~ in the fields – ink
New Media Scotland, 45 Marchmont Crescent, Edinburgh, EH9 1HF. 0131 477 3774. Bus: 41ink
Reflecting 500 years of printing in Scotland, this interactive installation derives from five inscriptions found in five printed books from five centuries. Handwritten by explorers, lovers, book owners, soldiers and authors, they express the wish to individualise printed, massproduced books. The inscriptions, taken from a Bible, a copy of the Arabian Nights, a Songbook and books about Natural History and Botany, form their own history of books.
ink is an installation with five glass bulbs partly filled with blue ink suspended from the ceiling. When the visitor approaches, the bulbs start to rotate. The rotation causes a layer of ink to form on the inner side of the glass.
Due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, the handwritten inscriptions become visible on the bulbs’ interior as they rotate.
The blue ink references handwriting (and its loss) and the light characters refer to the digital age (its interchangeability and transience). The optical illusion caused by the light, which shapes the book inscriptions, provides a comment on virtuality.
The inscriptions are given to the visitor individually, the visitor’s presence causing the gesture of handing over the inscription again.
2 Aug - 31 Aug
Wed - Fri 10am - 6pm
Sat & Sun 12 noon - 6pm
Admission Free
Gallery event