IT WILL be one of the biggest conundrums in modern Scottish art history, a puzzle inspired by the legacy of a master of Pop Art.
Art experts at the University of Edinburgh are to wrestle publicly with what to do with the remnants of one of the key works of Scottish pop artist Sir Eduardo Paolozzi: his murals for Tottenham Court Road Underground station, partially destroyed in a revamp of the Tube in 2015.
Since then, the University of Edinburgh has owned more than 600 pieces of what is left of two mosaics over the archways in the Underground station's main entrance hall.
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In jagged chunks of colourful Italian glass tile and moribund concrete, the remnants of the archway mosaic only represent 45% of the original art work famously created by the Leith-born artist in 1984.
They were dismantled as part of the £400m Crossrail redevelopment of the site, leading to much public outcry before being gifted to the University.
It has been the plan from the time the University stepped in receive the archway murals that they go on public display, but with less than half of the work still existing, it is now openly musing on how to arrange their future display.
The rest of the archway mosaics were dismantled, and presumed destroyed, before the University became owners of the work.
Now the University is to hold a public symposium on what they are calling their "public art puzzle".
The 600 pieces, some the size of a book, the other size of 'large slabs', are currently in storage.
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The meeting at the Edinburgh College of Art on February 23 will bring together a series of art historical, curatorial and conservation experts to discuss what to do with the mosaics.
Neil Lebeter, curator of the university's art collection, and Liv Laumenech, the university's Public Art Officer, who is leading the project, said, given a vast collection of fragments, they had to work with colleagues at the School of Informatics, who scanned each fragment, to try and work out where they were originally in the mosaics.
"The mosaic was not catalogued or grouped in a way in which you could tell what they were," Ms Laumenech said.
"It is not very straightforward. We don't have one whole arch, or one large part of an archway - but they are really beautiful.
"It is a jigsaw. But when you are faced with 45% of the original, you have to stop and think and say 'where do we go with this'?
Ms Laumenech said: "We feel that anything is possible, because the context has been removed, you have sizeably less of the art work, so for me this is why we are holding the symposium, to create parameters of what we could do, and give students and the general public and idea of what could happen."
She added: "Personally I like the idea of retaining some element of the story of the mosaics.
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"If you are talking about conservation, best practice is to save what's there, not re-do anything, but at the same time its exciting to discuss what we could do with them."
Ideas being considered include remaking the mosaic and mounting them like a damaged Classical mosaic with missing portions left blank, making a new art work out of the mosaic tiles, placing them in a subterranean setting somewhere in Edinburgh, or placing them somewhere on the University campus.
It is unlikely they will be displayed outside, as the gum used as an adhesive was not originally intended to be used outside.
One student at the university has even suggested melting down the tiles to make into a new material in which to create new art - an idea which has, perhaps to art historian's relief, been rejected.
Mr Lebeter said: "We could rebuild one part, and leave other parts for teaching.
"So there may be a mixture of things we do."
Speakers at the symposium will include Henrietta Billings, the director of Save Britain's Heritage and the mosaicist Chris Smith.
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