A new art installation at the Festival Theatre

Hanging by a million threads

We are delighted to unveil a new art installation at the Festival Theatre by Edinburgh based emerging artist Sophie Fields, who has created a statement of thanks to all who have supported us over the past few months.

The work is made up of hundreds of comments posted on our #SaveTheTheatres Crowdfunder campaign. The title Hanging by a million threads is quite literal, as the fabric is made up of millions and millions of individual threads woven together to give it a strong tensile form.

Inside the glass panes of the Festival theatre façade, Sophie will hang 20 individual, digitally printed curtains: Each curtain made up of stripes of colour and featuring some of the beautiful messages, thoughts and memories from the hundreds shared by the public during our crowdfunder campaign. Other messages from the 525 submitted will be displayed on the digital screens on the ground floor, so people walking past can read the messages clearly.

Hanging by a Million Threads will showcase our gratitude to those who have supported Capital Theatres so far. You can see Sophie's work until the end of January. After that, and  in line with our commitment to environmental sustainability, the intention is to transform the work itself into pouches, tote bags and pencil cases for sale in collaboration with Leith based circular business Kalopsia.

Artist Sophie Fields said: “I was really inspired by the messages the public shared during the crowdfunder and wanted to find a way to incorporate that in my response to the commission.

“The idea of having draped textile pieces filling the front of the Festival Theatre came from the new series of activity created by Capital Theatres ‘Raise the Curtain’ which continues aspects of their community engagement work whilst the theatres are closed, together with the idea of real stage curtains opening up again in the spring. Having the curtains pulled back slightly is a symbol of hope that the theatre still exists and events will hopefully be running as normal inside soon.”

Fiona Gibson, Chief Executive of Capital Theatres said: “We loved Sophie’s idea, and the symbolism of the name of the artwork, Hanging by a million threads. It’s been a tremendously tough year for so many people involved in culture this year and being able to support an emerging artist at this time as well as invest in someone who has worked with us and knows the building so well has been a really positive and powerful experience for us all. The words of our wonderful supporters who contributed to our crowdfunder made a huge difference to the spirits of the Capital Theatres family. Those sentiments and the passion really matter to us and so it seems fitting to have