UnderWorks Art are working to give the city its first permanent urban art space.
Aberdeen has had urban art for years. It has music venues. It has empty buildings and regeneration conversations that sometime excite, but never quite resolve into anything. What it hasn’t had is someone combining all three into something permanent and free, and pushing hard to make it happen.
UnderWorks Art is that attempt. The plan is to take a vacant historic building and hand every surface to contemporary urban artists, then repaint in cycles so the work keeps changing. Music would run alongside it, in a setting designed for close proximity to performers rather than a crowd held at a distance. The doors would be open to anyone, no membership required.
The team behind the idea are all volunteers working around full-time jobs, and all of them live in the North East. Some are from here. Others chose to move here. Founder Kristiina Isabelle Nimmo, an executive assistant and project manager by trade, has been driving the project. Jim Ewen, Aberdeen artist and founder of the Anatomy Rooms, brings two decades of building artist-led infrastructure in the city. Strategic advisor Peter Culley has led regeneration projects for the Southbank Centre in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and Memphis’ Crosstown Concourse, and now lives in Aberdeenshire.
Nobody is being paid for this yet.
Why Aberdeen, why now
The team are direct about what they think the city keeps getting wrong. “There are enough plans for flats, offices, and the same old retail-focused attitude that’s been suggested for decades,” says Nimmo. “That thinking hasn’t failed. It’s proven to be simply not enough.”
UnderWorks points to the Baltic in Gateshead, SWG3 and The Briggait in Glasgow, the Biscuit Factory in Edinburgh. The suggestion is that in each case, a building becoming a cultural destination came before the surrounding area improved, not after. Aberdeen has the empty buildings. The question is whether it gets the cultural destination.
The plan includes mentorship and employment pathways for local artists, community space, workshops, and a revenue model built on ticketed events and hire rather than gate receipts. The permanent collection stays free. The finances are unproven at this stage, but the structural thinking is there.
What stage is the project at?
No building has been announced. The project is looking for investors, funders, and people who want to get involved. It’s still a proposal rather than a firm plan.
For Nimmo, the case is simple: “Let’s give this city the vibrant, permanent cultural destination it so truly deserves.” POST will be watching closely to see if this ambitious project can fight its way into reality. Aberdeen needs this.
You can find out more at underworksart.com
