The art installation project opening up Edinburgh’s Old Town closes A temporary installation has transformed three of Edinburgh’s Old Town closes into works of art. Open Close – a collaboration […]

A temporary installation has transformed three of Edinburgh’s Old Town closes into works of art.

Open Close – a collaboration between a team of artists, designers and architects – is taking contemporary art out of the traditional gallery setting and onto some of Edinburgh’s oldest streets.

Reimagining overlooked spaces

Carrubers Close, Chalmers Close and Trunks Close – off the Royal Mile – have been transformed using light, sound, sculpture, design and visual art.

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The project (which is supported by Edinburgh World Heritage initiative, 12 Closes) aims to encourage the people of Edinburgh to explore and discover fresh ways of seeing these sometimes overlooked spaces.

“Open Close seeks to promote better circulation of pedestrians through the fabric of the Old Town, helping to make these spaces feel cleaner, more interesting, safer and more vibrant,” explains Eileen Hall, Open Close’s co-founder.

In a world where street design usually favours the needs of vehicles over those of people, this project examines peoples’ emotional connections to urban places, encouraging them to spend more time engaging with the city around them.

Modern art installations

With a collective of 12 members across several different disciplines, the Open Close project gives the public a chance to see the work of contemporary artists and architects they would not necessarily encounter within Edinburgh’s more established galleries.

“We wanted to examine how a multi-disciplinary collaboration – involving not just architects but artists, musicians, designers, social geographers, sociologists and digital agencies – might inform an alternative way of re-imagining such public spaces,” explains Hall.

The installations include Hall’s own The Space Between, which examines the relationship between space and light by weaving threads between the buildings of Trunks Close.

In the nearby Carrubers Close, Topography Typography by Rob St John and Tommy Perman pays homage to the industrial heritage of the closes, at the same time as exploring our increasing connection to the internet and decreasing connection to the natural world.

Future Fossils also opens up a debate about the modern world, with items like USB cables and plastic drainage pipes used to create ‘fossils’ that might be excavated by future generations.

In total, there are 15 installations to discover across the three closes.

Changing perceptions of the Old Town

In order to measure the impact of the project, Open Close are asking the public to take part in an online survey.

“To measure the socio-emotional wealth of these spaces, we ask people to take a photo of something they are drawn to and upload it to our web tool on our website, then answer a few questions,” says Hall.

“The data gathered will help and inform the ongoing renewal of the spaces through the 12 Closes project, led by Edinburgh World Heritage.”

Hall and her colleagues hope that, as well as impacting the imaginations of the people who visit the closes, the project will also act as a creative tool for debate on policy surrounding under-used urban spaces.

“We feel that the project and its role within the longer term action plan for the Royal Mile can help deliver City of Edinburgh Council’s vision for the street to become ‘the world’s best cultural living street’, supplementing the focus on the history of the area with exposure of high quality contemporary culture.”

Open Close runs until 11 August in Carrubbers Close, Chalmers Close and Trunks Close – open-close.co.uk