Around Town
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THE BEST EVENTS, TALKS AND SPORT
Ill Illuminating Links A day of community activity commemorating the rebirth of Glasgow's historic canal quarter. As well as kayaking, local bands and boat rides, the day culminates in a parade of spectacular floating lanterns by Scottish artist Graeme Gilmour at 6.30pm. See preview, page 27. Firhi/l Basin, Glasgow, Sat 6 Oct.
ill Rebiya Kadeer Human rights campaigner Rebiya Kadeer. a businesswoman and philanthropist from the Muslim Uighur region of China, talks about her struggle to gain rights for her people. Playfair Library, Edinburgh, Thu 4 Oct.
til Edinburgh Castle Urban Downhill Watch yourself! Edinburgh‘s landmarks come under siege from some of the UK's best mountain biking talent, who've swapped the bumpy forest floor for the Old Town cobbles. Starts at Edinburgh Castle, Sat 6 Oct.
it Shoe Swing Hey hep cats! Wrap your mittens around your kittens and get ready to rock and roll, at this long-running series of swing dance classes run by some of the dapper gents behind Vegas! (pictured). Counting House. Edinburgh. Wednesdays.
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Urban dictionary
Ahead of the third Hidden City outdoor poetry event in Glasgow, Kirstin lnnes finds out why Scotland’s writers are taking to the sidestreets
hink abottt the route you take to work every day. Between worrying about the day ahead.
checking for your train pass. sorting your hair
and laughing at last night's jokes. how aware are you. actually. of' your surroundings'.’ There are spaces like this in urban settlements everywhere the alleyways and wastelands that ha\e fallen out of use. that people just don‘t see as they go abotit their daily business.
(her the past few years. whether through artistic impulse or because they can't afford to rent more traditional \enues. Scotland‘s artists ha\e begttn to colonise these lost corners. 'l‘heatre companies like l’oorboy and Highway Diner Use the relative anonymity of backstreets and car parks to stage increasingly elaborate set pieces. while the Shadowed Spaces outdoor concerts earlier this year made texperimentali music about architecture. Then there‘s llidden ('ity. the series of' (ilasgow performance poetry e\ents organised by Scottish writer Rachel .lury. where the audience are taken on a magical mystery tour around bits of their own city. to hear the way eight different Scottish poets hay e re-enyisaged the area. The first two llidden (’ities happened in very tlil-lcl‘cltl sites Buchanan Street. and the cleyatcd viewing point at Illc‘ c‘lltl til. lllll Sll’c‘c‘l. H\ c‘l'lttttkiltg the ('llttl'lllg (‘l‘()\\ junction and the West lind‘s distant spires. The location of' the third. which happens on Sunday 7 October. is top secret - the idea being that the audience discoy er the city afresh en route.
'The idea came to me one day a couple of years ago on a walk around (ilasgowf .lury says. ’l just becatne aware of. an interesting space and I thought it would be really exciting to do something in there.'
a derelict. graffiti—scrawled gap of'f'
Although she admits to having started otit with ‘very grand ideas’ for a multi-genre art form crossover piece. since the lil‘sl event ill March Zilllh Jury 7s found a basic. effective formula that she sticks with. ‘I find the site. and get a hit til a feel for it. and then we commission eight poets to come tip with a piece inspired by it. which they perform in the space. It's simple. it‘s unusual. and it almost feels as though w e're doing poetry busking.‘
l'or the third event. Jury has varied the tone and commissioned a range of' very different writers.
‘There‘s often a tension between the more literary vein of the poetry world and those who do spoken word performancef says Jury. ‘I like to mix that tip a bit. so this time we have a range of' very established writers like Ann (‘larke and Marc R Sutherland. who are much more traditional readers. and then there's some very exciting performance people like (current (ilasgow l’oetry Slam championl l)rew Taylor and Michael .\lc(iill. whose performances are quite dynamic and challenging.‘ The other thing she's excited about is that the site of' Hidden (‘ity 3 offers more potential for interaction from passers by.
‘l'm always interested in the way the space changes the format of‘ the event. We’ve chosen quite different locations. too. so each of them has a very different feel. The first was very sort of' rough and urban. the second is so open and beautiful. with that ama/ing view . . . '
And you can't say where the third one is ~
'No. I can‘t? That would spoil it?'
Hidden City 3, Sun 7 Oct. Meet outside Jury’s Inn, Jamaica Street, Glasgow, at 2.30pm.
4-‘8 QC’. 27.7 THE LIST 25