Pester and Rossi
Since 2020 we have been working with artists Ruby Pester and Nadia Rossi in partnership with WHALE Arts, on a project inspired by the Union Canal at Wester Hailes. Titled Finding Buoyancy; the project explores ways we can connect to the natural environment to help us stay buoyant in uncertain times. This inspired Edinburgh Art Festival’s commission for 2022.
Pester and Rossi have produced a guided audio journey (featuring voices from Fallope & the Tubes, and produced by Charlie Knox (Trudat Sound)), inviting participants to listen, look closely and make creative responses whilst exploring canalside walks in Wester Hailes. In the final stage the artists wove some of these individual responses into a collaborative artwork.
The audio guide has been designed to be used while walking the Wester Hailes section of the Union Canal. Download via the link below – we suggest starting at Bridge 8 Hub and Paddle Cafe at Calder Crescent, Edinburgh, EH11 4NE.
To complement ‘Finding Buoyancy – Sound Meditations’, Nadia Rossi (one half of the artist duo) has created ‘Feeling Lost, Feeling Found – A Companion Compilation’, for our DIY Art – Home Creativity Kit series. The ‘Companion Compilation’ highlights how Pester and Rossi’s artistic approach can help us to use creativity to welcome feeling lost; to embrace its arrival as a useful interruption; as feeling lost can often lead us to alter our course to new, unexpected and exciting places.
Download here.
Ruby Pester and Nadia Rossi are based in Glasgow and work collaboratively under the artist name Pester & Rossi. Their practice derives from visual art, and leads to creating live art, sculpture, installation and public interventions, in response to people and places. They work together on a range of projects including as part of the Glasgow based DIY performance band Fallopé and the Tubes. Pester & Rossi embrace a collective working approach, hosting public events and workshops, often working with young people to inform their practice.
Between 2019-2022, WHALE Arts and Edinburgh Art Festival have been working collaboratively to support community engagement in contemporary visual art in Wester Hailes. We worked towards 2022 commission Watch this Space, which was initiated by Jeanne van Heeswijk, an artist recognised for her long-scale community-embedded projects across the world. Smaller-scale projects such as Pester and Rossi’s help us to make connections with local people.