AGENDA
[— Whipping boys
A controversial exhibition of sado- masochistic photographs and sculpture is due to open in Glasgow next week - if the bailiffs don’t get to them first. The exhibition. called ‘Sex Crimes’. is currently running at the Angle Gallery in Birmingham, where there has been a concerted effort to close it down. The landlords of the gallery have secured a court order to evict the Angle. The exhibition organisers are occupying the building round the clock in an attempt to avoid the work being damaged or seized if the eviction order is enforced. The owners of the gallery, which is in the Arcadian shopping centre in the city centre, say they want to convert the space into a shop unit. However the Angle is convinced it was asked to leave the gallery at short notice because
"This has become a very big censorship issue and it has attracted a lot of publicity,’ says Dingle.
‘Sex Crimes’ was originally shown in London where it attracted some criticism from local councillors but no attempts were made to stop the exhibition. ‘There was a real cross section of people coming to see it and
of the explicit content of the exhibition. f
‘ the general sentiment was that any attempt to stifle it is an insult to the , intelligence,’ says Kristin Cale, who coordinated the exhibition. ‘lt’s not ' particularly shocking unless you‘re Mary Whitehouse.’ The Glasgow showing of ‘Sex 3 Crimes’ will be the first exhibition by the new Converse Gallery which has a 7 stated aim of being controversial. ‘Who I knows whether the moral majority in ‘ Glasgow will want to raise objections. but ifthey do it will make us more ‘ determined to show it,’ says gallery ' manager Rachel Fox. Glasgow City Council says it is not
medallion-liar. the galleryownerwhonut ontheSex Crimes exhibition in London.
aware ofthe exhibition due to open at the Converse next week. The council has previously found itself under fire for adopting the role of censor — it recently prevented the Glasgow Film Theatre from showing the Australian skinhead film Romper Stomper, and Monty Python’s The Life of Brian is still banned.
‘The whole question is very much a grey area.‘ said a city council spokesman. ‘One man’s art is another man’s pom.’ (Eddie Gibb)
Sex Crimes opens on 29 October at the Converse Gallery, Royal Exchange Court, 22] 3677.
_ Christmas
present
In a gesture oi seasonal goodwill towards Glasgow’s clubbers and late- nlght drinkers, the licensing board has announced that it will loosen the restrictions on disco licences.
For four weeks starting on 10 December, the board is prepared to grant 1am licences to city centre pubs, as long as they agree to provide loud, and 4am licences to clubs. In previous years late-night licences have only been granted ior a iew days over Christmas.
This move should not to be seen as a cllmbdown on the curiew by the licensing board, according to a city council spokeswoman. ‘It is nothing to do with the recent changes which will be reviewed in January when iigures are available irom the police,’ she
However some Glasgow club operators have expressed concern that the Christmas period, when late- night drinking increases and there are more people on the streets, is not a good time to extend licences. ‘I think the reason for the 4am licence is an attempt to pick up brownie points with oiiice parties,’ one operator says. ‘Ii we get put back to 2am next year it
will be an absolute injustice.’ (EC)
:— The American theme
There was a time when libraries were temples of solitude and learning but during November, Edinburgh’s book repositories will become occupied territory with an invasion of all that is big and brash in American culture.
Redwoods and Skyscrapers is a month-long programme of talks and events in Edinburgh libraries, which features illustrated lectures on a variety of subjects from American lmpressionism to the Western movie and Jackson Pollock to the patchwork quilt. Members of the public who still feel ‘American Culture’ to be an oxymoron can take heart that proper learned issues will be addressed by Professor Andrew Hook from the University of Glasgow, who will be discussing ‘Scotland and America in The Age of Enlightenment 1750—1835’.
Those attracted to the more populist aspects of our Atlantic cousins’ daily life are to be well served by an eclectic selection of events which include ladies barbershop quartets. the arrival of the American Eagles (who perform that perverted game of rugby known as American Football), the Silver Dollar cheerleaders and a presentation of 785, which reproduce the music of the 205 and 305. (Stephen Chester)
Redwoods and Skyscrapers starts on 1 November. Details from Library Services on 225 5584.
; :— See Glasgow, CCA
The reopening oi the Centre ior Contemporary Arts on Friday 22 represents more than a lick oi paint and a new bookshop — it should ilnally re-establlsh the building as a contemporary arts venue.
. The reiurbishment itseii is a
5 relatively modest affair. The galleries have been whitewashed, the entrance hall made more welcoming, a new caie space created and the much- missed bookshop reopens in the tom of a John Smith iranchlse. But the director oi the CCA, .lo Beddoe, has now been loined by two new staii, performance director Mark Waddell and exhibitions director llicola White.
l l
Opening exhibition: Anne Elliot‘s What Happens iiext.
Beddoe, who was previously general manager oi 7:84 Theatre Company, was brought in by the Scottish Arts Council to set up CCA as a new company to give it a trash start after
the iinancial collapse oi the Third Eye.
‘There is no way this company can
make similar mistakes again,’ Beddoe says. ‘The casualty oi bad administration is the loss oi opportunities ior artists and audiences.’
The changes appear to have been largely administrative. SAC, which puts up the lion’s share oi CCA’s iunding and owns the Sauchiehall Street building, says there has been no major change in artistic policy. ‘There was never any question that the old Third Eye was a iailure artistically,’ SAC depute director Christine Hamilton says. She also makes clear her commitment to re- establishing the Centre as a important iocus ior contemporary art. ‘ii we don’t iund the lifeblood we have an arts community which goes stale — today’s avant garde is tomorrow’s mainstream.’ (Eddie Gibb)
Exhibitions by Cathy de Monchaux and Anne Elliot open on Friday 22 October at CCA, Sauchiehall Street, 332 7521 .
:- Scotland reporting
f The state of Scottish broadcasting would be dramatically weakened if
. BBC Scotland loses any more of its
i autonomy when the BBC’s charter is
: renewed in 1995.
i This is the view of twelve media
organisations, including the Scottish Film Council and BAFTA Scotland, which have formed a new campaigning
body launched this week. Broadcasting For Scotland aims to raise the level of public debate about the future of BBC Scotland and will lobby ministers behind the scenes in Westminster.
‘The White Paper will be published in the New Year so it is now that civil servants are sitting down to draft the new charter which will govern the BBC,’ says the campaign‘s chairman Nigel Smith. ‘They’ve had submissions from bodies all over the UK which were very strong on the cultural side but far less strong on how their aspirations would be met.’
The campaign’s main demands are that BBC Scotland becomes a fully-
fledged national organisation, as opposed to a ‘national region’ as it is currently described; that it is directly accountable to Scottish people through a separate broadcasting council; and the licence fee revenue raised in Scotland be spent in Scotland.
Smith believes the BBC govenors have shown strong ‘centralist’ tendencies which have to be resisted if Scottish broadcasting is to flourish. (Eddie Gibb)
A public conference to discuss the future of Scottish broadcasting will be held in Edinburgh on 8 November. Details from Charles Laidlaw on 031 226 4973.
4 The List 22 October—4 November 1993