THE HOT 100 21
DAVID SHRIGLEY Everyone’s favourite scribbler proved to be up for collaboration, his sublimely idiotic libretto for Magnetic North’s Pass the Spoon (pictured) bouncing cheerfully off David Fennessy’s mischievous score and Nicholas Bone’s bold production. He’s now translated it into German. Next stop: action figures? (AJ)
21 DAVID SHRIGLEY ARTIST EXTENDING HIMSELF
WIZARD OF THEATRE 18 DAVID GREIG
premier bank holiday clubbing weekender in one of the city’s finest underground venues, SWG3. Three events in made two films back-to-back: You Instead and Perfect Sense, the latter proving to be his best yet. He’s also a major player in Hollywood studio-on- the-Clyde, Film City. (MF)
See panel (above).
20 ALI SMITH INVERNESIAN WRITER IN PLAYFUL MODE
The Booker Prize panel might have opted not to stick Ali Smith onto their shortlist for a third time, yet There but for the
was another undoubted triumph for the Cambridge-based author with its playful wordsmithery, stark imagery and incisive critique of our celebrity- obsessed culture. (BD)
19 CARGO PUBLISHING MAKING BOOKS COOL AGAIN
A digital imprint publishing the likes of Ewan Morrison, a sprawling and brilliant spoken word festival at Stereo, and an impending collaboration with iconic Californian publishing house McSweeney’s have made Cargo that rare thing – a publishing success story. A fact that young head honcho Mark Buckland (pictured above left, with Rodge Glass) can be proud of. Look out for a bigger and better Margins Festival next year. (JE) 36 THE LIST 15 Dec 2011–5 Jan 2012
After revving up with 2010’s Dunsinane, David Greig suddenly exploded into mastery with three astonishing
new plays in a row: the yearning stage- ballad The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart, the fizzily brilliant Monster in the Hall and Theatre Uncut’s unforgettable Fragile. (AJ)
17 DAVID MACH MAKING ART ON A GRAND SCALE
Fife-born artist Mach’s Precious Light stood out in an impressive programme of exhibitions at the Edinburgh Art Festival. The epic celebration of the King James Bible in its 400th year, arranged over three floors of the City Art Centre, tackled its subject in powerful, at times irreverent, fashion, with a mix of large-scale collages and enormous wire sculptures. (AR)
16 ELECTRIC FROG CONSISTENTLY INVENTIVE ELECTROFESTS
What started two years ago as a one- day street carnival of mostly local talents has turned into Glasgow’s
2011 featured the likes of Jeff Mills, Francois K, Erol Alkan, Green Velvet, Mogwai and The Fall. (DP)
CREATIVE POLYMATH 15 ALASDAIR GRAY
While his literary output remains popular, it is as a painter that Alasdair Gray has received most acclaim in the past year.
His work appeared in the British Art Show and the group exhibition Live Your Questions Now at the Mackintosh Museum, while he also unveiled a new 3D mural at the Ubiquitous Chip restaurant. Over in Edinburgh, Book Festival audiences were treated to a staged reading of Fleck, Gray’s take on the Faust myth, with Will Self in the title role. (AR)
14 DAVID MACKENZIE COMING HOME TO MAKE MOVIES
Having decided to relocate to Hollywood, Mackenzie changed his mind at the last minute, ditched the California sun and returned home to his beloved Glasgow, where, newly energised, he
FALKIRK’S BARD 13 AIDAN MOFFAT
He meant it when he said 2011 was the year he’d play live again, a lot. There were his spit- out-pint-hilarious
Valentine’s shows, then a European tour, an Arab Strap reunion in aid of Nice ‘N’ Sleazy’s 20th birthday, plus the raw beauty of his spoken word/avant- jazz album with Bill Wells, Everything’s Getting Older. His Arches Christmas Revue is on Tue 20 Dec. (CS)
12 KARLA BLACK TURNER-NOMINATED ARTIST
2011 was the year Karla Black shrugged off the mantle of ‘one-to- watch’. Her startling sculptures, which incorporate non-traditional materials such as foodstuffs, makeup and medicine, went on display in the British Art Show and at this year’s Venice Biennale. These exhibitions, as well as her solo show at Berlin’s Galerie Capitain Petzel, won her a place on the Turner Prize shortlist. (AR)