Artists to be part of Culloden Battle’s anniversary celebrations
Culloden Battlefield’s visitor centre will be transformed on Saturday 14 April from 7.30 pm by artists Catherine Bertola and ROGER and REID. The free arts event celebrates the anniversary of the battle and is the result of a year long collaboration between IOTA (Inverness Old Town Art), The Highland Council and The National Trust for Scotland - where the artists have been in residence.
The event, titled Touching Distance // Astar Buntainn, is funded by The Highland Culture Strategic Board through Creative Scotland’s Rural Innovation Fund and will bring a whole range of activities to the building from contemporary artists’ films, Gaelic singing, a ribbon cockade workshop, artist's multiples and an outdoor performance.
Catherine Bertola’s research has focused on the importance of cloth in Highland culture, in particular the White Cockades that were worn during the battle as a symbol of allegiance to the Jacobite cause. On the night she will be launching a special artist’s limited edition and inviting everyone to make their own cockade.
Catherine Bertola said: "One of the things that struck me when I visited Culloden Battlefield was its invisibility. Nothing on the surface really reveals the full extent of the horror that unfolded on that April day in 1746. I wanted to make something that made visible the loss on that day, the men who lost their lives and the demise of Highland culture that followed."
Collaborative Scottish duo Graeme Roger & Kevin Reid have been exploring the battlefield’s resonance by working with film, action, music and kite cameras. Collaborating with local piper Donal Brown, Gaelic singers Eilidh Mackenzie and Calum Barker, as well as pupils from Culloden Academy, the pair have created a live responsive outdoor performance that will take place at dusk. This unique intervention will contain film work by Academy pupils, musical improvisation and interviews from Culloden visitors captured earlier in the day during the morning’s anniversary service hosted by The Gaelic Society of Inverness.
Rosemary Reid, Head of Art at Culloden Academy said: “It has been a privilege to be involved. The students have found it exciting and ‘cool’ getting their hands on great equipment, reinforcing their connection with the past and learning about the Visual Arts in the real world. This has been the beginnings of a potentially fruitful relationship with the Battlefield and The National Trust for Scotland and continuing our work with IOTA which has been both enriching and challenging. Lovely to be a small part of the growing, contemporary, creative scene in Inverness.”
Susan Christie from IOTA, an arts organisation dedicated to engaging the public and bringing contemporary art to the Highlands, said: ‘This will be a truly unique event and a fitting contemporary celebration suitable for the whole family. It is part of a larger programme of ‘roaming’ commissions and we hope to develop further outcomes at the site as well as nationally over the coming year.’
FREE, all welcome, no need to book
Date: Saturday 14th April 2012, 7.30 - 8.30pm
Venue: Culloden Battlefield Visitor Centre, Culloden Moor, Inverness, IV2 5EU
NB: This is an outdoor event, please dress for the weather.
Earlier in the Day: The Gaelic Society of Inverness Anniversary Service, 11am