Shopping in Aberdeen

11 June 2007

Scottish artist Dominic Hislop, one of the artists invited to show and make work as part of Adaptation, has created a small exhibition in the window of an empty shop unit on Aberdeen's King Street. The work is on show until Friday 15 June.

The artist, who currently lives in Berlin, is intrigued by the decline in the number of local independent retailers and growing mono-cultural dominance of large national chain stores and supermarket giants in Aberdeen’s streets and market stalls. He has documented visual impressions of the shifts in urban retail and discussed the impact of changes with surviving shopkeepers and knowledgeable locals.

An assemblage of information and images gathered can be viewed at an installation located in the shop front of an empty television repair shop on King Street. Also on display are projected photographic images of some of the numerous empty shops and market stalls in Aberdeen’s city centre, that are in sharp contrast to the sterile banality of the chain store design. The images are shown alongside text excerpts from interviews made with local independent retailers, who comment on their position within the shifts and changes that have taken place within retail in Aberdeen.

The work can be viewed Mon 11 – Fri 15 June, 2 – 5pm. Location: 199 King Street. Admission free.

This project is part of the exhibition Adaptation. Redesigning the everyday.