It is like something out of Monty Python. Across the manicured lawns of the Royal Botanic Garden, a huddle of people carry a long brown object like a giant squashed cigar. Behind them a trail of children whoop in wonder; anxious adults run after them, arms outstretched.
This is the installation of one of four sculptures by Austrian artist Franz West for an exhibition entitled Meeting Points. And that's exactly what these enigmatic sculptures are: forms that make art meet nature in playfully provocative ways. Freed from a gallery setting, West's art is like a magnet to passers-by.
Children are enthralled: "Why is the ball in the water?" they ask of his blue spherical sculpture sitting in a pond. Adults are bewildered, then charmed. "Is it meant to be a jobbie?" a man asks of the long brown sculpture standing in the Chinese pond. Jobbie is the local vernacular for poo.
Two further "meeting points" rest on plinths. A white, sinuous form sits on the lawn, occupying almost exactly the same spot as some Henry Moore sculptures did in the days when Inverleith House (at the centre of the gardens) was the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. As children clamber over it, West's work becomes a bridge between past and present as much as a temporary connection between culture and the natural world. With Ed Ruscha's paintings on show inside Inverleith House, this double bill is the visual arts highlight of this year's festival.
• Until 14 October. Details: 0131-248 2983.
