Jupiter Artland’s offsite project, JUPITER+ DUNDEE, has the ambitious mission to engage with every child in Scotland to see world class art, activate their agency and develop a personal creative activism that will be a powerful tool in a creative fulfilling life.
This Autumn they will partner with world-renowned artist Lindsey Mendick for a major new commission that will look at social mobility and becoming a teenager. The commission will draw visitors from across the region and be open to the public for 56 days, until December 21st, with admission free.
Mendick will transform a vacant high street shop (15 Reform Street Dundee) in Dundee, creating an immersive artwork that explores social class, vulnerability and formative experiences relating to place and home. The artist will make the shop into an ‘imagined estate agency’ where she will examine class and identity, social mobility, and give voice to teenage dreams, aspirations and fears.
Lindsey Mendick is known for her work in ceramics, embedding her sculptures within installations that include stained glass, film, furniture, large stage sets and performance. Her intricate multimedia installation in Dundee will include her meticulously crafted and richly glazed ceramics, stained glass and audio. Mendick also has shown work at Jupiter Artland, which won the prestigious Sky Arts Award in 2023.
Jupiter Artland, the award winning sculpture park in Edinburgh, has a mission for ‘Every Child in Scotland’ to have access to transformational experiences through contemporary art and learning opportunities. JUPITER+ is their ambitious, nationwide off-site programme that brings world class art to high streets across Scotland to achieve this aim. Beyond its status as ‘museum’ or ‘gallery’, Jupiter seeks to be a more vital institution, with education at its heart. Jupiter Artland’s Learning Foundation continues to grow its free classes and has had over 80,000 participants. JUPITER+ has taken place in Perth (2022), Ayr (2023) and Paisley (2024) with art by internationally renowned artists Rachel Maclean and Anya Gallaccio.
The project – named Growing Pains – will also unflinchingly surface both the beauty and darkness of vulnerable emotional states, finding glimmers of hope through humour and openness. The installation also casts a critical eye across urban development, capitalism and profit – the mechanisms that underpin the places and conditions in which we live.
The bespoke JUPITER+ Learning Studio based in a high street shop will offer free learning for learners from every school in the county as well as young people and community groups, delivering agency through critical thinking, collaboration, creative activism and self-development. The sessions will also provide mentoring, practical skills, experimentation and inspirational teaching to open up the potential of a career in the creative industries.
To date over 21,500 visitors have engaged with Jupiter+ and its’ projects across Scotland.
“Jupiter + is an ambitious national programme that brings world class art to the high streets and the young people of Scotland, be proud of their community, spark an ambition to work in the creative industries and secure Scotland’s Cultural future and we are delighted to bring it to Dundee, with Lindsay Mendick. The foundation has over 100,000 learners to date both at Jupiter Artland and through Jupiter+. Working together with local councils, we create a learning studio that becomes the incubator for these young practitioners. The workshops provoke new thinking at an important stage of development and when fundamental decisions about their future are about to be made. Jupiter + provides mentoring, practical skills and inspirational teaching through experimentation and exploration and by taking creative risks to open a world of possibilities to young people. Every school in the area is invited to attend and visit the commissioned work. We are delighted by the engagement and feedback in our Jupiter + project to date which demonstrated to us that really challenging artwork together with careful supportive dynamic learning, provokes a sense of agency and creative activism in our students”
Nicky Wilson, Founder of Jupiter Artland,
Jupiter’s Youth Collective ORBIT will run alongside JUPITER+, bringing together a group of creative young people from each council area for a year-long, youth-led programme that includes workshops, residential trips, visits to exhibitions and artists’ studios, alongside individualised portfolio building and one-to-one mentorship. In 2024 Lindsey Mendick welcomed the 2024–5 ORBIT cohort to her studio as part of their London and Margate residential trip.
Building the legacy of JUPITER+ beyond the programme of creative learning, the Learning Studio will be converted for use as studio space. Artists in Residence will be selected via an open call for early-career artists living locally. Each selected artist will receive the studio space rent-free for six months, with all bills covered, a small stipend for materials and support from Jupiter’s Curatorial team.
JUPITER+ aims to inspire the next generation of artists and cultural leaders in Scotland, breakdown preconceptions of what art is, who should feel welcome, and what types of people succeed with careers in the creative industries.
The installation will be free to visit and open from Tuesday to Sunday, 10am – 4pm, with extended opening hours to coincide with events, festivals, school and public holidays. Growing Pains the art installation is open from Saturday 13th September until Sunday 21st December with the learning running Monday to Friday at the nearby Learning studio on Castle Street.
jupiterartland.org/jupiter-dundee/
About
LINDSEY MENDICK received an MA in Sculpture from the Royal College of Art, London. Her autobiographical work offers a form of catharsis, encouraging the viewer to explore their own personal history through the revisionist lens of the artist. Her 2023 exhibition at Jupiter Artland won the Sky Arts Award for Visual Arts, she was the recipient of the Henry Moore Foundation Artist Award in 2020 and the Alexandra Reinhardt Memorial Award in 2018. Mendick has participated in solo and group exhibitions at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Hayward Gallery, Carl Freedman Gallery, Somerset House, Jeffrey Deitch, Cooke Latham, and Hannah Barry Gallery among others. Mendick’s own artist-led project Quench, in Margate, provides vital support for early career artists through a programme of exhibitions and mentoring. Mendick is represented by Carl Freedman Gallery.
JUPITER ARTLAND is an award-winning contemporary sculpture garden located just outside of Edinburgh, founded in 2008 by Nicky and Robert Wilson. Jupiter has an international reputation for innovation and creativity. Set across 100 acres of meadow, woodland and indoor galleries, Jupiter is home to over 35 permanent sculptures, seasonal exhibitions and events. Beyond its status as ‘museum’ or ‘gallery’, Jupiter seeks to be a more vital institution, with education at its heart. The Learning Foundation continues to grow its free classes and has had over 100,000 participants. JUPITER+ has taken place in Perth (2022), Ayr (2023) and Paisley (2024) with art by internationally renowned artists Rachel Maclean and Anya Gallaccio.
