EDINBURGH.- Jupiter Artland is presenting a series of exhibitions, performances, unique temporary installations and new permanent works for the landscape. With work by Christian Boltanski, Céleste Boursier-Mougenot, Helen Chadwick, Ditte Gantriis, Caroline Mesquita and Hayley Tompkins, the programme presents work by some of the most esteemed and provocative figures in contemporary art, alongside the next generation of young artists.
This years programme includes:
o 2 new permanent commissions: Christian Boltanskis first outdoor work in the UK, and a new work for the orchard by Alec Finlay
o Songbirds creating music with electric guitars, by French artist Céleste Boursier-Mougenot
o The renowned work, Piss Flowers, by the late Turner-prize nominee Helen Chadwick
o The opportunity to record your own heartbeat - that will form Christian Boltanskis ongoing project
o Mammoth wicker baskets, created by Danish artist Ditte Gantriis, for the Ballroom
o A new temporary installation by French artist Caroline Mesquita, by the duck pond
o A new floor-based work by Glasgow-based Hayley Tompkins
o Sound and Nature: an expanded events programme for this year
o Ambitious developments for Jupiters Learning Programme including the launch of Jupiter as a digital world with Jupiter Artland: In Minecraft.
French artist Céleste Boursier-Mougenot is presenting his ongoing project, From Here to Ear (previously exhibited at the Barbican Centre, London, 2010) - an astounding sonic arrangement featuring songbirds and electric guitars. The Steadings Gallery has been filled with 40 zebra finches performing: the tuneful and gregarious birds fly around the room, landing on the strings of amplified electric and bass guitars.
Alongside this, Jupiter Artland also presents the renowned work, Piss Flowers, by the late leading British conceptual artist Helen Chadwick. This work, cast from the patterns of male and female urine in snow, typifies the artists oeuvre - aesthetic beauty created out of an alliance of unconventional, often repulsive, materials.
As part of Edinburgh Art Festival 2016, Jupiter Artlands Summer Programme features a new permanent work by renowned French artist Christian Boltanski, in addition to two exhibitions. With his first permanent installation in the UK, Jupiter Artland is presenting Animitas by the renowned French artist Christian Boltanski. The work is comprised of hundreds of small Japanese bells attached to long stems planted in the ground; the bells chime the music of the souls". Each bell has been placed on the island within the duck pond to reproduce the map of the stars on the night the artist was born, 6th September 1944. The title of the piece, Animitas, refers to the altars that Chilean Native Indians put on the side of the road to honour the dead; the artist believes we are surrounded by their spirits and that the bells mimic the gestures of the dead.
In addition, Boltanski presents two exhibitions at Jupiter Artland: Sombras in The Steadings Gallery, and the celebrated work Les Archives du Coeur in The Goldsworthy Room. Sombras is a theatrical projection of 8 shadow plays that conjure dramatic, mystical figures, flickering over the gallery walls. Les Archives du Coeur, an ongoing project of Boltanskis, has seen the artist recording heartbeats since 2008. A testament to the existence of these individuals, the work offers visitors the chance to record their own heartbeats and create a personal message for the archive.
Glasgow-based artist Hayley Tompkins is also exhibiting a new work for Jupiter Artland. Using familiar and ordinary objects, Tompkins works explores the language of paint and the experience of the readymade using familiar and commonplace objects. For the artist's first presentation at Jupiter Artland, Tompkins produced a new floor based installation using paint and image for The Tin Roof Gallery.
The summer programme also sees the first outdoor commission by French artist Caroline Mesquita. Sited within a tranquil wood, alongside the duck pond, this work - Mesquitas first solo institutional exhibition in the UK sees the staging of a congregation of figurines around a collection of sculptural objects, with fragments and artefacts scattered across the site as if distributed by the impact of a meteorite.
Bringing together a number of non-profit contemporary art organisations across Scotland, Jupiter Artland also showcases a new exhibition of artist editions that form a curated collection.