VIDEO
CHRIS CUNNINGHAM Edinburgh College of Art, until 26 Aug .0000
The peerless Chris Cunningham. renowned for his innovative music videos. has switched genres to produce art videos. Although the ingredients remain the same - music and images — Cunningham's artistic merit cannot be denied after watching the beautiful. violent and humorous images that his two films Rex and Monkey Drummer contain. They are compelling viewing. combining his professional talents with his morbid fascination of anatomy. his mastery of robotics and his slightly prurient fascination with sex.
Flex is a film that retells the mythical story of Adam and Eve without the religious whitewash. Filmed underwater and against a black backdrop. it is an improvised dance
piece that is choreographed by Cunningham's editing techniques. It elicits the rhythms of rancour that exist between the sexes. albeit taking them to a more heightened level than most experience. Suspended in a beam of bright light. the dancers are prototypes of the human race. They engage in a frenzied carnal courtship whereupon they find themselves on earth. Here they indulge in almost nihilistic violence and malevolent sex. which ends in a post-coital embrace and a cloud of semen floating in water. The sense
INSTALLATION ROGER ACKLING Sleeper, until 24 Aug .000
For many years now. the crucial tool of Roger Ackling's work has been the sun. He scorches pieces of found wood by catching the sun's rays through a magnifying glass: the resulting burnt markings. he likes to think. record the journey of the light to the earth. Ackling's last solo show in Scotland
was at lnverleith House in 1997. and for S/eeper. you'd be forgiven for expecting
more of the same. But in the minimal. windowless space. Ackling has introduced intense colour into the equation. Using three colours - yellow. red and black — he paints geometric forms directly onto the walls. He then adds his ‘sun' burnt ice lolly sticks. or the heads of dolly pegs to the piece.
On a thick band of black. he overlays six pairs of discarded lolly sticks at regular intervals. Reminiscent of chromosomes. each set shares identical burnt impressions — in some. only the edges are blackened. in others. only a fragment of its original colour remain.
The brilliant white sheen of gallery walls coupled with Ackling's simple yet intense intervention on the space makes for disorientating viewing. You can almost feel the heat from the sun's powerful rays. (Helen Monaghanl
PHOTOGRAPHY
KATE GRAY: THE GHOST OF A FLEA
Collective, until 9 Sep 0000
Kate Gray's photographs in Ghost of a F/ea subtly utilise computer manipulation to produce uncanny. dream—like images. Some of them are reminiscent of sci-fi film stills. others of Pre-Raphaelite paintings. None of them are easy to pin down. All of them are strangely disorientating.
To reinforce the sense of cerebral vertigo induced by her photographs. Gray has built a maze-like structure from r0ugh-edged plasterboard. The execution of the structure. which any DIY expert would refer to as botched. is perverse when set against the cibachrome slick appearance of the photographs.
Being able to see the guts of the show is enjoyable. rather like walking backstage. or being allowed onto a TV set. The neon tubes and reflective foil illuminating the photographs become exhibits in their own right. but again there's something alien about their presence — like leftovers from an episode of Blake's Seven.
Since its clean line redesign. too little has been done to challenge the 'neutral' identity of the Collective Gallery. consequently Gray's intervention. which supports rather than distracts from her work. is timely and intriguing. (John Beagles)
74 THE LIST FESTIVAL GUIDE 16-22 Aug 2001
The frenzied carnal courtship of Flex
of drama is heightened by Richard James' (Aphex Twini ambient soundtrack.
James also provides the exceptionally fast drumbeat that accompanies Cunningham's second short film Monkey Drummer. Playing with six arms. two legs. a 'drumdick' and a monkey's head is Cunningham's automated drummer: a humorous. hirsute depiction of a drum machine. Definitely monkey magic and a potentially serious chart opponent for Gorillaz. (Isabella Weirl
PHOTOGRAPHY
L’AUTRE (THE OTHER) Institut Francais d’Ecosse, until 26 Aug 0000
Cross-dressmg usually goes on furtively behind musty net Curtains. Ot proudly on a glitzy stage. Not often in the living room or back garden. and especially not with one's own partner. However. this is preCisely what photographer Charlotte Sephton-Bossard has orchestrated. Ten French couples pose in their homes for a traditional full- length portrait. All very conventional. But then they swap gear: and with feet crammed into stilettos and heads peering out of huge suits. pose again for Coup/e At Home Take 2.
Highly saturated colours create vivid patterning in a bizarre mirror image. And although the effect is at first largely comic. there is something rather t0uching about its intimacy. Particularly striking are the more conservative COupIes. whose trading of blazer and tie for twin-set and pearls looks wildly incongruOLis.
L'Aufre offers a witty comment on the way we define Ourselves through fashion and within a COuple: the roles that can often come to limit us.
(Ruth Hedgesi
PHOTOGRAPHY
JOHN GOTO:
HIGH SUMMER Portfolio, until 1 Sep COCO
Everything from fox hunting to GM crops to the more topical foot and mouth has made the countryside a political arena that conjures up furious debate. To this end John Goto has cleverly subverted the image of the countryside even further by illustrating society's overt dissonance with its natural heritage.
Using the 18th century English gardens at Stowe. Rousham and Stourhead as backgrounds. Goto digitally manipulates social gatherings onto these classical scenes creating theatres of farce. From the joy riders dumping their burnt out vehicle to the army manoeuvres on the hill to the GM crop protestors. Goto reveals society's arrogance towards nature and the ignorance of its real purpose.
The photographs Beach and High Society clearly illustrate that we live in a world of spectacle where everything can be convened to a setting for our pastimes - one big theme park. (Isabella Weirl GROUP SHOW ECA Point Hotel and Conference Centre, until 1 Sep 0000
Hotel foyers are not normally associated with showcasing contemporary art. But then again. the Point is no ordinary hotel. In the stylish. minimal reception area. is a selection of sculpture and video work by Edinburgh College of Art students.
Catriona McCarthy's sweet-toothed installation consists of an Elizabethan- style dress and a crown. orb and spectre made from chocolate. Dealing with the idea of allegiance. McCarthy suggests. in her self-confessed loyalty to chocolate. that obsessions can sometimes go a little too far.
Mary Ann Tuckerman's Gagging for if. is made up of numerous TV screens placed on the floor. emitting images of cows. Using a kaleidoscope effect. the reSuIting distOrtion is visually unnerving.
In A Calm Monotony of Existence. Morven Macrae's Antony Gormley- esque sprawl of small-scale Wimpy houses in grey cement reminds us of the growing number of featureless housing schemes blotting the landscape. Euan Harvey's vivid orange rust-coloured steel Cubes perfectly complement the clean. sharp lines of the hotel's futuristic deSign.
Having seen most of the works less impressively displayed at this year's degree shows. it just goes to show that the right space can make all the difference. (Helen Monaghanl