Art & Culture

V&A Dundee has won the Wallpaper* Design Award 2019 for the Best New Public Building. 

The building, which is home to Scotland’s first and only design museum was designed by the award winning Japanese Architect Kengo Kuma. 

The inspiration for the design of the building came from the ragged cliffs of North Eastern Scotland, while also incorporating Dundee’s rich maritime history.  The shape of the building is said to resemble the prow of a ship, similar to the V&A’s neighbour RRS Discovery.

Wallpaper* stated: "The highly sculptural V&A Dundee is Japanese architect Kengo Kuma’s first UK building – and Scotland’s first dedicated design museum.

"The ragged cliffs of north eastern Scotland inspired the composition’s distinct shape, clad in some 2,500 sheets of layered horizontal cast stone panelling.

"Yet the concrete structure appears light, bearing an abstracted resemblance to the prow of a moored ship. Kuma wanted this building to welcome visitors with a strong design gesture."

The construction of the building was ground-breaking, with no straight external walls and cladding made of pre-cast rough stone panels.

The Wallpaper* Magazine runs its design awards every year, with the winners being chosen by an elite panel of judges made up of acclaimed architects and designers from all over the world.

V&A Dundee director Philip Long said: “We're delighted to win this prestigious global award.

"Wallpaper is one of the world’s most highly respected design magazines and everyone at V&A Dundee is thrilled to have won, especially when we were shortlisted against such incredible international projects as the Apple Park Visitor Centre in California.

“V&A Dundee has already welcomed over 360,000 visitors, and we are all looking forward to an exciting year with exhibitions on videogames and the future of robots.”

Dundee City Council leader John Alexander said: "This award from Wallpaper* is a tremendous accolade for V&A Dundee. It has put our city at the centre of international attention.

"I am delighted at this award as it recognises the quality of design and ambition at the heart of this building."

V&A Dundee is situated in the heart of Dundee’s regenerated Waterfront, within close proximity of the city centre.  The museum is also within easy walking distance of the Dundee’s train and bus stations.

For more information about V&A Dundee visit: https://www.vam.ac.uk/dundee

V&A Dundee has welcomed its 100,000th visitor - just three weeks after opening its doors.

Incredibly, the waterfront design museum is already a fifth of the way towards meeting its first-year target of half a million visitors.

The lucky 100,000th person through the doors was Sheila Harkness, who was visiting with her family. She received a special gift of V&A Dundee goodies along with a Family and Friends Membership.

V&A Dundee director Philip Long said: “I’m very proud and delighted that, in just over three weeks, 100,000 people have already visited the museum.

“The feedback we have received from visitors has been fantastic and means so much to all of the team here at V&A Dundee.

“It’s been a joy to see people enjoying the galleries, exhibitions and learning activities as well as exploring the wonderful building designed by our architect Kengo Kuma and enjoying all it offers.

“We are very much looking forward to welcoming even more visitors to Scotland’s first design museum.”

V&A Dundee opens its doors for the first time to the public on Saturday 15 September 2018. Today its beautiful, light-filled interiors designed by acclaimed Japanese architect Kengo Kuma have been revealed for the first time.

As Scotland’s first design museum, V&A Dundee tells a global story, investigating the international importance of design alongside presenting Scotland’s outstanding design achievements.

V&A Dundee’s construction and fit-out took three and a half years to complete and it stands at the centre of the £1 billion transformation of the Dundee waterfront, once part of the city’s docklands.

With its complex geometry, inspired by the dramatic cliffs along the north-east coast of Scotland, it stretches out into the River Tay – a new landmark connecting the city with its historic waterfront, and a new major cultural development for Scotland and the UK.

At the heart of the museum the Scottish Design Galleries feature 300 exhibits drawn from the V&A’s rich collections of Scottish design, as well as from museums and private collections across Scotland and the world.

At the centre of these galleries stands the magnificent Charles Rennie Mackintosh Oak Room meticulously restored, conserved and reconstructed through a partnership between V&A Dundee, Glasgow Museums and Dundee City Council. Visitors to the museum will be able to experience once again Mackintosh’s extraordinary talent in designing this room, lost to view for nearly 50 years.

The ambitious international exhibition programme opens with Ocean Liners: Speed and Style, organised by the V&A and the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, the first exhibition to explore the design and cultural impact of the ocean liner on an international scale. Major exhibitions are complemented by new commissions and installations including This, looped by Glasgow-based artist and former Turner prize nominee Ciara Phillips.

Philip Long, Director of V&A Dundee, said: “The opening of V&A Dundee is a historic occasion for Dundee, for the V&A, and for the very many people who played a vital part and supported its realisation. This is a very proud moment for all involved.

“V&A Dundee’s aspiration is to enrich lives, helping people to enjoy, be inspired by and find new opportunities through understanding the designed world. After years of planning, we are thrilled at being able to celebrate the realisation of the first V&A museum in the world outside London.

“The museum’s light-filled wooden interior and impressive spaces inside have been designed to provide a warm welcome to visitors, described by architect Kengo Kuma as a ‘living room for the city’. We are all very excited indeed that we can now welcome everybody into this remarkable new museum.”

Kengo Kuma, architect of V&A Dundee, said: “The big idea for V&A Dundee was bringing together nature and architecture, to create a new living room for the city. I’m truly in love with the Scottish landscape and nature. I was inspired by the cliffs of north-eastern Scotland – it’s as if the earth and water had a long conversation and finally created this stunning shape.

"It is also fitting that the restored Oak Room by Charles Rennie Mackintosh is at the heart of this building as I have greatly admired his designs since I was a student. In the Oak Room, people will feel his sensibility and respect for nature, and hopefully connect it with our design for V&A Dundee.

I hope the museum can change the city and become its centre of gravity. I am delighted and proud that this is my first building in the UK and that people will visit it from around the world.”

The delivery of V&A Dundee has been overseen by the innovative founding partnership of the V&A, Dundee City Council, the University of Dundee, Abertay University and Scottish Enterprise. The £80.11m project was funded by the Scottish Government, The National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund and Creative Scotland, Dundee City Council, the UK Government, Scottish Enterprise, University of Dundee, Abertay University and a successful private fundraising campaign which is now complete.

Dundee City Council Leader, Councillor John Alexander said: “V&A Dundee is the perfect illustration of how the city is forging a new path and being transformed for every resident, worker and visitor. We are not a city which limits its ambitions and there is much more to come from our creative and dynamic city.

“We are predicting an economic boost in the city, estimated in the region of £11.6 million a year and the creation of 361 extra jobs across Scotland, 249 of which will be in Dundee. We also anticipate a significant number of other indirect benefits in terms of jobs and investment from new enterprise, business and increasing footfall in the city.

“V&A Dundee presents a unique and major opportunity for the city of Dundee, the contribution it will make to realising the council's ambitions and strategies for the city are hugely significant and its completion and opening represent the result of much determined effort over a ten-year period by the council and its partners.”

Tristram Hunt, Director of the V&A, said: “This cultural milestone for the city of Dundee is also a landmark moment in V&A history – we’re extremely proud to share in this exceptional partnership, the first of its kind in the UK, and to have helped establish a new international centre for design that celebrates Scotland’s cultural heritage.”

V&A Dundee has now successfully completed its capital funding programme, the most ambitious of its kind in Scotland, and will now focus on funding the museum’s exciting exhibitions and learning programmes.

Sir Peter Luff, Chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund, said: “Today the spotlight is on Scotland, and Dundee, as cultural organisations across the globe look on in awe at what has been achieved. For a small country, Scotland has an incredibly rich design heritage with creativity, innovations and inventions that have changed lives across the world.

“Thanks to £19 million of funding from The National Lottery, we now have a spectacular, world-class museum which is a beacon for those incredible achievements and an inspiration for the future of design.”

The public opening of the museum will be celebrated by the 3D Festival, a free two-day event on 14 and 15 September, which includes performances by Primal Scream in collaboration with Scottish artist Jim Lambie, Lewis Capaldi, Be Charlotte and Gary Clark of Danny Wilson as well as musical performances there will also be spectacular new dance, design and lighting collaborations, putting the audience and the museum at the heart of the show.

Free tickets to the 3D Festival on Friday 14 September and for entry to the museum on Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 September have all been allocated.

The next opportunity to visit the museum is on Monday 17 September at 10:00.

V&A Dundee is free to enter and open daily from 10.00 to 17.00.

Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Tourism and External Affairs Fiona Hyslop, said: “I am truly excited about the opening of V&A Dundee. Celebrating the important contribution Scots and Scotland have made—and continue to make—to the world of design, the museum will delight, educate and inspire visitors from far and wide, putting Scotland on the international stage.

“V&A Dundee is a powerful symbol of Dundee’s new confidence and a major addition to Scotland’s world-class collection of museums and visitor attractions. As the flagship of Dundee’s waterfront development, the museum will act as a magnet for the city’s regeneration, attracting inward investment and tourism, and creating new jobs and opportunities beyond the construction phase.

“The Scottish Government was an early supporter of the plans for V&A Dundee. I am proud that we have provided £38 million towards the construction of the building and committed an extra £361,000 in 2018-19 to support its first year of activity. The museum will be a valuable asset in both cultural and economic terms for decades to come.”

Scottish Secretary David Mundell said: “Quite simply, V&A Dundee is the biggest addition to Scotland’s cultural scene this century.

“It is a hugely exciting project – an instantly iconic new building on Dundee’s waterfront housing a treasure trove of artefacts.

“I’ve no doubt it will draw millions of people from Scotland and around the globe in the years to come and I am as excited as anyone at the prospect of seeing it for the first time.

“The UK Government provided £5million to help deliver the project. As V&A Dundee prepares to open, I’d like to congratulate everyone involved and wish this spectacular new space every success in future.”

The work of Stewart Carmichael, one of Dundee’s great champions of art, is to be featured in a new exhibition at the University of Dundee, the first major retrospective since his death in 1950.

Carmichael, who was born 150 years ago, played a leading role in developing the `Celtic Revival’ art movement in Dundee. The `Stewart Carmichael: Celtic Visions’ exhibition displays his own work and also points to the great influence he had in Dundee’s cultural development.

Curator Matthew Jarron said, "Carmichael was arguably the most important champion of art that Dundee had over half a century ago, yet his work has never received the attention it deserves. As well as his significant talents as a painter and illustrator, he was also a tireless campaigner for the role of art in the city.

"He created murals for churches and other public buildings, and played an important role in the development of early art collectives such as Dundee Art Society and the first shared artists’ studios in the city. He was also a vocal supporter of art education, including what is now Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design."

The exhibition will open in the University’s Lamb Gallery on Saturday, 15th July 2017. It has been created in partnership with The McManus: Dundee’s Art Gallery & Museum which is also celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. It also features material on loan from other local collections.

‘Stewart Carmichael: Celtic Visions’ will run until Saturday, 30th September 2017.

For more information contact museum@dundee.ac.uk or 01382 384310.

Exhibition - Museography:

Calum Colvin Reflects on The McManus Collections
Friday 7 July to Sunday 29 October 2017

The rich and varied collection displayed in The McManus: Dundee’s Art Gallery & Museum is the focus of a major new exhibition by esteemed Scottish artist and Head of Contemporary Art Practice at the University of Dundee, Calum Colvin. The artist has positioned a number of his intriguing photographs within the gallery spaces, which comment upon, and relate to, selected permanent displays throughout the galleries. They are an ‘invasion’, an ‘intervention’ an ‘interruption’.

The starting process of Colvin’s work is a 3-D studio set. The set is adorned with every kind of everyday objects – from furniture, ironing boards, gramophones and wallpaper to books, prints and even monocycles. It is onto this assortment that the artist paints his subject – a scene, an episode, a portrait.

In the gallery spaces at The McManus, Calum Colvin has been reflecting upon Dundee and its place in Scottish, British and world culture, using elements relating to the landscape, history and the people from early times to the 20th Century. Each of his interventions offer a new and surprising perspective on the key works in the gallery space, with Colvin using symbolism and metaphor, allegory and analogy, replica and similitude. An office space can become the Swiss Alps, with Napoleon on his charger; a dishevelled bedroom morphs into a lake with a white swan (Mute Swan); a sitting room becomes a roost for pigeons or a set for Robbie Burns (The Common Runt); an artist’s studio a space inhabited by Bonnie Prince Charlie, but with fancy cakes replacing the colours on the artist’s palette (Portrait of Charles Edward Stuart (after Liotard)).

Added to this stunning mix are 3-D photographs, that challenge the nature of photography as a two-dimensional practice, and also complicated ‘Mirror Anamorphosis’ where the stretched photograph is laid flat in a circular form and viewed from an upright cylindrical mirror, in the centre of the piece, allowing the imagery to take shape as a subject.

The end result is magical – stunning works which are almost like a puzzle or riddle. Familiar objects become fascinating and mysterious. In each photograph, the more you look, the more you see.

The exhibition is one of a number of exciting exhibitions and events in a year-long programme to celebrate the 150th anniversary of The McManus. Admission is free. Opening times: Mon to Sat 10am-5pm; Sun 12.30-4.30pm.

For information visit www.leisureandculturedundee.com and www.mcmanus.co.uk

Comics students and alumni from the University of Dundee have won a host of awards at the Scottish Independent Comic Book Awards, held as part of Glasgow Comic Con.

Dundee students past and present had been nominated in all of the categories, and duly picked up a string of successes.

The winner of the ‘Up and Coming Talent’ award went to Catriona Laird for her comic `Stinger’. Catriona is a graduate of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design (part of the University), and completed a comics module in 2015. She is now one of the studio members at Ink Pot Studios, which is part of Dundee Comics Creative Space, where she also volunteers as a facilitator on children’s comics classes.

Letty Wilson, who studied on the MLitt in Comics Studies at the University, won the ‘Best Graphic Novel’ award for ‘A Stranger Came To Town’. Letty won the ‘Up and Coming Talent’ award last year for her art on `Cosmic’, a project she started on the masters course in Dundee. Cosmic’s co-creator Erin Keepers also came runner-up in the ‘Best Writer’ category this year, for her work in Cosmic Issue 3.

In the ‘Best Single Issue’ award, the winner was an anthology, ‘Video Games for Good’ which features a strip by current MDes Comics & Graphic Novels student Zu Dominiak. Zu’s work will be featured in Duncan of Jordanstone’s forthcoming Masters Show, which launches on 18th August.

Chris Murray, Professor of Comic Studies at the University, said, "I am delighted that so many people from our courses and the Dundee Comics Creative Space were nominated for these awards, but even happier with the final results. To take home awards from almost all the categories is a remarkable achievement, and testament to the talent we have here in Dundee. A big congratulations to all of our winners and runners up."

Phillip Vaughan, Course Director for the MDes in Comics & Graphic Novels course, presented the ‘Outstanding Contribution to Comics’ award to Ian Kennedy. Ian is from Dundee, and has been working in the comics industry for over 60 years. He is still going strong, and contributes covers to `Commando’ comic, as well as doing the occasional talk to comics students in Dundee.

Phillip said, "This is a well-deserved award to one of comics’ most successful freelancers ever and I was truly honoured to be asked to present it to Ian. He was an inspiration to me, but is now an inspiration to a whole new generation of comics creators.

"I have been lucky enough to work with him over the last five years, and he has even produced a cover for a comic based on the life of Sir D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, the first Professor of Biology at Dundee, which is coming out later this year."

Dundee’s £1billion waterfront redevelopment project was linked firmly to the city’s heritage of discovery and innovation today, with the formal unveiling of the Discovery Walk.

Discovery Walk is a series of specially designed bronze plaques commemorating famous people from or connected with Dundee who have made significant contributions to science and society.

Lord Provost Bob Duncan of the City of Dundee formally unveiled the first ten plaques to be installed in Discovery Walk, at Slessor Gardens on the city's Central Waterfront.

There are nine plaques commemorating scientists, engineers, writers, artists, social reformers and philanthropists, plus a tenth plaque introducing the Walk.

The individuals being celebrated were chosen in a public consultation exercise last year. The criteria for selection were that the nominees must be deceased and must have either been born or spent much of their time in Dundee.

They must have made a notable or influential discovery or innovation, either in Dundee or clearly linked to the city.

The audience for the event included relatives of those being honoured in the plaques, together with colleagues, supporters and all of those who have made the Walk possible.

Lord Provost of Dundee Bob Duncan said: "The city already has a number of interesting and exciting attractions that bring tourists to Dundee and it is wonderful that we can now add the Discovery Walk to that list.

"Our heritage is studded with prominent people in a wide variety of disciplines and it is great to see them being celebrated and commemorated in this way."

Discovery Walk is the brainchild of Kelly Marr, an Australian who has made Dundee her home.

She said: "I was inspired by the famous Writers’ Walk around Sydney Harbour celebrating more than 50 writers either from or associated with Australia in some way. During the last 20 years I would hear about some of the great innovations that were made in Dundee, and I always felt that it was a great shame that such achievements were not celebrated publicly.

"To understand the people included in Discovery Walk is to understand that great achievements are the result of intellect, certainty, determination, generosity and imagination. These are the examples that will be passed on to all generations of Dundonians, inspiring the city to retain the accolade of being a world-recognised progressive and innovative centre of achievement."

Ten organisations in the city have agreed to be Champions of Discovery Walk. NCR are overall Champions, and each of the plaques has a Champion closely linked to the achievement being celebrated.

Adam Crighton, Vice-President at NCR in Dundee, said: "NCR considers it an honour and a privilege to champion this unique and important project as we celebrate our 70^th year in Dundee in 2016. Courageous, forward thinking individuals, like the ones we are paying tribute to today, are undoubtedly at the forefront of driving innovations that enable us to evolve and grow as both individuals and as a society. NCR has a proud history of continuous innovation over the last 130 years, a number of which would simply not have been possible without the creative legacy of the candidates that we honour today."

Dundee-based artist and illustrator Suzanne Scott, who works under the name WhimSicAL LusH, has been commissioned to design the first 10 plaques. Suzanne has exhibited all over Scotland and her unique illustrations have featured in widely sold prints, stationary, mugs and jewellery.

Suzanne said: ""I am beyond delighted to have been asked to be a part of this exciting and interesting project. To have my work be part of the Dundee Waterfront is such an honour. I was born in Dundee and came back to live here 15 years ago. I never left as it is a beautiful and inspiring city, which I am proud to live in."

The Discovery Walk project is being steered by a group comprising representatives of Dundee City Council, Abertay Historical Society, Abertay University, University of Dundee, Dundee Science Centre and Axis Shield Diagnostics.

The group hopes to be able to raise further funding to extend the Walk with more plaques in the future.