mini robots dance to thriller…

…happened upon this at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh…part of the Edinburgh International Science Festival…a formation dancing troupe of mini robots…enough said…oh and please forgive the poor quality of film, i was camera-less and had to use my phone. Check out how they sit down at the end of the first clip, it’s weirdly human…

inclement weather makes for better photography…

There is just something about inclement weather and the seaside…maybe it’s just me, but everything looks so much better… These shots were taken at Tyninghame beach about half an hours drive outside Edinburgh. Nobody there except for us and one very hardy fisherman…

That’s the Bass Rock in the distance being enveloped by the weather, a volcanic plug in the Firth of Forth, it was a prison in the 17th century. I read that prisoners used to be executed by fixing a fish to their head so that a diving gannet would pierce the skull…not sure about the veracity of this however… Now it is now protected bird sanctuary.

Apparently, when they are biting he catches flounder and sea bass…

stop motion waves at tyninghame

the black pirate…

Went to the excellent Bo’ness festival of Silent Cinema…which screens in the magnificent 100 year old cinema the Hippodrome, in Bo’ness (the oldest purpose built cinema in Scotland)…

Saw The Black Pirate  from 1926 – each frame was hand coloured at the time it was made…and it featured a magnificently athletic Douglas Fairbanks…marvellous stuff…all this with a live musical accompaniment…next year if you can, you should all go too!

Above is my favourite scene…the pirates simulate underwater swimming while actually they are rather obviously suspected in mid air…surreal and beautiful…

points of view…

I may be in Colombia, but there is a festival going on back in Edinburgh…

Situated within the St Andrew’s Square Gardens lies the Solar Pavilion a structure commissioned by the Edinburgh Art Festival 2011.  The pavilion was designed by Scottish artist Karen Forbes and creates a focal point and centre to the Art Festival this year, as a dynamic space to showcase the latest of Scottish and international creativity and innovation.

As one of 24 artists asked to create works influenced by issues of site and context within their own work in response to the ideas behind the Solar Pavilion, Edinburgh and its location, I responded with the following work:

Work title: Points of View

I decided to reflect on the idea of the journey made by the Melville Monument’s (which towers above the pavilion) circling shadow and parallel that with the journeys I regularly make away from Edinburgh and Home. It’s very simple, the idea of place and location for me. Especially as i move regularly from location to location dictated by project necessities. As soon as i arrive somewhere i locate a particular point of view that i look towards and note the changes on a daily basis. I decided to present photographically my 2 most recent points of view as for now they give me my sense of place location and home away from Home…

View 1 for 3 months: (working as a collaborating artist for artists’ residence UNIDEE at Cittadellarte – Fondazione Pistoletto)  Biella, N. Italy, towards the mountain of Mucrone  (Latitude: 45.57172 Longitude  8.05444) distance from St Andrews Square Garden Solar Pavilion 1396 km

View 2 for 4 weeks: (While co-running video workshops for teenage girls in the Barrio of Moravia), Medellin Colombia towards the Andes (Latitude 6.27556  Longitude  -75.56490) distance from St Andrews Square Garden Solar Pavilion 8338 km

The work will continue and i plan to create an ongoing archive on my points of view and their geographical location regarding the distance from Edinburgh and Home.

THERE WILL BE A SCREENING OF ALL THE WORKS COMMISSIONED IN THE SOLAR PAVILION, ST ANDREWS SQUARE GARDENS ON THE EVENING OF THE 3RD SEPTEMBER,  CHECK THE SOLAR PAVILION WEBSITE FOR DETAILS…

under cherry blossom…

Interrupting Milan Salone posts because Edinburgh’s cherry blossom is in full bloom and it’s perfect…i particularly love it at night

…and during the day, strange people gather around it…because they are in red and we are nearish the 1st of May am guessing they are practising for the Beltane…otherwise they are just  crazy people…

and people play sport in between it…

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…and on a completely different matter…

one of my posts on the matanza and the making of morcilla/black pudding got picked up by a new food website dedicated to black pudding!! What’s not to like?

click on the article to go to the site:

taken from www.blackpudding.org