Save Cooper Gallery
The Issue
Dundee University plans to axe up to 200 jobs, and cut key institutions in a bid to save £20m. In the process, they intend to close Cooper Gallery, a beacon of radical curatorial research and international art discourse. Cooper Gallery is not just a mere space; it is an internationally recognised platform synonymous with ground-breaking exhibitions and fostering critical dialogue within the art community. The impact of its closure would be profound, stripping the community of its cultural heart and removing a crucial voice in international art.
Supporters of Cooper Gallery have drafted this Open Letter to call on the Executive Board of the University of Dundee to reconsider its proposal to close the gallery and explore all possible alternatives available to ensure the continuation of this vital resource for the creative infrastructure of Dundee and wider arts and culture sector.
The Open Letter in full is here below, please sign this petition to add your name in support of Cooper Gallery and in solidarity with its staff.
An Open Letter in Support of Cooper Gallery - We, the undersigned artists, curators, art workers, educators, researchers, students, graduates and members of the public, stand together in support of Cooper Gallery, DJCAD and call for immediate action to secure its future as one of Scotland's most vital spaces for contemporary art and critical discourse, directed by a women of colour.
On Tuesday 16 June, University of Dundee proposed the closure of Cooper Gallery by July 2027 as part of further major restructuring, as reported by The Jute Journal, 18 June. This proposal sits within a growing pattern of cultural erosion across Scotland, including the closure of CCA Glasgow and ongoing pressures on artist-led spaces at Trongate 103.
For students, Cooper Gallery offers invaluable opportunities to engage directly with contemporary artistic practice, curatorial work, research, and professional networks. It enhances the educational experience at DJCAD and serves as a significant attraction for prospective students considering Dundee as a place to study art and design. Its presence strengthens the University's reputation as a leading institution for creative education.
At a time when graduates, artists, and cultural workers are facing rising costs, reduced funding, and increasing precarity, allowing an organisation of Cooper Gallery's significance to be closed sends a devastating message about the value placed on arts and culture in Scotland. It also risks damaging DJCAD's ability to attract future students, researchers, artists, and collaborators.
This moment is particularly significant in a political and social climate marked by growing division, intolerance, and the rise of far-right ideologies across the UK and beyond. Cooper Gallery has distinguished itself as a space for critical inquiry, social engagement, and cultural dialogue. Under the leadership of Sophia Y Hao, the gallery is rare in its director being a woman of colour, and it has consistently championed underrepresented artists, radical artistic practices, and voices that are too often excluded from mainstream cultural institutions. Its programming demonstrates the vital role that contemporary art can play in fostering inclusion, challenging injustice, and creating space for alternative futures.
Saving Cooper Gallery is not simply about preserving a venue. It is about safeguarding opportunities for students and artists, protecting jobs and expertise, sustaining communities of practice, supporting cultural diversity and upholding Scotland's reputation as a nation that values creativity, critical thinking, experimentation, and cultural leadership.
We strongly urge the Faculty of Art and Social Science and University leadership to explore all possible alternatives to close. We call on all people in the sector, everyone who values contemporary art, creative education, and public access to culture to stand with Cooper Gallery.
By signing this petition, we send a clear message to the University of Dundee that Cooper Gallery is not a peripheral asset but a nationally significant cultural programme, central to DJCAD's identity, student experience, international reputation, and civic contribution.
Institutions of this calibre are built over years with many voices and, once lost, cannot simply be replaced.
Save Cooper Gallery
Image : The Ignorant Art School, 12 Hour Acting Up. 1 February 2025, Cooper Gallery, DJCAD
Performance : nussatari x naafi - utter / ance . Photo by Ross Fraser McLean
Image : Nashashibi/Skaer, Chimera, Cooper Gallery, DJCAD, 2022
Installation view . Photo by Sally Jubb
Image : Outside the Circle - The Ignorant Art School | Sit-in #4 | Outside the Circle, Cooper Gallery, 2024.
Installation view. Photo by Sally Jubb.
Image: Ruth Ewan, We Could Have Been Anything That We Wanted to Be and It's Not Too Late to Change, Cooper Gallery, DJCAD, 2021
Installation view. Photo by Sally Jubb.
Image: The Ignorant Art School Sit-in #3 | The Otolith Group ...But There Are New Suns, Cooper Gallery, DJCAD, 2023
Preview - DXG #1: Thinking the Otolith Sigil. Photo by Sally Jubb.
958
The Issue
Dundee University plans to axe up to 200 jobs, and cut key institutions in a bid to save £20m. In the process, they intend to close Cooper Gallery, a beacon of radical curatorial research and international art discourse. Cooper Gallery is not just a mere space; it is an internationally recognised platform synonymous with ground-breaking exhibitions and fostering critical dialogue within the art community. The impact of its closure would be profound, stripping the community of its cultural heart and removing a crucial voice in international art.
Supporters of Cooper Gallery have drafted this Open Letter to call on the Executive Board of the University of Dundee to reconsider its proposal to close the gallery and explore all possible alternatives available to ensure the continuation of this vital resource for the creative infrastructure of Dundee and wider arts and culture sector.
The Open Letter in full is here below, please sign this petition to add your name in support of Cooper Gallery and in solidarity with its staff.
An Open Letter in Support of Cooper Gallery - We, the undersigned artists, curators, art workers, educators, researchers, students, graduates and members of the public, stand together in support of Cooper Gallery, DJCAD and call for immediate action to secure its future as one of Scotland's most vital spaces for contemporary art and critical discourse, directed by a women of colour.
On Tuesday 16 June, University of Dundee proposed the closure of Cooper Gallery by July 2027 as part of further major restructuring, as reported by The Jute Journal, 18 June. This proposal sits within a growing pattern of cultural erosion across Scotland, including the closure of CCA Glasgow and ongoing pressures on artist-led spaces at Trongate 103.
For students, Cooper Gallery offers invaluable opportunities to engage directly with contemporary artistic practice, curatorial work, research, and professional networks. It enhances the educational experience at DJCAD and serves as a significant attraction for prospective students considering Dundee as a place to study art and design. Its presence strengthens the University's reputation as a leading institution for creative education.
At a time when graduates, artists, and cultural workers are facing rising costs, reduced funding, and increasing precarity, allowing an organisation of Cooper Gallery's significance to be closed sends a devastating message about the value placed on arts and culture in Scotland. It also risks damaging DJCAD's ability to attract future students, researchers, artists, and collaborators.
This moment is particularly significant in a political and social climate marked by growing division, intolerance, and the rise of far-right ideologies across the UK and beyond. Cooper Gallery has distinguished itself as a space for critical inquiry, social engagement, and cultural dialogue. Under the leadership of Sophia Y Hao, the gallery is rare in its director being a woman of colour, and it has consistently championed underrepresented artists, radical artistic practices, and voices that are too often excluded from mainstream cultural institutions. Its programming demonstrates the vital role that contemporary art can play in fostering inclusion, challenging injustice, and creating space for alternative futures.
Saving Cooper Gallery is not simply about preserving a venue. It is about safeguarding opportunities for students and artists, protecting jobs and expertise, sustaining communities of practice, supporting cultural diversity and upholding Scotland's reputation as a nation that values creativity, critical thinking, experimentation, and cultural leadership.
We strongly urge the Faculty of Art and Social Science and University leadership to explore all possible alternatives to close. We call on all people in the sector, everyone who values contemporary art, creative education, and public access to culture to stand with Cooper Gallery.
By signing this petition, we send a clear message to the University of Dundee that Cooper Gallery is not a peripheral asset but a nationally significant cultural programme, central to DJCAD's identity, student experience, international reputation, and civic contribution.
Institutions of this calibre are built over years with many voices and, once lost, cannot simply be replaced.
Save Cooper Gallery
Image : The Ignorant Art School, 12 Hour Acting Up. 1 February 2025, Cooper Gallery, DJCAD
Performance : nussatari x naafi - utter / ance . Photo by Ross Fraser McLean
Image : Nashashibi/Skaer, Chimera, Cooper Gallery, DJCAD, 2022
Installation view . Photo by Sally Jubb
Image : Outside the Circle - The Ignorant Art School | Sit-in #4 | Outside the Circle, Cooper Gallery, 2024.
Installation view. Photo by Sally Jubb.
Image: Ruth Ewan, We Could Have Been Anything That We Wanted to Be and It's Not Too Late to Change, Cooper Gallery, DJCAD, 2021
Installation view. Photo by Sally Jubb.
Image: The Ignorant Art School Sit-in #3 | The Otolith Group ...But There Are New Suns, Cooper Gallery, DJCAD, 2023
Preview - DXG #1: Thinking the Otolith Sigil. Photo by Sally Jubb.
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Petition created on 18 June 2026