The Cooper Gallery is threatened with closure as part of a wider range of cost cutting by Dundee University. The proposal, first reported by The Jute Journal, the university student newspaper, could be shut by 2027, alongside the axing of seven academic posts and one academic‑related post at the university’s Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design.
The gallery was opened in 1953 and has hosted exhibitions by Heather Phillipson (2023), The Otolith Group (2023), Rosalind Nashashibi and Lucy Skaer (2022), Phil Collins (2019) and Paul Noble (2011 2018), all of whom have been nominated for the Turner Prize, together with five edition of its twelve-hour symposia series.
It currently has a staff of two.
The proposal comes amid the erosion of Scotland’s once booming arts scene, that has seen within a growing pattern of cultural erosion across Scotland, including the closure of CCA Glasgow in 2026 and the threat of a 300 per cent rent increase to Trongate 103 building, also in Glasgow, a longstanding not-for-profit arts hub.
A petition signed by almost 500, including artists Hayley Tompkins, Neil Clements and Georgina Starr, notes ‘For artists, the gallery provides essential resources, visibility, professional development opportunities, and connections to national and international networks. For Dundee residents and visitors, it offers free access to ambitious international exhibitions, public events, talks, screenings, and learning programmes that enrich the cultural life of the city.’
The University of Dundee has also announced plans to cease offering philosophy as a degree from 2027.
