Christine Borland and Brody Condon

Borland and Condon’s new work stems directly from conversation and collaboration. While their individual practices are quite distinct – Borland rooted more in the object, Condon in performance – together they find common ground in exploring the intersection of history (personal and social) with the present day.

Their jointly authored project for Parley draws on oral histories directly and indirectly related to Edinburgh’s Trades Maiden Hospital. This historic institution was founded in 1704 to provide for the ‘board, lodging, clothing and education of the daughters and granddaughters of “decayed” tradesmen’ and had close connections to Edinburgh’s artisan and Incorporated Trades.

Borland and Condon will install the work resulting from their collaboration in the burnt out Watchtower of the New Calton Burial Ground, which was itself initiated by the incorporated trades of the Calton area. The circular tower is one of several such structures built in Edinburgh in the 1820s to address a growing problem with ‘Resurrectionists’, individuals who dug up recently interred (not yet decomposed) bodies and sold them to the Anatomy School for dissection, and provides a highly resonant site for the artists’ exploration of ideas around decay and dereliction from the 18th century to the present day.