User Interface: Coded Craft is a fascinating exhibition which brings together artists and makers who combine traditional handcraft with digital technology.
The exhibition opens in Edinburgh on Portobello High Street, outside the Town Hall, on Friday 21 August, from 10am to 4pm.
It will then travel to arts venues, community centres, high streets and schools across Scotland.
The tour starts in Edinburgh as part of the Edinburgh Arts Festival. It will later visit Argyll and Bute, Renfrew, Inverclyde, Dumfries and Galloway, Falkirk, and East and South Ayrshire.
The exhibition features new and recent work from Jeni Allison, Naomi Mcintosh, Lynne MacLachlan, Liu Qiwei, Aymeric Renoud, Soorin Shin, Sanne Visser, Silvia Weidenbach and Sandra Wilson.
These artists use technology to develop new ways of making art, and to explore how craft can help create a more sustainable future.
The exhibition features many different skills, including metalwork, modelling, weaving and woodturning. The artists also use tools such as artificial intelligence, 3D printers, digital cutters and laser cutters.
Together, these traditional and digital techniques can help reduce waste, encourage more responsible use of materials and support the development of renewable materials for a more sustainable, circular economy.
Cllr Margaret Graham, Culture and Communities Convener, said:
Travelling Gallery has a long-standing reputation for bringing inspiring art to communities across Scotland, making it accessible to people of all ages and backgrounds.
User Interface: Coded Craft is a fascinating exhibition that explores how artists are combining traditional craft skills with new technologies to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time, from sustainability to responsible use of materials.
I’m delighted that residents and visitors in Edinburgh will get to enjoy the exhibition before it travels to communities across the country.
Louise Briggs, Curator, Travelling Gallery said:
It has been interesting to talk with the artists featured within the show about their relationship with technology and its use within their creative practice.
Whilst digital technology and traditional handcraft can sometimes be positioned as opposites, the blend of the two often leads to a myriad of new possibilities; be that creatively for the artist as a means to express and expand their ideas, or as a way to address some of today’s social, ecological or technological challenges.
What all of the artists retain in their work is a warmth, culture and richness that highlights the unique decisions, subtle variations and purposeful stories and connections they have to the things that they make, that in a world of rapidly developing change is important to maintain, not just as artists and makers, but as humans.
The Travelling Gallery team look forward to introducing the artwork and ideas to audiences across Scotland as part of our Autumn Tour.
More information about confirmed tour dates and venues can be found on the Travelling Gallery website.