Kilmarnock Connections

Kilmarnock Connections is a new permanent public artwork to revitalise Kilmarnock Train Station Underpass. 

The artwork was commissioned by ScotRail and was officially launched on 7th December 2016.

Local knowledge was inscribed at the heart of the process right from the start with the aim of creating an artwork that feels alive to the town, its unique community, history and future. WAVEparticle hosted a series of workshops and meetings in the town, including at the Killie Browser in the train station, at Dean Castle, at local schools and at the new Kilmarnock Campus of Ayrshire College - encouraging people to bring a drawing, a story or anecdote that connects to or says something about Kilmarnock, to generate content for the final artwork.

A diverse assortment of stories was gathered; ranging from a descendant of the Caldwell family who owned an aerated water factory on Greenholm Street in the 1900s, to a great story about the railway station porter who discovered a dog in a goods wagon and chased it down Kilmarnock Station platform shouting, "Stop that dog, it's a parcel!"

Kilmarnock Connections draws from the rich history of Kilmarnock, but it also looks to the future; it has been designed in such a way that it has the capacity for further content to keep being added. Within the overall design, there is a series of 10 bespoke hexagonal boxes, in which individuals and organisations have been invited to exhibit objects and artefacts, for example: The Dick Institute, the Railway Heritage Trust, Creative Spaces, the Artist Network and local artist Justin Wilson among others. These display boxes are open for future exhibits to be suggested.