A Slice of Life - A micro-research residency developed with the Collective Gallery in Edinburgh in response to their exhibition 'Panorama, new views of a city'. Here a reproduction of Robert Barker's original panoramic painting (the first ever panoramic image created!) is exhibited alongside artist commissions and responses. The panorama depicts the view of Edinburgh in 1788 from the roof of the observatory on Carlton hill, now the site of Collective Gallery.
Drawing on the panoramic tradition – first made public on this very site in 1792 – this walk proposes an alternative to the singular, sweeping view. Instead of looking at Edinburgh from above, participants are asked to look 'with' the site. Each walk becomes a stitched-together panorama of micro-observations, shaped by light, weather, passing strangers, and the attention of the walker.
Within the research and development phase of this project I became fascinated by the way people are depicted in the panorama. The panorama was a Victorian phenomena that became a precursor to cinema. Barker and his son (after patenting the panorama concept) traveled the world producing panoramas of famous places at important times. They became windows into the world, and when installed they became immersive experiences that fascinated the Victorian public.
Each panorama tells a story, they have a narrative that's more about a place rather than an individual and I think its the people that make that. They are representing a 'slice of life' of the place. So that's where the name came from for this project. I wanted to play with this idea, exploring this site as a collection of 'slices of life'.
'I've developed a deck of cards. Each card contains a score (as in music, it's an instruction). Some cards prompt a movement while others direct an action. They will take each of you on your own journey. Some instructions are highly specific while others leave alot up for interpretation. The point here is to question and disrupt how you might usually move and observe. Sometimes you are counting your steps to a specific instruction while other times you are questioned to ask how much you want to follow the score. I'd say there is alot of room for interpretation here and I invite you to bring your own creativity to the process. Some cards ask for you to write or draw something and you can use the back of the card for this. Its up to you to decide how you interpreted the score - just do what feels best for you. We will come back together after 30mins and share the 'slices of life' we discovered. In a way we are making our own panorama, a collection of slices of life.'
A huge thank you to the folks at Collective Gallery for inviting me to come and do this residency and for being so supportive while I developed my ideas.
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