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The lie of the land
As Glasgow-based artist Janie Nicoll prepares her return to community arts festival Streetland, she tells The List why she thinks it matters
A t last year’s Streetland festival in Govanhill you could really feel the buzz, from the visual arts to the films and talks being created, worked on or looked at. I was creating artwork for the outside of a building on West Moreland Street but went along to lots of the screenings and other events and there was a really great community interest.
This year the plan is to make some bunting with the help of local youth groups, which will draw on the idea of traditional street parties. The bunting will be hung around Westmoreland Street Community Garden, a space that has been regenerated back from wasteland, for Streetland 2011.
The festival is being held on the weekend of the royal wedding, so it’s an ironic use of bunting, you
could say. I did a similar ‘bad boy bunting’ project in Rochdale and it really helps communities scratch the surface and think about which people and places they want on there. Ultimately the best thing Streetland can do is to offer the community and visitors to the weekend a sense of ownership and allegiance about what’s being created: you can’t really ask for more than that. Janie Nicoll is currently working with young people in Dufftown as part of the Mortlach Walks Commission and will be undertaking a CCA Creative Lab residency in January 2012. janienicoll.co.uk. Streetland will run 29–30 Apr, see streetland.net
ReviewofReviews GIRL X
WHAT WE SAID: ‘Although the subject matter is . . . compelling, the way the text has been constructed rather limits the show’s dramatic potential.’ THE LIST WHAT THEY SAID: ‘Girl X is a revealing discussion of the issues facing the carers of severely disabled children. But it’s a debate that fails to develop into anything bigger.’ THE INDEPENDENT
SEE NATIONALTHEATRESCOTLAND.COM ‘What’s so compelling about
10 THE LIST 31 Mar–28 Apr 2011
Girl X . . . is that the conflicting and contradictory viewpoints create the opposite of agitprop and, in its way, something more politically radical, opening up a complex, unsettling debate.’ THE GUARDIAN ‘As theatre, Girl X sometimes falters; as a dramatised chatroom conversation, it can be repetitive . . . There are moments, though, when . . . this show memorably strips the mask from our society.’ THE SCOTSMAN
MICHAEL CLARK COMPANY
1 Because the way you feel after watching Clark and his
choreography could be bottled and sold. When he’s good, his work reminds you just how powerful, entertaining and exciting dance really can be.
2 An earlier version of his new work, come, been and gone
premiered at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2009 and had potential greatness written all over it. Now that’s he’s had a chance to polish it up and expand it, hopes are high that greatness has been achieved.
3 He’s ours! London may have laid claim to him over the past
few decades, but Clark is Scottish born and bred, and we should be very, very proud of him.
4 Clark has been an inspiration to so many people over the
years, and come, been and gone is a chance for us to see who inspired him. Featuring music by rock legend, David Bowie, with a little Lou Reed and Brian Eno thrown in, the piece pays homage to the kind of sounds that shaped Clark during his formative years, both as a person and an artist.
5 Clark’s dancers have a captivating stage presence.
Their boss isn’t the easiest choreographer to work with, known for making final decisions about how a piece should look mere minutes before the curtain rises, so if they’re in Clark’s gang, you know they’re good. (Kelly Apter)
■ Michael Clark Company, Tramway, Glasgow, Thu 7–Sat 9 Apr.
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