Archives

Photographing the D’Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum

Over the past year, photographer and DJCAD alumna Catherine McIntyre has been creating stunning images of the specimens in the D’Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum, which have now been brought together in an online and print-on-demand publication, available to view at…

From DRI to Ninewells

There is still time to catch the V&A exhibition Ninewells Hospital: Care, Community and Innovation with contributions from the University Archives, Museums and School of Medicine. Celebrating last year’s 50th anniversary of the hospital, the show runs until 14th September.…

Student with flowers during opening night

DJCAD Masters Show 2025

Another year, another brilliant Masters Show! This year, we have 84 of Duncan of Jordanstone’s postgraduate students showcasing their work across our very own Matthew and Crawford Building on the Perth Road. The show is now open to the public…

Children taking part in activities in the garden

Plant Power 2025

‘Plant Power’ is an annual event held at the University of Dundee Botanic Garden. This year, staff at the Garden worked with the University’s School of Life Sciences (Division of Plant Sciences and Wellcome Centre for Anti-Infectives Research/Drug Discovery Unit),…

Personal Reflection: Drawing Breath, Drawing Closure

Tamara Richardson, Public and Community Engagement Officer at DJAC, reflects on the current exhibition in the Cooper Gallery: This week I’ve been invigilating the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2024 in the Cooper Gallery—an exhibition of extraordinary tenderness and presence. As I…

Life Music

This exhibition features a range of works developed by artist Janice Aitken as a response to her engagement with scientists in the School of Life Sciences over the past 20 years. In that time she has worked on a wide…

Cultural offerings from the Global Room

The Global Room is a social space on City Campus for all students to relax, meet new people and celebrate cultural events. Their drop-in sessions include DUSA Advice, Immigration Compliance, International Advice Team and other student services. The Go Abroad…

Peter Flynn – Crossings

The latest exhibition in the Tower Foyer Gallery celebrates the life and work of painter and art teacher Peter Flynn and marks two significant milestones – the artist’s recent 70th birthday and 50 years since he began his formal study…

80th anniversary of VE Day

Did you know that there is a figure who played  a key role in both VE Day and the history of the University of Dundee? In this blog Kenneth Baxter from the University Archives explains how Arthur Tedder, 1st Baron…

Breaking the Chains: Making Connections

Breaking the Chains is a map and walking tour exploring Dundee’s links to transatlantic slavery that was co-created by the University of Dundee Museums and Dundee Libraries in 2022 (see Breaking the Chains – University Culture Online ). The response…

Recent Activity from the Cooper Gallery

This update covers some of the fantastic work done by the Cooper Gallery over the past few months. We start with their ongoing project What I am Reading Now… a monthly digital publication, and critical platform dedicated to celebrating and…

Reframing the Muse

Museum volunteer Delaney Brown (an art history student at the University of St Andrews) tells us about the current exhibition in the Tower Foyer Gallery which she curated in association with the University of Dundee Museums. The female body has…

Archive collections brought to life!

The Archive’s Alive and if you need any convincing get yourself along to the Entrance Galleries in the Matthew building at DJCAD. The current exhibition of newly created artwork by the incredibly talented students of Level 3 Communication Design studying…

Nell Baxter and Dundee’s Celtic Revival

The latest exhibition in the University’s Lamb Gallery explores the fascinating artwork of Nell Baxter and her connection with the Celtic Revival in Edinburgh and Dundee in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. For many years Nell Baxter was…

Music at Dundee

The University has a thriving music scene. Here we highlight some of the upcoming musical events to give you a taste of what is on offer. The Dundee Jazz Festival takes place from 20-24 November and as part of that…

Close Encounters with Different Perspectives

This year’s Dundee’s Festival of the Future featured a multi-disciplinary panel of University colleagues, following a special public screening of Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival (2016) on Wednesday, 9 October, at Dundee Contemporary Arts. Arrival is one of the most unusual science…

The birth of Queen’s College, Dundee

This month marks the 70th anniversary of  the dissolution of University College, Dundee and the establishment of Queen’s College, Dundee as its replacement. This was an important step towards independence for the institution and Queen’s College became the University of…

Black History Month

October is Black History Month! This year, the University of Dundee has a theme of Embracing and Celebrating Diversity. There is a range of events occurring throughout the month as part of the celebration, read below to find out more.…

Garden as a Canvas – a curatorial manual

Kirsty Stopper is a student from MFA Curatorial Practice who has an interest in alternative green spaces. With a background in Digital Interaction Design Kirsty focuses on public facing immersive environments and how they can be used for education. The…

50 years of Ninewells

This year we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the opening of Ninewells Hospital and Medical School. One of the hospital’s strengths is its close relationship with the School which has a long history and a very important one in the…

Coupar’s Camera

A new exhibition celebrating the work of photographer Alex Coupar is on show in the Lamb Gallery at the University of Dundee, charting the faces and places of Dundee and beyond.  The Dundee-born photographer has recorded our lives and surroundings…

DJCAD Masters Show 2024

Did you miss the Masters show? Or ran out of time before you could see it all? There are plenty of ways to catch up. Watch this video for a quick preview of the show Browse through work by all…

What the Owl Knows: Film Review

What the Owl Knows is a co-production between Cooper Gallery and the Turner Prize nominated artist collective The Otolith Group and had its UK premiere as part of the Group’s The Ignorant Art School Sit-In  in 2023. This review of…

Cooper Gallery Spring Report

Now summer is upon us (?) this is a good opportunity to look back at the events at DJCAD’s Cooper Gallery between February and May. The main programme was The Scale of Things an exhibition of three moving image works…

Plant Power 2024

‘Plant Power’ is an annual event held at the University of Dundee Botanic Garden. Each year it coincides with Fascination of Plants Day organised by the European Plant Science Organisation (EPSO). This year, staff at the Garden worked with the…

50 Years of Ninewells

Last month, three medical students, Natanya Lim, Maryam Nadeem and Dan Williams, completed their Community Engagement Selected Student Component (SSC) with the Tayside Medical History Museum. SSCs are an important part of medical training and aim to establish a foundation…

Botanic Garden Spring Report

Put a spring in your step by reading about the wonderful activities happening in the Botanic Garden. Their latest report showcases some of the events and exhibitions that have happened recently. The Garden is actively exploring new ways of facilitating…

Hill, river and sunset

Enjoy the Moment Photo Challenge

Taking breaks is good for your brain! Breaks help you maintain mental and physical health. To calm your central nervous system and shift brain states, you want to do relaxing activities like walking, meditation, and being in nature. These activities can…

A Decade of Design

To celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Dundee’s UNESCO City of Design status, the latest exhibition at the Lamb Gallery looks back at work created by students at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design over the past decade, many…

Ellen K Levy: Seeing Through

The ideas and collections of D’Arcy Thompson, the University’s first Professor of Biology, have profoundly influenced many artists and writers who re-interpret natural history. The University of Dundee Museums’ latest exhibition featuring a unique artistic response to D’Arcy’s collection by…

Un-Earthed

As human beings we are all dependent on the land and the resources it provides. Yet we are increasingly becoming disconnected from the natural world around us and our overexploitation of the land is causing an environmental crisis. The latest…

History in the Making!

It may sound barking mad, but the pooches of Dundee are just one of the sources of inspiration for an artistic celebration of the city’s history. Students at the University of Dundee’s Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design…

Discover CreateSpace!

Ranya Al Ghazi, CreateSpace Student Helper, introduces us to this fantastic facility in the Library. Welcome to CreateSpace, the pulsating core of creativity nestled within our university campus! Here, innovation intertwines with tranquillity, inviting all university staff and students to…

Founders Report

In 2021 the University commissioned a report to investigate early founders and their links with colonialism and slavery. The report focused on the Baxter family who supported the establishment of what was then University College Dundee and made some recommendations…

Back to the Future

The latest exhibition in the Lamb Gallery at the University of Dundee takes visitors on a trip back in time to the 1950s, an era of exciting new developments in art, design, science and medicine. The exhibition, entitled Back to…

Winter Botanical Painting Workshop

The University’s Botanic Garden has teamed up with the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh to bring you this wonderful workshop happening in November. Frosts, winds and shortening days expose the underlying structures of plant forms and show new life waiting to…

Scent and Texture – Grace Atkinson

We were grateful to acquire some of Grace Atkinson’s textile samples for our collection after the 2023 Degree Show. Grace’s degree show work focussed on creating textiles that were inspired by the various nature spaces found in the city centre.…

In the Darkroom

Written by University of Dundee Museums volunteer Pete McConville Follow Pete’s photography on his Instagram by clicking this link   The University of Dundee campus is such a great place to photograph. So many styles of architecture and dynamic social…

DJCAD Masters Show 2023

There is still time to visit this incredible show featuring the work of postgraduate students at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design. Covering Animation, Medical Art, Comics, Design, Drawing, Fine Art and more this year’s show has something…

What’s Happening on the Roof?

The Collective What’s Happening on the Roof? exhibition was hosted by DJCAD’s Public and Community Engagement in the Matthew Foyer Galleries in July as part of the School’s long running partnership with Art Angel. The exhibition featured a beautiful and diverse…

Arthur Ranson’s Comics Collection

Postgraduate Comics and Graphic Novels student Sharika Benny is currently volunteering in the University Archives and has been working on the Archives’ Arthur Ranson’s Comic Collection. In this blog she tells us about the artist and his comics which he…

Robert Leishman – The Poet’s Dreams

Matthew Jarron, Museum Curator, introduces the latest exhibition in the Tower Foyer Gallery at the University which invites you to enter the dream-like world of painter Robert Leishman SSA RSW. Although nationally renowned in his lifetime, this is the first…

The St Vincent Botanical Garden

Visit this new exhibition in Dundee’s Botanic Garden unearthing the hidden story of the St Vincent Botanical Garden 1785-1811. Dr Christina Welch, Reader in Theology, Religion and Philosophy at the University of Winchester, has been researching the incredible story of…

Writing about science on windows

Bonding: electrons are FREE 

What happens when an artist and a scientist meet through the time of Covid? Two radical spirits bond to explore the common orbital of art and science from a unique perspective.  This exhibition runs until April 8 2023 in LifeSpace.…

Dr James Riley’s photgraphs

James Riley, radiologist and cancer specialist, was a member of staff at the University from 1950 to 1977. Riley is perhaps best known for his work on mast cells and the development of antihistamines but he was also a keen…

Advert for lantern show

James Joyce and Magic Lanterns

Some of you may remember the multi-media live show, ‘Ulysses: A Magic Lantern Odyssey’, which Keith Williams took on a ‘three-nation’ tour back in Summer 2022 to celebrate the centenary of Joyce’s novel in Dundee, Dublin and Bristol, supported by…

Photograph of the Green Room

The Green Room Gallery

Have you visited the Green Room Gallery at the Botanic Garden yet? Find out more in this post from the Curator Kevin Frediani. The commissioning of a new structure that could look out from the garden to capture the views…

Reflections on Katherine Mansfield

Kirsty Gunn, professor in Creative Writing at the University, discusses the art of short story writing in a recent BBC programme. In Free Thinking Kirsty joins Laurence Scott, Claire Harman and Shahidha Bari to explore the works of Katherine Mansfield…

Logo of Global Room

The Global Room

The University’s Global Room has something for everyone. Find out more about what they do with this blog by Anya Farnan. The Global Room is a social space on City Campus for all students to relax, meet new people and…