For our April Spin event, we will be visiting Summerhall, the new arts venue in the former Royal Dick Vet School building at the edge of The Meadows. It is the first major new arts venue to have opened in Edinburgh for many years and houses several gallery spaces, performance spaces, artists’ studios and the Demarco Collection among numerous other activities. Curator Paul Robertson will join us in discussing two exhibitions: The Beautiful Book and Flickering Lights: Rachel McLean and Ryan Gander and the broader aims for the new venue.
The Beautiful Book is an exhibition of one artwork by filmmaker, photographer and gay icon Jack Smith. In 1962, Smith made one of the most famous of photographic art books – that book was called The Beautiful Book. It was the only autonomous collection of his photographs that appeared before his death in 1989.
Presented as part of the Flickering Lights programme at Summerhall, Lolcatz is a film by up-and-coming Edinburgh-trained artist Rachel Maclean. Her films are always garish and chaotic comprising mash-up pop culture, television hype and Scottish identity. Lolzcatz is an ornate mix of Egyptian cat worship, the Tower of Babel, a Starbucks-like trading symbol and internet memes.
Finally, we will look at Ryan Gander’s film work As It Presents Itself – Somewhere Vague. Made in claymation, it brings together characters based on Spike Milligan, curator Matthew Higgs, Mrs Frances Gander (the artist’s mother), the Lumière Brothers, Auguste and Louis. Written by Gander, the voiceover is provided by actor Richard Briers.
