The Film & Visual Culture and History of Art Departments at King's College University of Aberdeen, together with the Aberdeen Art Gallery, are organizing a special one day colloquium, entitled, The Tartan Lens, to discuss and debate issues of national identity in the visual arts. With the heightened awareness generated by such events as Homecoming Scotland, which encourages a commodification of Scottish cultural identity, the organizers are inviting 25 scholars and leading figures in the arts to consider the coherency, complexity and provocations of trends embedded in national identity in the visual arts.
In tandem with The Tartan Lens, the Aberdeen Art Gallery is exhibiting a series of works by pioneer Scottish photographer, George Washington Wilson (1823-93), whose Aberdeen-based company became one of the largest publishers of photographic prints in the world in the 1880s. The exhibition will be held 13 May - 5 September 2009 in the James McBey room. The University of Aberdeen holds 40,000 Wilson glass plate negatives in its collections. The Art Gallery will feature a video installation work, ABZ (2009) on Panoptic Aberdeen, and an experimental film on amnesia created by students on the Film Programme at the University of Aberdeen, 5 - 25 May 2009.
At the colloquium, short discussion trigger presentations will be given on Scottish painting, photography, film and new media by:
- Dr. Alan Marcus (Film & Visual Culture, University of Aberdeen)
- Dr. Jennifer Melville (Curator, Aberdeen Art Gallery)
- Dr. John Morrison (History of Art, University of Aberdeen)
- Dr. Tom Normand (History of Art, University of St. Andrews)
- Prof. Duncan Petrie (Film, University of York)
- Raul Ruiz (Film Director)
Schedule
- 10:00 Registration, the Gallery's James McBey Room
- 10:30 Welcome
- 10:40 Presentation by Dr. John Morrison (painting)
- 11:00 Group discussion
- 11:30 coffee
- 11:50 Presentation by Dr. Tom Normand (photography)
- 12:10 Group discussion
- 12:50 Lunch at HMT Foyer
- 2:10 Presentation by Prof. Duncan Petrie (film)
- 2:30 Group discussion
- 3:00 coffee
- 3:20 Presentation by Dr. Jennifer Melville (new media)
- 3:40 Group discussion
- 4:10 Presentation by Dr. Alan Marcus and Raul Ruiz (new film)
- 4:30 Group discussion
- 5:00 Reception and Gallery viewing
- 6:00 finish
Participation in the colloquium is by invitation.
Lead Discussants:
Scottish Painting
Prof. Murdo Macdonald (chair), Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and DesignDr. Frances Fowle, National Gallery of Scotland and University of Edinburgh
Dr. Venda Pollock, Newcastle University
Dr. Mary Pryor, University of Aberdeen
Scottish Photography
Dr. Duncan Forbes (chair), National Galleries of Scotland
Prof. Andrew Blaikie, University of Aberdeen
Dr. Michael Brown, University of Aberdeen
Dr. Marjory Harper, University of Aberdeen
Dr. Huw Jones, University of Glasgow
Scottish Film
Brian Pendreigh (chair), cinema journalist
Dr. Ian Goode, University of Glasgow
Dr. David Martin-Jones, University of St. Andrews
Dr. Jonathan Murray, Edinburgh College of Art
Scottish New Media
Prof. Stuart Macdonald (chair), Gray's School of Art
Matthew Dalziel, artist and Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art
Pernille Spence, artist and Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art
Scottish New Film
Prof. Neil Blain (chair), University of Sterling
Jennifer Armitage, Scottish Screen
Dr. Kathryn Burnett, University of West of Scotland
Malcolm Ritchie, Qwerty Films
The Tartan Lens is funded by the by the Visual Culture group at King's College, including the School of Divinity, History and Philosophy and the School of Language and Literature, within the College of Arts and Social Sciences. Additional funding is being provided by the Research Institute of Irish and Scottish Studies. Top photo by Brian Stewart.