Curatorial Pitch

Periphery Future

Exhibition Concept

Periphery Future explores the central question: With urban expansion and accelerating capital flows, must rural areas exist solely as peripheral spaces to be consumed? It explores this theme through two approaches: “Problem Identification” and “Design Responses.” Periphery Future does not regard the countryside as a place of decline, but rather as a pioneering frontier for experimenting with future social structures. Here, art and design become tools for reimagining the possibilities of rural life.

Artists and Artworks

Yuhang Liu’s Concrete Bamboo reveals the reality of contemporary rural areas being replaced by industry amid urbanization. Bamboo—a material symbolizing nature and locality—is substituted by concrete, serving as a metaphor for the power relations between urban and rural areas. The work no longer presents romantic nostalgia but exposes how industrial materials invade and reshape the rural landscape.

Figure 1, Yuhang Liu, Concrete Bamboo, 2023, 180 × 100 × 70 cm, Weathering steel, mirror-polished stainless steel.

Fangyuan Zheng’s Alness Memorial Geopark Sequence proposes a spatial design solution that balances the needs of local residents with tourism appeal. The artist seeks to address the issue of rural tourism focusing on “serving outsiders” while neglecting local livelihoods.

Figure 2: Fangyuan Zheng, Alness Memorial Geopark Sequence, 2021, Digital Painting and Modeling, Variable dimensions

Figure 3: Fangyuan Zheng, Alness Memorial Geopark Sequence, 2021, Digital Painting and Modeling, Variable dimensions

Figure 4: Fangyuan Zheng, Alness Memorial Geopark Sequence, 2021, Digital Painting and Modeling, Variable dimensions

Kate Saldanha’s Intelligent Wilderness addresses the damage caused by industrial sites to agricultural and natural environments. Through landscape design, the artist reestablishes a balanced relationship between agricultural production and wild ecosystems.

Figure 5: Kate Saldanha, Intelligent Wilderness, 2021 Digital Painting, Variable dimensions.

Figure 6: Kate Saldanha, Intelligent Wilderness, 2021 Digital Painting, Variable dimensions.

Figure 7: Kate Saldanha, Intelligent Wilderness, 2021 Digital Painting, Variable dimensions.

Figure 8: Kate Saldanha, Intelligent Wilderness, 2021 Digital Painting, Variable dimensions.

Sara Dobbs’s Cooped. Farmed. Displayed examines how rural areas are “displayed” within consumer culture, exploring the dynamics between agricultural production and exhibition mechanisms.

Figure 9: Sara Dobbs, Cooped . Farmed . Displayed, 2021 digital drawing made from paper collages, Variable dimensions

Figure 10: Sara Dobbs, Cooped . Farmed . Displayed, 2021 digital drawing made from paper collages, Variable dimensions

Figure 11: Sara Dobbs, Cooped . Farmed . Displayed, 2021 digital drawing made from paper collages, Variable dimensions

Figure 12: Sara Dobbs, Cooped . Farmed . Displayed, 2021 digital drawing made from paper collages, Variable dimensions

Artist and Venue Costs

£1,796.00 (Five Days, Five Years Artist) + £179.60 (Half-Day Five-Year Artist) + £117.20 (Half-day newly graduated artist) + £117.20 (Half-day new graduated artist) = £2,210.00.

By reviewing the 2024 Summerhall pricing for cinema venues and performing the necessary calculations, 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.