Freedom
of movement matters to Suzy Glass, the arts and events producer currently
overseeing the second edition of Message from the Skies. This animated literary derive around the city
forms part of this year’s Edinburgh’s Hogmanay programme, and runs right through
till Burns’ Night. Glass’ concerns are inherent in the event itself, which has
commissioned six writers from different disciplines and experiences to each pen
a love letter to Europe. Each writer has then paired up with a composer and
visual artist or film-maker, with the results of each collaboration projected
in monumental fashion on the walls of one of half a dozen of the capital’s most
iconic buildings.
With
venues stretching from the south side of Edinburgh to Leith, and with one city
centre stop requiring a walk up Calton Hill, there is considerable legwork
required to complete the circuit. It shouldn’t be considered a race, however, and
audiences are free to move between venues at their leisure, visiting each site on
different evenings between dusk and 10pm to suit their schedules as desired.
Unlike
last year’s inaugural event, when novelist Val McDermid charted the life and
work of neglected nineteenth century novelist Susan Ferrier through various
Edinburgh streets, there is no continuous narrative in this year’s Message from
the Skies. This makes each work akin to a set of site-specific installations and
environmental interventions that transform their immediate landscape.
Such
reimagining of the city capitalises on the recent epic-scale opening events
commissioned by Edinburgh International Festival, and featuring overwhelming
sound and light shows created by 59 Productions and projected onto the Usher
Hall and Edinburgh Castle. Unlike those spectacles, words are the primary focus
of this year’s Message from the Skies, which looks set to be a more reflective
if not always meditative affair.
“It’s
very different this year,” explains Glass. “We’ve got six very different
writers, and each one has taken a completely different approach to the brief
they were given, which was simply to write a love letter to Europe. I suppose
that’s made for more free-expression than last year, which seems only fitting
just now given everything that’s going on, and it’s been really gratifying as
different drafts have come in, and incredibly emotional as well. It really
feels like this is what art should be doing right now.”
The
writers include historian William Dalrymple, who takes an impassioned look at
Scotland’s relationship with mainland Europe against the backdrop of the Tron
Kirk, brought to life by bespoke projection company Double Take Productions,
and featuring a score from composer RJ McConnell. Bulgarian born and
Highland-based non-fiction writer Kapka Kassabova will explore the origins of
Europe alongside the even more dramatic Scottish Monument on Calton Hill. This
will be accompanied by a score by Pippa Murphy, which is inspired by Greek, Mesopotamian
and Gaelic female chanting, while images from Susannah Murphy and Cristina Spiteri
of Bright Side Studios dissolve into the ether as time moves on.
Leith
Library is the setting for poet William Letford’s touching reminiscences, with
artist James Houston taking a typographical approach to illustrating the story.
At Custom House, also in Leith, journalist Chitra Ramaswamy’s letter looks back
to her childhood, holidays in Spain and life in Scotland with roots as a second-generation
immigrant. Daniel Warren’s accompanying film will mix archive footage and
animation, and will feature a song by Emma Pollock.
Up at
the Cowgate, at the Bongo Club, playwright Stef Smith joins forces with
composer
MJ
McCarthy and artist Eleanor Meredith for a moving tale of separation and broken
hearts set to McCarthy’s ambient score and Meredith’s vivid watercolours. Over
at the Tech Cube in Summerhall, fiction writer Louise Welsh pares things back
to explore the international language of words themselves, with designer Emlyn
Firth using typography to illustrate it.
With
a total of sixteen artists working on Message from the Skies, this multi-media
fusion of form and content is itself an illustration of what might happen if
shared experience is used for the power of good.
“The
collaborations were the fun bit of it,” says Glass. “I spoke to each of the
writers very early on, and started to ty and get a feel for how they were
thinking, and how they formally might approach things. Listening to that, you
start to see and hear things that makes you think about what the end result
might be, and to keep the authenticity of that you start to think about people
from other artistic disciplines who might sit well within what each writer is
doing, and you try and pair them up. People just wouldn’t have come into each
other’s spheres without this project, and you start to see and hear the words
differently.”
Glass
doesn’t mention Brexit by name, but the shadow of the UK’s forthcoming departure
from Europe looms large over Message from the Skies. Run in partnership between
current Edinburgh’s Hogmanay producers Underbelly, Edinburgh City of Literature
and Edinburgh International Book Festival, and enabled by the Scottish
Government’s Festivals Expo fund, the initiative also points up some of the
problems which have already arisen regarding bringing artists from abroad to
these shores. While the writers weren’t asked which way they voted regarding
Brexit before they were commissioned, that should become clear from the work
itself. There is little in the way of tub-thumping on display, however, with
each piece humanised by the deeply personal tone of them all.
“Didactic
is word that’s been used a lot when we’ve talked about some of the big
polarisations that exist when we’re talking about Europe just now,” says Glass.
“A lot of those conversations have been about the role of writers and artists
in managing those conversations, and what’s happened as we’ve gone along is
that it’s become okay to make statements that are hard. There may be people who
disagree with what’s in a letter, but I think it’s still important to be able
to make the space to have that conversation.”
The words
written by the six writers taking part in Message from the Skies will live on
regardless of what happens next, and can be published in book form if desired.
The assorted artworks that bring those words to life have also been created
with the same sense of love and care, and given the scale of the event, it is
hoped that they too might have another life, crossing borders with their own
unique sonic and visual languages as they go.
“Wouldn’t
it be brilliant if this could go across the world and other people could see
it?” Glass muses. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if it could travel?”
Message
from the Skies, various venues, Edinburgh, today-January 25, dusk-10pm.
The Herald, January 1st 2019
ends
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