What art have I seen? The Attuning Zone
Maja Zeco’s exhibition at Peacock’s Worm Space in Aberdeen.
Listening to people talking about background sound, listening to background sound whilst watching very little happening (sources of sound mostly off screen), standing next to an outfit for listening with gear and sound merges with feedback into a soundscape: St Fittick’s Park meets Neil Young.
Questions for visitors to take away, drawings made by participants in sound walks, maps with routes across landscapes that are probably familiar to visitors to the exhibition. It’s a research exhibition that is engaging and affective.
The interview between Maja and Peacock Curator Rachel Grant highlights the dynamics and share interests of artists working with sound, her own ‘journey’ to becoming an artist researcher with a PhD, and some of the specific elements of the exhibition.
It is interesting because it appears that the Green Economy, renewable energy etc, is not different from the Fossil Economy unless there is a very robust commitment to Just Transition and to sharing the benefits in really careful ways. Worth reading Nicholas Beuret’s book ‘Or Something Worse: Why We Should Disrupt The Climate Transition‘ published recently.
The article by the Social Scientists working alongside Maja on the Energy Transition Zone in Aberdeen is also worth reading.
What art have I seen? Energy Objects
Hannah Imlach’s Energy Objects at WORM in Aberdeen comprises works made over a number of years resulting from an ongoing enquiry into the infrastructures of renewable energy, on Eigg, on Orkney and at Donside in Aberdeen. These carefully crafted objects are no less beautiful than the Archimedes Screw newly installed in the community hydro project in Aberdeen, or the OpenHydro units at EMEC on Orkney. Imlach also touches on the relationship with Community Land Ownership, the critical connection between energy and political evolution.
CHRIS FREMANTLE 
leave a comment