The programme aims to expand on ideas and skills highlighted in the Travelling Gallery exhibition, and includes education packs, reference materials, worksheets, ideas for pre-visit and follow-up work, as well as artist-led workshops.

5) The Travelling Gallery will tour to the following areas with the ‘Access All Areas’ exhibition:

3 – 7 Sept Edinburgh
10 – 14 Sept Caithness
17 – 21 Sept Lewis
24 – 28 Sept Skye and Lochalsh
2 – 6 Oct Renfrewshire
8 – 12 Oct East Ayrshire (schools)
16 – 20 October East Ayrshire
22 – 26 October North Lanarkshire
29 Oct – 2 Nov Argyll and Bute
5 – 9 Nov South Lanarkshire
12 – 16 Nov Aberdeen
19 – 23 Nov Dumfries and Galloway
26 – 30 Nov Stirling
3 – 7 December Edinburgh