Early career artists are invited to apply to Collective programme

Collective Gallery on Calton Hill will have exhibitions next year of work by artists who have developed their practice in Scotland.

There will be two solo exhibitions by Paloma Proudfoot and Katie Paterson in the City Dome Gallery.

The gallery has also begun a new programme for those at the beginning of their careers in a programme called Time + Space. This initiative helps to support artists beginning their careers to present new work and engage with audiences either in a solo show or a group show for up to four artists.

This first edition will include work by Alberta Whittle and Aqsa Arif who have taken part in previous Collective programmes.

Artists may apply to become part of the new programme by 14 December 2025.

Full details of the opportunities are available online from midday on 10 November 2025: collective-edinburgh.art/programmes/time-space 

New exhibitions

Collective’s 2026 programme will open with the first solo show in Scotland by Paloma Proudfoot, a graduate of Edinburgh College of Art (ECA). The exhibition brings together recent work, with new sculpture and performance devised specially for Collective’s City Dome Gallery.

10 years after her participation in prestigious emerging artist platforms Royal Scottish Academy’s New Contemporaries and Edinburgh’s Art Festival’s Platform, Ms Proudfoot will present her solo exhibition at Collective from 6 March – 24 May 2026.

Expanding on her exploration of the female voice and body, the exhibition will present large scale ceramic friezes, depicting contemporary puppet-like figures often in uncanny medical poses where skin and organs are revealed, examined and stitched together.

The artist’s installations combine references to the Celtic tradition of keening and the 19th century French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot’s use of hypnosis to examine ‘hysteria’ in women, with current explorations into women’s voices as technological ‘puppets’ such as Siri and Alexa.

Continuing her long-term collaboration with Glasgow-based artist Aniela Piasecka, Paloma will stage a newly commissioned performance in which ceramic mannequins are activated and perform alongside an arresting score by Glasgow-based composer Ailie Ormston.

Katie Paterson: Afterlife

Collective’s summer exhibition programme will include a solo presentation by the internationally acclaimed Scottish artist Katie Paterson, presenting her new work Afterlife. Commissioned for Folkestone Triennial 2025, curated by Collective’s Director Sorcha Carey, this important new work will be shared with audiences in Scotland for the first time at Collective. 

The solo exhibition will run from 19 June – 6 September.

Afterlife brings together nearly 200 amulets in a sculptural installation designed in collaboration with Berlin-based architects, Zeller and Moye.

Amulets are miniature talismanic objects, typically carved in stone. Appearing across millennia and cultures, they are small enough to be held in the hand or worn, and are generally considered protective.  

Afterlife reimagines this tradition. Working with museums around the world, Ms Paterson has recreated amulets civilisations across the globe (including Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Viking, Islamic, Japanese, Indian, Chinese, Celtic, Greco-Roman and Pre-Columbian), using materials sourced from endangered landscapes and fragile ecosystems, to serve as a bridge between past and present.

The materials used to recreate the amulets reflect the pressing environmental issues of our time. Rocks from glacial terrains left bare by retreating ice, coral from the Great Barrier Reef, stones from islands facing rising sea levels, and other materials from devastated or threatened ecosystems are transformed into tiny objects of reflection, connection and renewal. Each chosen material carries a story of environmental fragility, symbolising urgent issues such as biodiversity loss, deforestation, and the impact of climate change.

Installed in a distinctive circular table crafted from sycamore by local makers Silvan, Afterlife explores themes of deep time, geology, and the environment. 

Time + Space

Director of Collective Sorcha Carey said: “There is so much to look forward to at Collective next year, as we continue to provide space for artists to test ideas, develop ambitious work, and share them with our audiences on Calton Hill.

“Time + Space marks an exciting new chapter in our programme for early-career artists in Scotland, building on our long history of supporting emerging artists. We can’t wait to open the year with Paloma Proudfoot’s extraordinary work, and I’m personally delighted to bring Katie Paterson’s Afterlife home to Scotland after working with her for the Folkestone Triennial.”

Drawing on centuries of cultural and spiritual traditions to reflect the fragility of the natural world today, this exhibition is intended to prompt us to consider the legacies we leave for future generations. 

Creative Folkestone for Folkestone Triennial 2025 commissioned Afterlife, with additional support from The Shifting Foundation, Collective Edinburgh, and Goethe-Institut Glasgow.

For more information, please visit: www.collective-edinburgh.art

Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.