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£33552?" 1; 21,77- ;5' '* . Lia:;::£i.:i§~;ge=a;;fb-£9 GROUP SHOW
BLUE SKIES
Stills, Edinburgh, Fri 23 Mar-Sat 28
Apr.
he boundaries of visual art I are ever expanding.
Advances in technology have heralded the arrival of new media. Artists are using state-of-the-art computer programmes to create websites, CD-Roms and digital arts projects, allowing them to communicate and collaborate on their ideas, concepts and opinions around the globe. When it comes to the digital age, the sky’s the limit.
Blue Skies is an exhibition which maps out this new terrain. Bringing together a number of newly commissioned works by Scotland- based artists, the show explores how technology makes connections across space and time and how this influences the way we see our place in the world.
‘New media is becoming more and more important to the way we live, whether it’s work or leisure,’ explains Kate Tregaskis, artistic director at Stills. ‘And of course artists are going to pick up on it as
an interesting media to work with. It becomes a sort of
cultural currency.’
Media Scotland.
Beverley Hood’s Translocale
‘It was a great project to do,’ says Grant. ‘l’ve done a
Artbeat
The exhibition features a single channel video work by Colin Andrews, I may be some time which employs archive footage from a mapping expedition to the Arctic in the 19303. Artists collective e@t share a meal with a group of artists in the States, conversing via a satellite link-up. Beverley Hood’s Translocale documents a
‘Face—to-face communication is the missionary position so beloved of the Western man.’ Francis McKee
performance of tango dancers which will be projected onto the floor and dropped into internet chat rooms. And Catriona Grant shows Genuine Offer of Friendship, an interactive projection piece that reveals images of people interviewed in Pilton about friendship.
lot of projects that have involved interviewing people to create work based on people’s individual stories. Genuine Offer of Friendship is more straightforward as the people involved are presenting themselves.’ Reminiscent of a theatrical setting, gallery goers will
enter the space through a red velvet curtained doorway.
Facing the viewer are the participants who appear in front of a digital red curtain. Using a computer mouse, you can select a potential friend. It certainly brings a whole new meaning to forming friendships.
‘One of the questions I’m asking folk in the interview is how would you prefer to make a friend,’ say Grant. ‘Most people say “I’d rather not use new technology or I use new technology for other things, but I’d still prefer to see someone face-to-face”.’
And as Francis McKee points out in the accompanying publication, ‘face-to-face communication - the missionary position so beloved of
Grant has worked at the Greater Pilton Design Resource Centre for five years, organising and leading lens-based media projects for people in the Greater
Pilton area. Her new work was commissioned by New
GROUP SHOW DUB’L-INTROODER Transmission, Glasgow, until Sat 31 Mar 000
ALAN [JIMMICK
Beagles and Ramsay’s world of kitsch duo-dom
Transmissions latest show makes a lurid tour of various contemporary-art- making double acts, with plenty of slogans. scandal and good old grease to ease the proceedings.
Glasgow's own Beagles and Ramsay dominate the space with their aluminium industrial unit, packed with
82 THE LIST 15—29 Mar 2001
the workings of their lascivious minds. Wind-up plastic dolls with hamburgers for heads writhe helplessly on the floor beside a desk brimming over with sketched slogans. materials and strange paraphernalia. Self aggrandising likenesses of Beagles and Ramsay proliferate: Polaroid photographs, mini papier mache mannequins. and drawings that knowingly compound their fantastic world of kitsch duo-dom.
New paintings by the two remaining members of once provocative collective Bank are something of a disappointment. Milly Thompson and Simon Bedwell offer half hostile and misspelt messages trailing through dull layers of paint. One such statement. ‘Give Us Your Crumbs‘ is symptomatic of Bank's own current practice.
Elsewhere. Austrian duo Markus Muntean and Adi Rosenblum show a series of photographs and comic
the Western man - is not at all the most direct of all possible ways to communicate.’ Blue Skies perfectly illustrates this theory. (Helen Monaghan)
books. most of which employ the same simple yet effective strategy. At first glance their images of pretty girls and boys up trees or eating hamburgers seem the lone palliating visions in the show. But something troubling is always Surfacing; the girl eating the hamburger is coated with grease, or a mushroom cloud is blooming in the sunlit distance. The glib advertising and fash mag slogans incorporated into the work subtly mutate into coded warnings against banality.
The basement video installation is Mike Kelly and Paul McCarthy‘s scatological take on the innocent tale of Heidi. The splatter fest of ‘Bossy Burger' pales beside this stomach churning twist on folklore family. McCarthy and Kelly take an uncouth aim at established notions of ‘normal' behaviour, thereby keeping file with their fellow exhibitors. (Sarah Lowndes)
News from the world of art
TIME IS RUNNING 01.1 for applications for the ROSL Arts Traxel Scholarship 9001, Open to artists who are t‘itixons of the UK. aged up to and including the scholarship enables the,
\‘.’lllllt}' to spend .1 maximum of
four weeks in .t Continuity.t-xtlth counth, or cutintrios of their chcico. The deadline for api‘lttations IS Saturth 37 March. For an t3llll\ form contact ROSl Arts .it On" Sms HOUSO. lonticn on 090,? .108
021-1 (ext 919'.
Scotland’s only annual art fair comes to Glasgow
GLASGOW ART FAIR 2001 is just around the corner. The largest contemporary art fair outside London takes up residence in Glasgow’s George Square from Thursday 5 April until Sunday 8 April. In an effort to encourage people to buy art for their homes, galleries across the UK and Europe including newcomers Edinburgh’s Fruitmarket Gallery and Dundee Contemporary Arts, will be tempting you to part with your money. Award-winning companies Timorous Beasties and One Foot Taller have designed a home environment for the fair, complete with furniture, lighting, fabric, wallpaper, rugs and accessories, which are all available to purchase. For further information check out the website www.g|asgowartfair.com or call 0141 553 1937.
WINNERS OF THE Edinburgh Architectural Assooation Annual Awards 2000 were recently announced. The Silver medal award went to Lee Boyd Partnership's building for the headquarters of Adobe Systems Europe Ltd and picking up commendations were Richard Murphy Architects for Harmeny School in Balerno. Allan Murray Architects for the UDV Global headquarters in Edinburgh Park, Smith Scott Mullan AssocIates for 378 Leith Walk and Rick's Hotel by Malcolm Fraser Architects.