City's 'gothic rocket' fires into Fringe as new venue

Published on Friday 16 July 2010 19:32

IT HAS stood at the heart of the Capital for more than 150 years and attracts visitors by the thousands.

But now, for the first time, the Scott Monument is to join the city's other major landmarks as the Fringe Festival's latest venue.

The famous "gothic rocket", as Bill Bryson dubbed it, will host a photography exhibition over three weeks next month to celebrate the work of eight artists from the Capital.

The Edinburgh 283 exhibition will be based on the first floor, and hopes to attract passing visitors and those making their way up the 200ft monument.

It aims to showcase the work of professionals working across the city, including work by Karl Chapman, general manager of the Usher Hall, Rebecca Peppiette, an arts development manager for the council, and David Johnston, who runs an recording studio in Leith.

Rebecca, 39, said that the exhibition, which is named after the number of days in which there is no festival going on in the city, will focus on 15 images to do with the famous poet and novelist.

She said: "We decided to build our collection around the theme of Scott himself. We all have quite different styles, and I've taken a shot of a model in Glenogle pool before they put the water back in as a 'Lady of the Lake' image, because it's the 200th anniversary.

"Scott also didn't punctuate any of his work, and just sent it to the printers for them to do, so Colin Usher incorporated punctuation into his pictures. Ivon has a lovely image of a secret staircase he used to use to sneak off to write and Karl is rocket-tastic, as Bryson calls the monument Edinburgh's Gothic Rocket.

"Also we couldn't do anything above the first floor, because half of the photographers couldn't make it any higher, so we've based the exhibition there. People can pass it as they start the ascent to the top.

The Scott Monument, which has joined the other Edinburgh landmarks that transform themselves into Fringe venues, including the Pleasance, the General Assembly and Teviot union, has also embraced the iPhone app.

Rebecca added: "I think the museum was slightly surprised about some of the ideas that we came up with, but we thought giving the Scott Monument its own app is a great way to increase the number of people looking at the exhibition.

"It'll be the first time a major Scottish monument pops up on the Apple App Store."

A spokesperson for the Fringe Festival added: "Diverse and unique venues make the Festival Fringe what it is, and it's a testament to Edinburgh that there are new venues year on year. As an open arts festival the Fringe welcomes new venues and companies creating innovative work."