Any Way | 2023
On the seventeenth of August I arrived in to Santiago de Compostela in the North West of Spain on my bike after a forty day ride from Fraserburgh in the North of Scotland.
It was an eventful bike ride that included a bout of tonsilitis, an injured ankle, and a lot of headwinds. I cycled a total of 1840 miles on many different caminos.
Over the next few months I'll be producing some drawings and video that will document and reflect on the trip.
You can read a daily log of the trip that I kept on Instagram by clicking | here |
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New Project | Any Way | 2023
On the Eighth of July I’ll be taking myself on a bike ride from Fraserburgh in the North East of Scotland to Santiago de Compostela in the North West of Spain.
Part performance, part pilgrimage and part holiday, I will pass through the Netherlands, Belgium, France, before following the Camino Francés from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port in the Pyrenees.
With this project, I am building on the body of work I’ve produced over the years to do with lines in the landscape, slow travel, tourism and pilgrimage. I’ll be producing a new film to document it.
I’ve never really followed a formal route or pilgrimage trail before, having mostly made my own routes to places in the past. I’m looking forward to engaging with one of the most iconic and ancient pilgrim routes of Christendom.
You can follow my progress on Instagram by clicking | here |
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Enough Nonsense | David Robertson | 2023
I have drawn a comic called Birdsong for David's new anthology Enough Nonsense. David is an old friend and and former Treehouse Comic contributer and founder member. He wrote the script for me to illustrate. I found the process different from when doing comics in the past as working to someone's script is a differnt problem to solve. I very much enjoyed the process.
More information about the book (and to buy it) can be found by following the link | here |
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Walking As Artistic Practice | Ellen Mueller | 2023
Walking as Artistic Practice is an upcoming book written by Ellen Mueller and published by SUNY press. It describes the history of walking and its development as an artistic practice. It also provides guidance on how to analyse and discuss walking artworks, and contains over three hundred examples of walking artworks. I was asked by Ellen to provide some information and images of my 2013 project Lines Lost for the book.
More information about the book can be found by following the link | here |
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Remembering Together: A Covid Memorial for Aberdeenshire | Claudia Zeiske | 2022
In the summer of 2022, Claudia Zeiske walked from the summet of Ben Macdui to Fraserburgh and Peterhead. She walked, talked, and met with over 200 people and groups and discussed the impact that the covid pandemic had on them and their communities. She carried with her a bright pink tablecloth and had the people she met sign and draw things on it for her to embroider.
We hosted her and walked along the Banff and Buchan Way from Strichen to Fraserburgh. Claudia joined us at Fraserburgh Academy where she lead a walk with students, and gave a workshop and talk back in the school. She discussed the origins of her tablecloth as well as discussing the impact of the pandemic with our young people, hearing their stories. The tablecloth features a contemporary take on Patrick Geddes Valley Section concept.
You can watch a video about the project above. I shot some of the video that was used in it during the walk with Claudia.
More information about the project can be found by following the link to the Aberdeenshire council project page | here |
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New Film Work | To The Bears | 2022
I've produced a film using footage that I shot while cycling to Norway from Scotland in 2019. It was shown at the Tromsø Kunstforening at the Failure, Understanding, Care, and Kunst event On Failure in December 2022. It tells the story of the journey to and from the Arctic Circle and the residency I did with The Arctic Agency . Click through for more information about the project.
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On Failure: Zine Launch and Film Screening
Tromsø Kunstforening
6pm, Friday 2nd December 2022
The best artwork I did in Norway was playing football “til ti” with Tage and James outside the Tromsø Kunstforening in 2019.
On Friday 2nd November I have the great pleasure of presenting a new film “To The Bears” inside the gallery as part of the Failure, Understanding, Care and Kunst event On Failure.
This has been a long time in the making, cause I’ve never attempted to make a film like this before.
I won’t be in Tromsø unfortunately for this event, but I hope to do some other screenings in the UK soon.
More information about the event is available on the F.U.C.&K Facebook event here
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On Failure: Episode 4
Failure, Understanding, Care (& Kunst)
Thursday 10 November 2022
On the 13th July 2022 I went to Aberdeen city centre to meet James Lee and Ruth Aitken to discuss the idea of failure. We talked about a lot of things like balancing work / life / art (if there is even a difference) and reflected on the trip I took to the arctic circle on my bike in 2019.
It was also three years to the day that I arrived in Tromsø that we met up to record this!
You can listen to the podcast, and others in the series by clicking the link here
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Pecha Kucha 8 (Elemental)
Berwick Creative Guild (Online Event)
7pm, Wednesday 22nd September 2021
I will be giving a presentation as part of a special edition of the Berwick Creative Guild Pecha Kucha event series, alongside five others from Northumberland whose work responds to the environmen / landscape. I'll be talking about the project To The Bears from 2019 and discussing the reasons why I did the project.
It is also the first event that I'll have done in Northumberland since I moved here, which I am very happy about.
Edit: Link to a video version of the presentation is | here | as well as an article in issue #218 about the Elemental Festival of the Artwork Magazine, available | here |
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Failure, Understanding, Care & Kunst: Manifestos as an Artist’s Working Tool
Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Centre (Online Event)
25th September 2020
Ruth Aitken and James Lee of The Arctic Agency will present an overview of how their project Failure, Understanding, Care, and Kunst came in to being, what informs it, and what it means to use a manifesto as a framing device for art production. I worked with Ruth and James on the 2019 project To the Bears and worked within the constraints of their initial manifesto.
Edit: To view the broadcast of the event click | here |
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Feiler Seg Framover
Hakapic
18th November 2019
James Lee and Ruth Aitken of the Arctic Agency were interviewed about their project for the online art magazine Hakapic. They discuss the project in a general sense and touch on our collaboration in summer 2019.
You can read the article (in Norwegian) | here |
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To The Bears
The Arctic Agency For Environmental Research Methodologies And Artistic Practice, Tromsø, Norway
7pm, Thursday 1st August 2019
On Thursday night I will be presenting some of the work I’ve done during the residency at The Arctic Agency. I’ll be doing a short talk and performance and afterwards be playing football on the “pitch” outside the Kunstforeningen. Everyone is welcome to participate.
More information is available at the F.U.C.K Project page | here |
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Artist Talk: Stuart McAdam
Small Projects, Grønnegata 23, Tromsø, Norway
7pm, Thursday 18th July 2019
I'll be giving a talk in Tromsø to introduce myself and the project that I am about to undertake with the Arctic Agency over the next month or so. I'll also be telling some stories from the 4000km / 6 week trip by bicycle from Johnstone in Scotland to Tromsø!
All welcome, drinks afterwards at the Verdensteatret Kino
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Foodstuff
Deveron Projects, Huntly, UK
1pm, Friday 10th August 2018
I'm giving a talk at Deveron Projects about some of the work I've been doing this year about food. This is part of the Deveron Projects' Friday Lunch series of talks. The work I have been making for this has been supported by the Aberdeenshire Visual Artist and Craft Maker Awards programme.
More information is available | here |
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The Yuck ‘n Yum Compendium
Yuck 'n Yum
21st April 2018
Yuck 'n Yum have released a compendium of all the issues of their zine. I was in the Spring 2009 issue with a found poem and I'm happy to be included. YnY have supported some of my other work as well over the years including the Annual General Karaoke video / performances I did in 2011/15.
Get a copy | here |
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Practices of Peace: Community, Pacifism & Peace
Deveron Projects, Huntly, UK
Saturday 18th November 2017
I'll be joining Deveron Projects Director, Claudia Zeiske to lead a discussion around the idea of travelling and commemorating in post-war Europe.
I'll be discussing in depth my project No Fine Lines, 2012 in this context, thinking about freedom of movement, slowness, and remembering historical events.
For full details of the schedule visit the Deveron Projects event page | here |
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Remembrance Sunday with Cathy MacDonald
BBC Radio Scotland
Sunday 12th November 2017
I was interviewed alongside poet Stuart A Paterson and artist Caroline Wendling as part of the BBC's Remembrance Sunday programme. Stuart A Paterson read a specially commissioned poem (Remembering Then, Remembering Now), I talked about the No Fine Lines project I made in 2012, and Caroline discussed The White Wood, 2016.
You can listen to the programme on the iPlayer | here |
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Gallery Talks
Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, UK
2pm, Saturday 10th June 2017
I'll be giving a talk in the lower galleries about the work I have presented as part of the exhibition Summa. Free entry.
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Summa
Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, UK
20 May 2017 - 2 July 2017
I'll be presenting the work I made as part of the RSA Residency for Scotland 2015 programme. The work was made on the isle of North Uist in response to the the history of the island as well as the themes of archaeology and drawing.
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