CALTON HILL, EDINBURGH, UK.- In a spectacular and elegant sequence of timed explosions, British contemporary artist Simon Patterson detonates a series of coloured smoke grenades at strategic points on Calton Hill on Saturday 16 April 2005 from 1.45pm.

The public artwork, entitled Landskip 2005, is to be staged near the National Monument -Scotland’s unfinished memorial to casualties in the Napoleonic Wars - and will be documented by Patterson in a series of photographs.

The event is a re-creation of Patterson’s public artwork, Landskip, 2000, which was staged in the grounds of Compton Verney House, Warwickshire, and inspired by its landscaped gardens historically used as a secret British Army location for smoke screen tests.

The main entrance to the event is at Waterloo Place. Families and picnic-goers are welcome and stewards will be on hand to assist the public. The event, which will proceed in wet weather, will end at approximately 3pm. Spectators are advised not to bring vehicles to the site.

Admission to the event is free but ticketed. Tickets are available from The Fruitmarket Gallery bookshop until Friday 15 April or on-site on the day.
T: 0131 225 2383. E-mail: bookshop@fruitmarket.co.uk

Says Patterson: ‘I wanted to create a daytime firework display in much the same way that artists were commissioned in the 17th and 18th centuries to design spectacles, including mock battles and fireworks displays, for their patrons’.

Landskip, 2005 has been realised with the generous support of the British Territorial Army, Tayforth Universities Officers Training Corps.

It is staged on the occasion of Simon Patterson’s exhibition, High Noon, at The Fruitmarket Gallery until Sunday 1 May.

A BA graduate in Fine Art of Goldsmiths’ College, London, Simon Patterson (born 1967) lives and works in London. A Turner Prize nominee, his work is held in major public collections including The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Tate Gallery, London, The British Council, London, Saatchi Gallery, London.

The Fruitmarket Gallery is widely recognised as Scotland’s leading public contemporary art space. A registered charity, it is supported by the Scottish Arts Council