Exhibitions

Light the Blue Exhibitions

Triple Bill of exhibitions made For and By Young People

• Beats & Rhymes – An Exhibition
• Standing Tall Murals
• Artroom x sound Exhibition

We had not one, not two, but three whole exhibitions made up for this years multi-artform festival, Light the Blue. A festival dedicated to making and supporting arts for and by young people. Our exhibition space was no exception and got taken over by brilliant pieces of work created by our Beats & Rhymes participants who are our music making group for young people in S1-4. Standing Tall Scotland and Guardianship Scotland with visual artist Ursula Kam-Ling Cheng and a group of young people from displaced backgrounds living in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire came together to create their magnificent murals. And last but not least Grampian Hospitals Art Trust (GHAT) and Artroom artists Anna Weir and Laura Mullen collaborated with Light the Blue Festival and young musicians from sound’s Get Creative Orchestra for their exhibition.

See more at Light the Blue

Daira Ronzoni | Cosmic Ch’ixi

1st April to 31st May 2025. FREE

Music Hall, Union Street, Aberdeen AB10 1QS

Beneath the burning desert sun, metallic roots twist, a feathered snake glides, and arms of water flow through an Earth tree, glistening with fireflies. On motley rocks corn sprouts as mushrooms take root. Night falls, stars shimmer, and branches of Araucaria extend spiked arms in search of an embrace. Quaresmeira flowers bloom as the Spider Goddess scatters seeds in this virtual landscape.

Daira Ronzoni was born in Buenos Aires and raised in the UK. Her plural practice explores themes of multiculturalism and storytelling at the intersection of digital and traditional cultures. By blending Andean/Maya traditions and Chicana futurism, her digital realms and analogue sculptures delve into the origins of ancient mythology and agriculture, becoming sacred moments inscribed in a cosmic timeline.

Co-commissioned by Aberdeen Performing Arts and New Media Scotland’s Alt-w Fund with investment from Creative Scotland.

dairaronzonistudio.myportfolio.com

Granite Noir 2025: Cold Blooded Killers – Exhibition

True Crime Cases from the North East, 1864-1963

Scratch below the surface and a dark, murderous history is present in the North East.  Revenge, greed, crimes of passion, and other disturbing motives have driven locals to murder. 

Delve back into the Police archive to uncover the facts around some of the most notorious cases over 100 years.  From the murder of Ann Forbes at Thainstone in 1864, to which the oldest objects in the North East Police Museum relate, to the shooting dead of Thomas Guyan in 1963, which resulted in the last hanging in Scotland of the culprit, Henry Burnett, as well as a number of other murders in-between, this exhibition by Claire Smith, curator of the North East Police Museum, will look at the people involved, including the investigators, the evidence uncovered, and the outcomes for those accused of these cold blooded killings. 

GHAT Exhibition

The Music Hall is also hosting an exhibition by the Grampian Hospitals Art Trust (GHAT). The artwork in the exhibition was chosen by NHS Grampian staff, visitors to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and GHAT staff. Some of the artworks were exhibited in GHAT’s Abstracted Landscapes exhibition, held at The Suttie Arts Space in the winter of 2023-34.

The artwork is accompanied by observations made while selecting the work, that reflects how staff and visitors feel about place and locality, and range from personal memories to colours, subject matter and the environment.

GHAT’s work highlights culture as a central component of wellbeing and is a sector leader in developing bespoke creative projects for people visiting, working or utilising the services within hospitals and healthcare.

The Diaspora Everyday

For the first time, Rise Up! programmed an exhibition as part of the festival funded by Aberdeen City Council Creative Pilot See Fund.

Joshua Ekekwe, an artist, illustrator, and graphic designer based here in Aberdeen shared a series of paintings that are centred around the everyday life of the diaspora in Aberdeen. These paintings tell the story of the somewhat mundane moments that connect those in the diaspora to their homelands, touching on doing hair, fashion, cooking etc. Printed postcards of the paintings were available to visitors at the exhibit, with the intent that they can write their own letters home.

Oor Future by Oor Monsters

“Oor Future” is an exhibition highlighting fundamental climate issues by exploring key subjects of positive and negative human activities impacting climate change as ‘Two Headed Monsters.’ It prompts individuals to be positive, self-reflective, and proactive in relation to climate action in their own lives.

Gabrielle Reith and Philip Thompson are Aberdeen based artists making work under the name of “Oor Monsters.”They have worked together on many playful and inspiring projects, ‘monsterising’ things from the everyday into the fantastical since 2008.

Environmentalism, accessibility, and play are at the heart of their creations, creating a friendly but subversive approach to tackling difficult subjects.

Boundaries

The collaboration between Gill and Esther is an exploration of Aberdeen’s relationship with the North Sea and the natural landscape of the City of Aberdeen. Extending beyond topographical boundaries, both artist and writer use the natural landscapes of the area to connect to wider, universal issues facing individuals, society and the planet at a moment of maximal awareness of the evanesce of life on Earth.

The themes are expressed through an installation of digital prints, vinyl wall drawings, oral history recordings, texts, maps and extracts from Esther’s writing.

A Space for Encapsulation by Andrey Chugonov

This project explores the coastal areas of Scotland where industrial and natural structures have become interwoven. These areas, where life began the evolutionary journey from ocean to land, are at risk due to rising water levels. This anthropogenic impact on the coast is highlighted by the artist via photogrammetry of the emerging assemblages.

East Kilbride-based Andrey Chugunov’s work combines sound art, light installation, generative graphics, technological sculpture, media performances and readymades. He researches topics of mortality, temporality, autonomy and memory decay. He received the ‘New Faces’ award at the 22nd Japan Media Arts Festival in 2018.

Co-commissioned by Aberdeen Performing Arts and New Media Scotland’s Alt-w Fund with investment from Creative Scotland. A Space for Encapsulation is available to view at the Music Hall Stepping In space.