Collective - a new centre for contemporary art - will open in Edinburgh on Saturday 24 November 2018 after a major restoration project in partnership with City of Edinburgh Council at one of the capital’s major World Heritage sites.

Situated on top of Calton Hill, overlooking the city, Collective will include the restored City Observatory, designed by William Playfair in 1818, a new purpose-built exhibition space with panoramic viewing terrace, and a destination restaurant, The Lookout by Gardener’s Cottage. For the first time in its 200-year history the City Observatory site will be freely open to the public.

Collective will position itself as a new kind of observatory, inviting the public to view the world around them through the lens of contemporary art.

A selection of international and Scotland-based artists, commissioned specially for the opening, will exhibit their work at Collective as part of an inaugural exhibition. Affinity and Allusion will draw on themes connected to Calton Hill’s rich history and will feature the work of artists Dineo Seshee Bopape, James N Hutchinson, Alexandra Laudo, Tessa Lynch, Catherine Payton and Klaus Weber.

Further details of Collective's opening weekend will follow.

The £4.5m redevelopment is the result of a partnership between Collective and City of Edinburgh Council. Collective moved to the site in 2013 and began fundraising for the project.

Funders include City of Edinburgh Council, Creative Scotland, Heritage Lottery Fund, Edinburgh World Heritage, William Grant Foundation, WREN, The Wolfson Foundation, Garfield Weston Foundation, Sylvia Waddilove Foundation UK, Pilgrim Trust, Architectural Heritage Fund, Hope Scott Trust, Idlewild Trust, Craignish Trust and the invaluable support of many trusts, funds and individual donors.

Affinity and Allusion is sponsored by Baillie Gifford.