Peacock is the leading contemporary visual arts organisation in Aberdeen and the NE of Scotland, bringing artists and the public together through exhibitions‚ events‚ talks‚ residencies‚ film screenings‚ gigs and workshops to make and present art in exciting and innovative ways.
YOUR LEANING NECK - Song As Portrait
18 February - 10 March, 2012
Performance image: Ruth Barker Photography: Clyde Jones
Last November, the first public event to take place in the newly refurbished Scottish National Portrait Gallery was a performance of Your Leaning Neck - Song as Portrait devised by artist Steven Anderson. In response to portraits from the Scottish contribution to the Enlightenment, Anderson invited 7 artists from both oral tradition and contemporary art backgrounds to perform. With no painted portraits of oral tradition singers in the Scottish national collection, the event sought to challenge institutional representations of national identity by giving voice to non-institutional values.
A silent video installation of last November’s hugely successful event, consisting of a real time full-length documentation (90 min) from two perspectives, will be on show at Peacock Visual Arts. In being videoed the performers and audience become as fixed to the image document as the portraits on the walls of the Portrait Gallery.
Exhibition runs Saturday 18 February – Saturday 10 March
LIVE PERFORMANCE
- DATE: Friday 24 February
- LOCATION: Peacock Visual Arts & The St Andrew's Cathedral
- TIME: 7pm – 9pm
- COST: Free
There is also the exciting opportunity to see and hear a re-contextualisation of the live performance, featuring performances by Ruth Barker, Elizabeth Stewart, Sheila Stewart, Hanna Tuulikki (with Nerea Bello and Lucy Duncombe) and Arthur Watson in the visually and acoustically stunning location of the Episcopal Cathedral Church of St Andrew, King Street, Aberdeen at 7pm on Friday 24 February 2012 (begins at Peacock).
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Steven Anderson (1975) is a Glasgow based artist. Having studied painting at GSA he then gained an MFA with distinction at DJCAD in 2008. Working mainly in performance, Steven uses the unaccompanied voice of himself and co-performers, alongside invited audience participation. In addition to working on the ‘Your Leaning Neck’ project, Steven has most recently shown work at Catalyst Arts in Belfast and as part of ‘Install’ at Tramway in Glasgow.
