Michelle Hannah, Glass, 2013, Image: Queens Park Railway Club

In exhibition Where do I end and you begin, twenty artists take on the subject of the Commonwealth, considering the combination of the words ‘common’ and ‘wealth’ and examining the legacy of a historical and contemporary construct which often proves problematic. Part of Glasgow 2014′s Cultural Programme, the exhibition features contemporary art selected by five curators from around the Commonwealth.

Shilpa Gupta, Where Do I End and You Begin, 2012, neon

Other highlights include guided tours, film screenings, artist talks, discussions and performances. For the night owl, there’s Art Late, a programme of late night openings and events in three different parts of the city that will feature live music, performances and more.

Art Late South 2013, Image: Kat Gollock

The Edinburgh Art Festival runs from 31 July to 31 August. For more information see the festival website.

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The theme for this year’s Edinburgh Art Festival commissions programme has been Parley. As a result the programme has considered how art can be an agent of discussion, negotiation and debate. Various strands of event have been formed around this notion, led by our commissioned artists and guest speakers.

The first Parley Discussion, curated and led by Ross Sinclair, kick-started the festival as an open platform for exploration into discussion and performance with the audience being led through a series of conversations and collaborations. Live art was happening across Krijn De Koning’s Land as speakers such as Maria Fusco presented abstract narratives and explored the notion of Utopia. Performers such as Phoebe Amis lifted the experience with her incredibly high-pitched vocal abilities which echoed across the Sculpture Court. This certainly created an environment that took the viewers out of their initial comfort zones of experiencing visual arts. Lighthearted performances such as this were contrasted with the harsh social realism film Autumn Leaves, created by Kenyerse.  The whole experience felt like a whirlwind journey through discursive content which compliments Ross Sinclair’s commission Real Life and How to Live it in Auld Reekie, a series of informative graphics found all over Edinburgh.

Ross Sinclair performing at the opening Edinburgh Art Festival Parley Discussion. Photograph by Kat Gollock.

For the programme of talks that followed, each artist was partnered with a speaker whose specialty relates to the work in question without necessarily coming from an artistic point of view; this allowed for a huge scope of discussion covering social, political and historical contexts.

Robert Montgomery, the artist behind the Edinburgh Fire Poem, spoke with Ryan Van Winkle, poet, performer & podcaster, about their differing use and expression of poetry (Robert’s being bold, visual & public, whereas Ryan approaches the same subject with a personal caution, not intending for all his written words to be widely read).

Robert Montgomery, Edinburgh Fire Poem, 2013. Image courtesy of Dael Poulter.

Our final commission-based Parley was this week’s “in conversation” between Krijn De Koning, the artist behind the sculptural, architectural intervention Land in Edinburgh College of Art’s Sculpture Court, and Edward Hollis. Edward is based at Edinburgh College of Art and specializes in architecture so the conversation was particularly pertinent. They talked in depth about how artworks unite with the space they are located in; how they can expand the volume and impact of the chosen space. Uniquely, this conversation took place on the work in question.

Krijn de Koning and Edward Hollis in conversation on Land, one in a series of artist talks as part of Parley.

To see the work used physically and metaphorically as a platform for this conversation was perfectly representative of Parley. Krijn spoke honestly about all aspects of his work touching on the use, or lack thereof, of colour across his works as well as the physical process of transforming such a large piece from initial drawings and model works.

We are now sadly drawing to the end of our programme of discussions, but there is one remaining and we are certain to go out with a bang. Parley Discussion: Tae Think Again, Rethinking Identity in Contemporary Scotland, curated by Rachel Maclean and co-commissioned by Edinburgh Art Festival and Edinburgh Printmakers, is this Saturday.

Similar to our opening Parley Discussion, the afternoon will see a programme of performances and speakers. Speakers include Craig Coulthard, David Cameron, David McCrone, Duncan Petrie and Denise Mina and the event will be chaired by Jim Tough with an introduction from Alastair Snow. Expect to delve into the history and future of Scottish identity with the added bonus of a screening of Rachel Maclean’s recent and highly acclaimed work The Lion and The Unicorn.

Venue for the Edinburgh Art Festival Parley Discussions. Krijn de Koning, Land, 2013, co-commissioned by Edinburgh Art Festival and Edinburgh College of Art. Photograph by Kat Gollock.

Parley Discussion: Tae Think Again, Rethinking Identity in Contemporary Scotland (curated by Rachel Maclean), Saturday 31 August, 2-5pm, free.

Edinburgh College of Art
74 Lauriston Place
EH3 9DF

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EAF Film Club has seen a varied programme of screenings curated by organisations from across the country this year. There have been serious, thought-provoking films, there have been refreshingly lighthearted ones, but what has particularly stood out so far is the use of performance and interaction to heighten the experience, encouraging spectators to become participants.

This is in keeping with this year’s Film Club theme, “Interval As Integration”, focusing on encouraging interaction between the artwork itself and the audience as well as between artist spaces, artists, curators and the viewer.

The first week saw a takeover by The Royal Standard from Liverpool who showcased a selection of films under the title ‘I like the way you move’. Candice Jacobs’ I get Things Done felt somewhat like an endurance test, looking into power structures and work place monotony. This was counteracted later in the evening with the playful, interactive nature of Lucy Pawlak’s Arriving Without Leaving.  Complete with goody bags, Pawlak’s film instructed the viewers through a series of tasks; rubbing peaches on their hands was just one of these. Both bizarre and wonderful it united the audience in the experience, breaking the structure of passive viewing and reminding us of the potential madness of the everyday.

Generator Projects from Dundee showed work by many different artists. The name says it all with Dorian Brauns’ Give Away Wooden Propellers. The audience were invited up on their feet; playful chaos followed.  Ben Skeas’ Trace was striking, filmed in two locations over the course of the year, focusing on nature but full of imagery that was not recognizably so, cleverly manipulated and calming to watch.

Last week The Telfer Gallery presented Bruce Asbestos’ Social Media Takeaway, a flamboyant expression of multi-media art, focusing on the role of social networking in society. Though hilarious and lighthearted, it also reflected on how social networking has taken over, explained in a whirlwind of performance and film.

The Film Club takes place in New Media Scotland, complete with cushions and a handy bar for the intervals. Our concluding Film Club is today (28 August) at 7.30pm and is curated by Circa Projects from Newcastle. Expect to see works by Steina and Woody Vasulka, Zoe Williams and many more – and all for free! To book your place please follow this link: http://eaffilmclubcircaprojects.eventbrite.co.uk/

New Media Scotland
1 Crichton Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9AB
www.mediascot.org

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In his work Land, Krijn de Koning makes familiar works disappear from view, or manifest in surprising ways, in a series of platforms encasing several iconic works from Edinburgh College of Art’s cast collection.

Venus de Medici, photograph by Kat Gollock

The Venus de Medici cowers in the corner. The Nike of Samothrace is buried up to her thighs, her wings at head height. Discobolus roots around underneath the raised platform’s plywood floor. The Venus de Milo and Spinario also make appearances.

Nike of Samothrace, photograph by Kat Gollock

The Sculpture Court, photograph by Kat Gollock

Krijn de Koning’s structures offer new possibilities to navigate and experience the space they inhabit. This new work has been developed for the Sculpture Court at Edinburgh College of Art, who are co-commissioning this work. Typical of his practice, Land initiates a direct dialogue with the hosting space.

A site for several Parley events during the festival, de Koning’s latest work offers an active platform for framing questions, and excavating and exploring ideas.

Talk on the platform, photograph by Kat Gollock

Parley events still to come:

Krijn de Koning in conversation with Edward Hollis
Krijn de Koning will discuss his work and its implications with architect, teacher and writer Edward Hollis, author of ‘The Secret Lives of Buildings’ and ‘The Memory Palace: A Book of Lost Interiors’.
27 August, 6-7pm, free

Parley Discussion: Tae Think Again, Rethinking Identity in Contemporary Scotland (curated by Rachel Maclean)
Responding to the upcoming 2014 referendum on Scottish Independence, this symposium curated by artist Rachel Maclean intends to delve deeper than a simple yes/no debate and look at the broader social, cultural and historical background to a discussion of contemporary Scottish national identity. The event will begin with a screening of the artist’s recent work The Lion and the Unicorn.
31 August, 2-5pm, free

Talk on the platform, photograph by Kat Gollock

Read more at www.edinburghartfestival.com.

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Contemporary composers with a range of musical styles and interests have been commissioned to produce new pieces for Sarah Kenchington’s Wind Pipes for Edinburgh, an extraordinary new musical instrument created from almost 200 decommissioned organ pipes and installed in Trinity Apse, a 15th Century Kirk. The final concert on 26 August includes performances of works composed by Brian Irvine and eagleowl and friends.

When I first encountered Sarah’s magnificent piece I was struck by its gentleness; its vulnerability, its reliance on the efforts and attention of others to live and speak. Like a giant mechanical wheezing sage it has a kind of wisdom that reminds us of ourselves. It wants to breathe and in its voice is the sound of time, acceptance and ritual.
- Brian Irvine, composer

Brian Irvine is Northern Irish composer whose body of work reflects an obsessive love of music creation in all its forms. It includes operas, orchestral works, large-scale community oratorios, film and dance scores as well as numerous ensemble, solo, chamber pieces. Together with his own 12-piece ensemble (BBC Radio 3 music award winners) he has toured extensively throughout the world. For the last four years he has been the Associate Composer with the Ulster Orchestra in Belfast and is currently Visiting Professor of Creative Arts at the University of Ulster.

eagleowl and friends performing on Sarah Kenchington’s Wind Pipes for Edinburgh, a 2013 Edinburgh Art Festival commission. Photo: Kat Gollock.

Having honed their craft over the last 8 years, slowcore miserabilists eagleowl released their critically acclaimed debut album this silent year on Fence Records earlier in the year. For this project they will be collaborating with friends from other Edinburgh acts including Broken Records, Meursault and Nap Sholty.

This concert is from 7-8:30pm on 26 August at Trinity Apse, Chalmers Close, 42 High St, EH1 1SS. Tickets are £7.50.

Here’s a clip of composer Daniel Padden performing part of his composition for the instrument earlier this month. Filmed by Daniel Warren.

Read more at www.edinburghartfestival.com.

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Artists Tom Nolan and Catherine Payton are this year’s Edinburgh Art Festival Tourists in Residence, offering visitors to Edinburgh the unique perspective of artists based in the city. This collaboration takes the shape of several tours written by the artists. Our Tourists in Residence have also created their own map featuring selected monuments in Edinburgh – both real and imaginary – which can be used for self-guided tours.

The Debtor’s Day Off

Collectively embodying the famous opium-eater Thomas De Quincey, the group will depart from Holyrood Palace, which was formerly designated a debtors’ sanctuary, one in which De Quincey took refuge from the bailiffs on several occasions. Leaving the sanctuary on a Sunday (the day when historically no arrests were permitted in the city) the walk will follow the length of the Royal Mile before ending at De Quincey’s grave in St Cuthbert’s Kirkyard at the west end of Princes Street. The walk, one regularly taken by both Catherine and Tom, will take in many of Edinburgh’s most famous sites but we can expect attention to be drawn to some of the more obscure reference points which will serve as departure points for an associative narrative reflecting some of Edinburgh’s public histories as well as references more particular to our Tourists’ private histories and with frequent reference to De Quincey, the protagonist of our walk.

This tour will take place on Sunday 1 September.

Other tours include A symposium (with free tea and coffee) – held at IKEA after the 8 mile stroll there – and A dissociative walk which explores Edinburgh’s split personality.

Selected Monuments of Edinburgh

A guide and aid to the self-declared, subjective monuments of the city. These spaces form departure points, portals: they are thin places, open to fluctuation in meaning and purpose. They are radically open to mis-, re- and un- interpretation.

-    Tom Nolan & Catherine Payton

This aid will be available at the EAF Kiosk on George Street and can also be downloaded here.

Read more at www.edinburghartfestival.com.

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Robert Montgomery’s Edinburgh Fire Poem was burnt on The Mound on 1 August. This work will remain on The Mound until 1 September as part of Edinburgh Art Festival.

RATHER THE RAIN ON THE WINDOW
OF THE CASTLE THAN THE CASTLE
ITSELF, RATHER THE FLIGHT OF
THE BIRD, RATHER BURNED
THAN CAPTURED

- Robert Montgomery

Read more at www.edinburghartfestival.com.

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With Edinburgh Art Festival opening in less than a week, the commissions and their sites are entering the final stages. Here are some images from recent weeks.

Krijn de Koning has taken casts from the Edinburgh College of Art’s collection and positioned them in new, unexpected groupings in the Sculpture Court. Here (above) they sit ahead of the scaffolding and platforms in which they are now submerged, changing and challenging the way we perceive these iconic works. De Koning builds structures which offer new possibilities to navigate and experience the space they inhabit.

Christine Borland and Brody Condon’s commission Daughters of Decayed Tradesmen is being installed in the burnt out Watchtower of the New Calton Burial Ground. This circular tower is one of several such structures built in Edinburgh in the 1820s to address a growing problem with ‘Resurrectionists’, individuals who dug up recently interred (not yet decomposed) bodies and sold them to the Anatomy School for dissection, and provides a highly resonant site for the artists’ exploration of ideas around decay and dereliction from the 18th century to the present day. This structure has recently been the recipient of TLC courtesy of Edinburgh World Heritage.

Ross Sinclair has created over 43,500 artworks for Edinburgh Art Festival this year: billboards, banners, posters, postcards, beermats, bags and 7” vinyl. These works are being installed and distributed over the coming week. Keep an eye out for them on the streets, in the pubs and outside the newsagents. Details of which spaces are taking part will be announced shortly. Identity (personal, collective, local, national and international) and its construction have remained central concerns in Sinclair’s practice. Scotland is of particular interest to the artist, precisely, as he has noted, because of the degree to which our sense of Scottish-ness and what it means to inhabit this country, comes as much from the imagination of poets and artists, as real lived experience. The results from this commission will be found on the streets, in the pubs and outside selected newsagents.

Sarah Kenchington’s Wind Pipes for Edinburgh are currently being fine-tuned. This giant one-of-a-kind instrument, installed in Trinity Apse, is made out of over 100 decommissioned organ pipes. This is the first instrument Sarah Kenchington has created that is to be played by other people other than herself. Wind Pipes for Edinburgh requires at least 6 willing bodies to man the bellows. The installation will be accompanied by a series of concerts from guest composers and children’s workshops, all of which are bookable on the Edinburgh Art Festival website.

Much like our Ross Sinclair commission, Peter Liversidge’s Flags for Edinburgh is to be installed gradually over this week in its various sites, building up to the full flying of flags by the beginning of August. Here is the Scottish National Gallery’s flag, newly installed on their roof with beautiful views of the castle behind. The artist invited anyone in the city with a flagpole to fly a white flag which bears the text: HELLO. The project stemmed from a desire to remind us that in its simplest sense, the flag too is a form of hello, “a greeting, an indication of intent be that benevolent or with malice”. It is, in the artist’s own words, “a simple welcome across the rooftops “.

These are but 5 of this year’s 10 Edinburgh Art Festival commissions, all of which are on show 1 August – 1 September. Read more at www.edinburghartfestival.com.

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After the success of the 2012 Film Club, the 2013 edition of Edinburgh Art Festival (EAF) will again run a project presenting emerging artists’ film, video and performance every Wednesday evening during the Festival. This year’s Film Club is aiming to step outside the city of Edinburgh and collaborate with emerging artists and spaces from the rest of Scotland and the UK. Each event will be curated by a different emerging artist/space who will share films, videos and performances with audiences from Edinburgh and beyond and will be shown at Edinburgh’s New Media Scotland.

Galleries that we have invited include The Royal Standard, Liverpool; Generator Projects, Dundee; The Telfer Gallery, Glasgow and CIRCA Projects, Newcastle.

This year’s Film Club with its theme – Interval As Integration – will focus on merging the boundaries and encouraging interaction between artist spaces, artists, curators and viewers, as well as between the screen – the artwork itself – and the audience.

Invited spaces have developed programmes of film, video and performances which will challenge the receding position of the viewer as a passive consumer of sensations and encourage their active participation. The interval will be treated just as in linguistics, as an element necessary for comprehending the meaning of the text. It will enable both the artists and the audiences to engage in a critical dialogue. The interval will not only expand the limits of the screen or the stage, but will also call for merging the boundaries between individuals. Having invited artists and spaces from outside Edinburgh and outside Scotland to take part in the project, this year’s Film Club will support and encourage the common, yet often dismissed within the art world, activity of networking and see it as an activity that is both extremely helpful and necessary, especially for emerging artists and spaces.

The Transmitters by Serena Korda, HD video still, courtesy of the artist.

The first Film Club event, on 7 August, is curated by The Royal Standard, Liverpool. Their film night looks at notions of melodrama, dance, hysteria and glamour. Special entertainment and services will be available during intermissions.
Selected artists include Catherine Payton, Andrew Gannon, Serena Korda, Karin Kihlberg and Reuben Henry, Romany Dear, NOW NOW Collective and Ursula Mayer.

For the 14 August Dundee’s Generator Projects have prepared a selection of artists’ moving images from Reluca Iancu, Jack Paton and Dorian Braun, Angel Zorn, Jack and Dorian, Sarah Lundy, Pawel Grzyb, Sam Spreckley, Bryan M. Ferguson, Maeve Brennan, Christopher McGinnis, Ben Skea, Adam Knight and Aaron McCarthy.

SMT, Bruce Asbestos, video still, courtesy of the artist.

The Telfer Gallery from Glasgow is the third space invited to participate in this year’s Film Club and for the evening of the 21 August, they have invited a Nottingham based artist, Bruce Asbestos, to show another episode of his Social Media Takeaway, Special Episode: Networked. The Social Media Takeaway is Bruce Asbestos’ series of short, whirling and buoyant videos made for YouTube. It is reflective of his approach to art that is intrinsically multi-media and collaborative, positioning artwork firmly in the public domain. His YouTube Channel uses the quick fix, low-brow, throw-away nature of YouTube as site for narrative, pop, performative and discursive work.

Bruce will be producing a Special Episode for the film club on and for the 21 August.

Our last Film Club will take place on 28 August and it will present a programme of screenings selected by curators from CIRCA, Newcastle. Olivia Dunbar, Zoe Williams, Craig Mulholland, Adham Faramawy, Richard Whitby, Jon Rafman, Steina and Woody Vasulka are some of the artists whose work will be presented. This screening will then be shown at Filmwerkstatt, Düsseldorf.

EAF’s Film Club 2013 will be hosted in New Media Scotland between 7.30-9.30 on the following evenings: 7 August, 14 August, 21 August, 28 August. Tickets are available at www.edinburghartfestival.com.

New Media Scotland
1 Crichton Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9AB
www.mediascot.org

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Our programme of public art commissions for this year’s Edinburgh Art Festival is titled Parley, exploring both art that depends on dialogue for its realization and art’s capacity to create dialogue.

Opening with Ross Sinclair and company pondering the role of the artist and closing with a discussion of contemporary Scottish national identity, Parley events also traverse a puppet play, performances and ‘in-conversation’ pieces by our 2013 commissioned artists. We’re discussing them already!

Parley events are bookable on www.edinburghartfestival.com and are all free with the exception of the Wind Pipes for Edinburgh concerts. Spaces are limited.

Here are just some of the highlights.

Parley Discussion: Real Life Parledonia (curated by Ross Sinclair)
2 August, 2-5pm

Artist Ross Sinclair adopts the role of ring master to direct a loose array of speakers, performers and artists, in debating questions such as: ‘what is Parley? And what is Caledonia? And how might they come together locally, nationally and internationally? What is the job description of ‘artists’ in a small damp Northern European country in 2013? What is a ‘creative life’ and how can the idea be articulated by ourselves and others at this particularly complicated moment in time?’.

Parley for Power
2 August, 5:30-6pm

Based in a world where cats and dogs engage in wild debate over issues of identity and independence. A vote will determine whether they rid themselves of the moniker of ‘pet’ and all associated ties to their petitude.

Parley for Power is a short play written for the festival by poet Michael Pedersen (Neu! Reekie!) and award-winning playwright/novelist Alan Bissett.

Parley: Katri Walker in conversation with Noe Mendelle
6 August, 6-7pm

Katri Walker will be in conversation with Noe Mendelle, an internationally renowned documentary maker and Director of the Scottish Documentary Institute.

Parley Discussion: Is all this hot air worth it?
10 August, 1:30-4pm

Artistic activity produces tonnes of CO2 – particularly the international movement of artists, artworks and audiences. What responsibility do artists and arts organisations have to use the form, content and framing of their work to address climate change? With a provocation from the artists Collins & Goto, Creative Carbon Scotland’s discussion invites contributions from across the arts.

Parley: Peter Liversidge and Brigadier David Allfrey MBE
13 August, 1-2pm

Peter Liversidge will be in conversation with Brigadier David Allfrey MBE, producer of The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo.

Parley: Robert Montgomery in conversation
13 August, 6-7pm

Robert Montgomery’s conversation partner will be announced shortly.

Parley: Daniel Padden and Peter Nicholson (The Complaints Choir) in conversation with Katie Overy
20 August, 7-8pm

We’ve just announced on our website that Daniel Padden and Peter Nicholson of The Complaints Choir of Edinburgh will be in conversation with Katie Overy, Senior Lecturer in Music Psychology at the University of Edinburgh. The Complaints Choir invites people to come together to share their complaints, and sing them out loud.

This is one of a series of events every Tuesday during the festival where our commissioned artists are engaged in conversation with specialists from other disciplines that provide a counter-point to the artist’s practice and interests.

Parley: Krijn de Koning in conversation with Edward Hollis
27 August, 6-7pm

Krijn de Koning will be in conversation with Edward Hollis, author of ‘The Secret Lives of Buildings’ and ‘The Memory Palace: A Book of Lost Interiors’.

Parley Discussion: Tae Think Again, Rethinking Identity in Contemporary Scotland (curated by Rachel Maclean)
31 August, 2-5pm

Responding to the upcoming 2014 referendum on Scottish Independence, this symposium curated by artist Rachel Maclean intends to delve deeper than a simple yes/no debate and look at the broader social, cultural and historical background to a discussion of contemporary Scottish national identity.

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