I’m Amanda Robertson and I am currently going into my fourth year of studying Film, Media & Marketing at the University of Stirling. This summer I had the opportunity to work with Summerhall TV and help film and edit videos covering the Edinburgh Arts Festival.

The beginning of the Arts Festival in Edinburgh was very exciting. The first thing we filmed was Charles Avery’s Tree. The amount of media covering the unveiling was slightly more than I ever imagined for Waverley Station. However, it was nice to be able to be involved in filming such an important figure in the arts world.

I particularly enjoyed filming in the Dovecot Galleries. Firstly, the art work by Kwang Young Chun was incredible. His detailed work was fun to film and it meant that we could be slightly more creative with the camera to fully capture the intricacies of his work. As it was the launch of the Arts Festival, Dovecot Galleries was filled with different media people as well as art enthusiasts. I was very aware the whole time we were filming that I was most likely photobombing other people’s pictures and videos of the event. I hope they filmed my good side.

In general, the whole process of filming various significant artists can be quite daunting, as well as creating work that they are happy with. However, I feel like along the process I learnt so much about the artists and their work and how to capture the best version of each exhibition. The arts festival is a busy time in Edinburgh but it is extremely exciting. By experiencing the festival from behind a camera, I feel that I was involved in some way in the creative excitement surrounding the city.

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Luci Wallace, Project Coordinator for Summerhall TV, an arts news organisation based in Summerhall. We make 2 – 3 minute videos covering contemporary arts news and events around Scotland. I coordinate what we shoot, and the content that appears across our websites artinscotland.tv, summerhall.tv and writerstories.tv, as well as our social media channels.

We started the day by visiting Charles Avery’s Tree no.5 at Waverley Station’s concourse. Amidst the hustle and bustle of the press, we grabbed the artist for a quick chat about his work. It was really interesting to see a piece of work like this in the station, and watching members of the public interact with it.

After that, it was a quick jaunt up the road to Dovecot Studios for the Art Festival’s press launch and to interview the festival’s director Sorcha Carey, about the programme. We were introduced to the beautiful work of Korean artist Kwang Young Chun, and spoke to his British representative, Grey Skipwith, about the work as well. One thing I’ve learned from press meets is to always be prepared for extra interviews!

We then made our way down to the Fruitmarket Gallery to meet Phyllida Barlow and talk about her newest exhibition, Set. The work was incredible, filling the lower and upper galleries, and completely transforming the space. We had a lot of fun filming this one as there was so much, and it was great to speak to Phyllida about her work.

Once filming was wrapped, it was back to the office to upload our footage and get to work on editing. A lot to digest but a great chance for Amanda to put her editing skills into practice.

A big thanks goes to Allison Thorpe and Victoria Mitchell from Sutton PR, who pulled together the interviews with Charles Avery and Sorcha Carey, Lizzie Cowan and the Dovecot team for introducing us to Grey Skipwith, and Louise Warmington at Fruitmarket for arranging our interview with Phyllida Barlow.

Find out more about some of the exhibitions currently on at Summerhall:

The Thermos Museum | until 31 August

David Sherry : One Million Years of Laughter | until 5 October

Glyn Thompson : A Lady’s Not A Gent’s | until 5 October

For more art videos, check out SummerhallTV Director Dave Rushton’s Top 5 selection from their archive on Central Station here.

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As part of Edinburgh Art Festival this summer, internationally renowned Korean artist Kwang Young Chun presents his first solo exhibition in Scotland at Dovecot Gallery. From 31 July to 26 September 2015 Chun’s AGGREGATIONS will be on display, uniting the traditions of making and Eastern philosophy with the artist’s painterly interest in American Abstract Expressionism.

Kwang Young Chun, Aggregation 06 – JN028, 2006, 250cm diameter, mixed media with Korean mulberry paper

Kwang Young Chun, Aggregation 06 – JN028 detail, 2006, 250cm diameter, mixed media with Korean mulberry paper

After graduating with an MFA from Philadelphia College of Art in 1971, Chun spent 20 years interested in Abstract Expressionism as a medium to convey his personal turmoil with the divide between ideals and reality. Chun then sought a new way to communicate his art in a Korean sentiment. A childhood memory of mulberry paper medicine packages with name cards – hanging from the ceiling observed during a visit to a doctor practising Chinese medicine – sparked a significant shift in the artist’s trajectory from 2D to 3D making. By attaching small wrapped packages depicting Korean and Chinese characters to a flat surface, Chun had found a method by which to express his gestures and words. He has since constructed colourful and complex assemblages comprised of triangular forms in various sizes which he views as ‘basic units of information’ creating both harmony and conflict. They are cut from Polystyrene, wrapped in Korean mulberry paper and tied with hand-twisted mulberry paper string. Mulberry paper or ‘Hanji’ literally means “the paper of Korea”. Hanji is not simply paper; the strong vitality of the paper means it can be used in a multitude of ways. There is an old saying that paper lasts a thousand years and textiles (such as silk or hemp) last five hundred, reflecting the superior strength of paper over cloth.

Throughout his work, contrasts are continually apparent – between personal and mass produced, between soft organic forms and jagged cracked fragments, between the whole and its various parts held in perfect tension, and between the specific traditions of a culture and the international language of art. Aggregations bring together a series of works representing both the artist’s reconciliation with the Abstract Expressionism movement and a reflection on the history of human life.

Kwang Young Chun, Aggregation 13 – NV045 RED, 2013, 163cm x 230cm, mixed media with Korean mulberry paper

Kwang Young Chun 14 – NV058 (Dream 21), 2014, 163cm x 131cm, mixed media with Korean mulberry paper

Chun’s mindscapes have the appearance of quoting from textile – where repeat rhythms and rich and blended colours are combined in smaller elements to build up an overall pictorial whole. Dovecot Gallery seeks to promote the work of artists who share concerns for the touch of the human hand in making and crafting works of contemporary art. Chun highlights the areas of crossover and connection between expressive fine art with the detailed precision of lovingly crafted hand-made objects. The results are visually and texturally rich pieces whose immediate visual impact brings them completely into the present moment – belying the long hours of meticulous making and care that has gone into their construction.

AGGREGATIONS is open from 31 July to 26 September 2015 at Dovecot Gallery, Edinburgh. For further details check Dovecot and see the full Edinburgh Art Festival programme here.

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