Inside Arts
Jupiter Artland row shows lessons haven’t been learned, says Brian Ferguson
There were not too many sunny days in Edinburgh this August. It felt like a despondently gloomy month almost from start to finish with the miserable weather creating a suitable backdrop to a festival-free city.
The only bright and sunny day I can clearly recall was spent rediscovering the city’s muchloved sculpture park, Jupiter Artland.
Still something of a hidden gem more than a decade after it opened just six miles away from Edinburgh Airport, the open-air countryside museum casts an immediate spell on the vast majority of its visitors due to the huge array of works of art which can be found amid the woods and meadows of the 100-acre Bonnington House estate.
I was lucky enough to experience a Narniaesque snowstorm on my first visit, thanks to a weird and wonderful installation created by Peter Liversidge, one of the many artists whose work I’ve been introduced to for the first time at Jupiter Artland, one of the first cultural venues in the country to come back to life in the aftermath of the Uk-wide lockdown.
On my most recent visit in August, it was remarkable how many new additions had been made to the permanent collection in the woodlands.
It also noticeable how rejuvenating it felt to be surrounded by art and out in the open air at the same time – an all-too-rare experience anywhere in Scotland at any time, but especially welcome after months of working from home during the pandemic.
Little did I know that within a couple of months I would be reporting on warnings from Jupiter Artland’s owners of a “significant threat” to its future.
Robert and Nicky Wilson, the art collectors who created Jupiter Artland, have not held back in their criticism of the city council after discovering that a neighbouring swathe of green belt has been earmarked for a possible housing development they described as “the least sustainable in Edinburgh”.
They claim the creation of more than 2,000 homes will “rupture the peace” and deter world-class artists who currently choose to locate some of their best work there because of its “idyllic setting”
I got a rather tetchy response back from the city council in response to the initial volley of criticism from Nicky Wilson, who told the city’s planners somewhat bluntly: “Had you put on a blindfold and stuck a pin on a map of rural west Edinburgh we do not think you could have come up with a worse site.”
I doubt that approach has won many friends in the council’s planning department, but an effective declaration of war will definitely have caught the attention of councillors charged with upholding the city’s status as a world-leading cultural destination.
The great irony is that a bitter row has erupted over a visitor attraction on the outskirts of Edinburgh at a time when the council is under pressure to ensure a greater spread of attractions, visitors and festival activity.
It again exposes the council to the criticism that despite its support and championing of festivals it fails badly when it comes to sustaining and protecting the city’s permanent cultural attractions.
It perhaps shows lessons have not been learned from previous planning rows when city centre housing developments have led to the demise of long-standing music venues and nightclubs.