Edinburgh Printmakers has moved to my side of town. Which is great news for me, and I think it will be for them too. They now have a lot more space and are in a beautifully renovated old factory which used to make rubber and rubber products, (wellies, hot water bottles, etc.).
The new building is stunning, and the current exhibition in the main front room is really worth seeing: a new commission by German artist Thomas Kilpper called The Politics of Hertiage vs. The Heritage of Politics. The floor is a giant rubber carving that acts as a linocut plate, the ceiling and walls are imprints of the plate. There’s a wonderful tactility in being able to walk right over the plate, to reach down and feel the different grooves where the ink hasn’t quite reached. Within the room, there are images all around and above you, demonstrating the reversible and mirror-image effect of printmaking and completely immersing the visitor in the artwork.
The image itself is a vast roll call of different characters, some of whom are local to Fountainbridge, others are national political or cultural figures. It has that special quality of being site specific, and rooted in history but also very much of our times, with references to recent occurrences in the media (complete with Theresa May dancing – the awkwardness is perfectly captured and still cringeworthy). Yet there’s also a humorous note to it that slightly plays with history, mixing fact, fiction, fake news and narrative. A banner unfurls from Donald Trump’s mouth declaring: ‘Printmaking is a hoax invented by the Chinese’ – paraphrasing his statements on climate change and wryly nodding to the actual origins of printmaking, in China.
It’s an artwork you need time to appreciate, and I’ve visited twice already to take more time to discover the different members of the cast (the leaflet in the corner is really helpful for this). I got talking to a couple who have lived in Edinburgh for most of their lives, who told me that Sean Connery, who features in the nude as he apparently used to do life modelling for students at Edinburgh College of Art, used to do the milk round in Fountainbridge when he was a boy. We talked about the area, how it has changed, and they mentioned more local characters they had known over the years. This is one of the things I love about good art – it can encourage encounters with strangers, and spark dialogue that can enhance your experience of a place, adding more elements to your own patchwork quilt of knowledge, much like the one Kilpper has created for this space.
However, it’s such a dominant artwork that it won’t be there for long. The exhibition is up until 13 July, after which it will travel to Germany. It would be so amazing if this artwork could stay in Edinburgh: it’s site specific and mainly informed by local history, after all. Perhaps it could be acquired by the NGS for their collection? Or maybe a wealthy local could purchase it for the Edinburgh Printmakers, so they could keep it in their beautiful new home. Sean Connery, are you listening?
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