Saturday 1st October - big thanks to all involved

We thoroughly enjoyed our 3rd State of Play Symposium, and want say thanks to all those involved:

Thank you to everyone who came to AHM's State of Play symposium at DCA today.

Thanks, of course, to Gerry Hassan, 24 hour football, Jenny Brownrigg, Jean Urquhart, Ross Sinclair for their presentations and Ewan Morrison, Helen Shaddock, Jacob Kerray, Chris Dooks, The Anthropo-scene Evolution Alliance, t s Beall, Yuck n Yum for their artist manifestos.

We also want to express our thanks to all the team at DCA and DJCAD who made the symposium and CentreSpace exhibition possible - Clive Gillman, Alice Black, Katy Brignall, Ian Banks, Sophia Yadong Hao, Laura Simpson, Andrew Dodds and Graham Domke.

Thanks to the DJCAD students who volunteered throughout the day - Joanne Macfadyen for her work with registration and refreshments and Michael Pilkington and Michael Spink for the video and sound documentation.

It was a great day beginning with lots of thought provoking one-minute artist manifestos and followed by 4 great presentations.

Keep checking the AHM blog for photos, comments etc, and please do send AHM your thoughts and comments.

AHM announce symposium 3 - Saturday 1st October 2011, DCA, Dundee

State of Play – Art and Culture in Scotland Today
Saturday 1st October 2011, 11am – 4pm (registration from 10:30am)
Cinema, DCA, Dundee
Tickets - £10 Concessions - £5

Symposium Themes

AHM’s third and final symposium will bring together the main themes of previous symposia in a debate about the role of art and culture in shaping Scotland’s future, while making reference to an earlier conference entitled “ What Kind of Scotland” organised by the magazine Scottish International in Edinburgh in1973. AHM regard that conference to be of particular relevance to the present debate about Scotland’s future as a nation and as a society.

The keynote address will be delivered by Gerry Hassan, a leading writer and critic on culture and politics. Presentations will be given by Jenny Brownrigg Exhibition Director The Glasgow School of Art, artist Ross Sinclair and Jean Urquhart MSP. Gerry Hassan, the main speaker, has consistently argued the case for cultural change and transformation “ It is time to start living dangerously and take risks. To think and act beyond tribes and labels. Instead, we need to develop new forms of engagement, discussion and debate, developing spaces, forums and places which aid this. This is time for humility, courage and listening, for trying a different kind of politics. It is time to start living, breathing and taking part in the new Scotland.”

Ross Sinclair Artist Talk

Ross Sinclair
Artist's Talk
Wednesday 27 July 2011

7.00pm

Empty Shop, Bogie Street, Huntly


Free Admission. All welcome.
Refreshments will be served.

Artist Talk

Huntly's artist in residence, Ross Sinclair, will be giving a talk about himself, his past work and his current project in Huntly, on Wednesday the 27 July 2011 at 7pm, the Empty Shop, Bogie Street, Huntly.

All welcome.

The Real Life Gordon’s in Huntly

Huntly is the ancestral home of the Clan Gordon and the ancient seat of Huntly Castle.

The incredible story of the appearance of the Gordon’s in Huntly at this dynamic period in Scottish history after the Battle of Bannockburn was only the beginning of 500 years of the most extreme drama. For hundreds of years the Earls and Dukes were some of the most powerful men in Scotland, second only to the Kings and their heirs. Their story illuminates power shifts, battles, intrigue, endless castle building and ransacking and (dis)loyalty to the Kings and Queens of the day, death, disinheritance and finally the lack of an heir leading to the passing of the titles with the death of the Last Duchess of Gordon in 1864. That is with the exception the title of Marquis, which remains nearby to this day with Granville Gordon, 13th Marquis of Huntly and Earl of Aboyne.

The history of the Gordon’s in Huntly is inexorably woven in and through the history of Scotland, from the gifting of the lands in the 14th C. by Robert the Bruce to the tragic story of Mary Queen of Scots where the Gordon’s Catholicism meets the Reformation head on. The raising of The Gordon Highlanders in 1794 by the Fourth Duke brought a new international dimension to the story and the Gordon Schools established some 40 years later by Elizabeth, Duchess of Gordon continue to flourish to this day.

Having made works before which reflect on the identity and mythology of the Scots and Scotland this is a fascinating opportunity for me to examine, at close quarters, how this flow of history played out on a local level, which in turn often had National consequences in the turbulent history of this small Nation. (Ross Sinclair)

Ross plan's to work his way into a project that aims to activate and illuminate this incredible story, of which many of the people of Huntly today are often unfamiliar. He is undertaking interviews, working in the studio, making works, meeting many learned folk who are experts in history, local, national and international in order to expand his and our horizons of Huntly and the Gordon’s.

David attending talk at the BBC on Monday 26th April

On Monday 26 April at 6.30pm David will be attending the talk at the BBC.

BBC Radio Scotland presenter Clare English will be in conversation with Katrina Brown, director of Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art, and award-winning and internationally renowned artist Ross Sinclair, in the foyer of BBC Scotland's headquarters at Pacific Quay.

Clare's guests will discuss their work, this year's festival theme of past, present and future and Glasgow's changing reputation as a centre for visual arts over the last 20 years.