CCA All Events

Yelling at Stars / Phase Three

10 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Messages have been being sent into space since the 1970’s. As yet nothing has been heard back.

Yelling at Stars is an on going science art project investigating the composition of inter-stellar messages.

After sending a transmission into outer space on 31 May 2008 in Melbourne Australia, the Yelling at Stars team is in Glasgow to present at Less Remote: An Arts And Humanities symposium running parallel to the 2008 Astronautical Congress.

Yelling at Stars/ Phase Three is a performance research installation focused on communication with space.

Performers: Willoh S.Weiland, Nicky Forster, Dr. Sarah Jane Pell, Pip Norman

Sound: Pip Norman (AKA Count Bounce)

Art design: Willoh S.Weiland

Video: Andrew Fraser, Georgina Read, Roger Alsop

Visualisations and space animations courtesy Swinburne University of Technology Department of Astrophysics and Supercomputing.

Alt - W Application Surgery

08 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Applications are now invited for the 2008 Alt-w Fund with both production and research and development awards of up to £5000 available. Guidelines for application will be available from the Alt-w website on 26 June 2008 and free application surgeries will be held at the CCA on 2, 9 and 16 August from 12-4pm. Places can be booked by emailing rsvp@mediascot.org.

The deadline for applications is 22 August and the 2008 award winners will be announced at the Alt-w exhibition closing party, on 13 September at the CCA.

Initiated by Scottish Screen in 2000, the Alt-w Fund is for practitioners based in Scotland to make and develop new artworks, devices and creative applications that challenge the notions of what networked or web-based digital creativity can be. The 2008 awards are supported by Scottish Screen and the Scottish Arts Council and this year the focus of the fund is to support projects which dynamically engage audiences beyond the screen.

Since inception the fund has supported over sixty innovative projects.

The distribution of Alt-w awards is managed by New Media Scotland and funded by Scottish Screen and the Scottish Arts Council.

All surgeries are free, to book please email rsvp@mediascot.org

MFA Screening

26 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Alt-w: New Directions in Scottish Digital Culture

02 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Lorna Robertson's current work examines objects that might be found in car-boot sales or glass cabinets at the V & A.

This series of paintings tries to make a new context for these objects, re-claim them for her own means, and re-position them through pictorial language. Robertson concerns herself with the special aura and presence these can be given through heightening visual aspects of them – interpretating and altering proportions and colour, while being faithful to the essence of them.

Andrew Cranston draws and paints at the same time, and without conflict from both observation and imagination, and believes that the best art often has an element of both. His work affirms a belief in drawing/painting as a real kind of fiction. True Lies...

Much of the work looks at architectural space and creates an analogous equivalent in drawing. He enquires how presence and absence is felt and evidenced in interior space: old rooms, offices, apartments, studios, etc.

He wonders about his neighbours without making any effort to be neighbourly. "What are they doing next door?" ("What is he building in there?" Tom Waits asks).

His work also makes reference to descriptions of architectural spaces in literary texts (Kafka, Perec, Poe to name a few) – spaces that are fictionalised but nonetheless believable.

Alt - W Closing Party

13 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

We're having a closing party for the Alt-W Exhibition. That's when we announce the 2008 award winners.

The deadline for applications is 22 August. Applications are now invited for the 2008 Alt-w Fund with both production and research and development awards of up to £5000 available. Guidelines for application will be available from the Alt-w website on 26 June 2008 and free application surgeries will be held at the CCA on 2, 9 and 16 August from 12-4pm. Places can be booked by emailing rsvp@mediascot.org.

Intermedia: This Dark Ceiling, Lorna Robertson and Andrew Cranston

23 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

This Dark Ceiling promises the viewer pleasure and angst in equal measures...

Lorna Robertson's current work examines objects that might be found in car-boot sales or glass cabinets at the V & A.

This series of paintings tries to make a new context for these objects, re-claim them for her own means, and re-position them through pictorial language. Robertson concerns herself with the special aura and presence these can be given through heightening visual aspects of them – interpretating and altering proportions and colour, while being faithful to the essence of them.

Andrew Cranston draws and paints at the same time, and without conflict from both observation and imagination, and believes that the best art often has an element of both. His work affirms a belief in drawing/painting as a real kind of fiction. True Lies...

Much of the work looks at architectural space and creates an analogous equivalent in drawing. He enquires how presence and absence is felt and evidenced in interior space: old rooms, offices, apartments, studios, etc.

He wonders about his neighbours without making any effort to be neighbourly. "What are they doing next door?" ("What is he building in there?" Tom Waits asks).

His work also makes reference to descriptions of architectural spaces in literary texts (Kafka, Perec, Poe to name a few) – spaces that are fictionalised but nonetheless believable.

Creative Lab-Oblivia

01 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Entertainment Island
Entertainment Island is Oblivia's project, 2008- 2010. During this three–year period Oblivia, through means of performance, film, photography and text, will divulge and scrutinize the manifold world of entertainment and popular culture. Entertainment Island in its entirety will be launched in 2010. Co-produced by Kiasma Theatre, Helsinki, Finland.

Entertainment Island # 1
An array of gestures, movements and sounds emanating from the entertainment industry are presented in this energetic performance unveiling the mechanisms of popular culture.

Our next stops are a residency at CCA in Glasgow, UK where we show a preview 19 –20.9 and the Entertainment Island 1. premier at Kiasma Theatre during the Theatre Now festival 3-5.10 2008.

"We spent weeks doing funny walks and telling bad jokes while pulling out false limbs and making funny faces. The pretend stuttering was the final straw. We were stuck and not the least funny. We had to face what we knew from the start: we are not entertainers. We do not deal in entertainment. We deal in structures.

"We changed track. We proceeded jumping up and down shouting Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Encouraging each other towards greater feats, saluting imaginary victories without showing the contest. We had arrived at the core of popular culture”.

Performed and devised by: Timo Fredriksson, Anna Krzystek (UK), Annika Tudeer.

Sound: Juuso Voltti

Lights : Liisa Kyrönseppä. Producer: Johanna Fredriksson. Photos: Eija Mäkivuoti

ABOUT ENTERTAINMENT ISLAND Entertainment Island is realised in collaboration with: Kiasma Museum, Kiasma Theatre, Produforum, CCA (Glasgow), Finnish-Institute (London), Finsk-norsk kulturinstitutt, Ludcia Khabibulina/ St Petersburg.

Entertainment Island is funded by: Kulturkontakt Nord, Alfred Kordelins fond, Svenska kulturfonden, Arts Council of Finland, AVEK (Promotion Centre for Audiovisual Culture).

Founded in 2000 in Helsinki, the international performance company Oblivia is a unique force on the Finnish performance scene. Oblivias collectively devised, interdisciplinary and minimalist performances merge the boundaries of art forms and nationalities. The background of Oblivias members from Finland, Iceland and UK are in performance art, music, dance and theory. This mixture of backgrounds and nationalities creates a vibrant and special tension and humour in the work. From the beginning the core members have been working together creating a common performance language. Guest collaborators are invited to partake in individual projects.

Oblivia is part of the Produforum network based at Korjaamo, Helsinki. In spring 2007 Oblivia received the Stina Krooks Award for its long-standing commitment to developing work between theatre and conceptual art. Oblivia is house artist at Kiasma Theatre from 2007.

Annika Tudeer (FIN) - founder/artistic director/performer
After working as a dancer/choreographer Annika completed her MA in literature at Helsinki University and worked as a dance and performance critic writing extensively nationally and internationally on new trends in the performing arts.

Anna Krzystek (UK) – core member/performer
Anna is a Glasgow based performer and choreographer. She has been with Oblivia since 2000 devising and performing the work.

Timo Fredriksson (FIN) – core member/performer
Timo is a classical pianist. He started working with Oblivia in 2000 as a musician and has since been drawn into performing and devising the work.

Jewish Film Club

04 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Children Must Laugh ( Mir Kumen On)

Dir. Aleksander Ford

1935, 63 min

Directed by Lodz native Aleksander Ford and financed by the Jewish Labor movement in Poland, Children Must Laugh is one of the few surviving documentaries about Jewish life in Poland before World War II. This institutional film was produced to raise funds for the Vladimir Medem Sanitarium which, noted for its modern and spacious facilities, stood as the embodiment of health and enlightenment, in striking contrast to the grim images of urban Polish-Jewish poverty.

The sanitarium's theme song, "Mir Kumen On (Here We Come)," punctuates the film with a sense of hope and accomplishment. The Bund's optimistic internationalism, exemplified by the children's endearing performances, permeates the film, creating powerful yet unintended ironies for post-Holocaust audiences.

Jewish Life In Cracow

Dir. Shaul & Yizak Goskind

1939, 10 min

Focusing on Cracow’s Jewish quarter, this film intermingles old and new, using music to enhance the images. Streetcars share tree-lined streets with horse-drawn carriages; people conduct business under umbrella-covered markets and arcaded market halls; parks and schoolyards host sports, games and animated discussions. Scenes of the famous Remu Synagogue and the Alte Shul, an orphanage, a hospital, the Jewish Community Council, and several schools convey the vitality of this age-old Jewish community.

Jewish Life in Lwow
Dir. Shaul & Yizak Goskind
1938, 10 min

Stylish women promenade through modern Lwow’s thriving market squares to a piano-and-violin accompaniment suggesting urban rhythms. Also known as Lemberg and home to an old, well-established Jewish community, this city nestled in a valley projects an aura of prosperity. Parks and pavilions punctuate its public spaces as trucks, pushcarts and bicycles ply its busy streets. Among the Jewish community landmarks shown are the Yad Haruzim Trade Union Building, the Old Ghetto, the softly curving exterior of the Modern Temple, the orthodox school, the Moorish-looking Lazarus Hospital and the grave of the “Golden Rose”—filmed in warm, dappled light—and the Nowosci Theater.

A day in Warsaw
Dir. Shaul & Yizak Goskind
1938, 10 min

The lively Jewish neighborhoods of Warsaw, including Zamenhof Street and the commercial “beehive” Nalewki Street, were home to 400,000 Jews before World War II.

A Day in Warsaw juxtaposes Warsaw’s modern multi-storied buildings and broad streets with its old market square and Jewish quarter. Trucks, trolleys, autos and buses meet horse-drawn carriages, pushcarts, and porters in the bustling commercial district. Also shown are the Yiddish Theater, Gensza Cemetery, and other Jewish institutions—the community council, hospitals,schools, and synagogues. At film’s end, after Sabbath services, families pour into Krashinsky Park where children play and adults spiritedly debate the issues of the day.

Tango Milonga

05 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Tango in the City is pleased to present an enjoyable evening of Argentine Tango. Evening starts with a class for improvers and intermediate level dancers taught by Sari Lievonen and Jeff Allan followed by social dancing of Argentine Tango – A Milonga. Come along to check out the vibrant Glaswegian tango scene and let passionate tango music take you to another place.

8pm (pre-milonga class) 9pm (Milonga) : £8 (both), £5 (class or milonga)

Seeds of Thought

06 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Hosted by the 'Seeds of Thought' group and featuring guests. A fun, relaxed evening of spoken word, acoustic music, dramatic sketches and open mic for those who want to share in the fun and easy-going spirit of the evening. A diverse range of acts from traditional African 'Mbira' music, spoken word, electronica, visual presentations and featuring exciting live poetry and music talent from Glasgow and beyond.

Line up...

Moyo Chirandu brothers playing Mbira (music of the ancestors), the kompressors, the ex-men

Spoken word from:

Tawona Sithole, Laura Hainey, Dave Findlay, Stewart Kunaka, Tiff Griffin, Kalonde Kasengele

And many more...

Also featuring visual poetry/art from Heather Robertson and much more...

DiScoMbObUlaTe

09 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

DiScoMbObUlaTe... where literature and comedy collide

DiScOmBoBulAte offers a melting pot of performance and reading from novelists, poets, playwrights and low comedians in the seething cauldron that is the CCA Theatre.

Featured in September will be new work from writer/performer Tam Dean Burn, poet Magi Gibson, playwright Iain Heggie, monologuist Billy Letford, newcomers George Anderson, Conrad Watts and others.

Hosted by Ian Macpherson, fresh from the fringe.
"A 6-Star Triumph in a 5-Star World" - The Ian Macpherson Fan Club Monthly Newsletter.

8pm for 8.30pm - 10.30pm

Celluloid Jam: D.I.Y or DIE

17 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Dir. Michael W. Dean, 2002, USA
55 mins
Cert. 15

Micheal W. Dean has created a documentary portrait of two-dozen mavericks as they carry on the spirit of punk rock through all manners of art media.

The 55-minute movie is a celebration of the Underdog, and a fanfare to the common Independent American Artist. It’s a collaboration of portraits and profiles from a fascinating group of underground icons as well as overlooked unknowns working in various media including print, film, graphic art, performance art, and music. The two-dozen interviewees are true mavericks that operate outside of any “studio system”, are beholden to no one, and produce influential and quality art regardless of a pay.

Magic Lantern

17 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

For The Magic Lantern's 2nd Birthday we’re delighted to present our selection of the best short films from Edinburgh Film Festival 2008, with an introduction by EIFF 2008 shorts programmer Matt Lloyd.

Post screening drinks, cake & set by Jack Valentine of Isoceles

Tickets £5/ £3 from CCA Box Office 0141 352 4900

Sick Sex dir. Justin Nowell USA/2007/ 12mins

Amanda has a fever. Ken is horny.

Sick Sexwas shot over the course of one exceptionally hot and sticky summer

day in Brooklyn, New York. The idea from the start had been to make something down and truly dirty – two actors, one light, an HD camera, a friend’s borrowed

apartment, and a single afternoon to get through twelve pages of script. Actors Amanda Gruss and Ken Forman were performing at the time in a play in the East Village

and so were already well acquainted and ready to step into their roles as a feverish, bedridden young woman and her priapic, caretaker boyfriend. Justin Nowell is a 2006 graduate of the New York University Film School, MFAprogram. His short films have played festivals worldwide. He received his AB from Harvard University in 1998, where he studied English and American

Literatures. He lives in New York City.

Alexandra dir. Radu Jude Romania/2007/26mins

Tavi, a man in his late thirties, discovers that Alexandra, his 4 years old daughter, is not calling him “Dad” anymore.

Radu Jude is an internationally acclaimed short filmmaker whose last short film The Tube With The Hat screened at the Glasgow Film Festival 2008 (programmed by The Magic Lantern). It’s gone on to win various accolades and screen at many major short film festivals including Telluride, Rotterdam, Tampere, San Francisco, Aspen, Oberhausen. The Magic Lantern strongly believes that Radu Jude is one to watch!

Son dir. Daniel Mulloy UK/ 2007/ 17mins

Son tells the story of an underground theatre Director and the possessive grip he holds over his female colleague, and her young son James. James' unhappy world unfolds in the confines of the theatre's vaults where soon reality and fiction become indistinguishable. Starring acclaimed actress Nathalie Press of My Summer Of Love and Red Road.

Daniel Mulloy studied fine art in London and New York, graduating in 2001. His first film, Dance Floor, won many accolades, including a BAFTA Cymru for Best Newcomer. Mulloy's second short, Sister, released in 2005, won another BAFTA and a slew of awards, including the ARTE Grand Prix in Hamburg and the Tamashi Award in Tokyo. Antonio's Breakfast premiered at Sundance in 2006 and has gained many awards at international festivals, including Mulloy’s third BAFTA win for Best Short Film. Dad premiered at Sundance in 2007 and has won another host of awards as well as being Nominated for the European Academy Award after winning the UIP in Krakow. Son was completed in June 2007 and since premiering in the US has begun to win awards including the Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Short at Slamdance 2008 and the UK Film Council Award for Best British Short Film at 62^nd Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Plane Days dirs Benjamin Kracun & Ewan McNicol UK/ 2008/ 15mins

Old friends. Young friends. Lovers and loners.

They all wait, hoping, to see something they’ve never seen before.

Is it a Virgin? Thai? Singapore? American? They all could be another one for the book.

With a flask of tea or a bottle of wine to keep warm, every day is a new day around the perimeter fence at Heathrow.

Every day is a plane day.

Benjamin is currently based in London, he has shot commercials, viral and brand films for Nokia and MTV. He won a Kodak commercials award in 2007 and continues to work as a cinematographer and director. Ewan is a partner in a multi- disciplinary creative firm called Lucid Inc. where he has just completed a global stills and film campaign for Nokia, shot in India, China, Africa and the USA. He’s also developing film projects through Lucid Inc. Ewan has been nominated for a Scottish BAFTA, is a winner of a Royal Television Society award, an Association of Photographer’s award and has had his work exhibited at The National Portrait Gallery in London.

Space Travel According To John. dirs Jamie Stone & Anders Jedenfors UK/2008/3

Mins

Funny, wise and gloriously eccentric 10 year old John reflects on the wonders of space travel. His insights into intergalactic exploration are magically brought to life using ‘sandimation’.

Winners of the McLaren Animation Award at EIFF 2008.

Plot Point dir. Nicolas Provost Belguim/ 2007/ 13mins

This is a land of New York cops, with its howling police cars, uniforms, ambulances, and crowded streets, which soon turns into the perfect scenery of a nation in fear. We are so familiar with the fiction film language that we can make reality completely disappear.

Prix Speciale de Jury, Clermont Ferrand Film Festival 2008

Nicolas Provost is a filmmaker and visual artist living and working in Brussels, Belgium. His work is a reflection on the grammar of cinema and the relation between visual art and the cinematic experience. His films are screened worldwide on both visual art platforms and film festivals and have earned a long list of awards and screenings at prestigious festivals as among others The Sundance Film Festival, The San Francisco International Filmfestival, Cinevegas, The International Film Festival Rotterdam, The Viennale, The Locarno Film Festival,…

Running order tbc.

Approximately Infinite Universe: Film Programme

18 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

APPROXIMATELY INFINITE UNIVERSE
Film programme
Curator: Sami Sanpakkila

Total approximate running time: 80 minutes

Sami Sänpäkkilä
Tarbotstraat, super8, 2003, 0:51
Kubistisia kukkia liikkeessä, super8, 2003, 5:46
Kubistisia vittu saatana, super8, 2003, 4:45
91: 11-12, 16mm, 2004, 8:42
Islaja: Rohkaisulaulu, 16mm, 2006, 4:38
Surrealistin kaksi vasenta kättä, 16mm, 2005, 7:32
Kemialliset ystävät shreds, miniDV, 2008, 7:31
Tupakkarulla, miniDV, 2007, 1:49

Jonna Karanka
Pymathon: Mutilated by Midnight - 2008, mini-dv, 3:30
Jaakko ja Viivi - 2008, mini-dv, 2:30
Hertta lussu ässä: Norsun sydän - 2007, mini-dv, 04:15
Kemialliset Ystävät: Älyvaahtoa - 2007, mini-dv, 02:47
Erkki, Tomas ja Arttu - 2004, mini-dv, 01:40

Pasi "Sleeping" Myllymäki
(all in super8)
Omena 1976 / 1:32
Fire of Life, 1979, 3:33
Miten salaperäinen liftari poimii kolme kiveä, 1979, 1:08
Sleeping tv-versio, 1979, 1:25
Vedestä nousee ufo, 1979, 2:34
3000 autoa, 1980, 2:30
5 reikää selluloidissa, 1980, 2:05
Andalusialainen koirankoppi, 1980, 1:30
Asfalttibaletti, 1980, 0:52
Värityskirja. Nyt., 1980, 2:05
Ele, 1981, 2:30
Salamat iskevät kirkkaalta taivaalta, 1981, 0:20
SSU eli sano se ujosti, 1981, 3:33
Forssa-ilmiö, 1982, 1:24
Kuminen umpiauto 1982, 1:35
Maananalainen kaitaelokuva n:o 8, 1982, 2:45
Mustat alku- ja lopputekstit, 1982, 2:46

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Sami Sänpäkkilä

Sami Sänpäkkilä (b. 1975) aka Es lives and works near the forests of Tampere, Finland. He is a musician, film-maker and the head of Fonal Records. Sami's fourth musical solo release is the “Sateenkaarisuudelma” double LP released by the Belgian (K-RAA-K)3 records on 1st November 2005.

Sami has created 25 short films and music videos which have been screened in various museums, art galleries and film festivals around the world. The films and the music are experimental moodscapes that explore the themes of melancholy, pathos and hope. As Es he has perfomed across North America and Europe at various festivals including Sonár, Subcurrent and Itsenäisyysyö at the famous B2 club in Moscow.

Pasi "Sleeping" Myllymäki

Working as a graphic designer for the Iittala glassworks, Pasi Myllymäki (b. 1950) was inspired by the do-it-yourself spirit of the punk movement to make short films of his own. Having no camera of his own, Myllymäki began collaborating with Risto Laakkonen, a DIY film-maker who did have an 8mm camera. Working at night, in the weekends and on holidays, the duo made altogether over 40 short films between 1976 and 1985. "Film should no longer be experienced as a dream. Until now, viewers could watch safely from a distance what was happening to the actors. Now the film will happen to the viewers. The age of direct cinema has begun,” Myllymäki wrote about his cinematic visions in the new-age Uuden ajan aura magazine in 1979. The short films of Myllymäki and Laakkonen were not screened at official events at the time, only at reviews by DIY film-makers and in new wave concerts. Myllymäki also published nine issues of an A6-size fanzine called Underground DIY Cinema (Maanalainen kaitaelokuva, 1979–1982). - Mika Taanila

Jonna Karanka

Jonna Karanka was born in Finland in 1978. She received her BA in Fine Art in 2001 and continued professional specialization studies in video art (2002) and color photography (2004). Currently living and working in Helsinki, Finland, her spectrum of work combines video, music, photography, painting and collage. She has performed live music (as Kuupuu) in Anthology Film Archives, WFMU radio station, Stockholm Culture House and her videos have been screened in Scandinavia House in NY, European Media Art Festival in Osnabrück, and various festivals in Europe.

Approximately Infinite Universe: Gig

19 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

2008 CMN Tour curated and produced by NO-FI and [NO.SIGNAL] supported by The Wire magazine

APPROXIMATELY INFINITE UNIVERSE

A CARAVAN OF RAW SOUND MAGIC FROM FINLAND AND THE US

KEMIALLISET YSTÄVÄT & AXOLOTL
ES & FURSAXA
ISLAJA, BLEVIN BLECTUM & SAMARA LUBELSKI
DREAM TRIANGLE (TOMUTONTTU & SKATERS)

19 – 27 September 2008
Glasgow | Aberdeen | Sheffield | Birmingham | Newcastle | Manchester | Bristol | London

Two of the UK’s busiest leftfield promoters, NO-FI and [NO.SIGNAL] join forces this September to present APPROXIMATELY INFINITE UNIVERSE - A CARAVAN OF RAW SOUND MAGIC FROM FINLAND AND THE US, an eight-date tour opening at CCA, supported by CMN and media sponsored by The Wire Magazine, which will travel the length of the UK.

Featuring special commissions and unique collaborations from some of the most innovative and exciting acts of Finland’s underground with the haunting ISLAJA, the beautifully disorientating KEMIALLISET YSTÄVÄT, the epiphanies of ES and the genius collages of TOMUNTONTTU (Jan Anderzén) – most represented by the influential and exploratory label FONAL. Each will musically entangle themselves amongst an uncompromising host of Americans, including the home-recorded acid folk of FURSAXA; freak goddess SAMARA LUBELSKI (Hall Of Fame, Tower recordings, MV&EE), the ‘Terry Riley-fused with Kate Bush’ impossibility of AXOLOTL, the ‘coal-powered spacecraft from some steampunk parallel universe’ that is BLEVIN BLECTUM and the occult trance duo SKATERS.

Each performance will be a unique and brand new collaboration, each of the Finnish acts inviting a US counterpart to collaborate on a performance, highlighting the parallels in strands of the recent evolving trend of ‘weird/avant folk/noise’ between the US under the layer communities and Finland’s northern circles.

The performances will be made of material composed in the months leading up to the tour and worked in 2 days rehearsal. The concerts will take the form of two acts with the 4 groupings rotating during each act.

NO-FI and [NO.SIGNAL] - in conjunction with the artists themselves - designed this approach as a way of taking the aforementioned trans-Atlantic influence exchange, trapping it in a vacuum and making it feedback on itself in order create a whole family of brand new musical beasts.

Selected dates on this tour will feature an exclusive screenings curated by FONAL-founder Sami Sanpakkila and a selection of commissioned work which will take place before live performances.

The concerts will be recorded and later released as digital only compilations.

Tennent's Mutual Season

20 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The Tennent's Mutual announces Season One Warm-Up shows with James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem), Frightened Rabbit, Findo Gask, Isosceles, Kid Canaveral, Belle & Sebastian DJs and more.
Plus: Los Campesinos!, Times New Viking and No Age confirmed for Season One.

The Tennent's Mutual is delighted to announce that dance-floor insurgent James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem) will play two exclusive DJ sets as part of its Season One Warm-Up shows: at CCA on 20 September and at Edinburgh Caves on 21 September.

Murphy will be joined by the likes of alt-rock marvels Frightened Rabbit, electro buccaneers Findo Gask, jawboned new-wavers Isosceles, indie pop tearaways Kid Canaveral and an estimable brace of Belle & Sebastian DJs, for September’s east and west coast warm-up parties (full listings overleaf).

All of the aforementioned artists were voted for, and requested by, members of The Tennent’s Mutual: that is, music fans who signed up at www.tennentsmutual.com to have their say in spending this year’s seed fund of 150 thousand pounds, on a series of Scottish live events in 2008. All ticket income generated from these gigs will be reinvested to increase the fund for 2009. This sum will be fortified by an annual donation from Tennent’s Lager.

The Glasgow / Edinburgh warm-ups precede The Tennent’s Mutual: Season One live programme, which will run throughout Scotland in October / November 2008: full details of artists, locations and venues will be revealed shortly.

Elaine Forbes of Tennent’s Lager said: “We’re thrilled to be kick-starting The Tennent’s Mutual’s first-ever series of gigs with two warm-up shows that celebrate the quality and diversity of music that our members have requested. We can’t wait to unveil the full programme in the coming weeks.”

As with the warm-up dates, all bills in the Season One programme will be headlined and shaped by artists elected by members of The Tennent’s Mutual, via this year’s Final Top 40 and the Unsigned Chart; and will be further embellished by a clutch of aural affiliates and exceptional acts who reached the peripheries of the various Top 40s, which ran from April – July 2008.

With this in mind, and as a suggestion of what’s to come, The Tennent’s Mutual is pleased to divulge a Season One sneak preview in the shape of day-glo indie literati Los Campesinos!, who’ll appear alongside DIY leviathans Times New Viking and punk alchemists No Age at Glasgow School of Art on October 18th.
Tickets for The Tennent’s Mutual: Season One Warm-Up parties (James Murphy et al), and tickets for Los Campesinos! / Times New Viking / New Age will be available from August 19th. Members of The Tennent's Mutual are currently voting on ticket prices for these shows: they’ll be published at; and on-sale from; www.tennentsmutual.com.

As with all of The Tennent’s Mutual live events, tickets will be completely free from booking fees, and each individual purchase comes with automatic membership and voting rights: i.e. upon buying a ticket for any event, the buyer is afforded a voting point and can hence influence the next round of gigs – the artists, locations, ticket prices, and much more – which are set to run in 2009. Tickets are solely available via www.tennentsmutual.com
Launched by Tennent’s Lager in April 2008, The Tennent’s Mutual is transforming Scotland’s live music landscape, by switching influence from the hands of the industry, into the heart of the music community. By encouraging music lovers to invest its annual music budget, The Tennent’s Mutual is empowering Scotland’s gigging enthusiasts to own and control a new music agenda: for music fans, by music fans. It’s at www.tennentsmutual.com

Tennent’s donated a start-up fund of £150k for 2008, with a view to enabling members to devise and programme a series of live shows in Scotland in October / November this year. So far TTM Founder Members, (who signed up by June 30th), have voted on where to programme the gigs, what type of gigs to programme, the introduction of an unsigned platform, and indeed what established and breaking acts they’d like to see featured in this year’s live bill. Votes on ticket prices and feedback on unsigned talent will follow in the coming weeks.

Music fans who’ve yet to join in are welcome to do so any time: they’ll be granted Associate Member status, which means they can participate in all aspects of The Tennent’s Mutual’s online dialogue: music rating, forum debating and so on, but they cannot vote. Full membership / voting rights can be attained by purchasing a ticket to any of The Tennent’s Mutual 2008 live shows.

All ticket income generated from the 2008 gigs will be reinvested to increase next year’s fund for The Tennent’s Mutual. This ensuing sum will be further fortified by an annual donation from Tennent’s Lager’s music budget.

Other activity has included a series of exclusive online films / live web-chats with Chuck D, Lightspeed Champion and Malcolm Middleton, while industry specialists on board to offer counsel to members of The Tennent’s Mutual include Rolling Stones svengali Andrew Loog Oldham, Chemikal Underground’s Stewart Henderson, The Fence Collective’s Johnny Lynch and Babyshambles’ Drew McConnell

Dance on Screen

25 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

CCA presents Dance on Screen, a monthly film strand showcasing historical and contemporary dance works. An exciting line up of documentary, feature length and short dance films will tap into work by Scottish and international artists, as well as new commissions made for dance film festivals.

Running on the last Thursday of every month, the programme will explore a wide range of themes, looking at the work of dancers and choreographers working in collaboration with renowned directors, musicians, fashion designers, and visual artists. Look out for guest speakers, Q&As, critical debate and post-screening receptions.

September Line Up;

Camera/Movement (60min)

Camera/Movement

is a programme of artists’ single screen works in dance and moving image. It offers a historical and thematic overview of the use of camera in relation to dance movement, pinpointing key works that articulate the dynamics of space.

Curated by Helena Blaker, this screening programme was part of a larger collaboration between CAPTURE and Netherlands Media Art Institute. Following the completion of the CAPTURE project, this screening programme continues to be managed by Portland Green Cultural Projects.

Tickets available from CCA box office on 0141 352 4900.

Intermedia: Pio Abad, Allison Gibbs and J.M. Thomson

26 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Pio Abad’s work employs images of failed narratives, both imagined and historical, in interrogating notions of power. His drawings explore the complicity between control and collapse, appropriating elements of baroque excess and the hegemonic structures of totalitarian aesthetics into a grotesque entanglement of forms.

Drawing points of reference from 20th century roadside service architecture, anecdotal narratives and sonic deterrence, Allison Gibbs presents new work as a consideration on spectacular violence and negative iconography. Suggestive of transitory happenings and assertive interventions upon built space and objects, Gibbs' floor based audio and sculptural work offers possible counter narratives of digression and assimilation, absurdity and banality.

J.M.Thomson utilizes mnemonics when reading, which result in a personal visual language. The desire to engage with a living philosophers writings, has led to the selection of Slavoj Zizek’s ‘magnum opus’ The Parallax View (2006, MIT Press). The first of these drawings will be presented for the current exhibition.

Autoconstrucci?n

26 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The result of a six month joint residency at the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) and Cove Park, Autoconstrucción opens at the CCA in Glasgow on 26 September. In the exhibition, Mexican artist Abraham Cruzvillegas, charts the evolution of his family’s house and finds, in its making, the roots of his current sculptural practice.

Cruzvillegas’ roots provide a metaphor for the self-conscious process of creating an identity and methodology for the construction of his artistic practice. Drawing together a diverse series of elements including an exhibition, a series of musical performances, a procession across a city and a book, the key element in all off Cruzvillegas’ work is the concept of sharing, framed by a makeshift DIY aesthetic.

Cruzvillegas comments, “Very important parts of this project are collaboration and creation in a ‘contaminated’ cultural environment, which means shifting something very personal and subjective, from my own experience, to a very local platform and circumstance…

“Improvising with materials from the context: wool, sheep shit, chicken wire, discarded furniture, cardboard, stones, grass or my own hair…” All elements of Cruzvillegas’ work typify his practical and metaphorical uses of the labyrinthine building process of his family’s house in Ajusco, Mexico.

To support the exhibition, Cruzvillegas has written a text drawn from his own memories that records the social life of Ajusco and how the area’s unique, organic architecture evolved. He has also written a series of 18 lyrics that transform his childhood memories into something more surreal. The lyrics were offered to a wide variety of musicians in Scotland for their own interpretation. The songs are currently being recorded and will be published on CD and broadcast by Cruzvillegas throughout the streets and squares of Glasgow, using a sound system constructed as a mobile sculpture.

In the exhibition spaces of Autoconstrucción, the sound system and the documentation of its life in the streets will be on display. Besides this large scale work, Cruzvillegas presents the sculptural improvisations made in his rural studio at Cove Park.

Finally, one room will be dedicated to situating Cruzvillegas’ personal and artistic experience of Ajusco within the broader social and historical context of Mexico since the 1960s.

Autoconstrucción

is the result of a six month joint residency at the Centre for Contemporary Arts and Cove Park, supported by the Henry Moore Foundation.

Abraham Cruzvillegas

(born 1968) is a

Mexican

artist and sculptor. He studied Philosophy and Fine Arts at the

National Autonomous University of Mexico

(UNAM), where he was a student of

Gabriel Orozco

In 2002 he represented Mexico at the

São Paulo Art Biennial

, and in 2003 he participated in the 49th

Venice Biennale

in the section curated by Gabriel Orozco. Museum solo shows include amongst others

Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

, and

Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Oaxaca

(MACO), Mexico. Furthermore he has participated in shows at the

Walker Art Center

, Minneapolis;

Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago

and The Hayward Gallery.

In 2007, Cruzvillegas collaborated on the book 'Los Dos Amigos' with Mexican artist

Dr Lakra

He was brought up in an area of Mexico City called Ajusco. Driven by necessity the community was built through collaboration which bred a system of social and political solidarity. It was a culture of hybridity and the model of construction became intertwined with the model for living.

Cruzvillegas outlines the political and cultural context surrounding the troubled growth of Ajusco and similar communities. Drawing on his own memories, Cruzvillegas has recorded in a text the details of the ways in which the area’s unique architecture evolved.

Cruzvillegas’ mobile sculpture was constructed in collaboration with John O’Hara, a fabricator working in a project called The Common Wheel, a charity that provides ‘meaningful and therapeutic activity for people with mental illness.’ The charity’s approach to its work, achieved through recycling old bikes, mirrors the ethos of the artist.

Creative Lab: Helen Cuinn, The Hair on My Head is Dead

29 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

A curl springs forth from the bonny babe’s head,
The hair on my head is dead, my love, the hair on my head is dead.
What about brown or blonde instead?
Oh the hair on my head is dead.
The life fire that burns so red, so red,
Oooh the hair on my head is doornail dead, the Hair on My Head is Dead!

"Reasonably attached to my flame red locks, I set out to explore the relationship between a person and their hair.

"I know people often make judgements on my character based on my colouring.

I know that ‘gingers’ are the last bastion of slagging in ‘a world that has gone mad for political correctness’.

I know I am meant to be angry or sexy or fiery or witchy or weird.

I will use this residency opportunity to grind up ginger nuts, play with rusty nails, and doff some See You Jimmy bunnets in an attempt to put my image under the microscope.

In the finale, I will try to remove myself from my hair."

Helen Cuinn is a freelance performer and writer. She has most recently toured Scotland with the critically acclaimed one woman show ‘Hoose and Hame’. She continues to perform for others; festival appearances include CCA Creative Lab showing (2007) for Nic Green, NRLA (2008) for Sarah-Jane Grimshaw, and the Forest Fringe (2008) for David Overend. She also performs for screen and was recently featured in Shelly Nadashi’s new video work ‘Calling the Ginger to Come’.

Her new performance installation, also entitled ‘The Hair on My Head is Dead’ will be shown at Arches Live Festival in September.