Written by Gordon Mclean    Friday, 06 November 2009 13:34   
Review: Running Time
Culture

Dean Gallery
Until 22 Nov
* * * *

One of the first things you hear when you walk into the Dean Gallery is the attendant’s loud tartan trousers; the first thing you see is his finger pointing upwards….the dome in the entrance has been turned into a giant projective video screen. Looking up his trousers quieten down and you begin to notice the ambient music which fills the hall, every synchronous note punctuating the visual syntax overhead, a hybrid grammar which renders video art as perhaps the most fluid and dynamic of all mediums.

Running Time is ‘timely, if not overdue’ according to Beagles and Ramsey, two of the artists whose video work is on display in the gallery’s upper screening rooms. I am inclined to disagree: it is, quite simply, outstanding. The show operates on the premise that video art, particularly of Scottish stock, has never really had a fair showing until now.

To redress the balance the curators have plundered the archives to bring a truly wondrous collection of video art produced in Scotland over the past five decades to the big screen – two to be precise – and the three smaller ones at the Dean Gallery. Each week a specific thematic will be addressed: Portraits in Action, Places in Time, Drama and Suspense, Sound and Vision and finally Form In Motion.

Walking into the first screen you are halted by a man running full pelt yet seemingly going nowhere. ‘Running Time’, produced by Jason Dee tampers with continuity and sound editing in a metaphorical homage to Buster Keaton’s entire oeuvre, underscoring the visuals with a cheeky score that is ever so slightly mismatched to the action.

Physicality and corporeality are a common visual thread stitching together a body of works whose source material is, implicitly, the Scottish nation itself. 'Limbo Land' turns a highland beach into a lunar surface; 'Gagging' and 'Dead Red' toy with the erotogenicity of the mouth, either gagged or covered in disturbing blood red lipstick.

Running Time showcases the best, brightest and most damnably intriguing video art produced by Scottish artists over the last 50 years. Video may not have the killed the radio star just yet, but if you want to get some of sense of just what exactly The Buggles were on about, make sure you don’t miss out. Run along now…

Comments
Add New
Write comment
Name:
Email:
 
Title:
Please input the anti-spam code that you can read in the image.

3.26 Copyright (C) 2008 Compojoom.com / Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

Newer news items:
Older news items:
 
Author of this article: Gordon Mclean