From Friday new exhibitions open at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop (ESW) which are part of the Edinburgh Art Festival 2026.
One of the exhibitions, Fair Play, is work created by more than 100 children from Trinity and Victoria Primary Schools, and is part of the ESW Summer Programme.
This is a collaborative fairground world of 23 imagined parks and attractions. Children have created their visions of a play park using cardboard and reclaimed wood.
These are fascinating insights into the way the children’s imagination has been sparked during their weekly sessions at ESW. Debi Banerjee runs the Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop | Schools Programme.
Ms Banerjee explained that many of the fairgrounds are interactive – there are catapults and a seated swing which moves up and down. She said: “The children come for an hour each week during the school year. This year we worked on Fair Play, looking at fairgrounds and theme parks. The young people worked together in small groups and came up with their own fairground worlds.
“We have everything from Axolotl World to Deathland which is apparently on Ferry Road, a Simpsons theme park, Big Leaf – on a planet in outer space, and Extreme Water Park, Wonklyland and Sponge World.”
The schools programme involves the Primary 5 pupils. Debi said: “It’s just an amazing opportunity for us to work with young people in the community – and also for them to know what goes on here, and the people that work here as well, and hopefully find a way into art.”
Fair Play is open Friday to Sunday from 11am to 4pm between 14 and 30 August. Free no booking required.
Throughout August, Fair Play continues through Sculpture Saturdays, a series of free drop-in workshops taking place on 15, 22 and 29 August, 11am–3pm. Participants will create new attractions, signs and structures inspired by the exhibition, forming a growing expansion alongside the original installation.
The Big Spell
Luke Kelman was at school and took part in the Schools programme when the Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop opened in 2012. He is now an artist. He said he “absolutely loved it” and the experience really stuck with him. He explained that he went back to ESW for work experience while at secondary school, and has just graduated from art school in Dundee. He said: “They have been so good to me and I owe them so much. I don’t think I would be where I am without the schools programme. It really ignited something playful. It was the total antidote to everything that was going on at school and was a real safe haven.”
He is now a sculptor, but primarily uses photography which he “pushes into sculpture through materials” influenced by the “playful thinking” at ESW which he first learned while at school. Luke has a piece of work in the Big Spell exhibition, a part of the Edinburgh Art Festival which takes place on 23 August.
This will be a day of sharing centred on ESW members “celebrating the infinite possibilities, the circular community, and commitment to practice.
“The event takes inspiration from the regenerative nature of working at ESW, where each person’s ideas, efforts, and skills feed in to create the ongoing momentum for the whole community of practice.”
Kate Power
Kate Power presents a soundscape work in the Beacon Tower, the tall structure beside the workshop. She explained where the inspiration came from:
She said: “My work is called “A movement based in alliances”, and it was made while on residency in Montreal, which was in a partnership with Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop in 2025. It is recordings of some of the River Matapedia, and an interview from the Montreal Lesbian Archives, and some rave beats, and also some 18th century folk singing.”
The work is mostly sound,but there is a small water feature in the corner of the Beacon Tower and the small visual element adds to the experience. Kate said: “The Beacon Tower is an interesting architectural feature basically. It’s a sort of large triangular architectural space, and I’ve made a form that responds quite directly to the space. So it’s responding to the shape of the architecture, and I wanted to make a form that helps people to listen to the sound as a kind of anchor point, but wasn’t something that would distract from the sound. So it’s a form to look at while you’re contemplating the sound.”
Kate is from Adelaide, and currently working and living in Glasgow.She explores the “gaps between language and gesture and the performative and social”.
A movement based in alliances was developed during a residency exchange with Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop’s partners in Quebec, Fonderie Darling and Gare de Matapédia, and Hospitalfield in the UK.
Kate Power: A movement based in alliances – Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop
- Opening Event: Friday 14 August 2026, 5 – 7pm
- Exhibition: 14–30 August 2026
Fri–Sun, 11am–4pm
North Lab at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, 21 Hawthornvale, Edinburgh, EH6 4JT Free, no booking required.
