SCOTLAND: A CHANGING NATION
‘WE WANT TO SHOW THE DIFFERENCE JUST ONE PERSON CAN MAKE'
Potters translated into Latin and Mandarin. the costume Lulu wore on stage with Take That for ‘Relight My Fire‘. and. in a part of the gallery dressed like a l930s cinema. visitors can watch a quick history of Scottish culture from Stanley Baxter to Franz Ferdinand (who have donated their Mercury Music Prize gong to the gallery).
Homes
Filled up with furniture. televisions and cosily retro brand names. the Homes section looks at the changes precipitated by increasing technology -- you can go frorn a mesh-fronted meat safe to a Smeg fridge in four easy steps -- and poses questions about Scotland‘s people based on the things they bring into their homes. There are stained glass windows from l93()s
16 THE LIST 3—1 7 Jul 2008
tenements. a traditional sideboard. rescued from a Glasgow junk shop and decorated by the artist John Byrne. and what Barrie describes as a ‘sort of monstrous‘ sculptural throne made from scaffolding in the l98()s.
You‘ll find the blown up Tunnock‘s Tcacake here. in a sub-section called ‘Going For the Messages‘. which looks at wur ain wee brands like lrn 8111 and Baxter‘s Soup. and shows how they were advertised at home and abroad.
Industry
The largest section in the gallery contains everything from harm) couture clothing made otrt of Harris Tweed for Dior to one of the last Hillman lrnp cars made at the Linwood factory. There are final payslips from Ravenscraig. and no-longer-needed protective clothing from the disused coal mines at Bathgate.
‘This is where we‘re going to have the Proclaimers lyrics.‘ Barrie explains. “Linwood no more. Bathgate no more . This is immediate. recent history: it‘s still in living memory. but there are so many younger people who might not be aware of what happened. I hope they‘ll know the song thouglr.‘
She moves on. describing with her hands where a huge. floor-to-ceiling silicon ingot representing Silicon Glen and Scotland‘s burgeoning computer game industry will stand. ‘lt looks like watered mercury. It‘s beautiful. quite incredible. Of course. the assembly lines closed down. because production is so much cheaper in other countries. but we still had all that technology and creativity. and that‘s the great thing. We want to show how all that technology has been channeled into new industries. like computer games. We‘ve got a display here about Grand Theft Auto. I don‘t think people realise that those games are designed and made in Scotland. I think most people assume that Grand Theft Auto is an American thing. I certainly did. And it‘s not. It‘s Scottish. And that‘s great.‘
Suddenly we are standing amid models of oil rigs. a neon-lit glass sculpture of the l)ounreay power station. and paintings of men at work.
‘These were painted on Piper Alpha. An artist
Clockwise, from left: Sue Jane Taylor’s portraits of men killed in the Piper Alta disaster; a WWI army recruitment poster; a Russian advert for lrn Bru; the cutting edge Linn HiFi, designed and made in Scotland.
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called Stre latte Taylor just happened to be there. six months before the explosion. It‘s the 20th anniversary of that disaster this year. so using these paintings seemed like a very fitting. appropriate. wonderful memorial to those men.‘
Politics
Although this section of the gallery does contain mementos from particular figures in Scottish political history — Gordon Brown has donated a suit from his days as chancellor — the emphasis here is very much on the personal as political.
‘Here we‘ve got a suffr'agette‘s banner. here there‘s going to be information on the rent strikes and the anti-poll tax riots.‘ says Barrie. 'We also want to look at the Zero Tolerance campaign in lidinburgh and Nil by Mouth in Glasgow. both of them set up very rntrch at grassroots level. cornbatting domestic violence and sectar'ianism. There are these dark sides to Scotland. and we don‘t want to hide from that. bill at the same time we really want to show the difference that just one person with the will to overcome can make.‘
()ne of the biggest final set pieces of the gallery looks at first like some plastic sheeting and scaffolding left over by the builders. l-lowever. it‘s one of the most significant recent artefacts of national history.
'This is the tent that activists took round Scotland to raise awareness about the campaign for devolution and getting otrr own parliament.‘ says Barrie. ‘lf you climb tip and have a look inside. you‘ll see that we‘ve got a ftrll model of the final Scottish Parliament building. btrt it‘s significant that it‘s inside the tent. It doesn‘t matter what you start with. it‘s about what you can do. And even if you achieve a building like the Scottish Parliament at the end of it. I think it‘s important that you don‘t forget the tent.‘
Scotland: A Changing Nation opens at the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, Fri 11 Jul.