Former Perthshire PoW camp transformed into art gallery

Cultybraggan Camp is one of three preserved World War Two prisoner of war camps surviving in the UK

A former prisoner of war camp in Perthshire is being taken over by artists for a day.

"Upland" will see students and staff from Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) take over Cultybraggan Camp at Comrie.

The old prisoners' cells, guard-houses and surrounding hills are being filled with sound, installations, performance art, photography and film.

Guided tours are also being offered around the camp, includes a nuclear fall-out bunker and firing range.

Upland will run through the day on Saturday, when dozens of artists will display and take part in installations and performances.

Those exhibiting work in the camp include Zoe Walker, Susan Mowatt, and Turner Prize nominee Marvin Gaye Chetwynd.

One artist plans to spend up to 96 hours in solitary confinement in a cell, surrounded by letters from her grandfather who during WW2 was captured and interned by German forces in Greece, Austria and Germany.

Other installations will see a guard's hut converted into a hotdog stand and a tent filled with the sound of nearby rivers.

Tours offered

Cultybraggan is one of three preserved World War Two PoW camps in the UK.

It housed German and Italian prisoners of war between 1941 and 1946, including many high-ranking SS officers.

Many of the site's Nissen Huts are A and B-listed, and tours are offered around them and the site's nuclear bunker as part of Upland.

One artist is to spend 96 hours in a solitary confinement cell as part of an installation

Susan Mowatt, artist and tutor at ECA, said: "This has been a fantastic opportunity for staff and students from the Intermedia Art programme to make work away from the studios in Edinburgh and beyond the gallery context, engaging directly with this incredible site and its evolving uses as well as connecting with local organisations and people."

Blair Urquhart, a trustee of Comrie Development Trust, said: "This has been a great chance to bring artists and historians, local business and local clubs together to appreciate all the things that Cultybraggan Camp has been and will be.

"We are looking forward to a splendid event and from what I've seen so far, Edinburgh College of Art are bringing a new dimension to the cultural life of the prison camp and to the village.

"It will be thought provoking, challenging and funny and a great day out for everyone."