We have been given the opportunity to photograph inside the former Saica paper & cardboard package manufacturing factory which is the home of this year's Hidden Door Arts festival (11 - 15 June). This is an exciting and unique opportunity to take photographs inside a derelict factory that still contains much of the equipment that would have been in everyday use. It is a huge space and we will have access to much of it. The factory has been disused for some time and clearly shows signs of this - there is no heating and the floors are dirty and wet in places. It is advisable to bring tripods along as the lighting is not the best.
We have access on this day because the space is hosting the launch of TOLL, an artwork consisting of 145,652 individual 4cm-tall marks – one for each registered death in the UK in the first year of the pandemic. To help with this and to continue preparations for the main festival a number of volunteers will be in attendance to help us navigate the building.
The site is on Turnhouse Road near the Maybury casino and is readily accessed by public transport. Bus services 31, X18, N18 or the Airlink 100 all stop at Maybury Road (5 minutes walk) and services 12, 21, 22, 36, 70/71 and Skyline 400 stop at the Gyle Centre (10 - 15 mins walk). A Sunday timetable will, of course, be in operation. If you come by car there will be parking on site. Entrance in car or on foot will be via the gates by the security hut which is at the far end of the factory site, a couple of hundred metres along Turnhouse Road. We'll meet outside at the rear of the building close to the large door with the pigeon artwork. A couple of practical issues: the TOLL launch is on from 10 - 5 this day so I'm sure it will be possible for anyone who wishes to stay beyond our Meetup's 2 hour limit (1.30 - 3.30) to do so; there are no functioning toilets in the site but given the TOLL launch I expect there may be portaloos!