Edinburgh
Talbot Rice Gallery, University of Edinburgh
Anne Hardy’s “Feelings” (on view through September 27, 2026) transforms Talbot Rice Gallery’s iconic Georgian Gallery into a mesmerizing, active environment in which light, sound, data, and scenography infuse life and meaning into objects that might otherwise appear as mute relics. Gray paving acts as a gallery-size plinth of sorts, supporting and emphasizing three primary figures, two of which stand at the threshold of the space. Strange hybrids with an unclear purpose, Being (Warrior) and Being (Guardian) (both 2026) are of our world, and not, blending bronze and ceramic elements, worn clothing, and studio detritus into something recalling the human form. Charged with ambiguous energy and presence, these sculptural “beings” resonate with stories of possible pasts and futures, blending old and new, the scavenged and the made. Hardy offers clues and some guidance, but the viewer’s imagination ultimately becomes the site where this immersive and evocative act of spatial world-building takes hold.
Referencing “the evolving infiltration of artificial intelligence into our daily lives, and the future of our biological selves that have evolved over millennia to give us complex, embedded, intuitive knowledge and instincts,” Hardy gives form to how these competing influences might develop, overlap, and merge. The light sculptures of Feelings (2022–ongoing) create an atmosphere bathed in shimmering luminescence that seems somehow attuned to the three figures, but, in reality, responds to meteorological data from Marfa, Texas. A sonic landscape, Flux (2026), captures the struggles of a neglected natural world, as wind blows through dry grass, rain pounds concrete, and lonely birdsong reverberates. At the same time, a different sort of energy is audible, as the crackle of electricity accompanies the sound of signals and frequencies tuning in and out of one another.
With these elements, Hardy conjures a simultaneously human and post-human landscape, a world of makeshift, a future archaeology where the biological and technological merge and emerge anew through material, energy, and gesture. Her three figures, embodying fragility and resilience, are surrounded by runic earth drawings that allude to the signs and symbols of ritual. Indeed, Being (Interloper) (2022–24)—the solitary third figure—kneels, with hands turned palms up, in concentrated prayer, supplication, or intercession.
Upstairs, the galleried mezzanine features a dozen works that act as future relics. Found materials are variously combined with ceramic, concrete, cast metals (bronze, aluminum, and pewter), volcanic rock, ash, and wire. It is a curious experience to encounter these objects while looking down on the scene below, while still being held within the shifting environment of sound and light. In works such as Universe (organised chaos) (2025–26) and Universe (transient zone) (2020–25), a sense of desperation creeps in as wires twist and bend in provisional circuits with no apparent function. A series of four improvised shoe sculptures (2026)—collectively titled Attitude and subtitled strapped, wired, rocks, and fringe—point to a ruined world where human survival depends on ingenuity. Even here though, an aesthetic element endures in the face of rubble with details such as the fringed adornment of Attitude (fringe) and the pearl-like toenails of Attitude (rocks). Hardy’s acumen with materials conveys new knowledge and potential power where they are least expected. In this way, her work speaks to the desperation and hope of human and non-human futures.
