Panel discussion at the CCA on the 21 February about Moving Images in Scotland. Credit: Lucie Jung
Experienced artists and producers gathered at the CCA to speak about moving images in Scotland.
Many visual or cinematic works by a variety of different artists in Scotland are internationally known. Nevertheless, it is important to ask questions like “What are the requirements needed to success in this sector?” or “What are the obstacles and how can we overcome them?”
As part of the Glasgow Film Festival, the Centre for Contemporary Arts welcomed LUX Scotland to hold a panel discussion about the country’s moving image works on 21 February.
Although the world of moving images and production is artistically challenging and interesting, there are conditions that need to be met in order to succeed in this sector.
The aim of the panel discussion was not only to discuss how to better support artists in the near future, but also to allow the audience to ask their own questions.
The panel’s members included: Luke Fowler, a Glaswegian artist who was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2012 , as well as Katie Gray, director of the Collective Gallery based in Edinburgh, the artist Lyndsay Mann and the producers Katie Nicoll and Kate Parker.
A large part of the debate was centered around the difficulties encountered for film-makers such as experience, means, funds, etc.
Another big point raised during the discussion was that commercial movies are not the same as artistic film productions: they are completely different.
According to Luke Fowler there are a number of different ways to work and while working on an artistic movie, the approach taken is more “small activities on a regular basis that you learn from, take back to the studio”, than “working on a script and then working towards this big explosive chute” for a bigger movie.
He added: “They are just completely different beasts.” He continued arguing that artists want to be free, without having any obligations to write a script in advance: “They want to be able to improvise.”
When the audience had the opportunity to express themselves, a question was asked of all members of the panel: they were asked to name what could really make a difference in the quality, support or development of moving images in Scotland.
Katie Nicoll said that having a network is really important in order to have a platform and to open up conversations about work, saying: “It is just about wanting to support work to be made”. Nevertheless, she admitted: “I think the network is absolutely critical to that but we still need money.”
Lyndsay Mann argued that distribution is the main key point in success.
Finally, Luke Fowler averred: “For me, it’s completely simple, it’s cinema.”
Fowler continued: “For me, there is never been an organisation in Scotland or in Glasgow, be it any kind of institution or collective that ever managed to sustain a program of experimental avant-garde, from dedications to artists and screening their works, and from showing the canon, and showing new works. No one has ever done it, it has never been done anywhere consistently. It just shocks me and surprises me that no one ever take the initiative and created a community in Scotland.”
“There is certainly not labs in Britain that develop, you do have to have a budget. There is no DIY communities or DIY labs […] No, I think you are pretty much on your own.”
Published in Maze Magazine: http://maze-mag.com/scottish-artists-speak-about-the-moving-images-sector-in-scotland-at-glasgow-film-festival
