Summerhall Arts in Edinburgh has launched "Catalyst: Art as Activism," a major exhibition featuring four solo shows by artists Eilidh Appletree, Taraneh Dana, Kasia Oleskiewicz, and Molly Wickett. The project utilizes sculpture and installation to confront urgent global issues including the climate crisis, capitalist extraction, disability rights, and the realities of migration. A central component, Eilidh Appletree’s "Net Worthy," uses materials like mycelium, soya wax, and sand to create a submerged seascape that warns of biodiversity loss and the ecological consequences of industrial food production.
This exhibition matters because it positions lived experience as a vital site of knowledge and political agency within the contemporary art landscape. By focusing on sculpture as a medium for activism, the show challenges audiences to move beyond passive observation toward a sense of complicity and urgency regarding social and environmental justice. It highlights a growing trend in institutional programming that prioritizes art as a direct tool for systemic critique and ecological advocacy.