Artist-run gallery Embassy is celebrating its tenth anniversary, with birthday party celebrations, the launch of a commission and a new members’ publication, X (the Roman numeral for ten).
The Edinburgh gallery is managed by a committee of volunteers consisting of up to seven artists and arts professionals. With support from Creative Scotland and Edinburgh College of Art, The University of Edinburgh (ECA), the gallery also relies on membership fees to fund exhibitions and events. Members also play a crucial role in sustaining the work of the organisation, contributing ideas and energy to the project.
“We are celebrating the fact that Embassy is constituted by its ongoing member base,” explain the committee, who wished to comment collectively rather than as individuals. “It is with this in mind that we consistently make efforts to engage with our members through a range of elements in our annual programme.”
Described as a “reflection of the members base”, contributions for X – including written pieces, photography and other visual works – were selected by the committee via an open call.
“We wanted the publication to be as open and interpretive as possible so as to be accessible to a wide range of practitioners. It is an opportunity for us to continue to develop our relationship with existing members as well as create provisions for prospective members to engage with.”
Foundations and collaboration
As well as the open dialogue encouraged at its AGMs, Embassy engages with its members and audience in a myriad of other forms. The members’ Salon Show, something many artist-led and member-based galleries produce, offers a chance for artists to present work in the gallery.
The Annuale Festival programme every summer provides a critical mass for other artist-led groups to present projects on a collective and citywide scale. The gallery also regularly launches open calls for member-led events.
While it has a strong focus on representing its membership, Embassy also works with other organisations and institutions. The X publication has been collaboratively produced with Workhorse Press, a Risograph press founded in 2010 and now based at Rhubaba Studios, a neighbouring artist-led space in Edinburgh.
Embassy also has a commitment to local student cohorts in the form of exhibitions and professional development teaching at ECA. In fact, its foundations as both an organisation and gallery space, built up committee by committee since 2004, are entrenched in the artist-led scene in Edinburgh, as well as further afield through its annual residency exchange programme.
“We are always challenging ourselves to produce inventive ways to create new platforms, for activity that is inclusive of the many differing perspectives and practices of our members.”
Variety of mediums
Embassy’s tenth anniversary celebrations continue its commitment to working with artists across a variety of mediums. The birthday party, to be held in the gallery on 5 December, features sound work and sets from, amongst others, CHANNELS and previous collaborator Red Death (Nik Herd). Both are representative of the experimental sound scene in Edinburgh which Embassy has close links to.
The organisation’s new commission – which “seeks to expand Embassy’s longstanding offsite programme” – will also be launched at the celebrations. The web-based work, medieval modernity.today, is produced by Post Norma, a collective based in Amsterdam North. “The work is a showcase of advert artworks, or adworks, that incorporate the specificity of online space as a site of production and distribution.”
Embassy regularly experiments with digital tools to present artists’ practice and to question terms of exhibition and representation. For its last exhibition, Vitae, it hosted artworks on its website for limited periods.
Its 2014 residency exchange, resulting in a solo exhibition by ECA graduate Lewis den Hertog, took place with the online #0000FF Gallery. And its 2013 residency exchange with Mexico Project Space in Leeds was consolidated in the online publication 574123n52727w-195195.com, featuring new work from participating artists.
For Embassy, this rich mix is all part of its considered approach to artistic practice. “We understand there is no single provision that can necessarily cater for everybody,” says the committee.
