MIXED MEDIA
ED AND ELLIS IN EVER EVER LAND
CCA, Glasgow, Fri 26 Oct—Sun 23 Dec.
Do Scots feel more aligned to Scotland or Britain? What do the people of Scotland feel about national identity? How does the Scottish parliament affect Scotland? These are just some of the questions raised by Rotterdam-based artists Tracy Mackenna and Edwin Janssen in their CCA commissioned project which looks at the notion of Scottishness.
Since the CCA’s closure for redevelopment in 1999, Mackenna and Janssen have been gathering material for two text blankets which will be on show when the CCA opens its redesigned doors this month. Going under the name of Ed and Ellis as in previous projects (Ed and Ellis in Schiedam, Ed and Ellis in Tokyo), engaging in public dialogue lies at the heart of their work.
One of the text blankets was created at the Pier Arts Centre in Orkney while the other was made in their studio as a result of talking to people on their travels and corresponding with them via e-mail and
printed questionnaires.
‘The Orkney blanket is very soft because people have a very particular way of expressing themselves,’ Mackenna explains from her studio in Rotterdam. ‘It’s very different from mainland Scotland and there is a kind of undercurrent as to whether they feel part of Scotland or not. There’s a real sense of community behind it. In the one from the e-mails and questionnaires, the content comes from a lot of people with very varied backgrounds who were responding to bigger and more general
statements.’
A third blanket will also be created during the exhibition as the artists will set up a studio in the gallery space. To a great extent, the public very much determine the content of the work and
COMICS
LINES OF CONTINUITY Glasgow School Of Art, Atrium Gallery, Glasgow, Fri 26 Oct—Fri 30 Nov.
Which name is more l£ll“ll.£tl'l Roy Lichtenstein or .Jack Kirhy? If it's Lichtenstein then you need to get along to [ i/ies Of Continuity. an exhibition oelehratiiig the comic mediuiii. That it focuses liooi‘. the American superhero genre and Japanese manga ‘.‘.’()t.lfl appear to do little to dispel the fallacy that comics are only for adolescent hey/s. Yet. as exhibition curator. academic and comic hook ‘.'./r;ter [Javiri S‘.‘/(3()I‘:(,"~,’ says. this is exactly '~.-.:hat it: 3 exhibition proposes; to no.
‘People tend to confuse the medium of the eoniir; iloow ‘.".’|ll‘i the genre of superheroes an i look down at superheroes at. l)(:il‘ztl imilrli'fl‘.‘ says S\.'/eeiie.'. ‘l’.;‘,‘."‘ri ’Lf,.'l‘il’.l viva work Ilil(, a gallev V, ‘5l"l’,lf;t:(ll I. Glasgov.’ Sent/)1 Of Art ’.'.’|l' make people look at tnei'i in a ’lll‘lftlfflll aura". and "NIH challenge i,r;<,i,le't;
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Glasgow, no doubt, will offer up conflicting views to
those of, say, Orkney. But it’s not just within Scotland that this disparity appears. Mackenna and Janssen have carried out similar projects in Japan and Switzerland. The Swiss clearly felt ill-at-ease.
Rather than approach the artists, they preferred to
send them faxes from the fax machine sited within the gallery space. The Japanese meanwhile, came in their droves and formed orderly queues with prepared questions.
Mackenna and Janssen will also be showing a DVD installation of eighteen moving images. A contrast to the blankets which rely on the public to generate the work, the film has become a more personal and atmospheric look at Scottishness. With Mackenna from Scotland and Janssen from
The Netherlands, the piece also focuses on the
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differences between the two countries.
For this exhibition, being merely voyeurs is clearly redundant here. Better start preparing those responses then. (Helen Monaghan)
Judge Dredd Megazine if 38 (1996) by Frank Quitely
Ine exhioition (:oiiiprises original f‘(;r'pts and artwork. from initial sketches through peno:lled and inked
art to the published comic book itself.
Among the artists on display is Frank Oiiitely. a graduate of Glasgow School Of Art who has been .llilstrating top selling title New X— Meri. Glaswegian Grant Morrison. who's widely regarded to he one of too prime |llll()\.£ll()l'f; of the medium, Juries Ntw X-Meii and on 2 Noyemher. Morrison will he gi\.ing a ‘.a.k at Glasgow Film ’Iheatre.
Over at the CCA two more hig Brit names in comics. Steve Yeowell v’liifhi and Bryan l‘llltlll (Justice
League Of America). will conduct workshops tackling comic design and development on 3 8t 11. 10 8. l 1 November. Redressing the iiiihalance of this male-dominated medium. the exhibition features female manga artist Midori l—Iarada (the majority of manga artists are. in fact. womeni who'll he on site creating an installation. Finally. there Will he free comics for all.
Oh yeah. Jack Kirby? He reinvented the medium in the 19(50s wrth his dynamic artwork for Mai'yel Comics: The Fantastic Four. The Incredih/e Hulk. Captain Artie/lea. He's ‘the king of comics'. (Miles Fielderi
art@list.co.uk
Artbeat
News from the world of art
GIASGOW'S ARTIST-RUN MOVING gallery Swrtcnspace is starting up another series of One-off exhio tions in I'OSflClll‘Ltl homes around DennistOun Set up by Sercha Dallas and Marianne Greateo’ i:‘. 1.999. as a means of provrding an alternative space fo.r artists. the Iwrng room of Dallas West End tenement flat transformed into a gallery. Thirteen exllllDItrOllS took place there and included artists Ilana Halperin. Mick Peters. Anna Bierge Hansen and Tim mun ipicturedi. With help from Impact Arts. Syxltcltspace's new pr >grarnme features work hy ip-andCOming Glasgowbased artists. Ian Balch kicks off i>r‘()<;eeo:r‘.g:; \‘Jill‘. a body of site-spc-Ci‘ic work onenrng on i' Noxemher. See next issue for further details. ELEVEN AWARDS OF up to £30,000 were presented at the international engage conference for visual arts educators at Glasgow’s Tramway earlier this month. The awards are part of the Scottish Arts Council’s pilot scheme which rewards visual arts education initiatives which bring together artists and participants in a new and collaborative way. Among the winners are Edinburgh’s Collective Gallery which received funding for its proposal for a studio and workshop in one of the tower blocks in Dumbiedykes. Glasgow’s Street Level gallery will be offering a series of creative workshops with five young women from black and ethnic minority backgrounds and the newly refurbished CCA will be running a series of artist-led workshops and an art-family day.
AND FIN/\l LY lllf, rile-3'. .i for the Nat ova l\.’l.lf§i‘.."‘f§ .>f' Seetlawl fours. "ti the departure of Mark Jones has; pct)" announced. Glasgo\.'.’»her" Dr Genie" Retest Currently :"‘-‘e‘ (?Xt}.‘1l°..“.(i- of S'ieffleio Ga‘hres it"(l Museum lust. no: tak'g up the post. Dr Ilintetil was
responsihle for the pen" "t; .irxi
dexeloonient o" the "eve": \. opened é‘liun. l\’l."t‘:"." Galleries.
Art in the home: Tim Laun’s exhibition for Switchspace