MERZ Workshop

MERZ Workshop MERZ Workshop • Gallery • Residency • Studio

Due to late cancellation MERZ is able to offer a self-catering residency in the Bothy with an exhibition and film interv...
23/01/2026

Due to late cancellation MERZ is able to offer a self-catering residency in the Bothy with an exhibition and film interview (if required) for February and March 2026.

February and March fee reduced to £700.00 per month.

Go to www.merz.gallery/residencies/ for accommodation details and www.merz.gallery/news/ for film clips of recent projects and residencies undertaken at MERZ. Application
Email proposal for one or two month residency to [email protected]

Located in the former lemonade factory in Sanquhar, Scotland, MERZ is the project of artist and filmmaker David Rushton. MERZ has developed once derelict and neglected sites into art spaces including residencies, studios, MERZ gallery and Museum of Model Art.

SPRING - SUMMER RESIDENCIES AT MERZNo 5 at MERZ Artist Residency Spring Bookings available for No 5. Traditional stone b...
02/01/2026

SPRING - SUMMER RESIDENCIES AT MERZ

No 5 at MERZ Artist Residency
Spring Bookings available for No 5. Traditional stone built two storey, two-three bedroom cottage with ground floor studio

Artists staying a month or more can exhibit at MERZ or the Museum of Model Art with film/interviews as required by Summerhall.TV.

TADPOLE at MERZ Artist Residency
Spring Bookings available for TADPOLE, the 19c industrial micro-house conversion by David Rushton with wallpaper by Morane Le Coz

Artists staying a month or more can exhibit at MERZ or the Museum of Model Art with film/interviews as required by Summerhall.TV. .

BOTHY at MERZ Artist Residency
Spring residency in BOTHY micro-house - stone built former community wash-house

Artists staying a month or more can exhibit at MERZ or the Museum of Model Art with film/interviews as required by Summerhall.TV.

For availability contact [email protected] For further details visit www.merz.gallery/residencies/

‘Becoming Hannah Höch’ is the title of an animation produced by Raine Talley of the USA, Daria Alexandra of Romania and ...
02/01/2026

‘Becoming Hannah Höch’ is the title of an animation produced by Raine Talley of the USA, Daria Alexandra of Romania and David Rushton of Sanquhar. The animation was launched at the Sanquhar International Art Festival at the end of November before screenings at short film festivals in Europe and North America.

The eight minute animation tells a story of Dada artist Hannah Höch who was ignored by her fellow male Dada artists in the 1920s.

Hannah constructed a large montage in 1920 depicting the confrontations and decline in Germany following World War I.

In the 1920s Hannah began a relationship with the Dutch poet Til Brugman and the couple moved from The Hague to Berlin.

Both artists were friends of the German artist Kurt Schwitter.

The work and experiences Kurt and Hannah as refugees were the inspiration for the MERZ gallery in Sanquhar.

‘Becoming Hannah Höch’ incorporates collage and montage techniques familiar to Hannah and derived from Cinema developments in the 1920s and 30s. In addition to these paper based collage techniques the team at MERZ have used AI to generate moving images from still photographs of Hannah and her colleagues.

The short animation is available for screenings with an introduction on the making of the film and the impact of AI on art and collage.

If interested in a screening drop a line to [email protected].

Becoming Hannah Höch is the title of an animation produced by Raine Talley of the USA, Daria Alexandra of Romania and Da...
02/01/2026

Becoming Hannah Höch is the title of an animation produced by Raine Talley of the USA, Daria Alexandra of Romania and David Rushton of Sanquhar. The animation was launched at the Sanquhar International Art Festival at the end of November before screenings at short film festivals in Europe and North America.

The eight minute animation tells a story of Dada artist Hannah Höch who was ignored by her fellow male Dada artists in the 1920s.

Hannah constructed a large montage in 1920 depicting the confrontations and decline in Germany following World War I.

In the 1920s Hannah began a relationship with the Dutch poet Til Brugman and the couple moved from The Hague to Berlin.

Both artists were friends of the German artist Kurt Schwitter.

The work and experiences Kurt and Hannah as refugees were the inspiration for the MERZ gallery in Sanquhar.

‘Becoming Hannah Höch’ incorporates collage and montage techniques familiar to Hannah and derived from Cinema developments in the 1920s and 30s. In addition to these paper based collage techniques the team at MERZ have used AI to generate moving images from still photographs of Hannah and her colleagues.

The short animation is available for screenings with an introduction on the making of the film and the impact of AI on art and collage.

If interested in a screening drop a line to [email protected].

Becoming Hannah Höch is the title of an animation produced by Raine Talley of the USA, Daria Alexandra of Romania and Da...
02/01/2026

Becoming Hannah Höch is the title of an animation produced by Raine Talley of the USA, Daria Alexandra of Romania and David Rushton of MERZ in Sanquhar. The animation was launched at the Sanquhar International Art Festival at the end of November before screenings at short film festivals in Europe and North America.

The eight minute animation tells a story of Dada artist Hannah Höch who was ignored by her fellow male Dada artists in the 1920s.

Hannah constructed a large montage in 1929 depicting the confrontations and decline in Germany following World War I.

In the 1920s Hannah began a relationship with the Dutch poet Til Brugman and the couple moved from The Hague to Berlin.

Both artists were friends of the German artist Kurt Schwitter.

The work and experiences Kurt and Hannah as refugees were the inspiration for the MERZ gallery in Sanquhar.

‘Becoming Hannah Höch’ incorporates collage and montage techniques familiar to Hannah and derived from Cinema developments in the 1920s and 30s. In addition to these paper based collage techniques the team at MERZ have used AI to generate moving images from still photographs of Hannah and her colleagues.

The short animation is available for screenings with an introduction on the making of the film and the impact of AI on art and collage.

If interested in a screening drop a line to [email protected].

14/12/2025

‘Art as Conceit: Models & Metaphors, Concepts & Conceits’ provides a retrospective look into the Analytic Conceptualism movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. David Rushton provides his unique view as an emerging conceptual artist beginning his career at Coventry Art College as the movement was taking shape. It is from this position that Rushton is able to detail both the movement’s strongest achievements and its largest oversights. ‘Art as Conceit’ shares a glimpse into this specific moment of art history while providing explanations for the current state of the art world. Out now. Copies and pricing with p&p from [email protected].

OPEN CALL: MERZ mail art EXHIBITION 2026But is it? When the absurd becomes today’s reality what still remains to be ‘pre...
10/12/2025

OPEN CALL: MERZ mail art EXHIBITION 2026

But is it? When the absurd becomes today’s reality what still remains to be ‘preposterous’?

The 2026 MERZ mail art EXHIBITION will try and celebrate what might still be preposterous … contrary to reason or common sense; utterly absurd or ridiculous … you just couldn’t believe it was possible!!

Within a year the world has been turned upside down and every which way - so might a profusion of new absurdity and ridiculousness help turn the world right side up?

On a postcard measuring - 105 × 148 mm (4.13 × 5.82 inches), or the slightly larger US postcard at 4 × 6 inches (101.6 × 152.4 mm) - make a collage, painting or drawing or a combination and add words that conjure up something so absolutely ridiculous that it could never ever be believed to become reality.

Each artist’s card will be given to a group of local children in Sanquhar for them to try and imagine making these absurdities real.

Exhibition of the postcards by artists and the response cards by local kids will be on display at MERZ over the Easter weekend in April 2026.

A selection of the combined works will go on display at the second Sanquhar International Art Festival in November 2026.

You couldn’t make it up - or maybe you could?

Send your postcards in an envelope with £5.00 for UK for return with kids response cards and $10 or €10 for international artists. Please Include a paragraph about yourself and a return postal address.

MERZ Queens Road Sanquhar DG4 6DH UK to arrive not later than 1st February 2026.

08/12/2025

The core thesis of ‘Art as Conceit’ - models and metaphors, concepts and conceits - is that an idea is inherently fluid, existing in a state of constant potential that cannot be fixed, owned, or definitively possessed. Its meaning is perpetually shaped by context, interpretation and language. From this perspective, the traditional attempt to materialise an idea into a static art object was a fundamental category error. For copies and access contact [email protected]

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