Norman McBeath, Yoam, 2010 © the artist
Edinburgh College of Art
Norman McBeath & Robert Crawford: Body Bags / Simonides
4 August – 9 September 2011
Simonides’s best works are body bags. Zipped into them are what is left of human lives. This installation is a collaboration between one of the country’s leading poets, Robert Crawford, and the highly acclaimed photographer Norman McBeath.
The installation connects writing from over 2,000 years ago with contemporary wars in the Middle East and with acts of remembrance. Raising questions about the status of a so-called dead language, it also invokes issues such as counterterrorism measures and ordinary people’s experiences during conflicts.
It features black and white photographs paired with Scots (and English) translations of epitaphs by the ancient Greek poet Simonides. These epitaphs were written for civilians and soldiers killed during the Persian Wars (492–449 BC) in celebrated battles such as Thermopylae and Salamis. The texts have a short, sometimes fragmentary eloquence. Classical sculptures from Edinburgh College of Art’s historic cast collection feature in the installation.
Links between ancient and modern are highlighted and given original and elegant expression through the exquisite black and white photographs by Norman McBeath. These square-format, contemplative studies are not war photographs but scenes from everyday life – details of which thread through much of Simonides’s work. They deliberately avoid any descriptive or literal link to the texts – the relationship between photograph and epitaph is evocative and tangential. A beautifully produced hardback book, Simonides, containing 25 black and white photographs and paired texts will be available.
Studios C3 & C4, Main Building
Additional Exhibition
Edinburgh College of Art Postgraduate Degree Show
20 – 28 August
An exhibition of final work by Masters students of Art and Design, including Photography, Animation, Fashion, Film, Product Design, Glass, Graphic Design, Illustration, Interior Design, Jewellery, Performance Costume.
Main Building & Evolution House
74 Lauriston Place, EH3 9DF
0131 221 6000
Mon–Sun, 10–5pm
Anish Kapoor, Untitled, 2010, wax, oil based paint and steel © the artist
Anish Kapoor: Flashback
4 August – 9 October 2011
This exhibition brings together two works – one early piece and a major recent sculpture – selected by the artist in close dialogue with the Arts Council Collection. White Sand, Red Millet, Many Flowers (1982) demonstrates Kapoor’s early interest in applying raw pigment to a range of organic forms. Untitled (2010), on loan from the artist, is a monumental blood-red wax bell form standing over five metres tall, displayed for the first time in the UK.
This exhibition by renowned artist and Turner Prize winner, Anish Kapoor, is the second in a major series of touring exhibitions from the Arts Council Collection entitled Flashback. Taking as its starting point the Collection’s founding principle of supporting emerging artists through the purchase of their work, the series showcases internationally renowned British artists whose works have been acquired by the Collection. The monographic exhibitions combine works from the Collection with new pieces borrowed directly from the artists, giving a unique insight into the evolution of these key figures in British art.
With support from Creative Scotland and The University of Edinburgh.
Sculpture Court
74 Lauriston Place, EH3 9DF
0131 221 6000
Mon–Sun, 10am–5pm
Event
18 August 2011
Venetian Ball
10pm - 3am
For more information visit:
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Wee Red Bar
Edinburgh College Of Art
74 Lauriston Place, Edinburgh, Midlothian EH3 9DF