The Vessel programme centres on ten interweaving artist projects alongside a
series of additional events and exhibitions, that frame ways to consider water and our unpredictable environmental futures. The vessel, as a form, as a channel, as a flow, as a journey, as a nutrient, as a means for care are many of the artistic responses visible within this series of multifaceted projects.
Additionally we develop further our Deluge project with two dedicated days of walkshops, talks and discussions. Our Art Walk Extended programme (from 16 September to 5 October) also brings a series of exhibitions and events that extends our geographical reach to areas of Leith, Craigentinny and Craigmillar.
View Events Diary for full details.
Writings
ROSY NAYLOR curator, Vessel an introduction
TOM JEFFREYS writer, A vessel kind of place
Download catalogue (pdf)
Art Walk Hub is located at:
189 Portobello High Street
Edinburgh EH15 1EA
Open: Fri 10am-5pm, Sat/Sun 10am-6pm
1-3 and 8-10 September
Commissions
Measuring time through the fall of water
HUNITI GOLDOX
Location: mote102 Ferry Road, Leith
Artist collective HUNITI GOLDOX presents Measuring Time through the Fall of Water an immersive video installation that features contemporary reenactments of a water clock – a time-kee…
Braid Walk
Jonathan Baxter
Location: Art Walk Hub, 189 Portobello High Street and Porty Light Box, Bellfield Street
What can we learn from walking a watercourse? Between April and August 2023, Jonathan Baxter has been leading a series of monthly group walks in collaboration with poet Helen Boden, ar…
Quota
Christina Riley
Location: Portobello Beach, by Groyne 1 (Sun 3 September) and Toilet outdoor walls, Pipe Street (until end September)
Scallop dredges are hugely damaging to underwater ecologies. In a single tow, they can destroy roughly 70% of living seabed habitats – including maerl beds which can take millennia to…
Tired Water
Vira Putri
Location: Art Walk Hub, 189 Portobello High Street
Vira Putri’s work draws upon jamu, the Indonesian traditional healing practice which the artist likens to cooking.
The School of Pedestrian Culture
Lucas Priest
Location: Art Walk Hub, 189 Portobello High Street
During The School of Pedestrian Culture’s residency with Art Walk Projects, the School has become an expanded walking forum featuring contributions from artists Iman Tajik and Johanna…
Buoyancy in unprecedented times
Jenny Pope
Location: Art Walk Hub, 189 Portobello High Street
Jenny Pope is linking early innovations in maritime travel with today’s climate crisis in order to address questions of collective anxiety and resilience.
Stool to Stool
Murray Morrant
Location: Art Walk Hub, 189 Portobello High Street
Murray’s ongoing exploration of the built environment and subterranean infrastructure landscapes examines the intricate relationship between the individual and the collective, and its…
Wing Cradle
Henna Asikainen
Location: Portobello Kiln, Bridge Street (Open Sat/Sun 11am-4pm)
Weaving together myths and politics with ecological concerns, Wing Cradle connects the migration of birds with testimonies relating to lived experiences of human migration.
September 2nd ’23 to September 10th ’23
Deluge project
Linde Ex, Dana Olărescu, Oscar Van Heek
Location: Aberlady Bay, Seafield and Portobello
A two-day focus of talks, walks and discussions takes place during this year’s Art Walk Porty Festival.
September 8th ’23 to September 9th ’23
Events
Vessel Exhibition
Exhibition
Location: Art Walk Hub, 189 Portobello High Street
Friday 1 September to Sunday 10 September
Our central festival exhibition showing the work of artists: Jonathan Baxter, Tonya McMullan, Murray Morrant, Jenny Pope, Lucas Priest, Vira Putri, Claudia Zeiske.
Slow Coast 500 Walk & Discussion
Walk
Location: Cramond Causeway to Portobello
Fri 1 September 9.30am arrival for 10am start to Fri 1 September 5pm
Join Claudia Zeiske to walk from Cramond Causeway to Portobello as part of Slow Coast 500
Artist Talk with Henna Asikainen
Talk
Location: Portobello Kiln, Bridge Street
Sat 2 September 12pm to Sat 2 September 1pm
Come and hear more about Henna Asikainen’s installation Wing Cradle located inside one of Portobello’s two remaining bottle kilns, which she has created in collaboration with Zainah Adn…
Portobello – Cultivating Connections Walk with Annie Lord
Walk
Location: Art Walk Hub
Sat 2 September 2pm to Sat 2 September 4pm
We’ll take a leisurely walk to visit some of the apple trees, with readings by Annie along the way. We’ll consider the impact of community growing in Portobello and its connection t…
From mouth to source
Talk
Location: Art Walk Hub
Sat 2 September 4.30pm to Sat 2 September 5.30pm
Poetry and conversation inspired by walking the Braid Burn Watercourse, with readings by Helen Boden, James Spence, and other walkers.
Jamu-making workshop with Vira Putri
Workshop
Location: Portobello Promenade (near to Morton Street)
Sun 3 September 11am to Sun 3 September 12pm
Vira Putri will be showing how to make kunyit asem, a general tonic comprised of turmeric, tamarind, and palm sugar used to ease inflammation and increase overall immunity.
Artist Talk with Christina Riley
Talk
Location: Portobello Beach, Groyne 1
Sun 3 September 1pm to Sun 3 September 2pm
Artist Christina Riley discusses the damaging impact of scallop dredges, with particular reference to Lamlash Bay, Isle of Arran and concerted
opposition to the practice by dedic…
Sand Making Vessel Workshop & Pop up Exhibition
Workshop
Location: Portobello Beach, by Swim Centre
Sunday 3 September 3pm to Sunday 3 September 6pm
The workshop will involve making objects in the style of sandcastles, encouraging learning and creative thinking through play.
Seaside sketching and mindfulness workshop
Workshop
Location: Portobello Beach – bottom of John Street Lane
Mon 4 September 7pm to Mon 4 September 9pm
Join Anna Neubert-Wood of WanderWomen and artist Peter Jones for a session of mindfully slowing down, letting nature inspire your creativity and connecting by the seaside. This collabor…
Seagrass Talk with Lyle Boyle from the Ecology Centre
Talk
Location: Beach in front of Portobello Swim Centre
Thurs 7 September 2pm to Thurs 7 September 3pm
Join us to learn about seagrass – an ‘ecosystem engineer’ – and the ways you can help contribute to its rejuvenation.
Rainwater collection devices workshop and talk
Workshop
Location: Craigentinny Community Garden
Thurs 7 September 6pm to Thurs 7 September 8pm
In this workshop Linda Furley from Craigentinny Community Garden will talk about their watering collection device at the garden, and artist Tonya McMullan will involve participants in m…
Deluge Walkshop I with Dana Olarescu and Camille Aboudaram
Walk
Location: Aberlady Nature Reserve
Fri 8 September 2.15pm to Fri 8 September 5pm
Join socially engaged artist Dana Olărescu and visual artist and activist Camille Aboudaram for the first part of two workshops which will link up salt marshes, the climate crisis and…
Seaside sketching and mindfulness workshop
Workshop
Location: Portobello Beach – bottom of John Street Lane
Sat 9 September 10am to Sat 9 September 12pm
Join Anna Neubert-Wood of WanderWomen and artist Peter Jones for a session of mindfully slowing down, letting nature inspire your creativity and connecting by the seaside. This collabor…
Deluge talk: Land-shapes with artist Linde Ex (Netherlands)
Talk
Location: Art Walk Hub
Sat 9 September 11am to Sat 9 September 12pm
This talk is an opportunity for the artist to present updates on her research as part of the DELUGE project, sharing experiences about visiting the three coastal salt marsh locations an…
Deluge Walkshop II with Dana Olarescu and Camille Aboudaram
Walk
Location: Seafield Prom, by Kings Road
Sat 9 September 1pm to Sat 9 September 3pm
Following on from the first workshop in Aberlady Bay, we will go on an urban walk in the Seafield/Leith area looking at how our public spaces are managed and what we can do about it, sp…
Deluge Project Talk with Anna-Rosja Haveman and Maddi Nicholson
Talk
Location: Art Walk Hub
Sat 9 September 4pm to Sat 9 September 5.30pm
A talk with researcher and curator Anna-Rosja Haveman; Maddi Nicholson, director of Art Gene, Cumbria; and artists Linde Ex, Dana Olărescu, and Oscar van Heek.
Afloat Film Night
Film
Location: Portobello Prom, by Oscar’s Fish Kiosk (Pipe Street)
Sat 9 September 8.30pm to Sat 9 September 9.45pm
A series of artist shorts screened at Portobello Promenade, curated by Rosy Naylor, that explore our relationships to local landscapes, near and far, from Portobello, to the Solway Firt…
Tablecloth Embroidery Workshop
Workshop
Location: Art Walk Hub
Sun 10 September 10.30am to Sun 10 September 12pm
Claudia Zeiske leads a workshop based on the orange tablecloth that she has carried with her throughout her coastal walk from Thurso and embroidered daily as a record of the journey.
Coracle launch and watery event
Live Art
Location: Portobello Beach, by Morton Street
Sun 10 September 12pm to Sun 10 September 2pm
Join artist Jenny Pope for the launch of a coracle boat constructed with recycled fabric collected from Portobello residents.
Jamu-making workshop with Vira Putri
Workshop
Location: Art Walk Hub, 189 Portobello High Street
Sun 10 September 2.30pm to Sun 10 September 3.30pm
Vira Putri will be showing how to make kunyit asem, a general tonic comprised of turmeric, tamarind, and palm sugar used to ease inflammation and increase overall immunity.
School of Pedestrian Culture led walk with Lucas Priest
Walk
Location: Art Walk Hub, 189 Portobello High Street
Sun 10 September 4pm to Sun 10 September 5pm
Artist Lucas Priest leads a collective walking engagement with a series of written scores to inform ways of moving through Portobello
Vessel Beach Cooking event with wild chef Judith Lamb
Live Art
Location: Portobello Beach, by Morton Street
Sun 10 September 6pm to Sun 10 September 8pm
Come and join us to celebrate with an end festival event on the beach, to include beach cooking and wonderful seasonal foraged ingredients from wild chef, Judith Lamb, inspired by our V…
Art Walk Extended
Artist-led tour at Seafield Water Treatment Plant
Walk
Location: Seafield Water Treatment Plant, Marine Esplanade
Sat 16 September 10am to Sat 16 September 1pm
Vessel Exhibition at mote102
Exhibition
Location: mote102, 102 Ferry Road, Leith EH6 4PG
Thurs 21 September 11am to Wed 27 September 4pm
The second part to our VESSEL project with installations from artists HUNITI GOLDOX, Tonya McMullan, Jenny Pope and Claudia Zeiske.
Conversing with Tomatoes
Live Art
Location: Beach at Seafield, back of Bus Depot (near to Kings Rd)
Thu 21 September 6pm to Thu 21 September 8pm
Tonya McMullan teams up with chef and wild foods forager Judith Lamb to host an evening of conversation and tomato-based foods to share.
Bingham-Craigmillar – Pollinating Populations Walk with Annie Lord
Walk
Location: Starting from Bingham Sensory Garden
Sat 30 September 2pm to Sat 30 September 4pm
We’ll take a leisurely walk to visit some of the apple trees, with readings by Annie along the way. We’ll consider the role of pollinators: solitary bees, wasps and moths. In an ar…
Plot to Plate Cook Book Launch
Talk
Location: Portobello Bookshop
Thu 5 October 7pm to Thu 5 October 8pm
Book launch of Plot to Plate Cook Book recently published by Art Walk Press with Craigentinny Telferton Allotments, to mark the start of the Portobello Book Festival
Writing Partnerships
Art Walk Projects is delighted to commission three writers to respond to the ideas explored throughout the VESSEL programme. With outlets for art writing becoming increasingly scarce, we believe it is important – for artists and writers alike – to create spaces for the development of new critical and creative thinking. With a deliberately open framework, these texts will develop slowly through conversations over the coming months, drawing together some of the threads running through the VESSEL programme and bringing fresh insights and points of connection. These three commissions will form the basis of issue two of Art Walk Journal, to be published in early 2024.
In addition to the printed publication, we are delighted to continue our collaboration with MAP Magazine as our editorial partner,working together to support contemporary art writing through experimental approaches to commissioning and publishing.
Texts growing out of these commissions are appearing on mapmagazine.co.uk from
September. The three commissioned writers are:
Dr Isabel Pérez-Ramos is a research fellow in English Studies at the University of Oviedo, Spain. Her research interests include decolonial solidarities, waste and narrative representations of environmental injustices, mainly in Chicanx and US Southwestern literature, as well as in climate and dystopian fiction. She is currently visiting research fellow at IASH, Edinburgh.
Dr Alycia Pirmohamed is a Canadian-born poet based in Scotland. She is the author of Another Way to Split Water, pamphlets Hinge and Faces that Fled the Wind, and collaborative essay, Second Memory, co-authored with Pratyusha. She is the co-founder of the Scottish BPOC Writers Network, and co-organiser of the Ledbury Poetry Critics Program.
Dr Maria Sledmere is a writer and artist living in Glasgow. Her most recent book is An Aura of Plasma Around the Sun (Hem Press, 2023), and a poetry collection, Cinders, is forthcoming from KRUPSKAYA books in 2024. She was recently named by the Saltire Society as one of ‘40 under 40’ outstanding Scottish creatives.