THE first exhibition at Inverleith House in the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh since the controversy over its closure as a dedicated modern art gallery opens this Saturday.
The Plant Scenery of the World exhibition brings together new, commissioned and existing work by Scottish, UK and European artists alongside rare and unseen archival material from the garden’s own collections and specially commissioned botanical drawings.
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Among the artists are Laura Aldridge, from Glasgow, who is exhibiting a new nature printed floor using exotic plant material grown in the Edinburgh Glasshouses, London-based Charlie Billingham who has created a room installation with new wall prints and painting installations and Bobby Niven, from Fife, who has created a new series of hand carved anthropomorphic sculptures.
It marks the 50th anniversary of RBGE’s modernist Glasshouses, designed by Edinburgh architects George Pearce and Allan Pendreigh and opened in the late summer of 1967, the Front Range is a rare example of Scottish modernist architecture and has been lauded for its radical design.
The 18th century Inverleith House was said to have staged its last exhibition as one of Scotland's most acclaimed contemporary art galleries last October after a move to widen its use as a venue for a broader spectrum of exhibitions and events.
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However, a working group set up to examine the case for keeping a more specific gallery profile and led by Professor Christopher Breward, principal of the Edinburgh College of Art, last month proposed a series of measures to ensure its longevity including plans to showcase at least four seasonal shows, touring exhibitions and artist residencies.
The decision to alter the use of the building sparked uproar in the arts world with the campaign urging a rethink winning support from Ewan McGregor, Irvine Welsh, Val Kilmer, Fran Healey and Janet Street-Porter.
Turner Prize winners Tracey Emin and Antony Gormley also put their names to an open letter urging the Royal Botanic Garden to keep Inverleith House open.
On the final day of the closing exhibition - called I still believe in miracles - 700 protesters gathered to try to save the space solely for art.
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An RBGE spokesperson said: "Plant Scenery of the World offers integrated displays, revelatory pairings and a polyphony of voices, to illuminate new perspectives across the disciplines of art and science.
"The exhibition will evoke the theatrical, awe-inspiring, utopian and naturalistic display of plants under glass.
"The gallery presentation takes inspiration from the varied climatic zones of the glasshouses, creating different ‘temperatures’ and offering an interconnected series of ‘micro-climates’ from room to room.
"Together the exhibition will create an uplifting and celebratory display context which is receptive to different accounts of the world and expanded thinking around historical and contemporary endeavour."
The exhibition runs from July 29 to October 29.
Below: The Palmhouse in winter
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