>Ian Dawson

The Royal Scottish Academy 200th edition of the Annual Exhibition, Edinburgh. 9th May - 14th June 2026

The Royal Scottish Academy 200th edition of the Annual Exhibition, Edinburgh. 9th May - 14th June 2026

Exhibition Convenor: Annie Cattrell

Exhibition theme: In Time

This significant year for the RSA also marks the tricentenary of the birth of James Hutton (1726–1797), the ‘father of modern geology’. Reflecting on our philosophical and physical foundations (with the building constructed on ancient volcanic rock), Cattrell’s curation explores the RSA’s rich and layered development over time.

Exhibited work: Stone 24 (50%). This sculpture began with a detailed digital scan of one of the ancient stones at Avebury, captured using archaeological recording methods before being rebuilt as a half-scale 3D print. The sculpture is made from recycled plastic — the same material used in many drinks bottles — which creates an interesting connection between prehistoric stone and contemporary manufactured materials. In relation to James Hutton and his ideas about the Earth constantly changing over time, the work becomes a kind of layered reconstruction: an ancient stone translated into digital information and then slowly rebuilt layer by layer in recycled plastic.

The coloured stripes running through the sculpture are created during the printing process itself. Each stripe marks a pause and restart where the filament was changed, so the surface records the time and duration of making. The work has also travelled through very different environments. It was previously shown inside a cave, and its movement from prehistoric monument, to digital scan, to printed object, to cave, and now to gallery space feels important. In some ways it behaves like a contemporary erratic — an object carried from one landscape and time into another, gathering new meanings as it moves.