đ Weekâs Focus
This weekâs lecture explores place-responsive curatorial programming through the work of ATLAS Arts, a rurally-situated contemporary arts organisation working across Skye, Raasay, and Lochalsh. Frances Davis introduces three ATLAS projectsâSamhla, The School of Plural Futures, and the Tobar an Dualchais Residencyâto examine how art engages with landscape, community, and speculative futures. Weâll consider how these dispersed, relational practices enact ATLASâs vision of being âa carrier of stories, artworks, and the cultures of (this) placeâ across island geographies and through digital innovation. Inspired by ATLASâs embedded approach, I reflected on the importance of locality in my own SICP project. Their use of residency models also prompted me to consider inviting artists into the tunnel site for short-term, place-specific research and production.
đđ»ââïžCollective Planning Meeting
In this weekâs 2-minute SICP presentation, I offered feedback on Beichen Huangâs âPlay & Payâ project. I suggested adding a stamp-collecting system that rewards audience interaction: as visitors engage with different sections of the exhibition, they collect stampsâjust like leveling up in a game.
âïžSICP Weekly Development LogÂ
Exhibition Name: Echo of Petals in the Dark
The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.
Ezra Pound, In a Station of the Metro(1913)
Explanation of the Core Imagery in the Title:
1. Dark – The underground, concealed and illegal nature of Telfer Subway is related to Marc Auge’s “non-place” theory.
2. Petals – from Pound’s poem, symbolizing a transient, beautiful yet fragile existence, corresponding to the anonymous graffiti, photographic works in the tunnel, as well as the concept of Ghost Art.
3. Echo – Emphasizing the remnants of sound, the imprints of history, and forgotten tales, it is also related to the acoustic characteristics of underground spaces.
Exhibition Venue: Telfer Subway
Core research questionïŒHow can Ghost Art transform a ânon-placeâ into a âplaceâ?
Sub-questions
- How will Telfer Subway be re-perceived after the exhibition?
- Can anonymous art create a new sense of “place”?
- Can contemporary art challenge the power structure and endow forgotten spaces with new cultural value?
Ghost Art
Ghost Art is inspired by Hito Steyerlâs Poor Image theory and expands beyond images to include contemporary artistic mediums such as printing, objects, site-specific sound installations, video projections, and mixed media interventions. It not only refers to low-quality, anonymous, illegal, and fragmented artistic forms but also emphasizes the ghostly presence of art in âNon-Placesâ (Non-Place)âdifficult to categorize, existing on the margins, drifting outside the mainstream, yet briefly manifesting in certain spaces and moments, leaving an impact.
- Core Characteristics:
1. Lo-fi & Informality
2. Reproducibility & Circulation
3. Marginality & Underground
4. Anti-aesthetic & Anti-elitism
Exhibition Purpose
- Not to “decorate” the tunnel, but to magnify its marginality and illegality, making them the curatorial language.
- Focus on anonymous visual culture and use poor art as a strategy to build local identity.
- Experiment with curatorial approaches and explore the possibilities of the underground art ecosystem.
Exhibition Composition Modules
1. Main Exhibition
An online exhibition based on the 3D-model of Telfer Subway + a  website similar to Atlas arts https://atlasarts.org.uk (but much simpler)
- Media: printing; Objects; Site-specific sound installations, video projections, mixed media interventions.
- Artists: 5, choosing quite popular contemporary art artists
Figure 1. The Diggers, All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace, 1967. Printing. COMMUNICATION COMPANY. Printed JanâSept 1967. Flyer, print on yellow paper, 27.9 Ă 21.6 cm. Vintage.
2. Artist Residency Program
- “Poor Image Flash Mob” at Telfer Subway – Yiran Gu: Quickly set up projection equipment(borrow from ECA bookit) in the early morning to project sculpture installation-like works as blurry two-dimensional images onto the walls or floors of the tunnel, and record it in video form to create a digital archive.
- Invite CAP‘s young artist Keyi Ju to do a residency project. The theme revolves around Telfer Subway and the concept of non-place, with the specific form to be determined.
- Invite young musician Dayson Yang to do a residency project. (Artist’s initial idea: Record sound materials in the tunnel, such as finger snaps or clapping, and create a piece of contemporary music to play in the tunnel)
- Invite a young musician( e-mail contacting…) to perform on-site, record the reactions of passers-by, and directly respond to the exhibition theme.
3. Public Program
Stroll through Telfer Subway
4. Publication Plan
Telfer Subway Memoirs (Collect the memories of the surrounding people about the subway, using oral history as the writing style, describing the changes, anecdotes, crimes, and trading scenes of the subway…)
SICP: Sketching Artist Residency & Exhibition Structure © 2025 by Yiran Gu is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 
20 February 2025 at 00:16
Your blog is very interesting, and I like your exhibition venueđïŒ Your fieldwork on the Telfer subway was extensive. This tunnel is very close to my home, but I have only passed by without looking carefully, thank you for your blog letting me know that there are so many interesting things in it. Your blogs over the past few weeks clearly demonstrated the rationale that lies in your idea of turning subway tunnels into a cultural place using potential media methods like sound devices and video projection. You also introduced some informal art ideologies like ghost art. However, there appears to be an inconsistency with your artistâs residency programs and the purpose you want to serve, which is to amplify its marginality and illegality. I am not really sure how the positivity in your proposed demonstration is necessarily connected with the so-called âinformalityâ and âgrey areaâ that you desire to express. I look forward to seeing more alignment between the two. Overall, your project is very clear and engagingïŒ
6 March 2025 at 16:44
Pitch Feedback
The feedback from your peers suggests you could benefit from refining the artist selection to help focus key works would enhance cohesion. Strengthening narrative connections between artworks will create a more immersive experience. Expanding events, workshops, and performances could deepen engagement, while integrating found graffiti and photography will enrich the siteâs context. But refine is key, more is not always better and it was suggested that focusing and bringing together the various approaches in a cohesive way would strength an already strong speculative project outline.
Your curatorial pitch presents a compelling exploration of place, memory, and urban transformation through the lens of graffiti, photography, and digital media. The use of Telfer Subway as a site-specific exhibition is particularly effective, engaging with Marc AugĂ©âs concept of ânon-placeâ and Hito Steyerlâs âpoor imageâ to examine how neglected urban spaces can be reinterpreted.
Your inclusion of VR models, video projections, and sound installations adds depth, making the exhibition immersive and accessible beyond the physical location. However, further clarification on audience engagement would strengthen your proposal. How will visitors interact with the artworks, both physically and digitally? Additionally, more details on the artist residency and public programs could refine the exhibitionâs impact.
Your reference to urban interventions, oral history publications, and experimental soundscapes is strong, but integrating more visuals in your presentation could enhance clarity. Overall, this is a well-researched and conceptually rich project with strong curatorial potential.
Blog Feedback
It is great to see you incorporating ideas and suggestions from the lectures that youâve attended. It is also great to see you include your research and find ways of integrating 3D models into your project proposals. It is also encouraging to see you carrying out site visits. This has enabled you to become more familiar with the space and list any possible positives and negatives to curating an exhibition there. You have used photography to illustrate and evidence this experience well. You are beginning to articulate a deeper understanding of Marc AugĂ©âs theory of non-place, which you have recognised in your own exhibitionâs location. This is also true of your understanding and incorporation of Hito Steyerlâs theory of the poor image. It is interesting to see you prioritise Scotland-based artists in your project. This makes sense to the location of your project.
You are using your blog well and posting regularly. Each blog post seems to articulate your ideas clearly. It is clear that your project is developing in a more refined and concise way. Your choice of title is good and relates very well to your curatorial theories and approach. As noted in your pitch feedback when introducing a new curatorial theory such as âghost artâ, you clearly articulate its core characteristics to the audience. This is something you are beginning to do, but I believe a concise piece of text that explains its concepts will benefit the audience. It is important to understand that the project is speculative and that you do not actually have to carry it out. However, it is great to see the level of planning and detail you have put into planning your project.