longcuts
For
Architecture Fringe
In production with
Jenny Jones
In collaboration with
Restalrig Road & Railway Path Litter Pick
Sarah Calmus
Make ShiftEd
Restalrig, Edinburgh
2017
For the Architecture Fringe Festival 2017, and in response to their provocation of Infrastructure, Civic Soup produced a weekend of activity around a constructed gathering spot on Restalrig Railway path – a well-used route connecting Easter Road with Seafield, through Lochend and Restalrig.
Leith and the north of Edinburgh have a well documented, rich industrial legacy ranging shipbuilding to glassmaking. The infrastructure of railway lines that underpinned this extensive production remains surprisingly intact and still function as important places of transit.
We sought to encourage pedestrians and cyclists to slow down, enjoy, and reframe their understanding of the site as a piece of infrastructural heritage on a prolonged amble of activity. With a team of collaborators, we created these spaces through the use of recycled furniture and found materials.
Over the course of the weekend, Longcuts was:
The Restalrig archive, the junk-furniture-drawing-room, the City Factory, picnic lunches, story sharing, collaborative music making, fence weaving with MakeshiftEd and a special appearance from artist, Sarah Calmus.
