In February 1994, with help from Stirling District Council, we secured occupancy for one month of the Tolbooth old prison in the old town. Seven artists created various installations throughout the building including the former robing room and cells. With some local business sponsorship and the goodwill of local folks we organised an opening event which included live music and ceilidh, artists readings and performance. The installation was featured on Radio Scotland and Central FM. In Artwork magazine, Giles Sutherland wrote of the show: Hanging Together consisted of thematically linked site-specific works which interacted meaningfully and forcefully with their chosen context... The exhibition represents the arts - again - working against adversity and begs the question: why are ventures of this kind, driven by enthusiasm and talent, not supported sufficiently?
In summer 1994, eight of us constructed individual "Memory Banks" throughout Stirling and, depending on the site chosen, historical and social references were included in the design.
We invited residents and passers-by to donate memories such as written reminiscences, messages in bottles, old photos, small objects etc. We also organised a 3 hour walk talk (documented on video) following a route which encompassed all the banks on the way. This was called the 'contrived derive'.
In the Autumn - harvest time - the items collected in the banks were then recycled into artworks and exhibited at the Smith Art Gallery and Museum as a testament to local ideas. Viewing of the video was also on offer.
In April 1995 a special one-day public art event occurred outside the Albert Halls in Stirling, coinciding with the Whole Shebang Festival. The event involved the unveiling and subsequent melt-down of a large ice-block encrusted with layers of various individual art-works.
The theme of death is a rich and fascinating one and as artists we were inspired to create works on the subject. Perhaps partly because of the issues involved, this was the most awkward project to bring to fruition. It was originally going to be developed in the old graveyard at St.Ninians but permission was withdrawn.
A subsequent version of the project at Greenside in Alloa went ahead in May-June 1996.
This shop-work was proposed for the April 1996 Whole Shebang Festival. In the absence of any backing for the project, X-Site, a virtual realisation, was set up.
"Bridge" is a unrealised installation proposal from December 1996.
The group's ambitions to do a shop-based work were, to some extent, realised in autumn 1998 in the Open To Change installation at The Changing Room in Stirling's Old Arcade.
A group exhibition in the Solar Room at Alloa Tower during the summer of 1999.
The long-standing ambition to do a shop-work was realised by this short-notice, low-budget opportunity for a group shop-front work in the Thistle Marches Shopping Centre in March-April 2000.
A commissioned 2001 collective work around the ideas of the former and future uses of Stirling's Tolbooth. More information here
A collective work on 22nd July 2001 at Plean Country Park. More information here
The public has vastly differing attitudes to the arts and to bargain hunting at car boot sales. The art object is precious, highly-priced and viewed for only seconds, at best. The object found at a car boot sale is scrutilised closely, its function and utility are discussed and a price is haggled over.
The Car Booty Sale project was a collective work in August 2002 at the Kildean car boot sale which aimed to bridge that gap. More information here
The Salt project was an exhibition in the attic spaces of Culross Palace during summer 2003. The works are site-specific, drawing on the Royal Burgh’s historical commercial and trading links.
In autumn 2004, Hanging Together arranged an exchange by artists from central Poland and the Forth Valley towns, relating to migrations, cultural and economic links between the two countries. During the first phase, the Scottish artists worked in Oronsko at the Centre of Polish Sculpture and then exhibited at Galeria XX1 in Warsaw and at Gorzow Wielkopolski. The Polish artists then visited and exhibited in Alloa, Falkirk and East Kilbride.
The Akcent project was a group exhibition at Galeria ON in Poznan in May 2006, preceded by a week's work at Oronsko.
This project was organised as part of the Homecoming 2009 events. It marked a return to Greenside Cemetery in Alloa, the venue for the 1996 Mememto Mori installations. This time, the group's installations were in the Mar Mausoleum - dilapidated at the time of the previous work but subsequently restored.