“We’ve made you a movie and we want you to know, we’re sewing up eye balls, we’re seeing the words we’re (not the Pixies) fitting our dogs with lasers, don’t know about you but we are debasers.”
To the Generator today for the Robin Thomson show. I copied the press release and took a few photos, and here they all are. A full review may follow in the coming days, we'll see:
And to begin this anthology, we must first describe the environment, the
context, in which to look at the voice...
GENERATORprojects presents By The Light Of The Moon a solo exhibition after a two-week gallery residency. Taking its name from the centre piece of the show- a twenty-five minute narrative journey through the realms of the mediated human voice, inspired by the shapes and signs of recorded speech, the film broadcasts its dislocated narrative through a crisscrossing of wires, a kind of spontaneous wiretap or short-circuiting of sequential talk. All of the characters portrayed are essentially facets of the same personality- from the inventor to the American Indian, to the headless ghosts, to the gospel singers...
Thomson’s work has always been connected to themes of failed or feigned communication - turning its everyday tools and methods inside out to reveal a foreign, uncanny texture. These works sometimes take the shape of pseudo-scientific experiments, research-based studies or low-fi / sci-fi adventures in story telling.
BY THE LIGHT OF THE MOON comes from the very first ‘image' of the human voice; an old French folk song called Au Claire de La Lune recorded on a piece of soot-covered paper by a man called Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville in 1860. It was the earliest recognisable record of the human voice and was only heard for the first time in 2008 after digitization.
Thomson uses this as a premise for the whole show, to explore the representation of the human voice in a visual landscape, and to explore the boundaries of its (im)material nature.
Over & Out
Listening Station
Over & Out
Bicycle Thief
Other Worlds
By The Light Of The Moon
Robin Thomson (b.1986 Arbroath, Scotland) currently lives and works in Berlin as an online Media Editor for Canadian musician, Peaches. Thomson graduated from Duncan Of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in 2008 with recent shows including, A Moskvitch in Havana, Tallinn, Estonia 2008, R.S.A New Contemporaries 2009, and Zebronkey an essay and video featured in Antennae magazine in 2009.
BY THE LIGHT OF THE MOON Publication will be available to download next week.
Also available from the gallery and CCA Bookfair (more details in FUTURE page)
But fear not, Your life is not completely meaningless. You still have a chance of redeeming yourself as the deadline for the next issue is on the 1st of October.
The top prize for best video and the title of 2010 AGK champ went to Rachel Maclean. She won £300 and a mini residency at the Hannah Maclure Centre performance and cinema space for her supercool video I’m Your Biggest Fan (Paparazzi).
“I’m Your Biggest Fan sucks the viewer into a morphing toy town, a sexy sugary space which reinterprets ‘Lady Gaga’s’ hit ‘Paparazzi’. Alluding to the recent internet scandal questioning her gender.”
Over the summer, Yuck ‘n Yum invited karaoke video submissions from musicians and artists throughout Scotland. At the AGK last night, creative types from around the country journeyed to Dundee to do karaoke battle. The Skinny's AGK preview
THE YUCK ‘N YUM EDITORIAL TEAM:
Flash Andrew Maclean
Just Like a Cunt Ben Robinson “The body imagined as an abattoir.”
I posted my karaoke video on YouTube today:
SONG + ARTIST = PERFORMANCE:
Theme from Cheers Richie Cummings with Stacey Hunter and Ross Mclean “Opening Credits from the popular TV series Cheers as re-enacted by folk who were in the Art Bar, Dundee, one Saturday in July”
The Skinny performance prize runner up: 6 tickets for the private and very exclusive Karaoke rooms at Electric Circus in Edinburgh. Coffee and Dundee Sinead Bracken and Fiona Gordon “Milky the Milk Carton (from the original music video for Coffee and TV by Blur) spends the day in Dundee.”
I’m Gonna Be (500 miles) Dawn Campbell “Daniel Pike and myself, Dawn Campbell filmed Stephen Sharp walk barefoot from Dundee to Edinburgh from the 6th of July to the 1st of August 2010. We also gave him his own camera to film a diary of the walk. It is this footage which is used in the Karaoke Video, to Stephen Sharp's approval. The song was chosen because Stephen admitted on an interview that what kept him going on the walk, was constantly singing the song on the video. In the footage it is possible to see the beauty of the landscape as he walks barefoot through Fife, as well as the deteriorating condition of his feet. The rough handheld footage adds a sense of texture, humour and openness, as we join him on his quest.”
Lemon Sole Alasdair Smith “Gammamoth Productions proudly present- in Haggaro Vision- an audio visual odyssey, in collaboration with legendary music icons ‘The Sang Brothers’. For the first time in history the usually secretive duo have allowed Gammamoth access to a Celtic classic from their extensive Caledonian catalogue.”
What Would You Do / Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Sam Blair
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes Catherine Weir “In the style of The Platters, this video features JOH a cuddly bear indeed!”
Birdhouse in your Soul Derek Lodge and Andrea Sayers “Video animation centered on the ‘blue canary’ of the song’s lyrics which was inspired by the songwriters’ childhood nightlight.”
SONG + AUDIENCE = KARAOKE:
Rehab Abi Lewis “The video features “the wibbly wobbly charms of the paintbrush programme”, bringing Amy Winehouse to life.”
Jammied Ma Pelvis (Suspicious Minds) Andy Macvicar "Jammied Ma Pelvis is a salute to all those who have taken to the stage in the garb and spirit of elvis. Shortly before his death, Elvis himself anonymously took part in an Elvis Impersonation contest in a local restaurant he happened to be in, only to come in third place. In 1977 there were 170 Elvis impersonators. By 2002 there were 85,000. At that rate of growth, by 2019 a third of the world's population will be Elvis impersonators. The King is dead, but long live the king."
Runner up prize for best video: 2 years subscription to MAP magazine Debaser Andy Sim / Fear Wasabi “We’ve made you a movie and we want you to know, we’re sewing up eye balls, we’re seeing the words we’re(not the Pixies) fitting our dogs with lasers, don’t know about you but we are debasers.”
The AGK champ receives £300 and a mini residency at the Hannah Maclure Centre performance and cinema space: I’m Your Biggest Fan (Paparazzi) Rachel Maclean “I’m Your Biggest Fan sucks the viewer into a morphing toy town, a sexy sugary space which reinterprets ‘Lady Gaga’s’ hit ‘Paparazzi’. Alluding to the recent internet scandal questioning her gender.”
You Gotta Problem / Dance Yrself Clean (Medley) Alex Hetherington
“A Variety of video edits to accompany songs by Toni Basil and LCD Soundsystem.”
Resident DJ Ben ‘Jack Your Body’ Robinson spins a ‘works night out’ set post Karaoke.
Whigfield - Saturday Night
Tamperer feat. Maya - Feel It
Eiffel 65 - Blue (Da Ba Dee)
DJ Jurgen presents Alice Deejay - Better Off Alone
