Skip to main content
bookmark View bookmarks ()
Bookmarks
bookmark ()
The University of Edinburgh | Edinburgh College of Art
ECA Graduate Show 2021
Menu
Search
School
  • Visit ESALA
  • Advanced Sustainable Design - MSc
  • Architectural and Urban Design - MSc
  • Architecture - BA/MA (Hons)
  • Architecture - MArch
  • Design and Digital Media - MSc/Diploma
  • Landscape Architecture - MA
  • Landscape Architecture - MLA
  • Urban Strategies and Design - MSc
  • Visit Art
  • Contemporary Art Practice - MA
  • Contemporary Art Practice - MFA
  • Fine Art - MA (Hons)
  • Intermedia - BA (Hons)
  • Painting - BA (Hons)
  • Photography - BA (Hons)
  • Sculpture - BA (Hons)
  • Visit Design
  • Animation - BA (Hons)
  • Animation - MFA
  • Design for Change - MA
  • Design Informatics - MFA/MA
  • Fashion - BA (Hons)
  • Fashion - MFA
  • Film and Television - BA (Hons)
  • Film Directing - MA
  • Film Directing - MFA
  • Glass - MFA
  • Graphic Design - BA (Hons)
  • Graphic Design - MFA
  • Illustration - BA (Hons)
  • Illustration - MA
  • Illustration - MFA
  • Interior Design - BA (Hons)
  • Interior, Architectural and Spatial Design - MA
  • Jewellery - MFA
  • Jewellery and Silversmithing - BA (Hons)
  • Performance Costume - BA (Hons)
  • Performance Costume - MFA
  • Product Design - BA (Hons)
  • Textiles - BA (Hons)
  • Textiles - MFA
  • Visit History of Art
  • Visit Music
  • Music - BMus (Hons)
  • Music - MA (Hons)
  • Music Technology - BMus (Hons)
  • Sound Design - MSc
 
News & Features
Events
Student List
News
Sophie Powell-Hall - Design and Digital Media
Student feature
Muriel McIntyre - Fine Art
"I characterise space by placing objects in it, I disrupt space by introducing the non-controllable object."
Muriel Mcintyre Installation cut chairs, oranges, secretary pen, Tula the greyhound

Interview by Eva Coutts

Muriel McIntyre put to use vacant spaces in her parents’ home town in France, displaying her work and involving the local community.

What is your graduation project about?

My graduation project is about creating an ephemeral installation in vacant spaces, that could be; an empty warehouse, an unoccupied shop, an empty shop window, an empty display cabinet; or even, in an empty supermarket refrigerator display unit.

With shops and art spaces closing down, due to the health crisis, I wondered where I could place my work. I was in Alsace, France, unable to get back to Edinburgh, and the prospect of graduating from my parent’s basement was now my reality.

It struck me that these vacant shops could offer such an excellent space to install my work, their windows giving visibility for passersby to observe. I decided that I would inhabit a series of these spaces with a set of elements and objects that I have been using for a while such as; vertical blinds, waiting room chairs, fake furs, small statues and a trench coat.

How do you best like to work?

I see what the space has to offer, and question how that may affect my work. I then create according to this environment. As I respond to a space, I reflect upon the dialogue created between the place that had once been, affected by a historical shift, and the memory it holds, in relation to the fabricated space I create.

Sculpture, installation, collage, placing, hanging. These are words that qualify my practice, but ultimately, it is about sculpting and responding to a space. I characterise space by placing objects in it, I disrupt space by introducing the non-controllable object. There is an element of doubt, of unease that transpires through my work, that which may create a gag reflex from the viewer.

M. Mcintyre Merci Lidl
Can you tell us about some of the things which inspire you and your work? 

In Marc Augé’s book Non-Places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity, (Le Seuil, 1992), he describes the ‘non-space’ as a space of transit, in which the anonymous human passes through without inserting oneself in a participatory manner. It is a space, such as the airport, the lounge, the waiting room, the lobby or the mall. I find it intriguing to consider these spaces in relation to the body, and how my work, by introducing the object, can break through them.

What have been the highlights of your time at ECA and in Edinburgh?

To be able to use large studio spaces, where I could hang my work – it was a breakthrough towards my practice as it started me on the path of installation.

To meet fascinating people, and incredible tutors that have guided me and opened up my vision to what art is, and can be.

M.Mcintyre Installation view of the chair, fur, metal dog head
How have the events over the past year affected your work?

As I have been unable to return to Edinburgh since December 2020, I decided to work in my parent’s basement, with no tools, no materials, no peers. This has been a shift in my process, but has led me to be stronger in what I make and believe in. I have engaged with the community I came to live with, asking my neighbor for their electric saw, a friend for their truck, my father to be my personal driver to get places with my sculpture kit.

Placing my work in a geographical space I never thought I would has confronted me with the questions: who am I making my work for, if it is not in the studio, in a white space, for my peers and tutors – is my work strong enough on its own to venture into rural areas that consider art to be a decorative painting on a wall?

Share:
  • twitter Follow us on Twitter
  • facebook Follow us on Facebook
  • linkedin Follow us on LinkedIn
Muriel McIntyre's portfolio page

Footer

2021. Edinburgh College of Art Graduate Shows

View previous years

  • Contact
  • Website accessibility
  • Freedom of information
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
© 2021 Edinburgh College of Art. All Rights Reserved. The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336, VAT Registration Number GB 5929507 00, and is acknowledged by the UK authorities as a "Recognised body" which has been granted degree awarding powers.