It is Sunday 20th Dec the last day Collective is open for 2009 which looking at the state of my desk and piles of filing, this year has been a busy one!

The Square Mile project all wound up for 2009 last week and we said goodbye to artists Sreejata Roy and Mrityunjay Chatterjee The artists both from Delhi have been on residency at Collective for the past 6 weeks and have focused their research on the historical and contemporary market areas of the city centre square mile in their project Publik Booth. Many people have been contributed to the project and I would like to thank everyone who have been involved. Their Publik Booth newspaper is now available at the gallery, (well when we open again after Christmas, on 5th Jan).

Whilst I’m looking forward to the Christmas break there are more events to kick off the New Year. NWSP 10years on Jan 16th 2-4pm sees past receivers of the NWSP award – Craig Coulthard, Neil Clements and Ruth Ewan discussing how their practice has developed since their show at Collective…

Have a Merry one
Jenny Richards, Public Programme Coordinator

3 months to go-ho ho no!

As Christmas takes hold and smothers me in white stuff, I turn to contemplation of the last 3 months.It’s been one of the busiest times of my life , even more busy than preparing for a degree show but a hell of a lot less stressful – this is where I get all smooshy.Being an intern at the Collective has been another one of those major turning points in life.So far it has given me the space and support to consider what I might end up doing for the next few years and given me the opportunity to explore what this artistic community  is like and how a gallery is really run.3 months to go and gods smite me if I don’t make the most of it.

Thanks to all of those who have ever  played even the smallest role in getting me of my feet this year.

So …… has anyone got any new years resolutions?

Jasmin , Gallery Intern.

Xmas Factor

Last Thursday the gallery’s reception windowsill became a soapbox for emergent artists initiatives, now in it’s third year ‘Artist’s DIY Soapbox’ is one of my favourite events. Every year we have a wealth of new projects to choose from – the grassroots is alive and well in Scotland. I would like to thank everyone who stepped up to speak, they are: Ainslie and Lauren from The Duchy, Tom and Rachel from Rhubaba, Alexa from Hyperground, Ewan from The Mobile Picture Salon, Rose and Cheryl from Place Projects, Witte and Fiona from Perennial Arts, April and Claire from Komachi and lastly Katrina and John from Bareface. Jasmin is currently working on a set of podcasts so you will soon be able to listen to our speakers via the Collective’s website.

While a record 19 million tuned in to see Joe McElderry’s victory, at the Collective some of us have been sucked into the BBC’s School of Saatchi which finished on Monday – X Factor for artists… Although I’m highly susceptible to this format I’m aware that the whole programme is really wrong. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Finally I have spent the last two days sticking vinyl snowflakes with Chinese artist Chen Hangfeng, a very enjoyable way to wind up for Christmas. The gallery will close this Sunday for two weeks, but keep your eyes peeled during this time for Hangfeng’s alternative Christmas window ‘christMASSproduction’ featuring the fantastic video piece ‘Santa’s Little Helper’.

Kirsten Body, Programme Manager

Leafy green costumes

To passers-by on Cockburn Street, when Collective is closed for installation, the gallery looks shut with blinds down and no activity – if only they could see inside… Not only are we installing the second part of the New Work Scotland Programme 2009, this weekend sees the Bank of Reason formed and ‘walked’ into existence. Below is a pic of the costume and if you’re out and about in Edinburgh city centre tomorrow you may catch a glimpse. Don’t be frightened it’s a coat of ecological and economical beauty! The Bank of Reason is taking place over two weekends, 28/29th Nov and 5/6th Dec.

 

Artists Zoë Walker and Neil Bromwich are leading the Bank of Reason and are rallying the people to propose a new Banking System.

 

The first act in forming The Bank of Reason is a walk through the city centre. Zoë and Neil have invited an Ecologist and an Economist to take participants on a guided walk through the ecological and economic diversity of Edinburgh’s City Centre. The first walk will take place tomorrow Sat 28th November. Fingers crossed it’s not windy and raining! Have a look at the website for the programme of events on the 5th and 6th.

 

China crisis

It will come as no surprise to people who know me that this is a first, a blog post. But as the season of goodwill comes upon us and in the spirit of trying to find out how new gadgets work, I am taking my technophobia in hand to tell you about a recent development.

In October I took part in a research trip to China. It was a shock, but some interesting spaces I saw there were The Arrow Factory in Beijing and 140sqmGallery in Shanghai.

While I was in Shanghai I met Chen Hangfeng who was already taking part in the 1Mile² programme that Collective is piloting with Visiting Arts for the next three years. He showed me a video he had made of the Village in China where 90% of all Christmas decorations are made and it brought two things together for me. I had been thinking about Collective’s window blinds being closed every year for two weeks over Christmas and Hogmanay and I had thought about possibilities for an artist addressing this. So Hangfeng is making Collective’s first Christmas window Dec 20th-Jan 4th: look out for it as you run down Cockburn street in search of the all important matching tights this festive season.

Kate, Collective Director

Gary Numan and the elusive artist run initiative.

I’ve been at Collective for just over 2 months now and am excited about my first proper project which is to find new artist-run initiatives to talk at the annual event Artists DIY Soapbox.As a new fine art graduate I have been kind of obsessed with this kind of research, not unusually. I have a lot of enthusiasm for finding new galleries and opportunities . So much so in fact that as I dreamt along to my clock radio this morning, I swear that the robotic words of Gary Numan were describing my quest to uncover the mysteries of some of the more elusive Artist-run initiatives particularly Komachi (Fountain Bridge) and the badbadboysclub (Dundee). Anyway I’m really looking forward to this event on the run-up to Christmas.

Ill be back.

Jasmin (currently and otherwise known as Intern no.3 at the Collective)

It’s good to be back…

Here we go my first ever blog…
I’ve just about caught up with everything coming up at Collective after being on maternity leave for the last 5 months. A big thanks to Jenny for managing the festival exhibitions and New Work Scotland Programme in my absence. I’m really excited about some of the free events she’s planned; Fanzine Sunday (every Sunday) and Showreel on Thursday 26 November 6-8pm.

Also this week I popped along to the Dean Gallery to see ‘Running Time – Artist Films in Scotland 1960 – Now’ which features our Collective commission ‘Lost High Street’ by Paul Rooney. The films are changing weekly so if you want to see our Jenny aka Aileen the tour guide you’ve got to until Sunday 8th November. My other highlights from the show are Henry Coombes’ ‘The Bedfords’ and ‘We Are the People’ (Beagles & Ramsay) featuring a very youthful looking Graham Ramsay.

Kirsten

Launch party

We are having a launch party for the new website tomorrow (Saturday 14 February) at the Collective Gallery on Cockburn Street, Edinburgh. Please come along and say hi.

Website close to launch

Very excited indeed