Aberdeen Inspired has revealed the first city centre locations that will be transformed next month (April) for Aberdeen’s first international Street Art festival.
From Market Street and Queen Street to Harriet Street and Guestrow among others, acclaimed artists will use buildings and walls as their canvas to create vivid and thought provoking artworks.
Business organisation Aberdeen Inspired has brought the organisers of Nuart Festival in Stavanger to Aberdeen to deliver their first overseas version of the festival. Held in the Norwegian city since 2001 and widely regarded as the world’s leading celebration of street art, the event in Aberdeen is kindly being supported by main sponsor Burness Paull LLP and Aberdeen City Council.
Street artists Fintan Magee, Nipper, Add Fuel, M-City, Alice Pasquini, Jaune, Isaac Cordal, Martin Whatson, Herakut, Julien de Casabianca and Robert Montgomery will take part in the inaugural artistic event from April 14 to 16, which is the first of its kind in the UK.
Adrian Watson, chief executive of Aberdeen Inspired, said: “We are thrilled to announce the locations that will form the focus of the Nuart Aberdeen festival next month. It will be fantastic to see the brilliant artists we have secured begin work on walls throughout the city centre.
“We want to create talking points and encourage community engagement in the city centre and we believe the brilliant variety and scale of Nuart will do exactly that.
“This has been a huge project for both the Aberdeen Inspired and Nuart teams to take on and it is great to be at this point with all the hard work that is going on behind the scenes.
“Aberdeen Inspired would like to thank both Aberdeen City Council and Burness Paull LLP, who are helping sponsor the event. We can’t wait to welcome some of the world’s most exciting artists to Aberdeen and see the public’s reaction as Nuart bursts into life in the heart of our city.”
The first locations for Nuart include: Market Village (Market St), Centro Court (Loch Street) Mackay´s (29-31 Queen St),Illicit Still (Guestrow, Aberdeen),The White Screen (visible from Union Bridge),) and Robert Gordon’s College Wall (Harriet Street).
Nuart Aberdeen will initially consist of a ‘trail’ of key artworks that will be developed into a world class ‘Street Art’ tour, with further works placed off the beaten track to be discovered over a period of time.
There will also be a wide programme of activity including talks, presentations, film screenings, workshops, temporary exhibitions and a few surprises over the course of the Easter Weekend.
The first walking tours of the festival on Saturday April 15 and Sunday April 16 will be led by Steve Harrington and Jaime Rojo of Huffington Post and influential art blogger Brooklyn Street Art.
Martyn Reed, Founder and Director, Nuart Festival, said it was hoped that Nuart Aberdeen would act as a catalyst to inspire people to view and use the city in new and more imaginative ways.
He added: “We’ve had a lot of help from a great team of local artists and producers in identifying suitable sites.
“Steve and Jaime are experts on the global Street Art movement, with over a quarter of a million followers on social media. We are delighted they’ll be flying in to offer their unique insight into this year’s artist’s and works.”
Elaine Farquharson-Black, partner and head of planning at Burness Paull said: “Our knowledge of the built environment is matched with an absolute commitment to Aberdeen and its future. Nuart will bring to life different areas of the city, encouraging us to look at buildings in a new way or to discover hidden treasures. Not only will it provide a colourful and intriguing interpretation of the City’s history and culture, it will also underline the important ties between Aberdeen and Stavanger.”
Councillor Marie Boulton, Depute Leader of Aberdeen City Council, said: “We are delighted to provide funding for the Nuart Festival and welcome a fantastic new addition to Aberdeen’s cultural calendar. We have a fabulous mix of festival offerings throughout the year and I’m sure that this exciting street art event which has proved so phenomenally popular in Scandinavia, will prove an enormous success here also”.
Aberdeen Inspired is the banner under which the Aberdeen BID (Business Improvement District) operates. It is a business-led initiative within the city centre in which levy payers within the BID zone contribute. Proceeds are used to fund projects designed to improve the business district and driving footfall to the zone.
More information on the work of Aberdeen Inspired is available at www.aberdeeninspired.com