EDINBURGH.- For Jupiter Artland Tessa Lynch responds to an ancient law which indicates that if one could build a small cottage and have a fire lit in the hearth before sunset you could keep the land. A feat that required support from the local community to achieve the build whilst engaging support and a consensus leading to an inclusive network from neighbours and peers.

With this concept in mind Lynch realised “Raising”, a jigsaw of parts that can be constructed by the artist and a team of volunteers to create a domain that permits open conversation about the current restrictions on home planning, construction and development, set within the foot print of an average modern new build.

The reenactment of a barn raising, a popular form of home construction in medieval times will be concluded with a fire being lit within the sculptural set surrounded by the self constructed elements the artists and her team have constructed on the day. Each ‘enactment’ will be deconstructed and rebuilt throughout the duration of the exhibition.

"I work predominantly with sculpture and performance, mimicking objects and scenarios. My connected research is concerned with the emotional impact and commanding power made by both the built environment and the miasma generated from neoliberalism." ---Tessa Lynch

The Story of Jupiter
Robert and Nicky Wilson bought Bonnington House, a Jacobean manor house within an 100-acre estate, in 1999. Within a few years, the formal gardens, fields and woodlands surrounding this historic house began to suggest the perfect milieu for Nicky Wilson's long-held ambition to create a sculpture park.

Nicky, herself a sculptor manque since the birth of her four children had always been deeply influenced by Ian Hamilton Finlay's Little Sparta, some thirty miles as the crow flies, from Bonnington. Here, she believed, in this ancient place with reputed Knights Templar connections, art and nature, home and family, livestock and the footfall of those interested in contemporary sculpture could all co-exist. She and Robert, as serious collectors, knew many leading contemporary artists. Why not provide them with the opportunity to create new works in their grounds? They couldn't find any reason not to. So Jupiter Artland began to take shape.

Visitors to Jupiter Artland are given a map indicating the location of the artworks within the grounds. But there's no set route. Clockwise or anticlockwise is your choice. As is a left turn here or a right turn there; or the retracing of steps for a second look. The artworks are land marks, events, confrontations on a journey of discovery; an open-ended journey.