Talbot Rice Gallery is part of the citywide initiative to open doors to Scotland’s largest free festival that celebrates places and stories, new and old.

Every September, locals and visitors alike can explore the hundreds of fascinating buildings across Scotland for free. Some open up once a year - some just once a lifetime.

Placed in Edinburgh’s historic city centre and in the University of Edinburgh’s Old College, Talbot Rice Gallery is also comprised of the 19th-century former natural history museum, otherwise known as our Georgian Gallery.

Join us outside Talbot Rice Gallery in the Quad for a brief introduction to the gallery’s history and our current solo exhibition by Egyptian artist Wael Shawky. We'll then head inside to explore the exhibition, which spans both our contemporary and neoclassical spaces. This special exhibition marks the 50th anniversary of Talbot Rice Gallery.

Wael Shawky’s penetrating film installations explore histories that have shaped our world. Intricately created sets and painted environments become host to exquisitely crafted and costumed characters, who perform versions of history connected to conflicts that continue to rage around us. Across Shawky’s Cabaret Crusades series and the recent Drama 1882 (created for the Egyptian Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024), Shawky reopens the narrative of the series of religious wars known as the Crusades, from an Arab perspective. He also highlights the events leading up to the British occupation of Egypt in 1882, destabilising any singular authority by embracing the irregular, subjective and contradictory accounts that more authentically represent the formation of history.

Thank you,

Talbot Rice Gallery's team.

Doors Open Days - Talbot Rice Gallery Tour