May 25 2021

Edinburgh Park has bolstered its cultural credentials with the installation of a 30ft bronze sculpture designed by Kenneth Armitage.

Reach for the Stars is the first of a series of artworks commissioned by developer Parabola to bring character and identity to the peripheral district. These include further sculptural works by Eduardo Paolozzi, Brian Kneale, Geoffrey Clarke, William Tucker and Bruce Beasley as well as a tapestry created by Dovecot Studios which will hang in the lobby of 1 New Park Square when it completes later this year.

Together these will pepper a new arts quarter within the £500m Southern Phase masterplan, centred upon a new arts and exhibition centre designed by artist David Mach RA.

Parabola chairman Peter Millican said: “We are very excited to see ‘Reach for the Stars’ installed in its new home at Edinburgh Park where it can be seen by visitors arriving by tram, road and rail. It’s a truly magnificent piece, and I hope others find it as inspirational as I do.”

When complete the latest phase of Edinburgh Park will deliver commercial space for a further 10,000 workers as well as 1,800 homes.

12 Comments

#1 Posted by Fat Bloke on Tour on 25 May 2021 at 10:36 AM

File under more money than sense.
Telly Tubby level of artistic merit.

#2 Posted by Brian Donnelly on 25 May 2021 at 10:53 AM

never done anything, never will .....but sometimes make you laugh:-)

#3 Posted by Ian A on 25 May 2021 at 11:33 AM

So you guys would prefer if they didn't make the effort? Why even bother to make these comments?

#4 Posted by tiptoe on 25 May 2021 at 11:40 AM

"Reach for the Stars" ah ok its a hand and arm, not as I though, a malformed giraffe.

#5 Posted by Fat Bloke on Tour on 25 May 2021 at 12:53 PM

It is the fact that I have done lots that leads me to the view that this box ticking ego tripping.

Filler design vibe -- how do we try and lift it out of the mediocrity that we have made for ourselves?

Public art is this decades bit of glam / froth.

Just a case that it needs to be good public art and this is nowhere near good.

#6 Posted by James Hepburn on 25 May 2021 at 13:44 PM

Edinburgh has a real history of p****** money up against the wall from its trams to the Parliament building. Here's another great example. Culture my aunt fanny!

#7 Posted by Bunny Pink on 25 May 2021 at 15:11 PM

Looks like an adult's toy.

#8 Posted by Trombe Wall on 25 May 2021 at 21:07 PM

Public Art is always so subjective. For what it is worth, it is pleasing to see some included in the development. Art is usually the first casualty of cost cutting, as it's positive impact is tough to measure.

#9 Posted by Billy on 26 May 2021 at 09:46 AM

#4. I thought it was a giraffe too.

#10 Posted by Woody on 26 May 2021 at 10:05 AM

@ #8 agreed, good to see public art in our public spaces.
But how can a list of artists these days be so non-inclusive? Beggars belief.

#11 Posted by Mrs Bridger on 26 May 2021 at 13:02 PM

@#10 Maybe they picked the artists on merit and not on what identity boxes they tick?

People are so obsessed with with identity these days, it is all some people ever talk about.

#12 Posted by modernish on 8 Jun 2021 at 17:43 PM

I imagine that's exactly what a vets hand does when diagnosing pregnancy in cattle. Unfortunately once you've read this, so will you. Apologies.

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