Week 5: More Feasible Artwork and Fee

Through discussions in the Week 5 lecture and tutorial, I realized I needed to select more practical artworks. This means my artists must be students from Edinburgh College of Art, along with other art students and emerging artists. Therefore, I chose the following works as affordable exhibition options. Their common theme is “art design transforming rural areas rather than industrial production.” For instance, Intelligent Wilderness seeks to reestablish the balance between human agriculture and wilderness within the ruins of industrial legacies. The specific works to be selected will depend on the Sciennes Gallery’s venue conditions.

Works That Raise Questions:

Yuhang Liu: Concrete Bamboo[1]

This artwork was created by a young artist from the Tsinghua University Academy of Fine Arts as part of the China Anji Yu Village Youth Co-creation Project.

Works Focused on Problem-Solving:

1. For Rural Tourism

Fangyuan Zheng: Alness Memorial Geopark Sequence[2]

This is a graduation project by a student from the Landscape Architecture program at ECA. Her design, Rendering of runway wetland park, represents an excellent measure I believe could be implemented in coastal rural areas worldwide to both entertain local residents and attract tourism. It offers a tangible solution to the problem I have identified: outward-focused tourism development that fails to align with the daily needs of local residents. I propose displaying her work—with permission—as an archival piece within the exhibition stand or cabinet.

2. For Industrial Legacy Wastelands

Kate Saldanha: Intelligent Wilderness[3]

This is also a graduation project by a Landscape Architecture student. The student examines how agricultural areas become wastelands after industrial impact and seeks solutions. It both identifies problems and proposes solutions. He visited The Cromarty Firth, Invergordon Town, and Cromlet Brownfield, aiming to achieve mutual benefit between agriculture and wilderness through the project. I hope to print his work with authorization and display it as a dense series of images on a wall.

3. Agriculture and Nature (with Souvenir Sales)

Sara Dobbs: Cooped . Farmed . Displayed[4]

This is the graduation project of an ECA Painting undergraduate. I will also present these works as a series on the wall. With her permission, I can transform the patterns from her work into items like scarves and ornaments, donating the proceeds to rural communities in urgent need of development.

 

After reading the Fair Pay: Rates of Pay Signposting Guide provided by my tutor in the tutorial, I calculated the expenses for my selected artworks[5]. I referenced the Recommended Rates of Pay on the Scottish Artists Union website to determine daily artist fees for varying work durations[6]. I further refined my exhibition schedule and estimated the necessary working hours for each artist involved in my project.

 

My overall installation time should be limited to five days, while the exhibition duration should be approximately ten days. For Yuhang Liu, I require him to bring his artwork to the venue for assembly and planning. Therefore, I will pay him approximately five days’ worth of wages. Liu is an artist with over five years of professional experience who currently teaches at Guangxi Arts University. Thus, I need to pay £359.20 × 5 = £1,796.00. The other three are 2021 graduates from Edinburgh College of Art, some of whom have five years of professional experience. For example, Kate Saldanha is a landscape architect with prior work experience[7]. For Zheng and Dobbs, I could not find any information regarding their involvement in art creation or architecture-related work. Therefore, I propose calculating their wages based on graduate rates. This brings the total artist fees to £1,796.00 + £179.60 + £117.20 + £117.20 = £2,210.00.

 

I have emailed Summerhall to inquire about the financial aspects of booking the Sciennes Gallery venue and am awaiting their response. By reviewing the Festival Information Pack 2024, Summerhall pricing for cinema venues and performing the necessary calculations[8], I estimate that renting a space comparable in size to the Sciennes Gallery for a 24-day arts festival would cost approximately £4,000. I anticipate the cost for a ten-day booking would be around £1,600.

 

[1] Art to Mountains and Rivers: Exhibition of the 2023 Anji Youth Art Creation Camp by the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University” Opens – Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University

Comprising two parts, the lower section depicts a familiar “landscape” of China’s urbanization process—concrete-poured columns—while the upper section features a tall, slender bamboo stalk crafted from welded metal. In other words, it presents a natural landscape constructed by human industry. The contrast and conflict between this industrial feel and nature make the work thought-provoking, expressing the artist’s reflection and questioning of the drawbacks exposed in the urbanization process of rural areas under the influence of industrial civilization.

[2] Fangyuan Zheng | Edinburgh College of Art Graduate Show 2021

[3] Kate Saldanha | Edinburgh College of Art Graduate Show 2021

[4] Sara Dobbs | Edinburgh College of Art Graduate Show 2021

She explores the intersection of patterns in food systems and art. She considered patterns within food systems, how communities form around food, and how artistic production mirrors patterns in farming, fishing, hunting, and foraging.

[5] Creative Scotland, Fair Pay: Rates of Pay Signposting Guide (Edinburgh: Creative Scotland, August 2022), 3.

[6] Recommended Rates of Pay (RRoP) | Scottish Artist Union

Recommended Sessional Rates Day rates are based on an 8-hour day, minimum ‘call’ is for a 4-hour session. Additional hours over 8-hours should be at a minimum of the appropriate hourly rate (see above). New Graduate Artist £234.40 p/day (£117.20 p/ ½ day) 3+ Years’ Experience £290.40 p/day (£145.20 p/ ½ day)  5+ Years’ Experience £359.20 p/day (£179.60 p/ ½ day)

[7] Kate Saldanha | LinkedIn

[8] Summerhall Arts, Summerhall Festival Information Pack 2024 (Edinburgh: Summerhall, 2024), 7–8, https://www.summerhall.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Summerhall-Festival-Information-Pack-2024.pdf