The Time Based Art & Digital Film course can seem a little ‘out there’ for the first time degree show attendee, but a true highlight. It is a visual smorgasbord of goings-on. Step into ‘The Void’ of Ryan Esson – an unnerving mirrored infinity. You can’t be sure whether you’re in heaven, or in hell. Laura Corrigan presents SHUAIR – bottled and branded designer air– something seemingly impossible, yet the familiar glitzy campaign photos are disturbingly close to home.

Ryan Esson

The aforementioned Kickstarter film comes in the form of Corpach – a mystery thriller, with the teasing Prelude on show. This is a joint project between Jeppe Rohde Nielsen and Alan McIlrath. In 1975, a young girl goes missing from her small community in Corpach, the Highlands, after what seems to be a paranormal earthquake, the aftermath is devastating. What we’re given is already highly engaging, and we can only eagerly anticipate the feature length film to follow. The future bodes well for both the final film and the success of its creators.

Jeppe Rohde Nielsen

From Fine Art and Art, Philosophy, Contemporary Practices there is such a plethora of work you’ll be hooked for hours.

Molly McEwan’s blinking eye is daunting and uneasy. Her array of ceramic characters filling nooks and crannies are toy-sized and interacting like a giant game of chess. While you are drawn into their world, the eye watches over you, and it’s not clear if it’s protective or intrusive.

Molly McEwan

Lucas Battich has a simultaneous video and projection piece showing you every colour from the digital spectrum and plays over a 24-hour period. Another screen shows the generation of endless digitised colour variations of Josef Albers’ Homage to the Square. One after the other a new image is created, exploring how Albers’ investigations on colour theory could be continued in a contemporary format. We are left to question the reality of the art imagery we consume in today’s techno-centric culture.

Lucas Battich

Samantha Wilson demonstrates that drawing and painting are still an incredibly powerful medium. Her larger than life characters can be seen in a dizzyingly packed crowd, or in solitary, but each one is compelling. “It is the eyes that get you”, a fellow enthusiast remarks, and they really do.

Samantha Wilson

In the same room Jenni Bangs’ theatre-inspired ceramics are comforting and nostalgic. Having a background in performing arts herself, tokens of the stage can be deciphered from intimate objects that suggest the physical exertion on the performer’s body: while the artist relies on their hands, the performer must rely on their feet.

For the intrepid spectator, what is always intriguing is the selection of RSA award winners for next year. Lucas Battich, Samantha Wilson and the Corpach collaborative team of Jeppe Rohde Nielsen and Alan McIlrath are just some of the chosen few. After the huge successes that came to DJCAD graduates this year at the acclaimed New Contemporaries (the representing artists’ scooped up 7 prizes in total between them – the most of any Scottish art school), it’s been asked consistently if this year can match it. Yet, for the college and its students’, things have gone from strength to strength. The graduate show is outstanding, and these young artists have more than enough talent to not only defend and but champion DJCAD’s continuing triumphs.

The DJCAD degree show runs until 25 May. Further details can be found on the DJCAD Degree Show website. Check out our featured event about the show.

Images courtesy of DJCAD.

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Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design (DJCAD) will showcase work from some of the country’s best young creatives later this month when the annual Degree Show season gets underway.

The DJCAD Degree Show is the first of the flagship exhibitions held by Scotland’s four main art and design colleges each year. The traditional Preview Evening for the students, their families and invited guests takes place on 16 May, with the city’s largest annual exhibition of art and design, featuring the work of some 245 final-year students, opening to the public the next day and remaining open until 25 May.

Students from all 11 undergraduate programmes will exhibit their works across the two buildings and fourteen floors that comprise DJCAD. The show attracts thousands of visitors each year and is seen as a springboard for some of Scotland’s most exciting emerging artists.

DJCAD has a reputation as one of the leading art schools in the UK and many of its students go on to be world-renowned artists. Turner Prize winner Susan Philipsz and nominees David Mach, Louise Wilson and Luke Fowler are all DJCAD alumni. The standard of DJCAD students has been borne out by the number selected for prestigious prizes and exhibitions, such as the New Designers, New Blood, FreeRange and New Contemporaries on the basis of their Degree Show work.

Jeanette Paul, Acting Dean of DJCAD, said, “Over the coming months, thousands of talented artist and designers from across Scotland will be exhibiting the fruits of their training over the past four years and our graduands consistently prove themselves to be among the best in the country.

“This is demonstrated by their strong performance at New Contemporaries last year. This illustrious exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy brings together the best work from all Degree Shows and the number of awards given to DJCAD graduates shows how skilled and creative the artists we produce are… Degree Show is always a special time for the University community, and indeed the whole city, and I’m sure the thousands of visitors who flock to DJCAD will once again be impressed by what they see.”

The exhibition will be open to the public from 17 – 25 May. Admission is free and the exhibition is open from 10am – 8pm (Monday to Friday) and 10am – 4pm (Saturday & Sunday).

The DJCAD Degree Show is one of the highlights of the city’s cultural calendar, attracting some 10,000 visitors each year and generating in excess of £1 million for the local economy in the process. It is part of the Ignite Dundee festival, which runs from 16 – 31 May and showcases the very best of Dundee’s creative talent.

Further details can be found on the DJCAD Degree Show website.

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For more events, see our Weekly Bulletin here.