Image: A Fragile Correspondence – Orkney. Photo credit Simon Forsythe, Lateral North.

Scotland’s exhibition from the 18th Venice Architecture Biennale, A Fragile Correspondence, opens at V&A Dundee on Friday 22 November for its first UK showcase.

Commissioned by the Scotland + Venice partnership and curated by a creative team consisting of the Architecture Fringe, -ism magazine, and /other, this will be the first opportunity to see A Fragile Correspondence in full in the UK.

From the forests around Loch Ness, to the seashore of the Orkney archipelago and the industrialised remnants of the Ravenscraig steelworks, A Fragile Correspondence is a journey through three Scottish landscapes across the Highlands, Islands and Lowlands, mapping a collection of creative responses by architects, artists and writers.

Exploring the relationship between land, architecture and language, A Fragile Correspondence seeks new ways of working in connection with the land rather than simply upon it. A Fragile Correspondence explores whether a deeper relationship between land and languages can help architecture be more attuned to its environment.

Responding to the theme Laboratory of the Future, this project was selected to represent Scotland at the 18th Venice Architecture Biennale in 2023, an international exhibition inviting participants to engage with ideas for the environments we live in.

Jim MacDonald, Chief Executive of Architecture and Design Scotland, said on behalf of the Scotland + Venice Partnership: “The Scotland + Venice partnership celebrates the enthusiastic international response to A Fragile Correspondence, highlighting Scotland’s role as a vibrant centre of cultural and architectural innovation. Bringing the exhibition to V&A Dundee opens an exciting opportunity to deepen this dialogue, inviting audiences from Scotland and beyond to explore fresh perspectives on our connections to land and community. We are grateful to the creative team and collaborators for their inspiring vision and commitment, which have made this project both profound and thought-provoking.”

Angus Robertson MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Constitution and External Affairs, said: “This exhibition offers a variety of new and thought-provoking perspectives on architecture inspired by Scotland’s landscapes, our communities, and the languages they speak. A Fragile Correspondence is a testament to the talent of the creative professionals that live and work here and I am delighted to see its return to Scotland after a highly successful run on the world stage, through the Scotland + Venice partnership.”

Caroline Grewar, Programme Director at V&A Dundee, said: “A Fragile Correspondence is an important and timely exhibition, looking at how architecture connects to how we use our land and the language with which we describe it. Bringing together Loch Ness, Orkney and Ravenscraig captures a hugely diverse snapshot of Scotland today and the hopes we have for the future of architecture in a world with a rapidly changing climate. It is a real honour to bring this exhibition home on behalf of the Scotland + Venice partnership after its successful run at the Venice Architecture Biennale.”

Carl C.Z. Jonsson, co-curator, /other, said: “It is a true privilege for us as curators to see the work and ideas we put together for last year’s Venice Biennale gain new life at V&A Dundee. Conversations that are situated in the borderland of many disciplines and issues can easily fall by the wayside, so we feel very lucky to guarantee their continued existence through what we hope to be many fruitful and inspiring interactions with new audiences.”

Kristina Enberg, co-curator, -ism magazine, said: “For A Fragile Correspondence we have explored the reciprocal relationship between our landscapes, places and local languages in context to our land, coastal and industrial cultures. Examining how these cultures emerge from the natural environment offers insight into how we might better respond to the climate emergency. Highlighting that architecture is shaped through material and language, the exhibition focuses on the dynamic interplay between tradition, landscape and design. Themes have evolved through an ongoing correspondence between curators, collaborators and audiences. This dialogue now continues at V&A Dundee, inviting reflection on architecture’s role in shaping a more resilient future.”

Andy Summers, co-curator, the Architecture Fringe, said: “We are incredibly excited that Scotland’s contribution to the 2023 Venice Biennale will return home, with V&A Dundee a wonderful venue to host this exhibition which explores the extraordinary landscapes of Loch Ness, Orkney and Ravenscraig. Hosting work from a fine range of architects, artists, academics, writers and ethnologists, A Fragile Correspondence draws together deep histories, contemporary challenges and hopeful futures for how we might imagine a Scotland more in tune to the rhythms of the environment that sustains us.”

Using words and terms that refer to the three locations, architects and local collaborators have explored issues rooted in place but with relevance to the global cultural, ecological and climate issues faced across the world today.

A Fragile Correspondence features a Lexicon of words about landscape collected from the creative collaborators and visitors to the original exhibition in Venice. Visitors to V&A Dundee are invited to add their own language about landscape to the exhibition, to explore whether a renewed connection with the land can help us value exchange over extraction.

The 18th Venice Architecture Biennale was curated by Professor Lesley Lokko OBE. Professor Lokko is an architect, educator and best-selling novelist who is the Founder and Director of the African Futures Institute in Accra, Ghana. She was born in Dundee and raised in Fife.

The Scotland + Venice partnership consists of Creative Scotland, British Council Scotland, National Galleries of Scotland, Architecture and Design Scotland, V&A Dundee and the Scottish Government. The exhibition at V&A Dundee has been supported by Creative Scotland.

A Fragile Correspondence is free to visit and runs until spring 2025 at V&A Dundee.

Loch Ness

Sitting at the heart of the Scottish Highlands, Loch Ness is a freshwater lake surrounded by forests. A romanticised image of this landscape was popularised in the 18th and 19th centuries by historic figures including Sir Walter Scott and Queen Victoria. This portrayed the landscape as wild, rugged and empty of people, predominantly serving the interests of wealthy families who have owned large amounts of land for generations. Modern tourism and property markets continue to frame Scotland in this way. This obscures more complicated histories of dispossession, particularly the Highland Clearances which displaced thousands of local people, mostly between 1750 and 1860.

Orkney

The Orkney islands have been inhabited for at least 8,500 years. Separated into 70 islands, 20 of which are currently occupied, the remote and fragmented geographical character of Orkney could be perceived as vulnerable and exposed. Yet from pre-history to the present, its communities have remained resilient.

Throughout the centuries, shifts in dominant language, temperature, landscape and coastline have fostered a culture of creative adaptation. Many of these can be traced through language, which carries marks of people’s relationship with landscape, and reaction and resilience to change. Culture and folklore run deep with stories of otherworldly transformations, marked by shifts in form within the liminal, in between space of the shore and the tides.

Ravenscraig

Ravenscraig was the largest hot strip steel mill in western Europe when it closed in 1992. Today the landscape is a place of industrial traces and environmental recovery. The concrete cracks with moss, silver birch and alder, pioneer species that are the first to return to barren landscapes and create the conditions for more life to follow.

As a former industrial steelwork, and an area of potential new development, this is a site typically understood through its past or future and not its present state. Ravenscraig as a contemporary landscape is often unseen and unacknowledged, erased between what it was and what it could be.

Creative partners and exhibition participants

A Fragile Correspondence is a curatorial collaboration between the Architecture Fringe, -ism magazine, and /other. Their approach centres on a shared understanding and appreciation of diverse cultural nuance, lived experience, and a close reading of social, political, and environmental contexts.

The Architecture Fringe is a self-initiated non-profit volunteer-run organisation which explores architecture and its impact within our collective public life. -ism magazine is an independent publication based in Glasgow with a desire for bold and critical reflection on the built environment and creating accessible writing for voices of diverse backgrounds. /other is a collective of POC (people of colour) creatives that centres the marginalised individual within architectural discourse.

Representing each collective is Neil McGuire and Andy Summers for the Architecture Fringe, Kristina Enberg, Amy McEwan, Aoife Nolan, Alissar Riachi for -ism magazine, and Alyesha Choudhury, Carl C.Z. Jonsson and Mia Pinder-Hussein for /other (pronounced: slash other).

Exhibition participants include:

Dele Adeyemo is a Scottish-Nigerian artist, architect and critical urban theorist based in London and Lagos. Dele’s research and creative practice address the architectures of racial capitalism and the contemporary lifeworlds that exist in their midst.

Professor Donna Heddle is Head of Research Environment and Culture at the University of the Highlands and Islands, Professor in Northern Heritage, and also director of UHI’s Institute for Northern Studies. Her research interests include Scottish, Norse, Northern and Arctic language and literature, Scottish cultural history, and cultural tourism.

Becky Little is a builder, artist and teacher working with earth-based materials in conservation, new build and research. Her practice focuses on materiality embedded in place and recent work explores the origins of vernacular earth construction in neolithic Orkney through archaeology, architecture and art.

Aaron McCarthy is an artist based in Angus, working with sculpture, moving image and installation. He is interested in themes of place, heritage and language. He has a BA (Hons) in Art and Philosophy from DJCAD, Dundee and an MA in Contemporary Art and Archaeology from UHI, Orkney.

Frank McElhinney is a visual artist based in Scotland. His work investigates migration, nationhood and mortality through different media but photography is foremost in his practice.

Dr Mairi McFadyen is a creative collaborator based in the Highlands, working across the roles of educator, researcher, writer, facilitator, ethnologist and fieldworker. Her work focuses on cultural connection, learning from the land, stewardship – both cultural and ecological – and advocating for transformative, regenerative alternatives to capitalism.

Tom Morton is Director of Arc Architects, Scottish Ecological Design Association and Earth Building UK & Ireland. Based in Fife, his work focuses on the confluence of built, natural and intangible heritage, and the Just Transition of the built environment.

Hamshya Rajkumar is an inter-disciplinary artist who navigates through embodied movement, intention and ritual. She graduated with a BA (Hons) Sculpture & Environmental Art from the Glasgow School of Art in 2018 and is a Land Arts of the American West 2016 alumna.

Raghnaid Sandilands is a creative ethnologist, Gaelic translator, map maker and small press publisher based in Strathnairn on the south side of Loch Ness.

Dr Amanda Thomson is a visual artist and writer who is also a lecturer at the Glasgow School of Art. Originally trained as a printmaker, her interdisciplinary work is often about notions of home, movements, migrations, landscapes and the natural world and how places come to be made.

Exhibition collaborators are Simon Forsythe for Lateral North and Ann Louise Kieran for North Lanarkshire Council.

Background

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Scotland + Venice

Scotland + Venice is a major international project designed to promote the best of contemporary art and architecture from Scotland on the world stage. Founded in 2003, the project supports the development of new work, fosters international connections and exchange, and positions Scotland as a vibrant place for creative and cultural production.

Scotland + Venice is a partnership between Creative Scotland, British Council Scotland, National Galleries Scotland, Architecture & Design Scotland, V&A Dundee and the Scottish Government.

V&A Dundee

V&A Dundee is Scotland’s design museum. Designed for everyone – firing imaginations and sparking curiosity in design in Scotland and around the world, from the heart of Dundee’s reimagined waterfront.

Conceived as a 21st century museum and designed by Kengo Kuma, V&A Dundee is a place of activity and energy, presenting spectacular exhibitions and a range of vibrant design experiences across our building, plaza and city. V&A Dundee brings design from all over the world to Scotland and gives a new voice and platform to Scottish design and designers.

V&A Dundee is part of the V&A family of museums, supported by Scottish Government and our founding partnership of V&A, Dundee City Council, the University of Dundee, Abertay University and Scottish Enterprise.

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