Dundee’s largely forgotten Law Tunnel is the subject of one of the highlights of this year’s Master Show at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design.
Deirdre Robertson’s exploration of the tunnel has been created as a tribute to one of the city’s greatest sons and could help to bring about the reopening of the near-200-year-old structure as a tourist attraction.
The tunnel was built in 1831 as a railway tunnel and later used as a mushroom factory and air raid shelter.
Deirdre’s interest in it arose from a chance remark by her mother.
Her extensive research into the history of the tunnel is the focus of her exhibit, with the main installation paying homage to the botanist Sir Patrick Geddes, a pioneer of the green movement and modern day town planning.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=f_byQAao-Zg%3Frel%3D0
In 1907, Geddes drew up plans for the tunnel as a fernery, along with elaborate plans for the surrounding area.
Deirdre said: “This all started when I was having coffee with my mother and her friend and they started talking about how there used to be a tunnel that went through the Law.
“This seemed like news to me and so I started doing some research and found out all about it and about the work of Patrick Geddes.
“Then, when speaking to my older cousins I found that I had known about the tunnel as a child and in fact, we used to go looking for it up the Law.”
References to Geddes are found throughout Deirdre’s work, which also features an animation, a living fern wall, a mushroom ladder, three large panels of archival images, a poem by Don Paterson, a catalogue detailing the tunnel’s history and soft cushions printed with maps and images of the Law and surrounding area.
For more informaion on the Masters Show visit www.dundee.ac.uk/djcad/mastersshow/