Grey Gardens an exhibition at Dundee Contemporary Arts

Grey Gardens 

27th February 2016 until 1 May 2016 (open daily 11:00 to 18:00)

@ Dundee Contemporary Arts 

part of Scotland’s Festival of Architecture 2016

This exhibition under the distinctly permissive theme of Art and Architecture inspired by nature and modernity makes excellent use of two hefty galleries at Dundee Contemporary Arts.

To my shame I have not visited the DCA before and the building itself is rather spectacular, in common with the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh this is another post industrial architectural repurposing by Richard Murphy Architects. The DCA also incorporates a couple of cinema screens, and is the sort of lively arts hub that would be the envy of any city. Dundee is posing a serious threat to Glasgow as Scotland’s design led regeneration capital. It is also possible to pick up a nice lunch and sit outside on the rare clement days. 

The exhibition includes material on the Glenrothes and Cumbernauld appointed artists for those new towns, as well as material on post war modernist housing in Scotland. Personally while I love European modernism or Los Angeles case study houses, the Scottish variety simply reminds me of unloved municipal buildings. Perhaps there is something to do with the Scottish lack of light and prevailing wetness that makes epic windows and expanses of concrete impractical and inappropriate. However with the recent resurgence in the appreciation of brutalism, Scottish modernism is due a reappraisal. There is material on the Las Pozas jungle follies of Edward James, which look like the lost inca cities of Piranesi. There are also some photos demonstrating how the differing light picks out different details in Carlo Scarpa’s Tomba Brion. 

addition to the usual photos, there are a variety of models, a film loop of Scottish modernist houses, many commissioned by doctors, a loop of a fascinating and odd film about Edward James, though leaving the lengthy credits on the loop might deter those dropping in. 

I am sure that I have not covered everything, and as with the DCA itself, there is plenty here to repay repeated visits.