Trevor Jones at the opening of Expos3d (pic: Terry Murden)
A new exhibition by the Edinburgh-based artist Trevor Jones could set the template for a historic port building, writes ANDY MOSELEY
Ten years on from when Edinburgh Council acquired Leith Custom House, and almost 40 years since there was regular public access to the building, a new exhibition has opened giving a glimpse of its potential use, though the future of the iconic landmark remains uncertain.
After a 2022 Feasibility Study, plans for the building that would transform it into a “sustainable culture and heritage destination” were put on display last year. These included the creation of Scotland’s first fully digital museum.
Dr Samuel Gallacher, director of Scottish Historic Buildings Trust, said at the time that the museum would “fuse the principles of a civic museum with the innovation of a contemporary digital art gallery…empowering people to tell their own stories today, as well as showcasing Leith and Scotland’s outstanding digital creative sector.”
Expos3d, an installation at the venue this week, could be seen as a logical first choice to showcase the potential of the new museum. It is the brainchild of Edinburgh-based artist Trevor Jones, who has embraced AI and digital technology throughout his career. However, Expos3d is a standalone independent event, rather than the start of a curated programme.
The exhibition combines themes of religion and surveillance, both of which reflect Jones’s catholic upbringing and interests in the role technology is playing in shaping our lives.
He says: “We are entering a world where religion no longer holds the same place it once did. Where people once prayed and looked to an all-seeing God for answers, we now turn to technology. Phones, algorithms and vast surveillance systems are stepping into the role once held by the divine.”
As the inversion of the letter at the end of the title may suggest, this is a three-dimensional show. Embedded images and cameras add interactive elements with attendees becoming active participants rather than passive spectators, and provoking questions on the role of AI which Jones believes will “force creatives to rethink things just as the camera did in 1839. Artists will use AI as a way to curate ideas now and in the future.”
The very basic graffiti plastered across the walls of the gallery seems like an incongruous throwback against this high-tech backdrop and the work of modern-day graffiti artists. However, Jones sees it almost as a counterpoint to the rise of AI, noting that “we need to be able to rebel against what this new future is, to somehow step away from it.”
The graffiti represents one way this could happen, just as the exhibition represents a possible future for Customs Hall. At the moment, there seems to be equal uncertainty over whether either will come to pass, until there is further news on the next steps for bringing the hall back to use.
Expos3d runs until 18 October with 30 timed tickets available each hour. More information about the exhibition is available at EXPOS3D – trevorjonesart
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