Metis is an atelier for art, architecture and urbanism that was founded by Mark Dorrian and Adrian Hawker at the University of Edinburgh in 1997. Over the past 11 years they have produced a sequence of installations, architectural and urban proposals that have been exhibited and published internationally. Their first book, Urban Cartographies, was published in 2001 and has been widely circulated and cited, notably in the USA. They have presented the work in lectures and discussions in Antwerp, Berlin, Calgary, Ghent, London, Montreal, Paris, and Prague. Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, USA, hosted an exhibition and discussions linked to their book in April 2002. They were shortlisted for a Scottish Arts Council 'Creative Scotland' award in 2003.

Metis' work focuses on the city and the complex ways in which it is imagined, inhabited, and representationally encoded. They aim to produce rich, multi-layered works that resist immediate consumption and that are instead gradually unfurled over time through interaction with them. Their approach is concerned with establishing a poetic but critical approach to the city that is sensitive to its cultural memory but is also articulated in relation to its possible futures.

Mark Dorrian and Adrian Hawker