At the start of 2006 Matt Baker was appointed as lead artist for the Old Town area of Inverness. Recently awarded city status, Inverness was in the process of reinventing its identity as a modern urban centre alongside its unique role of ‘Capital of the Scottish Highlands’. During his time in Inverness Matt Baker co-founded the public art organisation IOTA with curator Susan Christie.
Project received CIHT StreetsAward 2011
With Susan Christie and Marie Mackintosh
Inverness is the only truly urban centre within a vast area of natural landscape. Initial research began to inform a diverse vision for the city centre, recognising the existing and potential cultural value in the Old Town and beginning to shift the emphasis of the regeneration project away from straight commerce, towards the idea of a unique cultural destinatioThe group of artists and producers formed in the initial Imagining the Centre project from developed into a compelling cultural force within the Highlands. This was recognised by the Scottish Arts Council with a funding award for an ambitious series of commissions with Matt Baker as lead artist.The creation of projects drawn from, and responsive to, the engagement of local people has been fundamental.The involvement of the creative community is leading the way in finding a confidence to express the cultural identity of the city in its civic environment.
