This image At Ocean Point there is a performance space called Dissenter


BRIEF ENCOUNTERS


Empty ofices all over Scotland are being repopulated with artists in a visionary scheme that seems to be keeping both landlords and creatives happy. Veronica Simpson tours some inspirational Edinburgh studios in unexpected places


IT’S AN UNLOVELY part of Edinburgh, the end point for the Ocean Terminal tram, which glides to a halt in front of what is clearly a stalled 1990s regeneration project. Unlovely blocks of flats face an ugly shopping centre across a deserted dual carriageway. Next door, where once there was a large Debenhams and a car park, the buildings have been flattened, with diggers now busy clearing away the debris. But from the eighth floor of Ocean Point, a glass-walled office block opposite the demolition site, the view is stunning. Great stretches of pale, silvery sea are lit by a burst of welcome Edinburgh spring sunshine, illuminating the wide expanse of Leith harbour, the vistas of


which once sparked the aforementioned waterfront regeneration scheme. And yet now this office building is filled with artists. Tere could hardly be a greater


The Outer Spaces organisation was set up by Shân Edwards in 2021 to ‘build a new infrastructure for arts in Scotland’ in response to the Covid-19 pandemic


contrast with the stereotypical young artist’s studio – all cramped quarters with no heating and poor light. But not only do the artists that occupy this building have lashings of natural light, they also don’t pay a penny for the space. Ocean Point is one of many properties


across Scotland now operating under the auspices of Outer Spaces, an organisation set up by Shân Edwards in 2021 to ‘build a new infrastructure for arts in Scotland’, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Taking advantage of the current downturn in retail and office occupancy, Edwards saw that landlords benefitted from their empty commercial buildings being inhabited by


PHOTO: ELLIOTT HATHERLEY


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