AROUND TOWN list.co.uk/aroundtown
HITLIST THE BEST FESTS, TALKS & HACKS
Y H P A R G O T O H P Y E R A C N O E
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✽ Hidden Door Multi-disciplinary arts festival taking place in the abandoned
vaults on Market Street, Edinburgh. See feature, page 18. Market Street Vaults, Edinburgh, Fri 28 Mar–Sat 5 Apr.
✽ BBC Radio 4’s Character Invasion Day Get a glimpse behind the scenes of
BBC Radio 4 at this day of events taking place in BBC Scotland HQ. See how radio shows are made and meet some of those famous voices. See 5 reasons, page 38. BBC, Pacific Quay, Glasgow, Sat 29 Mar.
✽ TalkFest Scotland’s leading playwrights and performers present workshops and discussions in this week-long event. See preview, page 100. Tron Theatre, Glasgow, Mon 31 Mar–Sat 5 Apr.
Informatics, Edinburgh, Sat 5–Sun 20 Apr.
✽ LateLab See preview, left. School of ✽ Remix: DNA vs Hip hop Science author and broadcaster Adam Rutherford
looks at the unexpected similarities between genetic engineering and, er... hip hop. See preview on the Making It strand of the Science Festival, page 37. Summerhall, Edinburgh, Mon 7 Apr.
✽ Botanics Late Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Gardens opens its doors after dark
for the second time. Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh, Thu 17 Apr.
✽ Future Hacks Three 48-hour hackathons are planned between March and May,
challenging citizens of Glasgow to re-imagine the future of the city through technology and open data. There’s a chance to win £20,000. See preview, page 40. Various venues, Glasgow, and dates.
LATELAB Rich and diverse evening event strand at the Science Festival
P resenting science for an evening crowd has proven to be such a winner that the Edinburgh International Science Festival’s LateLab strand has now been rolled out throughout the year in a series of quarterly events, with a dozen of them being held within the festival’s two-week duration in April. The closure of the Inspace laboratory has also led to a new venue for 2014, with the ballroom of the nearby Informatics Forum now the hub of LateLab.
‘We’re most looking forward to our four collaborations with New York-based guest curator Amanda McDonald Crowley,’ says LateLab’s co-founder and director of New Media Scotland Mark Daniels. ‘She’s putting together special food-themed Labs, opening with an expanded cinema screening of the cult movie Soylent Green on 5 Apr and continuing with a unique GastroLab each Sunday evening during the festival.’ This themed series will feature chefs, mixologists and food producers discussing
36 THE LIST 20 Mar–17 Apr 2014
slow food, how to make your own cola and the effects light, colour and taste can have on our perception of food and drink. Amanda Tyndall, deputy director of Edinburgh International Science Festival, also points to separate explorations of the science behind gambling in the Casino Scienza event and the effect of synæsthesia in The Taste of Blue, pointing out that all LateLab events feature interactive elements for the audience to try out.
‘We want LateLab to become a hub for informal, social chats, where people can explore areas where art, science and tech cross over or feed off one another,’ says Tyndall. ‘We want to reach out to audiences we know exist in Edinburgh, who already go to arts and cultural events but maybe don’t think they’re especially into ‘science’.’ (David Pollock)
School of Informatics, Edinburgh, Sat 5–Sun 20 Apr.