Visual Art
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‘Orange Silk' (2006) by Linder
FOl k levy/a l
‘IT BECAME THIS MAD ERRATIC IDEA'
The Harry Smith Anthology Remixed features the responses of 84 leading artists and musicians to a seminal music compilation. Neil Cooper explores this bold premise
hen American song—collector. artist. ethno- musicologist and experimental filmmaker
Harry Smith released The Anthology 0/
American Folk Music in l952. it was a labour of love which had a huge influence on the 1950s so—called
Folk revival. Without this three double album set of
rare recordings by then forgotten singers such as Blind Lemon Jefferson. pop. politics and protest might have made the Greenwich Village coffee house scene a very different place.
Half a century on. the Anthology has been repackaged as a six (‘D box set. and a brand new generation are getting in touch with tradition. Some. such as ‘Bonnie‘ Prince Billy and Alasdair Roberts. make such old time tunes sound thrillineg contemporary. Meanwhile. Newcastle‘s alt.gallery. set up to interface the links between sound and vision. is spreading the word even further by touring their show of pictorial responses to each of the z’lnthology’s 84 songs to Glasgow. Like the music. the roots of the exhibition lie in chance encounters.
‘l‘d come across Smith before.‘ remembers curator Rebecca Shatwell. "l‘hat was through a film in which visual art and music came together in a way that captured the whole ethos of alt.gallery.‘
The next step was to approach a hundred artists and musicians culled from Shatwell‘s own networks. These included Ross Sinclair. Luke liowler. Bill Drummond and Michael Nyman. who chose a song each.
‘lt‘s a very intimate idea. and I tried to employ the same instinctive strategies as Smith did with the Anthology.’ says Shatwell. ‘As soon as I started sending out invitations it became this mad erratic idea.‘
One early incumbent was Alec liinlay. who chose ‘l-rankie’ by Mississippi John Hurt. As 'l‘rankie and Johnny". this mixture of love affair and pulp fiction shootout was brought into the mainstream by the likes of lilvis Presley and Johnny (‘aslr liinlay‘s response is two photographic close—ups of a man and woman in pants. with the names of l‘rankie and Johnny woven onto them as name-tags.
‘I loved that song growing tip with my gramllather and hearing Johnny Cash.~ liinlay says. 'It was about sex and wickedness. but put into a popular context.‘
liinlay likens the Harry Smith Anthology to his own experience working with poet. folkloricist and founder of the School of Scottish Studies. llamish Henderson.
‘llamish was also interested in collecting. and was one of the first people to use tape recorders rather than just writing the songs down.‘
Since The Harry Smith Anthology Rent/Iver] opened at alt.gallery a year ago in a room at the back of a suitably eclectic record shop. there have been shows by Johnston. (ierman conceptualists l)ie 'l'odliche Doris and sonic collagist People Like l's. This ties in with a widening of interest in sound-based art. Harry Smith too taps into a resurgence of something no- one's willing to call l‘olk music.
'lt happens every ten years.‘ l‘inlay observes. ‘l’rankie and Johnny has so many associations with people. so for me it‘s about taking something traditional and making it contemporary.’
Harry Smith Anthology Remixed, CCA, Glasgow, Sat 21 Jun-Sat 26 Jul.
LIST >l<
" THE BEST EXHIBITIONS
* Michael Stumpf The Glasgow-based artist uses sculptural installation, found materials and references to modernist practice with refreshing, original results. See review, page 95. Sorcha Dal/as, Glasgow, until Sat 5 Jul.
=l< Jo Spence An exhibition of photographic self-portraits by the pioneering British artist, who mined her own experiences to explore issues such as health, class and self- image in her work. See review, page 94. Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow, until Sun 16 Nov.
=l< Harry Smith Anthology Remixed See preview. left. CCA, Glasgow, Sat 21 Jun—Sat 26 Jul.
=i= Ellipsis Last chance to catch this compelling photography collection, which brings together work by three mould—breaking artists who challenged received ideas of female representation. DCA, Dundee, until Sun 22 Jun.
* Foto: Modernity in Central Europe
1 91 8-1 945 The first such collection of its kind charts photograpy's development in Germany, Hungary. Czechoslovakia, Poland and Austria during the tumultuous inter-war years. See Big Picture, page 9. Dean Gallery, Edinburgh, until Sun 37 Aug. =1: Vanity Fair Portraits A must for fans of stargazing, this showcase of 150 portraits displays classic images alongside photographs featured in the magazine since its re-Iaunch in the early 808. including instantly recognisable works by the likes of Annie Leibovitz and Michael Thompson. National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh, until Sun 21 Sep.
ltl tJtlll .i .lI.l .’t‘tl'ii THE LIST 93