Michael Stumpf's work takes language as a point of departure. Materials (denim, plastic, aluminium, found objects and paper) were used in this exhibition to formulate a material alphabet. This alphabet was used to create sculptural works that refer to film props and also to the cultural history of the materials themselves. As part of a broader linguistic system the sculptures functioned as semantic structures that suggest a narrative. The work employed film and literature references that are present as text fragments in the form of spray-painted posters or animated title sequences on video that repeat themselves. The display of the work captured a moment of an imagined narrative set in a fictional landscape; like a frozen frame from a film, or a torn out page of a book. The sculptures became protagonists bound in a system of invented places and events. Their presence, as part of an exhibition, created scenes that reflect an imaginary utopian space, face to face with Lebensraum - the space we live in. The reference points of Michael's work were digested through a sculptural production process of transformation/mutation to refashion our sense of time and place.

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New Work Scotland Programme was an initiative launched by Collective in 2000. Through an open call, New Work Scotland Programme identified and supported some of the most promising new artists working in Scotland - providing them with the opportunity to create new work and bring it to the attention of a wider public. The 2004 participants were Michael Stumpf, Craig Coulthard, Lee O'Connor and Rabiya Choudhry.

New Writing Scotland grew out of New Work Scotland Programme and was initiated in 2004 in collaboration with Edinburgh College of Art's Centre for Visual and Cultural Studies to promote creative writing about the visual arts coupled with targeted support to the exhibiting artists - providing them with them with their first artists text.