MAGAZINE 10 @ Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop

For many people, visiting Edinburgh during festival season is all about bagpipes, dodgy plays, experimental dance, and literally thousands of flyers extolling the hilarity of the next big comic genius. Planning your festival experience is key, and getting off the beaten track might just uncover a few hidden gems. But remember, for every hidden nugget there are half a dozen living statues wrapped in tin-foil cluttering up the High Street.

Nestled in sunny Newhaven, the Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop has built its reputation on encouraging and nurturing new artistic talent. If you want a break from the blockbuster summer shows – Turner Prize winners, Impressionist gardens, Dali and Magritte – and you want to see some brand spanking new work from bright young sculptors, then Newhaven is the place to be. Their programme for August, entitled MAGAZINE 10, showcases the specially commissioned talents of Katie Orton, Paul Rooney and Kate V. Robertson.

Opening the show on 1 August is Katie Orton. Trained at Edinburgh College of Art, her work is patronised by the likes of Charles Saatchi – worth a look surely? Mixing materials like cardboard and lino, Orton attempts to sniff out the importance and symbolism lurking within everyday objects.

Next up is another ECA survivor, Paul Rooney. Running from the 14th to the 22nd, this installation incorporates Rooney’s interest in storytelling and narrative, featuring a felled tree and projected text that describes the tree’s frustrated musings on life, time and consequence.

Finally, the show closes with Kate V. Robertson. Intriguingly described as a ‘fountain-esque sculpture of ink, paper, cement and bricks’, Robertson’s installation randomly comes to life with explosions of ink.

MAGAZINE 10 is shaping up to be a possible festival highlight. Along with the the tin-foil statues, that is. [Benjamin Bennett]