Hospitalfield has been awarded the 34th International Carlo Scarpa Prize for Gardens 2025–2026 by Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche, given to a place that carries natural, historical and cultural value. A book was published for the prize, Hospitalfield, a place dedicated to the arts and ideas in the Scottish landscape. Four of its contributors come to Leith to mark it.
Kirsty Bell reads from a text written for Hospitalfield’s study day on Artists’ Houses, joining from Berlin by video. A house built for artists by an artist stays alive by having artists in it, working.
Peter St John presents the Future Plan, the masterplan devised for Hospitalfield by Caruso St John Architects. Two phases are complete. A third is about to begin.
Jade de Montserrat speaks on Live Charcoal, a five day burn made in 2021, following the material from gathered branches through to charcoal. Rehana Zaman speaks on Soft Fruit, filmed in Angus and completed in 2026, on the labour of modern industrial farming. Both projects began in the Studio Time Residency, set up in 2020 to give artists time in their own studios to think.
Two artists who see beauty in the landscape and still ask who the countryside is for. The afternoon runs back to the art school that opened at Hospitalfield in 1902 and asks its question again. What do artists need from an institution now.
Hospitalfield, a place dedicated to the arts and ideas in the Scottish landscape
Hospitafield by Caruso St John
Schedule
Gather from 1pm
Coffees, tea and sandwiches from Williams & Johnson
1.30pm – Welcome
Introduction to Hospitalfield and the Carlo Scarpa Prize, with Lucy Byatt, Director of Hospitalfield and Luigi Latini, Director of Fondazione Benetton
1.45pm – Kirsty Bell Reading
Kirsty Bell will be reading from her text first devised for our study day on Artist’s Houses in 2024. Kirsty will join us virtually from her home in Berlin via zoom.
2.15-2.45pm – Peter St John Future Plan Master plan for Hospitalfield
Peter St John will join us and present the master plan devised for Hospitalfield by his practice Caruso St John Architects
Tea and Coffee Break
3-3.30pm – Jade Monserrat, Artist talk
Jade will talk about her project Live Charcoal which took place at Hospitalfield in 2021, this performance was the result of an earlier residency at Hospiatfield.
3.30-4pm Rehana Zaman, Artist Talk
Rehana will talk about the development of her work Soft Fruit, a moving image work investigating the labour politics of seasonal fruit picking in Angus, developed whilst on residency at Hospitalfield.
4-4.30 Q+A
Discussion and questions to the artists
Presented by Hospitalfield at Custom Lane. Book tickets here.