Billboard for Edinburgh an innovative project which has been running for the past 6 years, in the heart of the Scottish capital has announced this years artist as Charles Avery. In summer 2008, when Ingleby Gallery moved to its new premises on Calton Road, the abandoned billboard on the end wall of the building (home to a tattered, weather-worn Goldfrapp poster) was transformed into an ambitious new, public art project for the city.
The first artist to create a work for the site was Turner Prize winner Mark Wallinger and since then a host of established and emerging artists have created a large-scale image for the 10 x 13.5 ft hoarding. Each artist’s billboard remains in place for 3 months before being pasted over by the next installation. Previous participants have included Rachel Whiteread, Antony Gormley, Cornelia Parker and John Stezaker as well as leading Scottish artists Peter Doig, Anya Gallaccio and Martin Boyce.
Memorable billboards from the series include Bob and Roberta Smith’s call to “Bring Back Edinburgh’s Trams”, Ceal Floyer’s minimalist installation Corner and Ruth Ewan’s surprisingly relevant rules for our society, reintroducing us to the ideals of the Socialist Sunday School movement that first came into being over 100 years ago. Martin Boyce’s abstract image Projectile Sun currently occupies the billboard site but on 30th July, the eve of the city’s annual Edinburgh Art Festival, Charles Avery’s contribution to the project will be unveilled. Avery, whose work is currently on display at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh as part of the nationwide celebration of contemporary art GENERATION, has created a new text piece for the billboard which derives from the posters and billboards found in his drawings of the fictional distopian city of Onomatopoeia, part of his celebrated epic project The Islanders. Avery’s installation will be the 25th work created for the ongoing Billboard for Edinburgh series and will be on display until the end of October 2014.
As part of the project, Charles Avery will also create a limited edition screenprint of his image, published in an edition of 50 and priced £500 + VAT. Other prints from the series are still available to purchase from Ingleby Gallery.
Chronological list of Billboard for Edinburgh participants to date: Mark Wallinger, Rachel Whiteread, Bob & Roberta Smith, Cerith Wyn Evans, Tacita Dean, Ceal Floyer, Jonathan Monk, Adam McEwen, Kenny Hunter, Antony Gormley, Bethan Huws, Ugo Rondinone, Cornelia Parker, Ryan Gander, Ruth Ewan, Anya Gallaccio, Craig Coulthard, Susan Hiller, John Stezaker, Marine Hugonnier, Peter Doig, David Austen, Jamie Shovlin and Martin Boyce.