jmarchitects Directors Henry McKeown & Ian Alexander have been involved in the exhibition ‘What if…?/ Scotland’, which opened at the V&A Dundee on 21/05/21 and will run until 21/11/21.

Designed and curated by 7N Architects, the exhibition was originally designed to be staged in Venice as part of the 17th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, responding to the Biennale’s theme ‘How will we live together?’.

7N paired 25 local residents from 5 places throughout Scotland with 25 designers, architects and artists to share their hopes, dreams and wishes for the future of the place where they live. This collaboration was undertaken in early 2020, prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, and Henry & Ian worked with the local people of Paisley in Renfrewshire to hear ‘I wish…’ and to propose ‘What if…?’. The work in Paisley focussed on its potential as a future cultural and creative hub, reimagining and repurposing unoccupied spaces within the town.

The outcome of this work in Paisley, and the stories gathered from other places throughout Scotland, have been curated by 7N into an exhibition within the V&A Dundee, supported by a series of workshops, which aim to engage with visitors to collect further ideas of what their hopes and wishes are for the City of Dundee. We’d encourage everyone to make their way up to Dundee, where safe to do so, to experience what promises to be a fascinating exhibition!