Around Town
Hit
EXHIBITIONS, EXERCISE, EXPERIENCES
4' 1999 Design Medal Exhibition Your last chance to catch the best of Glasgow's young design talent. This year‘s winner was fashion designer Dieny Itoe. Lighthouse, Glasgow, until Sun 73 Jan.
ii! Americana Artrockers Punk video artist and musician David GA Stephenson exhibits ‘song/films' made in tribute to five rock'n'roll visual artists of the 20th century: Louise Bourgeois. Ed Ruscha, William Eggleston. Jean-Michel Basquiat and Peter Blake. lnverleith House. Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, until Sun 3 Feb.
ill Calorie Burn Calling all festive fatties! The new exercise regime starts here. with a brisk three-mile walk up the Pentlands in social conditions. Hillend Car Park, Edinburgh, Sat 72 Jan.
ii! Great Winter Run Hup two three four! Join assorted world class athletes on the annual gallop around Arthur's Seat. Holyrood Park, Edinburgh, Sat 12 Jan.
1' Celtic Connections Torchiight Parade The annual folky fest kicks off in blood- stirring style with massed pipe bands and proper pagan torch- bearing (pictured). lt’s all followed with a reception round at the Lord Provost's gaff. George Square, Glasgow. Wed 16 Jan.
Wht sin
Auld creepy
As a slew of Burke and Hare-themed events pop up around Edinburgh, Kirstin lnnes discovers why body-snatching will be big in 2008
'l 'p l/lt’ (“low and (/HH'II llu' stair/But and but n‘i ' Burke and Hare/Burke 's Illt' burr/1w: [lure 's' [llt‘ thrift/Knot I/It’ boy who buys Illt‘ huff. . .'
y'eryonc gets a bit rueI‘ul round about this time
oI‘ year. don't they"? A lot of' poring over old
mistakes. a lot of‘ regretful reminiscing. lidinburgh. in particular. is being Very hard on itself at the moment. with a succession ol ghoulish eycnts and eshibitions f'octtssing on the less savoury aspects of the city 's past. And as eyery local schoolchild knows. there are some murky old skeletons in the capital's cupboards and closes.
(‘elebrity gray erobbers Burke and Hare are certainly
I'lay'our of' the month. amid rumours that (‘olin liirth and Robert (‘arlyle might be teaming up for an lry'ine
Welsh-scripted body snatching biopic. A quick recap for
those unfamiliar with the story: in 1827 (irassmarket- dwellers \Villiams Burke and Hare discoyered a nine] way to make a quick buck. selling corpses dug up from gray'es to the unscrupulotis [)r Knox at the medical school. so his students could practise anatomy. The trouble began when they decided to start generating their own bodies. and accidentally became lidinburgh's most f'ainotts serial killers.
The misleadingly-cosy* sounding Burke and Hare.
Rclms and l’ricm/s ey'ent at the National Library of
Scotland trun in conjunction with the Ian Rankin- themed ('rimc Scene Edinburgh exhibition coyered in these pages a few months agoi. charts the inlluence the deyioUs double act hay'e had on Scottish Iiterature's tendency to the (iothic. from Robert Louis Stevenson's
dark. twisty fantasies to Ian Rankin‘s outbursts of tartan noir. ()wen Dudley lidwards of the l'niycrsity of lidinburgh takes the lecture.
Merely talking about Burke and llare might be a bit too fame for you. of course. :\ny utter and absolute ghouls out there who like to get up close and personal with their historical research may be interested to know that the Royal ('ollcge of Surgeons is running a tour of the more gruesome aspects of their museum this fortnight. They're keen to let ey'eryone know that hidden in amongst the selection of pickch freaks is William Burke‘s death mask and. charmineg enough. a wallet made out of' his skin. Mmm. ('rime really didn't pay in the early l9th century. eh'.’
liinally. if‘ all this talk of' murder and mayhem in old limbra town has got your juices flowing lcreatiy'ely. rather than nauseously l. the National Library of Scotland is also running a writing workshop called (iril/tlt' ill the City. allowing budding noy'elists to follow the gore-spattered footsteps of‘ writers like James llogg and Rankin round lidinburgh. looking at the way the city's history and architecture influences the darker aspects of their writing. After that. there‘s the chance to workshop your own crime noy‘el with poet and author Ken (‘ockburrr Victorian serial killers might be a profitable line of’enquiry this year.
Burke and Hare, Rebus and Friends, National Library of Scotland, Tue 8 Jan; Royal College of Surgeons Tour, Surgeons Museum, Wed 9 Jan; Gothic in the City, National Library of Scotland, Thu 10 Jan.
17‘ ’ ,::' THE LIST 23