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Outer Spaces at Holburn House

Aberdeen City

In Person

Outer Spaces is a charity collaborating with artists, art collectives, organisations, and commercial property owners, to occupy and activate the nation’s empty commercial spaces.

Our aim is to build an alternative infrastructure for the arts by providing artists with the opportunity to utilise empty shops, offices, and industrial space, to produce and exhibit their work, and rehearse, perform, and deliver workshops and events.

Gargoyle's Lament by Emily Weaver

Gargoyle's Lament is a multimedia installation inspired by the French folktale of the Gargouille, a sea serpent that terrorised the river Seine. A young priest offered to slay the beast and in return asked for a church to be built. The Gargouille was burned at the stake but its head remained intact and was mounted on the church as a symbol of divine power. This artist installation offers the gargoyle’s perspective on the death of Gargouille, idealising the sacred head of the serpent. Through Weaver's interpretation of the story, themes of communal behaviour, structures of identity and ritualised idolatry are explored. Papier-mâché is used in contrast to silky fabric tapestries, representing the materiality and crude character of the gargoyle while referencing religious art traditions.

Emily Weaver is a multimedia visual artist. Her practice takes inspiration from ancient traditions and folklore, particularly regarding depictions of the human face within artefacts. Weaver’s work has been featured in the Scottish National Gallery as part of the RSA New Contemporaries 2023. She has also exhibited at the Hidden Door Festival 2022 and was awarded a solo exhibition at Salt Space Gallery in 2022.

This event is part of the Outer Spaces’ Doors Open programme 2023.