If You Do One Thing…
The National Galleries of Scotland are welcoming back visitors with socially-distanced open arms and a fabulous array of art
Head to Scotland’s
National Galleries for their triumphant
reopening
MARTIN CREED’S neon signage sculpture above the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh reads “Everything is going to be alright”.
Even during the toughest days of lockdown, the gallery’s sculpted grounds were still open, and it is hoped that visitors took comfort from this statement.
Now, as the National Galleries of Scotland go through a phased reopening, they have asked people across the country to submit stories, portraits and ideas about the future, to be shown alongside five portraits from the national collection in a display titled You Are Here| 2020: Stories, Portraits, Visions.
“The combined results will act as a portrait of the nation,” says learning and engagement outreach officer, Richie Cumming, “offering the opportunity for work from members of the public to give brief insights into the range of experiences people have had over this troubling year.”
The Scottish National Gallery was the first to reopen on August 17, followed a week later by the larger of the two buildings housing modern and contemporary works – Modern One, as it’s now known.
Both Modern Two and the Scottish National Portrait Gallery will open later in the year, depending on government restrictions.
This phased reopening came as a relief to those who at the much-loved gallery.
“The whole point of having a collection of great work is to share it,” says Simon Groom, director of modern and contemporary art at the National Galleries of Scotland.
While access to the buildings will be limited in terms of numbers to ensure physical distancing – with visitors having to book free tickets for specific times – the galleries’ first response to lockdown was to work with what they already had at Modern One, which, according to Simon, is one of the best sculpture parks in the UK.
Ranging from one of Sir Antony Gormley’s figures, rising from the pavement, to the beautiful curves of Charles Jencks’s Landform in the front grounds, creating new sculpture trails linking existing work has been an opportunity to show objects in a new light.
“You have great works of art there that can become a bit invisible, so we’ve introduced a new way of looking at the works, and to engage different senses,” says Simon.
Simon believes the galleries themselves may feel somewhat different.
“Because there will be fewer visitors, you’ll have a really special experience with the art, because it won’t be crowded,” he says. “I think the experience will be far richer. We know a lot of people regularly visit, but to have not had that opportunity since March… I think a lot of people will find it quite emotional.”
Both the Scottish National Gallery and Modern One will reopen with what was on the walls when lockdown happened – so, for example, a previously announced summer exhibition of new acquisitions to the National Collection won’t now take place until Spring 2021. In the meantime, visitors to the permanent exhibitions at the Scottish National Gallery will be able to reconnect with masterpieces such as Diego Velázquez’s Old Woman
You’ll have a really special experience with crowded” the art, because it won’t be
Cooking Eggs, Sir Edwin Landseer’s iconic Monarch of the Glen, and Sir Henry Raeburn’s Reverend Robert Walker (1755 - 1808), better known as The Skating Minister.
The permanent collection at Modern One remains a treasure trove of works from Picasso to Jenny Saville via Francis Bacon, plus Scottish Colourist paintings and a world-class surrealist collection featuring Salvador Dalí, René Magritte and others.
The temporary NOW exhibition will continue to focus on the work of acclaimed Scottish artist Katie Paterson. “We’re really pleased to be opening with that because, in a way, it’s even more relevant now than it was when it closed,” says Simon.
“It’s about that sense of time and the universal, and one’s experience of being a human, sentient being in the face of something that we can’t comprehend, that is
just to vast for us to make sense of. But Katie does it in such an amazing way, in a very tangible form. So, for example, the glitter ball; it’s just an overwhelming sensory experience that has over 10,000 solar eclipses etched on this one ball.
“It feels like you are in the middle of this beautiful galaxy, and is perfect in a gallery that’s vast.”
However, one new exhibition will open just a few months later than originally planned.
Ray Harryhausen: Titan of Cinema is centred around the life and work of the American artist, designer and visual effects creator best known for his work providing stop-motion animation in fantasy adventure films such as 1963’s Jason and the Argonauts.
“We’ve spent four years working on it,” Simon explains. “Pretty much everybody I’ve spoken to, if they don’t know his name, know his films – and the sense of excitement around the exhibition is utterly extraordinary. We’ve had press around the world talking about it and, when those tickets are released, I think they’re going to be snapped up so quickly.
“Obviously we hope restrictions will be lifted sooner rather than later, so more people can come and see it but, as it stands, we had – and are still planning – a very experiential show, one that feels very immersive as you go in as a visitor. We aim to recreate some of that power and that sense of excitement, and just the sheer imaginative range that Harryhausen conveys in his films.”
A series of successful exhibitions in the last five years has seen pre-lockdown visitor numbers increase almost 75% at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art to more than 580,000 a year. However, Simon says numbers aren’t what drive him and his team.
“You don’t want people coming through just for the sake of counting numbers,” he says. “You want to make a difference: for our audiences to feel that their world has been enriched, challenged, reviewed, renewed.
“So even if we have to limit the number of people
– as we will – we want to ensure they get the total art gallery experience rather than just being one of a number that has to be herded through in a certain direction.”
Free tickets can be booked, up to two weeks in advance, for the Scottish National Gallery and Modern One at www.nationalgalleries.org