Artist Profile: Iain Irving

Iain Irving's studio, Outer Spaces, Ocean Point, Edinburgh

Iain Irving is an independent curator, producer and writer based in Edinburgh, who's been a resident at two Outer Spaces properties over the past 18 months. We asked Iain to share a bit about his experience of working in our spaces and being part of the network.

My Outer Spaces open-plan space is in a tall 8-story unoccupied office block, on the edge of the docks, surrounded by the Firth of Forth, various marine vessels, a shopping centre and the ever-expanding waterfront housing developments.

This is the second OS space I’ve had. Previously, I used a space in the redundant Royal London offices on Henderson Row, and I’ve been participating in the OS project for about a year and a half. As the spaces are temporary for our use, we take this on-board when we are setting up our selected spaces. The environment is created by us all, and it produces a special atmosphere and context to help with our creativity, which in my case includes writing essays on art, design, culture, history and everyday experiences, all spliced together into various textual outputs. While at Henderson Row, in my work, I initially focussed on developing creative nonfiction essays, through outputs such as online texts, zines, posters, publications and even t-shirts. It was a time to just get things going on my ambitions, thoughts and abilities, and my newfound friends and studio buddies helped with the momentum to produce my work.

Iain Irving in his studio, Outer Spaces, Henderson Row, Edinburgh

Iain Irving's studio, Outer Spaces, Henderson Row, Edinburgh

These spaces are essentially still office buildings but for a time they are creative making environments, and this aspect will remain as part of the building’s history.

A studio space for creative people is an important place, no matter where it is, but the existence of the OS spaces facilitates having that place to go to; that space which is not your home; that environment you share with other creatives, and also, that you take care of as a collective of like-minded people who want to do this - to be involved and generate creativity for themselves and hopefully share it in time with the wider arts and public community.

I find that being part of the OS community has given me a certain additional identity. While I go about making my work, being out and about seeing exhibitions and art projects, and also while socialising, it is something I talk to others about. They seem intrigued that such a unique scenario exists in today’s economic context, and want to know more - so I tell them.

I really enjoy the shared spaces, and although everyone seems to be at different stages of producing their art and creativity, this is healthy - as there is no hierarchy. The sharing of ideas, processes, and knowledge from our own individual learning and experiences while we are together, is a very valuable thing.

The sharing of the spaces also encourages a collective solidarity too. We look after each other, and our space through our work. The OS spaces which I have occupied have all been open-plan, I chose this, as I enjoy seeing others, while I’m being creative. These office spaces were previously the domain of a different collective of people who shared their work and lives. We can sense the previous occupants, from left-over office equipment, such as large movable white-boards which still have mind-maps drawn on them, lockable cabinets with their names still written on the doors, conference-sized folding tables, or full-on canteen fixtures and fittings. Even in my current space at Ocean Point, where we found less physical office equipment, apart from the essential heat-shielding blinds, there are scuffed footmarks on the carpet-tiled floor where the office workers sat at their computer desks.

Iain Irving in his studio, Outer Spaces, Ocean Point, Edinburgh

Earlier this year we were asked to vacate the Henderson Row spaces and were informed that another space would be found in due course, as this is what the OS team do. They work hard to find these spaces, and in time we were able to move into the Ocean Point space in May.

So, having been here at Ocean Point for a few months, along with some others who were also at Henderson Row, and a whole bunch of new colleagues, I am glad that this project exists. I now have a bigger space enabling me to make larger-scaled work of textual pieces and expand my practice into areas of work and outputs that I didn’t think I would do. It's good to just get lost in your creativity, in your meanwhile space, and see what develops.

Find out more about Iain's work:

Website

Instagram

Images courtesy of the artist.