Outer Spaces turns boarded up offices, shops and industrial spaces into colourful and vibrant temporary studio and project spaces for artists across Scotland.

They offer artists and arts collectives free access to space in commercial buildings which would otherwise be empty and at risk of vandalism, programming residencies and projects to help sustain and support artistic practice and commissioning artists to engage audiences with art practice.

Their work supports the post-pandemic recovery of both artists and communities and has the potential to kick start a brand new alternative arts infrastructure for Scotland, reaching beyond the traditional gallery-based system.

The Challenge

Outer Spaces believe that their work has the power to change the way people feel about where they live and work for the better, dissolving barriers between artists’ activity and the people around them, to the benefit of the artists they support and the communities in which they are sited.

Their challenge is to develop a mechanism or tool to collect feedback from casual or accidental audiences on what they see or encounter at Outer Spaces sites.

They are looking for a Challenge Respondent to develop a solution that is easy for audiences to engage with and can be used to collect feedback from audiences on how artists’ repurposing of the sites affects their relationship with these places and spaces, from office blocks to disused shops right across Scotland.

The information collected will be used to inform Outer Spaces activity going forward and for advocacy around public policy in relation to supporting artists’ temporary use of disused buildings and the role artists can play in culture led place-based community regeneration in the future.

Applications for this Challenge Project are now closed. If you have any questions about this challenge, contact us at creativeinformatics@ed.ac.uk.