© Christian Flamm 2026
‘The Pier Arts Centre is held in trust for Orkney, and Orcadians will mould and develop it as they wish.’
(Margaret Gardiner for the Trustees, 1978)
‘Supporting artists through their careers is an essential duty of the Arts Patron; this includes supporting the very best curators and venues, be they in London or on an archipelago in the North Atlantic.’
(Charles Asprey, 2026)
Pier Arts Centre founder Margaret Gardiner never thought of herself as a collector, and her generous and imaginative gift of 20th century artworks to ‘the people of Orkney’ in 1979, emerged through the power of friendship. She supported her artist friends, purchasing their paintings and sculptures during times of hardship – acts of loyalty and love. Margaret allowed herself to be guided through their eyes, rather than her own. Each object individually and collectively reminds us of the profound value and magic of friendship and possibility and has gained Orkney a unique and significant place within the art world.
Nearly fifty years on, the Charles Asprey Gift is the biggest act of philanthropy since 1979. Composed of 53 works of British and international art, it reflects a similar energy of collecting to the founding gift, igniting conversations that reexamine the familiar whilst establishing relationships and exchange with artists working at the forefront of contemporary art.
The Charles Asprey Gift makes the Pier Arts Centre’s Collection the most intensely contemporary it has ever been, adding a new era of artists and promising role models for the next generation. The artists play with function and themes of modernism, providing thoughtful, witty, and sometimes edgy and unsettling responses to art and life. The objects in this exhibition – painting, sculpture, print, photography, film, and installation – offer starting points, for thinking, for remembering, and for inspiring.
The Pier Arts Centre and its Collection continue to thrive because of the many organisations and individuals who have believed in and supported its cause and mission. The Charles Asprey Gift is testament to this. Through Their Eyes provides an unfolding dialogue of changing displays, allowing both space and time for these objects to breath, to question, and to fuel curiosity. Moreover, the collective vision of this exhibition nurtures and reinforces the faith that the Pier, in the words of Margaret Gardiner, will have a long and lively future.
Artists in the Charles Asprey Gift, who feature in this exhibition, include:
Wolfgang Tillmans (DE), Michael Dean (UK), Tenant of Culture (NL), Atelier EB (UK/BEL), Lucy McKenzie (UK), Manfred Pernice (DE), Ian Hamilton Finlay (UK), Marc Camille Chaimowicz (FR) and Martin Puryear (USA).