list.co.uk/festival Previews & Reviews | FESTIVAL VISUAL ART
DALZIEL + SCULLION | TUMADH: IMMERSION Experimental textiles encouraging engagement with the natural world ●●●●●
Within the relatively sterile dimensions of Dovecot Studios, there is a sense of the exterior, of wind in faces and rain in hair. The figures in the centre of the room are properly dressed for the kind of imagined inclement weather we might associate with the Highlands, however. A small boy wears a long smock with a rubber collar to insulate his body from the rain even as his hair and face are free to wash in it. A woman’s coat has a large hood across her shoulders which apparently allows her to curl up into a boulder-like shape and observe her surroundings. A man’s jacket contains compartments for collecting flora.
Each of these speculative garments has been designed and rendered by Dalziel + Scullion in Harris Tweed, giving them distinctiveness unique to Scotland. On one level they’re playful but craftily considered future iterations of walking wear, but on the other, their specific uses and manufacture build up to a kind of textile psychogeography of northern Scotland. A tension exists between the airs of traditional classicism and futurism their designs bear. The ‘Victorian Walking Dress’ is the most dazzling and least practical thing here, a long outcrop of a train designed to slow the wearer down and help them appreciate their surroundings.
This sense of slowing to experience nature is central to the work, as illustrated by a diptych of wall quotes from environmental philosopher David Abram. The exhibition’s second room brings that sensation home in a somewhat simulated manner. Brightly projected cloud formations of ‘Air’ allow the viewer to contemplate the sky under cover and the inertia of ‘Conglomerate’s arrangement of delicately patterned gneiss rocks from Lewis, arranged on a metal frame, counteract the dramatic revelation that they’re four billion years old. (David Pollock) ■ Dovecot Studios, 550 3660, until 13 Sep, free.
CALUM COLVIN: THE MAGIC BOX Mythical landscapes constructed from sculpture, painting and photography ●●●●● Each piece by Calum Colvin is a treasure chest, a feast of detail, reference and delicate composition which invites the viewer to figure out precisely how he did it. Somewhere between sculpture, photography and painting (many of his works are photographs of blended sculptural and painted compositions), they build up their own language and atmosphere to the point of creating a mythological landscape in which to play. Specifically a Scots mythology, with Burns featuring on a pair of transparencies mounted in a viewer and the ‘Pretender’ triptych, featuring Bonnie Prince Charlie
gradually emerging from a classical background of columns and a model horse figure.
In their collaged complexity and the visually striking nature of their composition, it’s often difficult to get a handle on precisely where the thematic heart of Colvin’s work is, and they skirt
close to the fringes of ‘Emperor’s new clothes’
territory in this regard. There are 3D images (with
glasses supplied) and small
transparencies mounted on a table for magnifying glass viewing, but only in ‘A History Painting’ does Colvin’s style truly come into its own as a hyper-modern analogue of the traditional Renaissance painting abuzz with playful technological enhancements. (David Pollock) ■ Edinburgh Printmakers, 557 2479, until 6 Sep, free.
PRIVATE VIEW ALISTAIR GRANT Soon after graduating from Edinburgh College of Art, Alistair Grant founded The Number Shop, a complex of studios and gallery space in a previously empty property on the Pleasance. Throughout the festival, The Number Shop will host four informal exhibitions with work from current studio holders
Why did you decide to start The Number Shop? I found that coming out of ECA, if you wanted a studio space you were either going to have to pay a fair amount per month, be put on a long waiting list or be willing to travel out of the centre of town. So The Number Shop came from a desire to combat those issues by keeping it affordable, flexible and central as well as specifically supporting recent graduates and young artists.
How did you decide on the location of the project and the artists that would hold studios and show exhibitions? After talking with the council and seeing the plans, and how suitable the space was for the project, I made the decision to settle at The Number Shop. There was a call- out to get the initial studio artists in but for exhibitions it is an open and free process for people who want a show. You just have to ask.
Who has been involved in setting up the project and keeping it going? So far, the set up and management has been done by myself, which I am happy with because I am learning lots from the role. I think towards the end of this year I will ask around to see if there can be any specific roles for people within the project when it comes to community projects, funding, residencies and the general arts programme. What's next for The Number Shop? Its been a period of flux over these first months, mostly due to the decorating, so now we are more settled it would be nice to focus on and flesh out the arts programme and get the local community involved in the project too.
(Rachael Cloughton) ■ The Number Shop, exhibitions until 31 Aug, free.
14–25 Aug 2014 THE LIST FESTIVAL 91