Where do I end and you begin

Tyman, Derek ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4098-5954 (2014) Where do I end and you begin. [Show/Exhibition]

Abstract

From 1997 to 2016 I worked in collaboration with artist Emma Ruston exhibiting nationally and internationally. Projects with Ruston combined large-scale sculptural constructions or reconstructions of specific objects or spaces, that referred to historical and cultural events. In order to critically examine ideas of collaboration and participation, artists and cultural producers were invited to participate in projects. As part of the Glasgow 2014 Cultural Programme, Edinburgh Art Festival in partnership with City Art Centre presented Where do I end and you begin a major international exhibition of art selected by five curators from Commonwealth countries. Over 20 international artists were invited to explore and interrogate the ideas, ideals and myths which underpin notions of community, common-wealth, and the commons. The exhibition featured work by Amar Kanwar, Antonia Hirsch, Arpita Singh, Brian Jungen and Duane Linklater, Derek Sullivan, Gavin Hipkins, Kay Hassan, Kushana Bush, Mary Evans, Mary Sibande, Masooma Syed, Naeem Mohaiemen, Pascal Grandmaison, Rebecca Belmore, Shannon Te Ao, Shilpa Gupta, Steve Carr, Tam Joseph, Uriel Orlow, Yvonne Todd. My project with Ruston Stop Thief! (a new commission) included- a large tent like structure Flaghall made up of hundreds of hand-stitched imaginary national flags and formed the fulcrum for two further works: Conquest, Colonialism and the Commons, a 20 minute video lecture we commissioned by Edinburgh based writer and activist Andy Wightman. Presented inside the Flaghall the video explored the ‘historic interconnections’ between Britain’s colonial past and land ownership in contemporary Scotland; The second work Stop Thief! (readings), involved ‘collective readings’ compiled from texts which link ‘corporate financers, witches, scapegoats, stories of forests, and the commons. Performed simultaneously by eight actors occupying the four floors of Edinburgh’s Art Centre, the ‘readers’ words spilled out from Flaghall across the entire exhibition, as a metaphorical reference to land grabs and stolen commons. The exhibition was accompanied by a full colour catalogue with essays by the curators.

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