Night at the museum

Collective are currently working with artist Simon Martin on an exhibition, which will be in the gallery next year, in collaboration with Film and Video Umbrella. On Tuesday 29 November, I spent a really amazing afternoon with Simon and Stephen Jackson.

Stephen Jackson is Senior Curator of Applied Art & Design, National Museums Scotland with specific responsibility for furniture, woodwork, treen, musical instruments, wallpaper, interiors, and contemporary design. His research interests/expertise include Scottish furniture, early-modern economic, social and cultural history. Stephen kindly gave Simon and I a guided tour of the extensive National Museums Collection Centre in Granton. We saw everything from a full sized elephant to obsolete machinery on our way to look at some of the furniture that particularly interested Simon. As we re-emerged hours later it left me thinking that it was a very special and enlightening start to the project within which we hope to collaborate with both National Museums Scotland and the National Trust for Scotland’s, Georgian House.

Kate Gray, Collective Director

A New Year Message

In a previous post I wrote about meeting Arrow Factory (Beijing) and PiST (Istanbul) so I am so pleased to be able to confirm that we are beginning a yearlong research programme with outcomes in each city from January 2011. We plan to meet in Istanbul and begin our investigation into ways we can research and collaborate over the year; we plan artists’ exchanges, public events and published texts.

We all share a concern with context specific programming and grassroots experimentation, informing and informed by an International art world, but rooted in our local contexts.

Istanbul is one of my favourite cities so I can’t wait to see it in the winter. And with Collective’s recent moves towards re-looking at our present space as well as new off site projects for 2011, I can’t wait for Christmas to be over so we can start the New Year.
Kate Gray, Director

Roll up, Roll on….

With Alexandrite drawing to a close, Glasgow International over and a new administration in Downing St…. we are turning our attention towards the summer (even if there is snow still falling periodically here).
Torsten Lauschmann will be installing in a couple of weeks and we are really looking forward to ‘Sideshow’: his new work specifically commissioned for the main cinema during the Edinbugh International Film Festival. Torsten has a hugely expanded and inventive practice and it has long been an ambition to work with him. Look out for updates on our homepage along with a programme of events and talks with a focus on cinema.

Also, we are currently working on ‘The All Sided Games’ a selection of screenings and performance, commissioned by SAC through the Cultural Olympiad within the context of the BBC Big Screen Edinburgh, Festival Square on the “Open Weekend” – 23-25th July.

There is barely enough time to keep the boiler stocked.

Kate Gray, Director

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