We’re really sorry, but the Grimshaw exhibition in the Art Gallery and the West Wing of the Rotunda Museum are currently closed due to water leaks following recent heavy rainfall. We’re working to open them again as soon as possible – thanks for your understanding. 

Emma Gibson: Quicksand

12 February 2022—2 October 2022Free with an Annual Pass (£3 / Free under 18s)

A triptych of sculptures by artist Emma Gibson sees miniscule grains of sand transformed into megalithic forms, putting this endangered but seemingly ubiquitous material – used to make anything from phone screens to windows, plastics to paint ­– quite literally under the microscope.

Using micro-3D scanning technology, Gibson worked with The Imaging and Analysis Centre at the Natural History Museum to discover the otherworldly shapes of individual sand grains before recasting them as colossal forms. Each piece was made using recycled plaster, cliff chalk, timber and a pioneering resin made from recycled plastic bottles.

Alongside the sculptures, Gibson will re-create her studio in the Art Gallery. Films, digital and physical models and supporting materials will be shown as part of the development process of the work, which is as much about the science as the aesthetic.

Emma Gibson (b1980, UK) is a British artist exploring the uncertain state of reality. Having studied at Open School East and University of the Arts in London, she currently lives and works in the Highlands, Scotland.

Gibson’s large scale installation works are the result of both traditional and technological making processes, often using 3D-scanning and digital representations to create physical sculptures and total environments, she regularly collaborates with scientists in her fields of interest. Currently her practice revolves around coastlines and shores as a metaphor for the edge of reality, the end of the internet and a loss of control. Where science and nature collide and mimic each other, where so much is unknown, where human intervention can go no further.

Admission Prices
£3 Annual Pass – admission to both Scarborough Art Gallery and the Rotunda Museum

Free – Under 18s and registered carers.

Opening Times
Tuesday – Sunday | 10am – 5pm

This display is on the ground floor of the gallery, and is fully wheelchair-accessible.