JUST IN CASE is perhaps the modern age equivalent of Cleopatra‘s Needle. A giant safety-pin made frotn stainless steel. George Wyllie's latest outsize sculpture is over eight metres high and is to stand on a vast plinth at Glasgow Cross. as v 3 “ part of this year's Mayfest. Forever the questioning
scul'.’tor. Wyllie launched a paper boat on the ('lyde a few years back. Now in the name of larger-than-life quirkiness. Wyllie suggests that Cleopatra didn‘t die from an asp's bite but from a safety-less piti prick. When pushed about the contemporary message of Just In (use. Wyllie offers a political one: ‘lt's the sort of thing the Tories could do with to keep their policies from falling apart.‘ Wyllie is also planning to recite his own (Me ’1}; A Sit/etv-l’iii at his monument's unveiling. (Susanna Beaumont)
Just In (‘use iv (1! Glasgow ('mvy‘. TIMI/'3' :— Sit! 25 111m:
MTM is the Scottish debut for Barcelona’s untameable La Fura Dels Baus performance group, who visit Tramway’s huge exhibition hall for Maylest. We’re told the company’s name is beyond translation, though fura, it seems, is the Catalan word for ferret. MTM is a least at techno beats, naked writhing, giant video screens, mirrors and cardboard boxes, with some particularly unsavoury oral surgery thrown in tree of charge. An open mind and audience participation are demanded — but they might be rewarded with a horrifying glimpse into the true meaning of baus.
M TM is at Tramway, Glasgow, Wed 8—821! 11 May.
SEAMUS HEANEY — who last year became Ireland's fourth Nobel latttcalc. to his astonishment and the poetry-loving world's applause know s how to put himself about. As performance poetry grows in populaiity. thrusting verse into a very public arena. lleaney is going about ill\ work in art entirely different way. He has put poetry back iii the public consciousness without having to shout to be heard - lleaney \ magic l\ woven with intimate detail that touches the emotions of a w itlei';iiigiiig.! public. With the publication of The Spirit [.H‘t’l. his first poetry collection in five years. Heaney is likely to find a captive audience is lien lie \ l\ll\ lidiiiburgh in the only Scottish date of an Irish and British tour. The \L‘clt‘l of his success. he has said. is in the unexpected: "I‘liere ha». to bc a little surprise. A big surprise is even better. but a little surprise it ill do] he
say s. \\e wait \y itli bated breath.
Seamus Heunev is (I! [lie xii's'eni/fli' Rummy Iz't/iiilim-g/i (in .lloii I; .\I(!\' m part (If-sistVt’IIIh/V xl/ii't’.’ The Spirit /.(’l'('/ i\' pu/t/ii/iei/ t/ie \tillli’ (/(H In Faber A" I’d/tel; £72.99 t/um/luu'k i/UiU‘) t/iu/ter/nu A i.
2 The List 3-16 May i996