Jupiter Artland is reaching out to support even more artists with the launch of Jupiter+ Nation, a permanent national platform building on five years of youth and community engagement across Scotland. Beginning in Dumfries this summer, the programme transforms a vacant high-street space into a free contemporary art space, headlined by Lindsey Mendick’s immersive installation Growing Pains. Regional diversity? It certainly seems so – with Perth, Ayr, Paisley and Dundee already behind it, the programme now sets its sights nationwide.
Launch Notes:
Jupiter Artland launches national platform, building on five years of success engaging more than 20,562 visitors and 2,536 young people across Scotland. Award-winning artwork and free learning programme lands in Dumfries this summer
Jupiter Artland Foundation today announces the launch of Jupiter+ Nation in Dumfries, the fifth iteration of its pioneering youth and community engagement programme and the culmination of five years of sustained investment in young people, artists, and communities across Scotland.
Beginning in Dumfries and designed to grow nationally, Jupiter+ Nation marks a significant evolution in Jupiter Artland’s commitment to widening access to contemporary art and creating meaningful pathways into creative careers.
Running in Dumfries at Loreburne Shopping Centre, High Street, Dumfries from 31 July, with an associated programme from 28 August, the project transforms a vacant former estate agent’s office inside the Loreburne Shopping Centre into a free-to-visit contemporary art space, anchoring an ambitious free learning programme expanding nationwide. The exhibition and programme ends on 6 December 2026.
Since launching in Perth in 2022, Jupiter+ has transformed vacant high street spaces into sites for world-class contemporary art, creative learning, and youth engagement. Across Perth, Ayr, Paisley and Dundee, the programme has welcomed more than 20,500 visitors and engaged 2,536 learners through exhibitions, workshops, artist commissions, mentoring and youth development initiatives.
What began as a local experiment has become a nationally significant programme, demonstrating how contemporary art can create opportunity, confidence, and cultural participation in communities across Scotland.
Jupiter+ Nation now becomes the umbrella identity and long-term home for this work: a permanent national platform connecting young people, artists and communities through contemporary art. After Dumfries, the programme will continue to create opportunities for participation, artist development and cultural engagement, building a growing national network across Scotland.
The exhibition in Dumfries this season features Growing Pains, a striking, site-specific multimedia installation by award-winning artist Lindsey Mendick. Referencing her own teenage years in the early 2000s, Mendick transforms the former commercial office space into a haunting, humorous, and deeply immersive environment exploring the uncertainty, awkwardness, and social hierarchies of adolescence. Using the metaphor of an estate agency, a business built entirely on peddling aspirational lifestyles, the installation features an intricate, spiralling office desk displaying eight Alice-in-Wonderland-style ceramic dollhouses bursting with teenage figures. The exhibition explores themes of social mobility, identity, and the transitional thresholds of youth, alongside an accompanying video piece.
Nicky Wilson, Director, Jupiter Artland, said: “The programme’s fifth year marks a major milestone. Through artist-inspired learning, youth leadership programmes, residencies and public commissions, Jupiter+ has worked with schools, colleges, universities, and community organisations across the country, helping young people develop creative skills, discover new pathways, and build confidence in their own voices.
“Independent evaluation across the programme shows strong evidence of impact. In Dundee, participants reported feeling more confident sharing their own experiences through creative work, and 73% of learners said they felt more inspired to use creativity to speak up about issues that matter to them after taking part. More than three quarters agreed that exhibitions like Jupiter+ create spaces where young people can ask big questions and imagine new futures.”
At the core of Jupiter+ Dumfries is a barrier-free educational outreach offer. As in every iteration of Jupiter+, every secondary school, college, and community group in Dumfries and Galloway is invited to take part in fully funded, tailored learning sessions.
The launch of this national programme comes as the Milburn Review brings renewed national attention to the scale of youth disengagement across the UK. Jupiter+ Nation stands as five years of working evidence that creative participation can open new pathways for young people, an approach aligned with Scotland’s Developing the Young Workforce strategy and the widening-access ambitions of A Blueprint for Fairness.
Participant feedback reflects the programme’s wider ambition. One young person commented after their experience, “I learned to not be afraid of stepping out of my comfort zone. Have confidence in myself.” Another described the experience as “liberating and freeing”, highlighting the importance of creativity as a space for experimentation, expression and personal growth.
Founded by Robert and Nicky Wilson, Jupiter Artland has grown into one of the UK’s most significant places to encounter outdoor sculpture. Tickets, opening dates and seasonal highlights are available at jupiterartland.org or at @Jupiter.Artland
Images courtesy of Jupiter Artland © Jupiter Artland.
The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance. – Aristotle
