Scottish National
Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh
October 5th-May 4th
2014
When a bust of the late
trade union activist Jimmy Reid was removed from the Scottish
National portrait gallery and taken around cross-general communities
in Clydebank, where Reid co-led the famous ship-builders work-in on
1971 and 1972, it led to a voice drama being performed on the site of
the former John Brown Shipyard on Mayday 2012. The performance was
one of five major projects developed as part of Nation//Live, the
Scottish National Portrait gallery's first major outreach project
since the gallery's refurbishment.
“Some people think
museums are just about dead people,” explains the SNPG's Chief
Outreach Officer, Robin Baillie, "and all about kings and
queens, but we wanted to have people explore their own history and
make it relevant to today.”
Based around five
themes that have shaped modern Scotland – Work, Union, Faith, Civil
War and Roots – Nation//Live put artists into relevant communities
with an exhibit taken from the SNPG collection to explore each
theme. The results of the two-year project include a dance piece
created on Skye in response to St Columbia’s relationship with the
island, the casting of bronze medals in Fort George, and a 10”
vinyl album of folk songs featuring voices from Scotland, Africa and
Poland and led by Drew Wright, aka twenty-first century folklorist,
Wounded Knee.
. All of this is
documented in a film by Daniel Warren which will form the centrepiece
of a show that aims to bring history to life while looking firmly
forward.
The List, September 2013
ends
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