The Edinburgh Art Festival is to receive £45,000 from the Scottish Government's Edinburgh Festival Expo Fund to install an artwork by leading Scottish artist, Jim Lambie, at The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
The work, entitled Secret Affair, is a Scottish premiere and consists of seven giant keyholes made out of stainless steel. The work will be installed at the gardens by the end of July before being unveiled to the public on July 31.
The funding boost for the Art Festival is the seventh allocation from the Scottish Government's Edinburgh Festivals Expo Fund.
"When looking for a work to show as part of the Expo initiative we wanted one that would complement the exhibitions programme and bring a new dimension to the Festival," said Director of Edinburgh Art Festival Joanne Brown. The EAF is the ideal context for the premiere of this new version of a work by one of the country's most admired contemporary artists, and we are delighted, that with the support of the Modern Institute and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh we are able to show it in this beautiful setting."
"Bringing work of this calibre to the Edinburgh festivals will
further cement the capital's renowned reputation as a place of cultural
and artistic excellence,'' said Culture Minister Linda Fabiani who today visited the very first recipient of the Expo Fund - Scottish Opera's new production of Smetana's The Two Widows which will premiere at the Edinburgh International Festival.
The Minister met cast members of The Two Widows which received £277,000 of Expo Funding and heard how rehearsals were going. The performance will be unveiled at Edinburgh's Festival Theatre on Saturday August 9.
The planned expenditure of the Edinburgh Festivals Expo Fund is £6
million over three years (2008-2009 to 2011-2012), with £1.308 million
allocated for 2008-09.
Jonathan Mills, Edinburgh International Festival Director called the Expo Fund "an important acknowledgement of both the strength and diversity of Scottish performing artists and the prestige of the International Festival and indeed all of Edinburgh's festivals."