The Edinburgh Salon

Our seventh Salon event was held on February 1, 2010 at Liam Ross’ flat in Leith. This Salon was focused on the theme of art scenes and the dynamics of the art world. Instead of our usual selection of scholarly articles that we distribute ahead of the Salon, we chose to send just one link, to Anita Zabludowicz’s art diary.

The delicious meal, handmade by Siobhan Dunn and Nicki Sprinz, consisted of miniature pizzas, salad, and a scrumptious cheesecake for pudding.

The attendees were:
Michelle Kasprzak (Salon organiser)
Kirsten Lloyd (Salon organiser)
Liam Ross (University of Edinburgh/host)
Neil Mulholland (Edinburgh College of Art)
Stacy Boldrick (Fruitmarket Gallery)
Moira Jeffrey (Art journalist)
Rocca Gutteridge (Artachat)
Dan Brown (Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop)

Our sixth Salon event was held on November 30, 2009 at Liam Ross’ flat in Leith. This Salon was focused on the theme of art and architecture. We distributed a few articles in advance of the event to inform our discussion:

A Clean, Well-Lit Space
Radical Nature: Art and Architecture for a Changing Planet

The food, as usual, was lovely. Handmade by Siobhan Dunn and Nicki Sprinz, the meal consisted of vegetarian spring rolls, tofu salad, soba noodle salad, mixed vegetables, chicken satays, and crudités. So delicious!

The attendees were:
Michelle Kasprzak (Salon organiser)
Kirsten Lloyd (Salon organiser)
Liam Ross (University of Edinburgh/host)
Daniel Hermann (National Galleries of Scotland)
Suzanne Ewing (University of Edinburgh)
Jennie Temple (Telford College/artist)

Our fifth Salon event was held on July 9, 2009 at Caroline Broadhurst’s flat in the New Town of Edinburgh. This Salon event was focused on the theme of the “blockbuster” exhibition. We distributed a few articles in advance of the event to inform our discussion:

Are blockbuster exhibitions killing art?
The end of the blockbuster? Not very likely
On “Art History and the ‘Blockbuster’ Exhibition” Author(s): S.J. Freedberg, Gervase Jackson-Stops, Richard E. Spear

The food, as usual, was lovely. Handmade by Siobhan Dunn and Nicki Sprintz, the meal consisted of a roasted vegetable tart, baby potato salad, pea and bean salad with feta and mint, and a pudding of gooseberry fool and chocolate macaroons. Scrumptious!

The attendees were:
Michelle Kasprzak (Salon organiser)
Kirsten Lloyd (Salon organiser)
Caroline Broadhurst (Salon organiser)
Joanne Brown (Edinburgh Art Festival)
Daniel Hermann (National Galleries of Scotland)
Lindsey Hanlon (The Modern Institute/ten til ten.)

Our fourth Salon event was held on March 24, 2009 at Caroline Broadhurst’s flat in the New Town of Edinburgh. This Salon event was focused on the theme of art and money. In particular, we discussed current issues in the art market, art making in a recession, and the notion of “value” as it applies to the arts. Interestingly, the topic of feminism came up and kept rearing its head throughout the evening (started by Elizabeth and no doubt fuelled by my colourful rants).

Unfortunately I was too busy ranting to take very many photos. Here’s the best one I got of the food:

We sent around a couple of articles before the event, to spur discussion on. One was the recent article in the New York Times by Holland Cotter, The Boom is Over, Long Live the Art!, and the other was a recent report entitled How Can the Culture Sector Survive the Financial Crisis? on Lab for Culture.org.

We served several types of quiche with salad and roasted vegetables, and had delicious biscuits for pudding — all of it lovingly handmade. Of course there was also lots of wine! The wonderful food was by the dynamic culinary duo Siobhan Dunn and Nicki Sprinz.

The attendees were:
Michelle Kasprzak (Salon organiser)
Kirsten Lloyd (Salon organiser)
Caroline Broadhurst (Host)
Sorcha Carey (British Council)
Elizabeth McLean (Fruitmarket Gallery)
Jonathan Owen (artist)
Kitty Anderson (The Modern Institute)

Our third Salon event was held on July 19, 2008 at Laura Collier’s flat in the Abbeyhill area of Edinburgh. This Salon event was focused on the theme of theatre, live art and performance practices, and how these practices intersect with visual arts.

We served potato salad, green salad with toasted pine nuts, roasted vegetables, crudités, cheese and biscuits, cold meats, and brownies for pudding. The red and white wine flowed freely, as well.

The attendees were:
Michelle Kasprzak (Salon organiser)
Lucy Keany (Salon organiser)
Kirsten Lloyd (Salon organiser)
Laura Collier (Host)
Alex Hetherington (artist)
Aileen Campbell (artist)
Robert Walton (Fish & Game)
Neil Cooper
Thom Scullion (Fish & Game)

Our second Salon event was held on May 21, 2008 at Caroline Broadhurst’s flat in the New Town of Edinburgh. This Salon event was focused on the theme of curatorial practice as it relates to the contemporary art field. In particular, we discussed current issues related to the rise of the artist/curator, the rapid growth in MA programmes in curating in the UK, and the evolving representation of curating as a creative practice, much like an artist’s practice.

We served an assortment of salads, including potato salad, green salad, Polish cucumber salad, roasted vegetables, couscous salad, and tablet for pudding. There was also lots of prosecco!

The attendees were:
Michelle Kasprzak (Salon organiser)
Lucy Keany (Salon organiser)
Kirsten Lloyd (Salon organiser)
Caroline Broadhurst (Host)
Laura Collier (Traverse Theatre)
Simon Groom (National Galleries of Scotland)
Simon Biggs (Edinburgh College of Art)
Angela Dimitrakaki (University of Edinburgh)
Mark Daniels (New Media Scotland)

Our first Salon event was held on March 27, 2008 at Mark Daniels’ flat in the West End of Edinburgh. This inaugural Salon event was a bit of an experiment where we learned many valuable lessons in terms of how to stimulate interaction, the volume of food people eat (or don’t eat), and other general organisational tidbits.

We served pasta with roasted vegetables, pasta with smoked salmon and toasted almonds, salad, bread, and cheesecake for pudding. Mark also made a special cocktail — gin, tonic, and pomegranate seeds.

We discussed, very generally, some of the unique benefits and challenges working as cultural operators in Edinburgh, the state of creative practice, and the need for gathering places like The Salon!

The attendees were:
Michelle Kasprzak (Salon organiser)
Lucy Keany (Salon organiser)
Kirsten Lloyd (Salon organiser)
Mark Daniels (Host)
Laura Collier (Traverse Theatre)
Caroline Broadhurst (Ingleby Gallery)
Simon Biggs (Edinburgh College of Art)
Mark Wright (University of Edinburgh)