Edinburgh College of Art Exhibition or Wonderland

Stepping out of the rain and into St Margaret’s house for the First Year Edinburgh College of Art Exhibition was an experience parallel to that of Alice’s entering Wonderland.
The simple office-like building houses an exceptional artistic flair, a typical example of why not to judge a book by its cover… or a building by its bricks?

The stairwell that led to the unmarked gallery was an indicator of what was to come: colourful graffiti followed the guests up several floors until the doors opened on a large room- canvases replaced the graffiti and three-dimensional installations (involving sock puppets) replaced the handrails.

The artwork itself was very versatile, focusing on themes such as materialism, concepts of beauty, commercialism and personal memories.
Although this meant the exhibition “unfortunately had no concrete theme or subject”, as one student put it, the different inspirations and presentations highlighted the departments incredible creativity and this was displayed in several unique ways

All in all the exhibition was a great success, and with the allure of free wine (and good artwork) the expedition to it was very much worth the effort. Just as one student proclaimed in his speech: “it’s been a fucking good first year of art”.