This is a flash competition! We have three pairs of tickets for Truckfest at the Royal Highland Centre Ingliston on offer. Enter below – but be quick as the competition ends today 1 August 2014 at 5.00pm.

Organisers promise that Truckfest Scotland event is even Bigger and Better than before.

With a brand new website and ticketing system Truckfest Scotland is guaranteed to be a great event for everyone. The team at Truckfest have been busy already with creating a brand new e-Ticket system and developing a great new website.

The best headline for Truckfest in 2013 was ‘glorious Truckfest’, the sun shone at all of the events, with record attendances throughout the Truckfest series. The year kicked off with the mammoth Peterborough get-together and what a get-together it was! with over 1500 trucks entered into the closely fought after competitions, with the largest number of haulier showcase offerings, and manufacturers justifiably proud of new product, the weekend was unquestionably the largest attended gathering ever seen at the east of England showground, Peterborough.

Truckfest’s new website has proven to be a huge success, it is easy accessible and full of useful information for all Truckfest fans, you can also now purchase your tickets online and either simply print off the e-ticket and bring it with you or download it to your mobile device and again bring it with you to the event.

Truckfest Scotland will once again roll into the Royal Highland centre on Saturday 2nd & Sunday 3rd August with top celebrities already confirmed, including all the way from North Carolina Television Stars Ron And Amy Shirley from the outrageous show Lizard Lick Towing and the gorgeous Michelle Keegan who plays Tina in Coronation Street, the ever cool Joey Essex and Mark Dixon – driver and star from the very popular reality show Trucks and trailers on Channel 5.

This year there will be  2 top Monster Nigel Morris’ Monster Truck Bigfoot® #17 and all the way from the USA, JR Adams’ Bigfoot® #10 will be going head to head in the main arena in a UK vs USA special, as well as some brilliant recovery displays and jaw dropping action from stunt bike team Broke FMX all in the main arena.

Ticket prices are £16 for adults at the gate or Children (5-15) are only £7.00 and Family tickets are £39 (2 adults & 2 children)( £12& £5  for early bird price tickets ) tickets can be pre -booked by e- tickets online on www.truckfest.co.uk and simply bring your printed ticket with you to the showground’s or alternatively download your ticket onto your smart phone and present your ticket at the gates to gain entry.

To find out more like them on Facebook.

Win a pair of tickets today to get free entry to the show this weekend. The Edinburgh Reporter has three pairs of tickets which Truckfest have kindly given us to share with you. Entry on the day is £16 for each adult.

Enter below! Good luck – this competition ends today Friday 1 August 2014 at 5pm.

PLEASE NOTE You may not be able to complete this form on a mobile. We are working on it but you will be able to enter from a desktop or some tablets.   

FRIDAY 1ST AUGUST 2014

Anne Frank: a History for Today. An exhibition managed by the Anne Frank Trust UK telling the story of Anne’s short life through text, quotes from her famous diary, and powerful images. Opens today and runs till 21st August 2014. Opening times vary, see website for details. St Mary’s Cathedral, Palmerston Place.

Mythical Maze Stories and Crafts: 2.30pm, Colinton Library, Thorburn Road. Part of the Mythical Maze Summer Reading Challenge.

Where Do I End and You Begin An international exhibition of contemporary art selected by curators from five Commonwealth countries, exploring ideas, ideals and myths which underpin notions of community, common-wealth and the commons. 10am-5pm Monday to Saturday, 12-5pm Sunday, until 19th October 2014. City Art Centre, 2 Market Street, and Old Royal High School, Regent Road. Part of Edinburgh Art Festival.

Discussion: Where Do I End and You Begin As part of this new exhibition, artist Kay Hassan and jazz trumpeter Faya Faku discuss their collaboration with curator Thembinkosi Goniwe, followed by a chance to hear Faku perform. 12 noon, City Art Centre, 2 Market Street. Free, but places must be booked via eventbrite. Part of Edinburgh Art Festival.

Being in Common: a panel of artists and curators involved in Where Do I End and You Begin will discuss the exhibitions’s themes of community and what we hold in common. 3pm, City Art Centre, 2 Market Street. Free, but places must be booked via eventbrite. Part of Edinburgh Art Festival.

Bullets and Daffodils: a historic performance commemorating the meeting between Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon and a centenary of war and its verse. Wilfred Owen met his hero and mentor Sassoon at the War Hospital at Craiglockhart; this set in motion one of the greatest literary couplings of all time. Playwright Dean Johnson has spent the last four years tracing Owen’s footsteps: the journey reaches its zenith at Craiglockhart.  7.30pm, Lindsay Stewart Lecture Theatre, Edinburgh Napier University, Craiglockhart Campus, 219 Colinton Road.  Free.  For more information email: bulletsanddaffodils@gmail.com or call 07539 371925.

In Conversation: Vidya Shivadas and Nalini Milani.  Curator Shivadas leads a conversation with Milani, one of this year’s Edinburgh Art Festival commissioned artists. 6pm, Hawthornden Lecture Theatre, Scottish National Gallery, The Mound. Free but please book via eventbrite. Part of Edinburgh Art Festival.

Comic Art Masterclass with Kev F Sutherland: make your own comic strip and get your caricature portrait drawn by Kev, a writer and artist for the Beano and Marvel. 10.30-11.30am, Currie Library, 210 Lanark Road. Please book a place by calling the library on 0131 529 5609 or emailing currie.library@edinburgh.gov.uk

Q & A with Genesis Breyer P-Orridge: Genesis will talk about the Pandrogyne project, and his/her roles as a hugely influential musician (Throbbing Gristle, Thee Temple of Psychick Youth, Thee Majesty) and leading social activist in the fields of sexuality, identity and gender. Session led by Summerhall’s curator Paul Robertson. 10pm, Summerhall, 1 Summerhall. Tickets £5, book via Summerhall website.  Life as a Cheap Suitcase (Pandrogeny and a Search for a Unified Identity) opens today in Summerhall’s Upper Church Gallery and runs till 26th September 2014. Please note this exhibition contains explicit images.)

Dr Jekyll’s Dr Book: strange and scary reading recommendations for ages 5-11. 2-3pm, Blackhall Library, 56 Hillhouse Road. Part of the Mythical Maze Summer Reading Challenge.

Urbanscape and Ruralsprawl: performative walk. Deveron Arts will lead a two hour walk around the corridors, cupboards and lecture halls of Summerhall with artists Tim Knowles and Ania Bas, followed by a panel discussion at Creative Scotland, chaired by curator and writer Dave Beech. Both rural and urban walking artists will take part. Walk: meet at 10.30am in the Courtyard at Summerhall, 1 Summerhall. Discussion: 2pm, Creative Scotland, Waverley Gate. Free but please contact Deveron Arts to book your place. Part of Edinburgh Art Festival.

Dragon’s Den: colour in the dragon before making it stretch. 2-3pm, South Neighbourhood Office and Library, 40 Captain’s Road. Part of the Mythical Maze Summer Reading Challenge.

America in the Gilded Age: a Nation on the Brink. Frank Cogliano, Professor of American History at the University of Edinburgh, considers the social, economic and political development of the USA in the last decades of the 19th century. As the nation grew in strength it was increasingly riven by social, racial and class tensions which threatened its well being.  By 1900 it was a nation on the brink. 12.45-1.30pm, Hawthornden Lecture Theatre, Scottish National Gallery, The Mound. Free and unticketed.

Matisse Icarus Cutouts: craft event for ages 7-11. 2-3pm, Central Children’s Library, George IV Bridge. Part of the Mythical Maze Summer Reading Challenge

Evelyn Buchanan and Kathleen Mullaniff: a new exhibition of paintings. Open preview 5.30-7.30pm tonight, then 9am-5pm Wednesday to Sunday until 7th September 2014. Bon Papillon Gallery, 15 Howe Street.

Design Your Own Flying Carpet: teatowels made into flying carpets. For under 12s. 2.30-3.30pm, Gilmerton Library. Part of the Mythical Maze Summer Reading Challenge

Lighting and Telling – the Gateway to the Heart: Youngson Park. Park is a mixed-media artist who creates picture books using still images, moving images, performance, sound and space. She paints on traditional hand-made Korean paper. Until 7th August 2014, Arusha Gallery, 13a Dundas Street.

Fairy Jewels: craft activity for ages 4+. 2.30-3.30pm, Stockbridge Library, Hamilton Place. Part of the Mythical Maze Summer Reading Challenge.

Coburg House Summer Open Studios: over eighty artists and makers will open their doors to the public to allow exclusive access to their studios. Preview 6-9pm today, then 11am-6pm Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd August. Coburg House, 15 Coburg Street.

Hare and Tortoise Commonwealth Games: at 11am join the Tinderbox Street Band for a rehearsal (no experience necessary, bring an instrument if you have one), get dressed up and at 2pm take part in a parade with the Hare & Tortoise Vision Mechanics Giant Puppets! Followed by games with Vision Mechanics and the Yard. North Edinburgh Arts, 15a Pennywell Court, beside Muirhouse Library, Pennywell Road.

Kenny Ireland dies

Craft Scotland Summer Show

Today at Edinburgh Art Festival

At the National Library of Scotland

Racing at Musselburgh tonight 

Kenny Ireland the long time director of The Royal Lyceum Theatre and the ageing Donald Stewart on ITV’s Benidorm has died at the age of 68.

There are many many articles regretting the passing of the Scottish actor who had been ill for some time but click here for the authoritative statement from the Royal Lyceum site.

***

The Craft Scotand Summer Show starts today and is open daily until 23 August.  The show features 32 craft makers from across Scotland showcasing top quality jewellery, ceramics, textiles and homeware.  The show returns to the 2nd floor of White Stuff in George Street with an outdoor raised platform where ‘Meet your Maker’ events will take place.  Entry to the show is free, for opening times and details of the ‘Meet your Maker’ programme go to  www.craftscotland.com/summershow

Photos by Rob McDougall: Grace Martin from Edinburgh tries on some stunning jewellery by Grainne Morton ahead of the launch of the Craft Scotland Summer Show

***

Today at the Edinburgh Art Festival

Discussion and Performance: Thembinkosi Goniwe, Kay Hassan and Feya Faku at 12 noon

Free, but book in advance. Book tickets.

Artist Kay Hassan and jazz trumpeter Feya Faku discuss their collaboration together with curator Thembinkosi Goniwe, followed by a chance to hear Feya Faku perform.

This year there are more than 40 exhibitions at 30 museums and galleries and artist-run spaces.

Over 100 artists work on show.

Some 200 events at over 80 venues.

The 11th Edinburgh Art Festival (EAF) begins today and runs till 31 August, but you will have to go some to see even half of it.

Building on EAF’s recent history of re-imagining and re-interpreting overlooked or forgotten spaces across Edinburgh, 2014 will feature spaces never before opened to the public, from the Old Royal High School on Regent Road to a disused Police Box on Easter Road. It will also include a programme of co-commissions realised with the University of Edinburgh’s Talbot Rice Gallery, as part of EAF’s commitment to supporting the next generation of emerging artists.

The organisation of the festival is under the able and watchful eye of Sorcha Carey who has a permanent year-round job. This festival does not simply pop up in August without a wealth of research and curation which goes on the rest of the year. Already in February each year the festival makes a call for those artists wishing to apply for submissions.

There is a festival Guide and you can plan your route round the exhibitions with the Map, but even then suitably equipped you may find it difficult to choose where to go first.

There are commissions, events and exhibitions and really far too many great and interesting shows and exhibitions to choose from! But this is not intended in any way as a complaint. The Edinburgh Art Festival has come into its own now and is a great standalone event as well as an add-on to the other festivalling which is going on in the city.

We think you might start at The City Art Centre with the Where do I end and you begin exhibition. There are panel discussions, performances and film screenings to accompany the core exhibits drawn from around the Commonwealth. There are five curators and work from twenty artists.

This covers all four floors of the City Art Centre and will bring together art curators from across the Commonwealth, showing work by some artists who have never been displayed here in the UK until now.

If you have small children with you or can get some to tag along then use the free activity trail for families which is now in its second year. This is a variety of creative ideas to kindle some interest in art in young people. It moves from the City Art Centre to the Collective on top of Calton Hill and to Dovecot Studios.

There is a guide at any of these locations which will help you find your way about.

Art Late is an opportunity to do something that is not usually allowed – go into art galleries later at night. (Why does nobody think to do this on a permanent basis?) This year there are over 20 exhibitions with live music. These sessions are free but booking is necessary.

Sorcha Carey, Director, Edinburgh Art Festival said:

“Our commissions programme has always revealed new perspectives in the city. This year many of our artists draw on the past to reflect on future possibilities, while a series of new works co-commissioned with Talbot Rice Gallery puts a spotlight on the imaginations of the future.”

Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs, said:

“The Edinburgh Art Festival is now firmly established as a vital component in the success of Edinburgh’s wider festival programme, celebrating some of the very best visual art from Scotland and around the world, and promoting our fantastic culture, exceptional talent and our reputation as a creative nation to audiences from around the globe.

“The 2014 programme is another vibrant, exciting and diverse mix of exhibitions, events and publicly sited artworks. The Scottish Government is pleased to support the Art Festival’s public commissions programme through the Expo Fund.  This  commitment to innovative and inclusive public art has become a hallmark of the Festival in recent years and offers an exciting and thrilling dialogue for locals and visitors alike in what is a landmark year for Scotland.

“The Scottish Government is proud to support such an exciting mix of ambitious new work by leading Scottish artists with international reputations alongside Scotland’s brightest emergent talent.”

GENERATION is an exhibition taking place across Scotland to hail 25 years of contemporary art. The top ten according to The List includes the Pier Arts Centre Stromness of which more here. For the moment we concentrate on the Edinburgh offering which includes Memorialmania – an alternative audio guide to Calton Hill. This begins at the Black Bull pub and Tam Dean Burns narration guide you up the incline with snippets of stories to entertain you on the way. Ruth Milne occasionally interrupts (in a nice way) with poems. This starts from the Collective Gallery on Calton Hill and runs till the end of the year.

This is a huge panoply of major new openings combining as a landmark event of contemporary art in Scotland over the last quarter century.

Jupiter Artland have a wealth of new work notably by Katie Paterson whose Earth-Moon-Earth performance will take place daily and will coincide with her solo show at the Ingleby Gallery in town. And yes the piano is connected to the moon…..

Jupiter Artland 17 July – 28 September 2014

Earth-Moon-Earth (Moonlight Sonata Reflected from the Surface of the Moon)

Katie Paterson

Earth–Moon–Earth (Moonlight Sonata Reflected from the Surface of the Moon)
2007
Disklavier grand piano

Installation view, Cornerhouse, Manchester 2011
Photo © We are Tape
Courtesy of the artist

The Edinburgh Reporter made a video report about Jupiter Artland which you can watch here.

Her other works are now on show at the Ingleby Gallery

Edinburgh Art Festival Ingleby Gallery 31 JULY – 31 AUGUST 2014

Katie Paterson – Ideas

Katie Paterson

Campo del Cielo Field of the Sky (15070g) 2013

Found meteorite, cast melted and re-cast back into a new version of itself

26.7 x 19.1 x 12.7 cm

© the artist and Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh

The Fruitmarket Gallery will host a major retrospective of work by Jim Lambie and Collective focuses on the 20 years of Ross Sinclair’s Real Life project.

Artist talks will include performances and contributions by Amar Kanwar, Nalini Malani, Katie Paterson, Dalziel and Scullion and specially commissioned Edinburgh Art Festival artists. At Talbot Rice Gallery there will be an evening of performances by Jeans & MacDonald who will explore the World Wide Web,  Ortonandon and Alexa Hare who will explore themes of popular culture, fandom and meta-narrative.

At our city’s galleries there are always great exhibitions and this August is no exception. At the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art American Impressionism : A New Vision includes works by Whistler, Degas and Sargent.

The Scottish National Portrait Gallery has John Ruskin:Artist and Observer and the National Museum of Scotland has a whole collection of Chinese national treasures from the Ming Dynasty in Ming:The Golden Empire.

The Queen’s Gallery at the Palace of Holyroodhouse explores poets laureate in Poetry for the Palace:Poets Laureate from Dryden to Duffy. Meanwhile at Edinburgh Printmakers there is an exhibition of works by Scottish artist Calum Colvin.

See what we mean? Too much to choose from.

Have a look at the guide and make up your mind. Do tell us what you go and see!

http://www.theedinburghreporter.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/eafguide2014.pdf

Last week we saw a mysterious structure appearing on the lawn of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art ONE.  A long wooden frame, an enigmatic sloping side.  We had a few guesses as to what it could be – none of which proved right, as yesterday The Bothy Project unveiled its latest creation – a traditional Scottish bothy designed exclusively as part of GENERATION, the Scotland-wide exhibition showcasing 25 years of contemporary art.

Artist Bobby Niven and architect Iain MacLeod have already built and installed two permanent bothies, Inshriach in the Cairngorms and Sweeney’s Bothy on the Isle of Eigg.  Each bothy is intended to provide a space for artists to work in special locations – to enable them not only to get away from it all but also to engage with the history, stories, mythologies and people of remote places. Just as GENERATION is taking all sorts of art to many of the most rural and far flung parts of the country, so The Bothy Project aims to bring individual artists to communities far from our urban centres; the artists will engage with the land, and also with the people.

The bothy at Modern Art One will, it is hoped, eventually move to Assynt in Sutherland and become a permanent feature in the shadow of Suilven and Canisp.  It is perhaps especially appropriate that a structure created to root art in a remote landscape should find a home in an area bought and owned by the local community. Curator Julie-Ann Delaney visited the area with colleagues and collaborating artist Laura Aldridge earlier this year, when the weather was so mild that they were able to enjoy Assynt’s beaches and even swim in the sea. She recalls the beautiful dappled rocks and yellow lichens that characterise Assynt.  It is, she says, a special place.

Bobby Niven builds the bothies on his family’s farm – they are beautiful examples of his skills in natural building techniques.  Constructed from larch, douglas fir and oak (all native woods) and other sustainable materials, they are designed to fit the landscapes that they will inhabit.  Once completed they are dismantled and re-erected in their new locations. The two existing bothies are already hosting artists all year round.  They are designed to function off-grid; multi-fuel ESSE stoves provide warmth and cooking facilities, whilst a platform at one end accommodates a bed.

The design of each bothy is undertaken with contributions from artists, musicians and writers.  For the bothy at Modern One, Laura Aldridge (who has a Masters in Fine Arts from Glasgow School of Art) has produced some stunning ceramics inspired by the colours and shapes of the Assynt landscape and the skills of its local crafters.  She has also made three beanbags whose covers recall the patterns of Assynt stones; some of these pieces are on display inside the bothy whilst it is in Edinburgh.  Laura has also been given the privilege of naming the building, and has called it Pig Rock Bothy after a pig-like dappled stone that she brought back from the peninsula. One of the beanbags is entitled The World Works (pig rock): its motif replicates the spotty skin of a pig.

A programme of talks, performances, discussions, residencies and events is being planned for the Bothy whilst it is in Edinburgh – Scottish art schools have each been offered a week’s residency, and many other ideas are in the pipeline: details will be shown on the NGS website.

Simon Groom, Director of the Gallery of Modern Art, says:

‘(The Bothy)..gives visitors the opportunity to experience and engage with an extraordinary project which would otherwise remain very much hidden because of the typically remote and isolated locations of these unique structures.  Its practical and beautifully handcrafted space provides the perfect setting for a whole host of diverse activities beyond those traditionally associated with a gallery, and we hope it will become a hub of creative activity over its three month lifespan here. The enthusiasm, energy and creative input from The Bothy Project team and Laura Aldridge has made working on the project a truly exciting experience.’

The Bothy will be formally opened on the evening of Thursday 31st July 2014 as part of the launch of the Edinburgh Art Festival. It will remain at Modern Art ONE (75 Belford Road) until the end of October 2014; please contact the gallery for opening hours. A free bus connects the gallery with the Scottish National Gallery on The Mound: times here.

COMEDIANS TAKE STAND-UP TO THE HIGHEST HEIGHTS THIS AUGUST

• Top comedians, including Russell Kane and Richard Herring, will fill the air with laughter this August in a series of sky-high gigs as Virgin Atlantic Little Red flights become the unofficial 300th Fringe venue
• Passengers will be in fits of giggles as they are treated to an exciting taste of the biggest ever Edinburgh Festival Fringe with these exclusive performances
• Tickets for the flights are available now from www.virgin-atlantic.com

Passengers will have the last laugh this August when they are treated to a series of exclusive on-board performances as Little Red LIVE, part of Virgin Atlantic Live: On Air activities for 2014, returns with a stellar comedy line-up featuring Russell Kane, Richard Herring, Carl Donnelly and Tom Craine.

Delivering entertainment at 35,000 feet, the performances on selected flights  between London Heathrow and Edinburgh, will kick off the 2014 Fringe experience for many planning a weekend at the world renowned Festival, as well as providing those unable to attend with an opportunity to experience the laughter of the Fringe first hand.

Virgin Atlantic Little Red is also giving you the opportunity to show off your comedy prowess. Tell us your funniest joke on our Facebook www.facebook.com/virginatlantic using #LittleRedLive to be in with the chance of winning Virgin Atlantic Little Red flights.

The exclusive sky-high performances will be available on the Virgin Atlantic Little Red domestic service on the following eight flights from London Heathrow to Edinburgh:

• 1^st August – Russell Kane
  • VS3005 – LHREDI – 1120/1240
  • VS3006 – EDILHR – 1320 / 1450
• 8^th August – Carl Donnelly
  • VS3006 – EDILHR – 1320 / 1450
  • VS3009 –  LHREDI – 1625 / 1745
• 15^th August – Tom Craine
  • VS3006 – EDILHR – 1320/1450
  • VS3007 – LHREDI – 1515 / 1635
• 22^nd August – Richard Herring
  • VS3006 – EDILHR – 1320 / 1450
  • VS3009 –  LHREDI – 1625 / 1745

Edinburgh Comedy Award winner Russell Kane comments: ““I’m buzzing to be doing some in-air entertainment for Virgin Atlantic. Can’t wait to join the wry-high club!”

Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Atlantic founder and president said: “To follow the success of the first on-board live performances in 2013, we’re providing our passengers with another great line-up of comedy gigs in true Virgin Atlantic style, ensuring we offer an unforgettable and inimitable flying experience. Virgin Atlantic Live: On Air reinforces again why our customer service is second to none.”

Bringing a splash of red to the UK’s skies, Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic Little Red is the airline’s short haul service and flies six times daily between London Heathrow and Edinburgh, three times daily to Aberdeen and four daily round-trips to Manchester. The short haul service offers a free checked-in baggage allowance of 23kg, free carriage of sports equipment, pre-assigned seating, complimentary snacks and drinks, (including a hot breakfast on early morning flights) plus great onward connections to long haul destinations across the world.

The 2014 Fringe will have 49,497 performances of 3,193 shows in 299 venues across Scotland’s capital city. According to organisers, the number of shows reflects an 11% increase on last year’s programme, making it the biggest ever in the history of the Fringe.

For more information on the Virgin Atlantic Live: On Air, Little Red LIVE comedy performances, the comedians and to book tickets, please visit www.virginatlantic.com/vaalive

GENERATION is a Scotland wide lauding of the contemporary art which has been created in Scotland over the last quarter century. Edinburgh has the bulk of the exhibitions but there are others from one end of the country to the other.

Organised by the National Galleries in partnership with Glasgow Life and Creative Scotland, this hugely ambitious programme of exhibitions is part of the Glasgow 2014 Cultural programme, and places the spotlight on a generation of artists living and working in Scotland, whose work has created enormous excitement and attracted international acclaim over the last quarter-century.

At the centre of GENERATION will be a ground-breaking, three-part exhibition to be shown across the National Galleries’ three sites in Edinburgh.  Taking in the flagship exhibition space at the Scottish National Gallery, the whole of Modern One at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and the Contemporary Gallery at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, GENERATION will offer an unprecedented view of the richness, diversity and range of contemporary art in Scotland.

At the Pier Arts Centre in Stromness where The Edinburgh Reporter was visiting today they have the most wonderful, surprising and spectacular exhibition as always.

Orcadia & Other Stories is their exhibition of work by Zoe Walker and Neil Bromwich goes back 15 years to Walker’s time at the Pier Arts Centre and fuses archaeology, mythology, energy production and ancient Orcadian culture. One portrays a mountain range forming a country border, and the other a rocket.

The pair are well known for their large scale exhibitions imagining more pleasant worlds than the ones we live in. This work consisting of a couple of inflatables has been designed specially for Orkney.

There is an at length interview with the artists here.

GENERATION events in Edinburgh

3 August 2014 2pm at Jupiter Artland – Katie Paterson talks about her installation Earth-Moon-Earth (E.M.E) which is a form of radio transmission whereby messages in Morse code are reflected from the surface of the moon and received back on earth. The moon reflects only part of the information – some is ‘lost’.

4 August 2014 – Travelling Gallery will be parked in Leith Walk near Shrubhill House from noon. Free entry

7 & 14 August 2014 GENERATOR by Night at the Scottish National Gallery at 5pm/ Special evening opening for adults only.

14 & 21 August 2014 The Drawing Room. An informal artist-led drawing session at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art from 5.30pm. Free entry. No experience necessary and all materials provided.

16 August 2014 Mick Peter runs a young teen workshop from 2pm for 3 hours. Price £12.

16 August 2014 at Talbot Rice Gallery there are Counterpoint performances by Ortonandon, Jean MacDonald and Alexa Hare at 6pm

20 August 2014 at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art from 12.30pm Lucy Askew Senior Curator at the gallery will give a talk about the GENERATION project.

23 August 2014 Tessa Lynch will give a talk at Jupiter Artland at 2pm Booking essential on Jupiter Artland website. Also she will be running a workshop that day for 5 hours. Cost £30. More details on Jupiter Artland website.

The venue has cancelled the show but hopes are high that the show will go on.

The Edinburgh Reporter met with Incubator Theatre earlier in the week to film a video report introducing their Fringe show.

They have now had to cancel their performances due to protests outside their venue. The group were to be in Edinburgh till the end of the Fringe performing their hip hop act.

Statement from @IncubatorTheatr ‘Nature of the demonstration…whilst it may have been legal, was carefully designed and managed to… 1/2

— Phil Miller (@PhilipJEMiller) July 31, 2014

2/2 …intimidate members of the public and it succeeded in causing maximum disruption to other artists and other shows in the vicinity.’

— Phil Miller (@PhilipJEMiller) July 31, 2014

Earlier today, after discussions between Underbelly, Incubator Theatre, the University of Edinburgh and Police Scotland it was agreed that future performances of The City at The Reid Hall would be cancelled.

The first performance of The City went ahead as planned, but the logistics of policing and stewarding the protest around The Reid Hall – and the effect of the disturbance on Underbelly’s other venues and other shows – make it untenable for the show to continue in the Cowbarn, Reid Hall.

Underbelly and Incubator Theatre will work to identify other suitable venues for the show to perform at in Edinburgh.

All tickets for forthcoming performances of The City in the Cowbarn, Reid Hall will be refunded. When an alternative venue is found, customers will be able to book tickets for that show separately.

This is our video report below. The Edinburgh Reporter, as regular readers will know, is a non-political news website and we do not express views on any political matters. We simply report the news of what is happening in Edinburgh.

Incubator Theatre issued the following statement:

Incubator Theatre wishes to thank Underbelly staff, the police and members of the public for their help on Wednesday 30th July, enabling the first performance of The City to go ahead as planned. The nature of the demonstration which accompanied the performance, whilst it may have been legal, was carefully designed and managed to intimidate members of the public and it succeeded in causing maximum disruption to other artists and other shows in the vicinity. We appreciate the efforts of Underbelly and others to find an alternative space for the production and hope that performances of The City will continue shortly.

Tomorrow the newly branded G&V Royal Mile Hotel Edinburgh will reveal its new uniforms.  Guests at the hotel will be greeted by staff in the striking designs which have been created by leading Scottish design talent Judy R Clark.  The designs include the hotel’s very own, unique G&V Hotel tweed, giving the uniforms bright bursts of colour that marry perfectly with the hotel’s luxury interior.

The new collection includes suits, waistcoats, cardigans, t-shirts, shirts, aprons, skirts and dresses, and even the new t-shirts and cardigans worn by staff give a proud nod to the city, with a colourful Edinburgh skyline sketch designed by Judy R Clark.

New kilts, created by Edinburgh kilt king, Howie Nicholsby will also be revealed as part of the new uniform launch.  The hotel worked with Judy and contemporary British tweed and textile company, Dashing Tweeds, to create the vibrant, bold, bespoke tweed for the five-star hotel. The tweed, which incorporates unique light reflecting thread in the weave, has been used by Howie Nicholsby to create modern, signature kilts.  They will be worn by the doormen who take pride of place outside the hotel on the Royal Mile and have attracted attention from tourists and locals alike, ever since the hotel opened in 2009.

Designer Judy R Clark is famed for her exquisite hand-tailored designs and striking, contemporary, yet timeless Scottish style. She was chosen by the hotel for her ability to blend Scottish heritage and traditional materials, with modern flair and style, which fits perfectly with G&V’s luxury five-star credentials and enviable location in the heart of Edinburgh.

Alongside the local designers, the hotel has worked with an array of Scottish manufacturers and producers to create each element of the collection; from forward-thinking knitwear design house ERIBE, skilled manufacturers D & M Fashions in Clackmannanshire and Dumfries-based Drove Weaving Co.

G&V Royal Mile Hotel General Manager, Carina Svensen said: “Our uniforms are renowned in Edinburgh for being unique and they’ve been turning heads on the Royal Mile for the past five years.  We’ve been lucky to be able to create our very own tweed and have the uniforms designed to fit the hotel’s location, interior, ethos and team.  Our guests are eagerly waiting to see the new uniforms and I’m excited we’re now able to reveal them.

“This is a new chapter for us and we’ve really enjoyed the opportunity to work with Judy, and other incredible home-grown talent to create a stylish and fun uniform we’re all very proud of, blending Scottish tradition with modern flair.”

Designer Judy R Clark said: “Designing the uniforms, it was important for me to draw on the local character and culture of Edinburgh, but keep the unique, contemporary, bold feel of the hotel. It’s been great to work with a lot of my local suppliers and producers, showcasing what can be created here in Scotland.

“The biggest measure of success was going to be the team at the hotel but they’ve all tried their new uniforms on now and are really excited about showcasing them to the hotel’s guests.”

The new, modern Scottish inspired uniforms have been introduced following the recent name change from the former Hotel Missoni Edinburgh in May.  Under its new name, the unique property also joined Quorvus Collection, a new generation of expertly curated luxury hotels in Carlson Rezidor’s growing global portfolio.  Member hotels are historic landmarks, contemporary residences, classic boutiques and urban retreats – all different in scale, architecture, ambiance and design, yet all committed to the same, unparalleled service philosophy.

Edinburgh’s leading home delivery pizza firm, La Favorita Delivered, has put £25,000 into sponsoring Freestival, the provider of free entry shows as part of the City’s  Fringe .

The month long event is branded “La Favorita Freestival”.

The sponsorship is matched by a grant from Arts & Business Scotland.  The money has been used to provide free entry to shows and to create quality venues for comedians, cabaret artists and musicians who might otherwise struggle to afford suitable perfuming platforms using the traditional paid venues.

This inaugural Freestival is providing 14 performance spaces ranging from 45 to 150 audience capacity, six central Edinburgh and new town venues and two music venues.  They will host more than 130 performances with a daily venue capacity of around 10,750.

SNP councillor and Festivals Champion, Steve Cardownie believes that the arts in Scotland need the support of local businesses if the sector is to develop and grow.

“The partnership between La Favorita, the Freestival organisers and Arts & Business Scotland  shows what can be done if people are willing to work together.  It also shows that you don’t have to run a big business to make a meaningful contribution to the arts in Scotland”.

La Favorita Delivered Chief Executive, Kenneth Scott said: “We are proud to help boost the profile and reach of the arts in Scotland.  Freestival’s innovative approach to venues and performers mirrors our own towards pizzas”.

Jools Constant, Freestival Venue Coordinator, said, “It’s great that somebody like Councillor Steve Cardownie recognises our hard work and what we bring to the Fringe table. We are looking forward to a continuing partnership with La Favorita Delivered and Arts & Business Scotland, wit them on board plus our talented team and brilliant performers we have all the ingredients for a fantastic Fringe.”

If you are travelling through Edinburgh Airport on Monday you might be forgiven for thinking you are already at the Fringe.

BattleActs will be there to introduce passengers arriving on domestic flights in the morning to their comedy party.

The comedians are two teams of fearless improvisers pitched against each other by a ball-busting compere. Each team attempts to prove their worth and battle it out for the ultimate prize: the audience’s respect!

For their Edinburgh Airport debut, the troupe will perform “New Choice” a game where anyone in the audience can change anything about the scene they want by just yelling at it. It’s the chance for visitors to turn into directors and immerse themselves in the spirit of the Fringe right from their touchdown in festival city.

They were awarded the StageWon Editor’s Award in 2012, were recommended by the Independent on Sunday as part of their weekly “Top 10 Comedy Acts in the UK”, Time Out Critic’s Choice and Spiked Online claimed BattleActs were 2013’s “Best Free Show”.

BattleActs have previously performed at the Comedy Store, London Zoo, the Camden Roundhouse. They recently performed at the Vault Festival in London’s Waterloo – selling out the entire run of 500 tickets before their opening night.

BattleActs Free Festival run is at Maggie’s Chamber @ The Free Sisters – The Free Festival, Edinburgh 2014, August 2 – 24 (not Mondays) @ 22:00

David Rhymer questioned a book written about convicted World War 1 spy Mata Hari by a leading British policeman and began probing the life of the mother of modern burlesque.

He believes that Ms Hari – who was executed by firing squad in France in 1917 – was “a scapegoat for the ineptitude of the war”.

And that inspired him to create a stage show which recently premiered off Broadway to rave reviews and comes to the AMC @ St Bride’s on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for an extended run from 6 August 2014.

Rhymer, a multi award-winning writer and composer, said: “My first introduction to Mata Hari was a rather lurid and frankly nasty book written by Major Thomas Coulson called Mata Hari: Courtesan and Spy.

“Coulson was head of Scotland Yard at the time of her arrest. In his mind there was no doubt about her guilt as a spy.

“There was something about his account that rang false. He appeared to me to have been infected with a vicious misogyny toward the so called new woman.

“Mata Hari was an independent and powerful personality. She was the mother of modern burlesque, the first woman to take her clothes of  in polite society.

“She danced nude in the Salons of the Aristocracy and what came across in his book was that he clearly disapproved of her on moral grounds and so, in his mind, if she was a girl of so-called loose morals then she must certainly also be a spy.

“I started doing research on her and discovered that her trail for espionage was a real sham, more like a lynching.

“It appears she was set up to be a scapegoat for the ineptitude of the war. Something was going terribly wrong at the front. Thousands of soldiers were being slaughtered daily. Someone had to be responsible. So let’s blame the burlesque dancer.”

David said that the show began as a song cycle performed in Montreal in the mid 1980’s followed by  a brief flirtation as a rock opera.

In 1997 some of the songs were retooled into an award-winning dance musical produced by the internationally-acclaimed One Yellow Rabbit Performance Theatre. But this material (like the woman herself) was restless and has refused to stay put.

Two years ago he was invited by the Calgary International Theatre Festival to do a retrospective of his 30-year career in music/theatre.

He was joined on stage by singer Onalea Gilbertson. He added: “The evening featured not only a number of songs from my theatre repertoire but also a suite I had prepared from my Mata Hari material.

“The Mata Hari suite proved to be the musical highlight of the evening and inspired me develop this suite further as a one-woman tour de force. I submitted a proposal to New York Musical Theatre Festival, the largest annual musical theatre event in America.

Mata Hari in 8 Bullets premiered at the New York Musical Theatre Festival to standing ovations and tremendous critical response earning for Onalea the coveted 2013 NYMF Outstanding Individual Performance Award.”

So, what makes Mata Hari different from traditional musicals? David said: “Mata Hari in 8 Bullets straddles the grey zone between recital and theatre. Not quite a concert and yet not what you might expect from a musical. It is cutting edge performance theatre.

“It is divided into eight movements. Each movement begins with her facing the onrush of an executioners bullet.

“Rather than a straight narrative of her life, what emerges is an imagistic, impressionistic musical suite unfolding through a series of emotive moments- sonic photographs if you will- that transport us back to a paranoid war crazed time when society, incapable of recognizing its own misogyny and sadism, projected its darkest impulses onto a woman who had come to symbolize, not only the decadence of the Fin de siècle, but something far more dangerous, an emancipated woman.”

Mata Hari in 8 bullets. Tickets here.

Hundreds of Hibs’ fans took advantage of the club’s open training session at Easter Road earlier today.

Supporters were allowed into the East Stand free of charge and were able to watch Alan Stubbs and his coaching staff put the players through their paces after last night’s 0-0 draw with East Fife.

The squad practiced crosses from the left and right, shooting, heading and passing as they prepare for next week’s competative start against Rangers at Ibrox.

Afterwards the players and management team spent 40 minutes posing for photographs and signing autographs for the fans.

Meanwhile Alan Stubbs has confirmed his intention to bring in players on loan from previous club Everton.

The Scottish SPCA is appealing for information after four kittens were abandoned in Edinburgh.

Scotland’s animal welfare charity was alerted after a man walking his dog discovered the four to five week old cats near Merchiston Castle School in the early hours of Saturday morning (26 July).

The kittens, three females and one male, are now being hand-reared by staff at the Scottish SPCA’s Edinburgh and Lothians Animal Rescue and Rehoming Centre in Balerno.

Inspector Heather Lawson said, “A man was walking his dog at around 1am on Saturday morning when he noticed a car pull away without its lights on.

“He thought this was suspicious so went over to where it had been parked and saw the four kittens. “We’ve been told the car was red but unfortunately we have no further details about the make, model or person driving it.

“The kittens are too young to be away from their mum as they can’t yet feed themselves. They’re now being syringe-fed milk around the clock and are doing well.

“We’re very keen to trace the person responsible for abandoning these helpless kittens. It was only by chance they were found and they could easily have come to harm.

“We’ll continue to look after them until we can find them loving new homes.”

Abandoning an animal is an offence under the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 and anyone found guilty of doing so can expect to be banned from keeping animals for a fixed period or life. Anyone with information is being urged to contact the Scottish SPCA Animal Helpline on 03000 999 999.

Police in The Capital are launching their annual operation to keep people safe during the Edinburgh Festival.

Operation Eastborough (formerly Operation Assure) will see high-visibility police patrols deployed throughout the city centre during the coming month to engage with the public, deter criminal activity and offer crime prevention advice to local residents and tourists alike.

With hundreds of thousands of people due to arrive in Edinburgh for the Festival, police are keen to highlight a number of safety messages to ensure no one is an easy target for criminals.

Issues such as keeping hold of personal belongings at all times, drinking responsibly and making sure you travel around the city safely will all be promoted during Operation Eastborough.

Throughout the operation, police will regularly interact with the public via social media. Festival goers are invited to follow the Capital’s policing account on Twitter – @EdinburghPolice and join in the discussions by using #EdFest.

Chief Superintendent Mark Williams, Divisional Commander for the City of Edinburgh said: “The Edinburgh Festival is the busiest and most exciting time of the year in the Capital.

“My officers will be out and about on foot and bike patrols to identify any issues that require a police response and to offer information and advice to the public so they can enjoy their Festival experience.

“In addition to our face-to-face approach the public can also contact us by dialling 101 for non emergency issues or follow us on Twitter or Facebook. We will be posting regular festival updates and vital crime prevention advice throughout the month ahead.

“Police in Edinburgh have a wealth of experience in policing major events and local officers and specialist resources will be targeting criminals to ensure residents and visitors have a safe and enjoyable time.

PATRICK MONAHAN ‘ADVENTURES IN MONAHAN LAND’  at the GILDED BALLOON WINE BAR last night did not entirely go to plan. Patrick has written his own version of events:

“On the very first night of my new Edinburgh show ‘Adventures in Monahan Land’ I did an off stage announcement saying “thanks for coming to the preview show on a lovely wet Wednesday in Edinburgh. Most people are at a Zumba class tonight but in homage to them I will do a free Zumba class at the start of this show and I will choose someone from the front row who looks like a Zumba teacher to help me take the class!”

I couldn’t see them and they couldn’t see me and as the music played I ran through the audience onto the stage and glanced quickly across the front row and spotted a bloke in a nice colourful shirt and shorts and thought ‘he looks perfect.’ I grabbed him up and we danced on stage pretending to take a Zumba class then I sat in his seat and he carried on alone! Me and the audience laughed and cheered while he danced on his own. Then he sat down and I was laughing until I noticed something sticking out under his chair and saw it was a crutch. I panicked, lifted it up and showed it to the people sitting next to him who were his son and daughter and said “is this his?” They whispered “yes it’s our dads crutch.” I panicked and got the sound man to cut the music as I got the bloke to bow and then helped him to his seat.

I said to the audience “look what I found under his seat” and held up the  crutch – the whole audience gasped and laughed and one person nearly fainted (that person was me). I asked why he had a crutch, he said “because 2 weeks ago I had a new hip operation.” Everyone was laughing and cheering and I properly fainted. I kept apologising and said to his kids “why didn’t any of you stop him or tell me to stop him from dancing?” They said “cos he was doing a good impression of a Zumba teacher!”.”

The moral of this story is: if you do sit in the front row of my show, please, please, please let me know you have a mobility scooter, crutches or a wheel chair before I make you doing some head spinning and break dancing!

Patrick Monahan at Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2014. Ticket details here

Hibs completed their pre-season friendlies last night with a 0-0 draw away to East Fife despite dominating throughout.

Head Coach Alan Stubbs made eight changes with only Mark Oxley, Jordon Forster and Farid El Alagui retaining their place in the starting XI following Sunday’s match with Dundee United.

Former Newcastle United midfielder Michael Richardson started as a trialist whilst Paul Heffernan recovered from injury to take a place on the bench.

Hibs started brightly and youngster Lewis Allan almost opened the scoring in the fourth minute but the keeper did well to block his shot.

Allan then fired just over after Forester’s cross was headed into his path from el Alagui.

A terrific delivery from Forster was nodded into the path of Lewis Allan by El Alagui before the young forward fired just over from the edge of the penalty area.

Oxley then did well to stop a powerful drive from Alan Cook just before the break.

Callum Booth almost grabbed an opener just after half time then substitute Liam Craig fired a free kick just wide of goal.

Callum Crane then fired a terrific dipping volley that crashed off the crossbar before former Hibs’ player Fraser Mullen fired a free kick just with of the target.

With 15 minutes remaining Craig’s looping header from a Harris cross struck the bar with the East Fife keeper stranded but he proved his worth a few minutes later when he produced a stunning save from Harris’s well struck shot.

Just on full time Hibs should have scored when Booth found Heffernan unmarked in the middle, but his header went just wide.

Hibs face Rangers at Ibrox Stadium in the Petrofac Training Challenge Cup first round next Tuesday.

East Fife: Fleming (Rooney 46′), Mullen (Wooley 79′), Smith, Campbell, Moyes (Naysmith 46′), Walker (Beaton 63′), Cook (Barr 46′), Brown (Mackrey 63′), Austin (McShane 70′), Campbell, Smith.

Hibernian: Oxley, Dunsmore, Crane, Foster (Hanlon 46′), Nelson, Booth, S Allan (Harris 70′), Tudur Jones, El Alagui (Handling 46′), L Allan (Heffernan 65′), Richardson (Craig 57′). Substitutes not used: Perntreau, Stevenson, Robertson, Gardiner, Gray.

Referee: Calum Murray.

Here is our ABC to this year’s Edinburgh Art Festival which opens today

Frank Benson Edinburgh Art Festival National Gallery of Scotland 31 July – 31 August 2014

American Impressionism: A New Vision

Frank Weston Benson Eleanor 1901 Oil on canvas Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design.

John Byrne has two shows on in Edinburgh at the moment; one in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and the other at Bourne Gallery on Dundas Street.

The Edinburgh-based artist recently began his Bourne show with a unique offering to under 25 year olds – buy one of his works for a bargain price from £20 upwards! The Edinburgh Reporter interviewed him just before the show opened.

Augusto Corrieri is a performance artist and writer whose work will be shown at Rhubaba Gllery and Studios.

Craig Coulthard has produced a video work imagining a ceremony in the future commemorating heroism among machines and exploring Scottish national identity installed at Trinity Apse.

Preparatory sketch 2014

Craig Coulthard’s practice encompasses a broad range of media and scale, from the extraordinarily ambitious (and still evolving) Forest Pitch, a lifesize football pitch created in a Borders woodland; to smaller objects often referencing craft traditions – banners, handpainted plates, rugs. The work is united by a common concern, the artist’s extended enquiry into identity, history and memory.

Coulthard’s latest work, a film installation, imagines a commemoration ceremony of the future, where the heroic deeds of machines are publicly acknowledged and remembered. The drone of the title refers to that
most quintessentially Scottish of instruments, the bagpipe, but also to the unmanned robotic aircraft deployed in contemporary military campaigns and humanitarian rescue operations.

Deliberately ambiguous, Coulthard’s film suggests the contradictions inherent in a succession of romanticised images. The bagpipe and drums are now firmly established as essential to Scottish ceremonial (military and civilian), perhaps precisely for the reason that they were once outlawed. The Scottish landscape is understood as a beautiful natural wilderness, largely untouched by humans, yet it is home to dangerous and destructive weapons. The technology of the future can be used to threaten the very systems that developed it.

Trinity Apse, Chalmers Close, 42 High Street, EH1 1SS
Mon–Sun, 10am–6pm
Please note that this historic venue does not offer wheelchair access.

Jacqueline Donachie’s work Mary and Elizabeth is a publicly sited work connecting places and important moments in the city in a series of drawn lines all meeting at a central focal point, featuring new public sculptures in Princes Street Gardens.

Donachie works largely outside formal gallery contexts, often making work in collaboration with specialist disciplines, or with the direct involvement of the general public. Fascinated by public space, her recent work has explored how we navigate towns and cities. Slow Down, conceived for the small market town of Huntly in 2009, and subsequently realised in the profoundly different contexts of Melbourne (2013) and Glasgow (2014), invited cyclists to follow a route through a city, making a giant chalk drawing in the process.

Donachie’s new work Mary and Elizabeth connects history with the present day through an evanescent line of red pigment journeying through the city, and linking two sculptures situated on either side of the railway line which cuts right through the centre of Princes Street Gardens.

Alice Finbow is in residence at Manna House Bakery.

David Galletly is a Scottish illustrator who designed this year’s map with a very detailed drawing of the city. It provides you with details of what is on and where it is happening.

Shilpa Gupta will have an outdoor work on show at the Old Royal High School.

Michelle Hannah is to create a 3D work involving video and computers and her performance as what she calls a ‘dystopian chanteuse’.

Romanticism is a key influence in the work of artist, performer and singer Michelle Hannah. Influenced by the founding constraints of Cabaret, she aims to engage, entice and repulse in equal measure through her use of artifice. Hannah exploits and extends this theatrical heritage in her performances, which explore the themes of technology, gender, identity and fame. For her festival commission she will produce a new body of video and computer based 3D work relating to her performance as a ‘dystopian chanteuse’ and consisting primarily of photographic prints, 3D scanning technology and ‘models’ appropriated from a digital landscape. Whilst being based on ‘real’ objects, (microphones, props, costume and the anatomy of the artist’s scanned body) the models are rendered into inventions rather than naturalistic representations, becoming hybrids of machine and organism, performer and sculpture, sound and vision.

Ellie Harrison has a new work featuring four huge streamer cannons which will be activated depending on the outcome of the Scottish Independence referendum. We rather like the idea of this, although clearly the referendum is on 18 September 2014 which is long after the Art Festival has ended.

There are films to go along with the Where do I begin exhibition and a UK premiere of Gavin Hipkins Erewhon at the Filmhouse

Amar Kanwar will present his work Sovereign Forest in the fabulous debating chamber at the Royal High School which we managed to glimpse earlier this year. The building was to be used as the Scottish Parliament building after the unsuccessful 1979 referendum, but has lain empty for a number of years and may yet become Edinburgh’s newest hotel.

Edinburgh Art Festival The Fruitmarket Gallery 31 JULY – 31 AUGUST 2014 Jim Lambie

Jim Lambie Shaved Ice 2012 (Colourful ladders) © The Modern Institute/Toby Webster Ltd

Stills Gallery show works curated by Owen Logan which reflects on the modern world and its peace and security.

Edinburgh’s leading galleries are hosting a series of live performances beginning with Eilidh MacAskill’s The Conference Call of the Birds at the City Art Centre.

Shona Macnaughton has a new film called Plan of the Principal Story showing off the architectural power of Edinburgh University buildings.

Nalini Malani’s exhibition called In Search of Vanished Blood. This celebrates the outbreak of WWI and is a projection of images using video and shadow play onto the exterior of the gallery at the foot of The Mound described as ‘haunting’.

Nalini Malani is one of four leading international artists invited to make work as part of LIGHTS OUT, a UK-wide event marking the centenary of the start of the First World War. Profoundly affected by her own childhood experience of India’s Partition, her work is an extended exploration of conflict, religious and military. She is particularly interested in the female experience of war (real and mythological), and has often returned to the figure of Cassandra, the ignored prophesier of doom in ancient Greek myth.

To mark the extraordinary moment of the centenary, as part of a joint project with 14-18 NOW, WW1 Centenary Art Commissions, Malani develops a new externally-sited presentation of In Search of Vanished Blood. Here the artist’s pictorial plane becomes the city itself, as she uses large-scale projections to cover the full Western and Southern facades of Playfair’s iconic Scottish National Gallery building on the Mound. With a choreographed succession of Malani’s artistic interpretation of the images of war, we witness through the eyes of a young woman the pain and grief of violence. Through her distinctive combination of video and shadow play, Malani presents a world of on-going collective wars of which we have all become a part, and to which there is as yet no solution.

Leon Morrocco and his wonderful travel based paintings are on show at the Open Eye Gallery .

Janie Nicoll and Edinburgh-based Italian Alessandro di Massimo will have solo exhibitions at Interview Room 11.

And perhaps saving the best for last? Yann Seznec is employing one of our wonderful police boxes in an innovative sound installation featuring computer fans now recycled and used to create air movement around the visitor, all dependent on real time weather data. There are so many of these police boxes which are lying empty and we are very glad to see one being put to good use. Do tell us what you think about this particular installation! Then  you can go and add a photo to our Police Boxes storyboard over here…. 

Fire in Dumbiedykes 

Police Commander’s statement

Libby Clegg

Cinefringe

Virgin Money Fireworks

A man was treated for minor burns and smoke inhalation yesterday evening following a fire in his kitchen in his flat at Dumbiedykes Road, Edinburgh.
 

More here  

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Commander Mark Williams is in charge of policing in Edinburgh. His word is final on much of what police do in Edinburgh, and his name was being used by protesters last week at the pro Palestine march. They stated more than once that it was the police commander who had decided their march would not process along Princes Street. Clearly in view of the fact that the march did take that route the protesters ignored advice. They also called for some volunteers to be arrested to ensure that the matter would be aired in court. This is not to say that the protesters were in any way out of control. They largely acted along with police advice, and there was clear cooperation between Police Scotland and the protest.

The police commander has issued a statement making it clear that the police value their relationship with all members of the community, but have a duty towards all residents in the city.

Our video report on the march is here.

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Libby Clegg won a gold medal the other night at the Commonwealth Games. A remarkable feat to run so fast, but even more remarkable when you realise that she is a former pupil of the Royal Blind School Edinburgh and is registered blind. There is a lovely tribute to her on the Royal Blind website which you will find here. 

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Cinefringe is what it says on the tin – The Fringe at the Cinema, more precisely it is at the Cameo and runs from 31 July to 3 August.

Full programme details here.

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In exactly a month’s time there will be fireworks!

The Virgin Money Fireworks Concert brings Edinburgh’s summer festival season to a spectacular conclusion, celebrating courage, heroism and struggles for freedom through stirring, uplifting music and a breathtaking fireworks display specially choreographed by international fireworks artists Pyrovision.

Alongside the majesty of Wagner’s ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ from Die Walküre and Debussy’s rousing March Écossaise, the concert takes in the stormy passions of Beethoven’s Egmont Overture and the memorable ‘War March of the Priests’ from Mendelssohn’s Athalie.

Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, written to celebrate Russia’s deliverance from Napoleon’s invading armies, brings the evening to an electrifying conclusion, accompanied by a glittering display of pyrotechnics from the Edinburgh Castle ramparts.

More details here.

THURSDAY 31ST JULY 2014

Edinburgh Art Festival starts today, with a programme featuring work by over one hundred artists in over thirty city venues; exhibitions, talks, performance, tours and film.  Most events are free. See website for full details, or pick up one of their lovely maps/guides at the kiosk in George Street or at any of the featured venues.

The Independence Referendum: leading academics Dr Bryan Glass and Professor James Mitchell, who have both recently published books on the historical perspectives of the debate, will place the independence referendum and the rise of modern Scottish nationalism into a wider historical perspective. 6.30-7.45pm, followed by a drinks reception. Conference Room, University of Edinburgh Business School, 29 Buccleuch Place. Free places must be booked via website.

Mythical Stories and Crafts: a different mythical story and related craft every week. For under 12s. 2.30-3.30pm, Moredun Library, 92 Moredun Park Road. Part of the Mythical Maze Summer Reading Challenge.

Golden Hare Books presents an exhibition by Edinburgh-based artist Marie Varley, whose work is a celebration of the humble postage stamp, ‘that small window of national expression that has become an increasingly endangered art form.’ Open preview with refreshments 6.30-8.30pm tonight, then 10am-6pm daily. Golden Hare Books, 102 West Bow.

Yeti Family: make and name your own Yeti family! 2.30-3.30pm, Gilmerton Library, 13 Newtoft Street. Part of the Mythical Maze Summer Reading Challenge.

The GENERATOR by night! – unleash your childlike, creative side in the crazy art lab and have fun imagining the art of the future.  Take inspiration from the amazing art on display in the GENERATION exhibitions and jump into a world of experimentation, exploration and invention. Special evening opening of the children’s GENERATOR activities for adults only.    5-7pm, Royal Scottish Academy (Scottish National Gallery), The Mound, free and unticketed. Part of GENERATION by night.

Teddy Bears’ Picnic: Fountainbridge Library, 137 Dundee Street.  Call into the library, call 0131 529 5516 or email fountainbridge.library@edinburgh.gov.uk to book a place for your teddy.

Lunchtime concert: Mark Spalding, piano. 12.15pm, St Giles’ Cathedral, Royal Mile.

Live Music at the Pear Tree: The Irresistible Urges. International band performing original songs, from agit-pop to world music and tango groove. ‘Original songs and voodoo rhythm – delve into the avant-garage.’ 6-7pm, The Pear Tree, West Nicolson Street. Strictly over 18s only. Free.

Edinburgh Hacklab Open Night: the Hacklab is a hackerspace open to anyone interested in tinkering with hardware or hacking some code – bring along a project, ask for some electronics help, or just see what’s happening.  7pm, (and every Tuesday and Thursday, but check website for last minute changes) Summerhall, 1 Summerhall Place.  Free, just drop in and say hello.

Live Music on the Kopparberg Stage: a daily session of outdoor performances in the courtyard with buskers, musicians, cabaret, comedy and much more. 4-8pm, today and every day until 24th August, with different acts every day. The Pear Tree, West Nicolson Street. Strictly over 18s only. Free. Part of the Edinburgh Free Fringe Festival.

Audiences at the Fringe opening night of THIS IS BRASIL – The Show tonight became even more involved in Afro-Samba super star Magary Lord’s new dance theatre spectacular than they were already expecting to be, as a fire alarm led to an emergency evacuation at the Pleasance Theatre – this year celebrating its 30th anniversary.

A false alarm in a neighbouring auditorium raised six fire engines and lead to an an evacuation of the show’s 20-strong cast of musicians, dancers, capeoiristas and freestyle footballers, as well as the crew and audience members, half way through the stunning Brazilian show.

Thankfully, no one was hurt, and Magary Lord said he wishes to thank the Pleasance Courtyard staff for handling the emergency so well. He said: “Everyone is ok although I don’t think any of us expected such a dramatic welcome! And never fear, nothing will stop us Brazilians from putting on a great show! We’ll dance and play in the streets if we have to – now THAT IS BRASIL!”

A spokesman from producers The World Festival assures audiences that the show will be running tomorrow evening. “We’re just happy everyone is ok.THIS IS BRASIL – The Show was always going to get people talking! Smoke alarms or not, THIS IS BRASIL – The Show really IS the hottest ticket at the Fringe!’

THIS IS BRASIL – The Show TICKETS:
The Pleasance 
www.pleasance.co.uk/event/brasil-show
+44 (0)20 7609 1800

A man suffered minor burns and from smoke inhalation when a fire broke out in the kitchen of his flat in Dumbiedykes Road this evening.

Crews from McDonald Road, Marionville, and Tollcross were mobilised by Operations Control Edinburgh just before 7.00pm and on arrival discovered a well-developed fire in the kitchen.  Four firefighters wearing breathing apparatus extinguished the fire with a line of hose and ventilated the property.

The man suffered from smoke inhalation and minor burns.  He was treated at the scene by firefighters providing oxygen therapy and applying gel packs to his burns until the ambulance arrived.

He was taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary for further treatment.

Station Manager Steve Harkins said: “Many kitchen fires happen when people are not paying attention or they leave things unattended but there are several things you can do to prevent fires in the kitchen.

“Don’t leave pans unattended. Take them off the heat if you have to leave the room. Fire starts when your attention stops. When you have finished cooking, make sure the cooker or oven is turned off.

“The kitchen can be the most dangerous place in the home. Fire can cause damage not just to your property, but more seriously can put family and loved ones at risk.

“The property did not have a working smoke alarm. We would encourage anyone who doesn’t have a smoke alarm to have one fitted immediately. Smoke alarms save lives. If you don’t have one then call Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and arrange a free Home Fire Safety Visit and we will provide you with a smoke alarm free of charge. It could save your life.

“Home fire safety visits only take around half an hour and are delivered by firefighters from your local community. If you or someone you know could benefit from a visit, please join Scotland’s fight against fire and request a visit by calling the SFRS freephone number 0800 0731 999, by texting ‘check’ to 61611 or by contacting their local fire station.”

A wide range of tips on how to keep yourself and your home safe from fire are available on the SFRS website: www.firescotland.gov.uk

Police Scotland is appealing for witnesses following a number of break-ins and thefts in Edinburgh, Midlothian and East Lothian.

At around 2.15am yesterday (Tuesday) the store alarm at the Hugo Boss shop on Multrees Walk was activated. No entry was gained and nothing was taken. However, two men on a white and red motorcycle were seen acting suspiciously in the area prior to the incident.

Ten minutes later, two men on a motorbike broke into the Zen Kitchen Chinese restaurant on Dundas Street and moneybags containing a quantity of change were stolen from within.

A subsequent report of a break-in at the Dalkeith Rugby Club was then made to police at around 2.50am. Nothing was stolen from within but four windows were smashed as a result.

A short time later, local officers in Whitecraig, East Lothian responded to the Mercat Bar and Grill on Whitecraig Road, after the restaurant was entered, triggering the alarm. Nothing was taken from inside and two men riding a motorcycle were seen making off from the area.

At 3.35am police in Musselburgh were called to an address in Stoneybank Drive following a housebreaking at a residential property. A set of car keys to a Nissan Qashqai were taken from within along with a camera and rucksack.

A neighbouring garage was also entered and ransacked during this incident.

The car was then also stolen from outside the property and was found abandoned in Moredunvale Loan, Edinburgh at around 4.15am that day.

Police believe these crimes are all linked and are also investigating whether the same suspects carried out two similar offences the previous day.

Between 5.30pm on Monday and 7am on Tuesday a green Triumph motorcycle was stolen from outside an address in Polton Road, Loanhead. Sometime during the same time period, a property in Moir Avenue, Musselburgh was broken into and electrical goods including a TV, DVD player and games console were stolen.

Detective Sergeant Dave Reilly said: “It would appear that the same two men have been responsible for a number of break-ins, attempted break-ins and thefts across Edinburgh, Midlothian and East Lothian.

“These incidents have resulted in high-value goods being taken and costly damage being sustained to a number of the properties.

“Anyone who remembers seeing any suspicious activity around these locations late on Monday evening or in the early hours of Tuesday morning is asked to contact police immediately.

“In addition, anyone who can help us trace the suspects, or who has information that can assist with our on-going enquiries is also urged to come forward.”

Those with information can contact Police Scotland on 101 or alternatively, the charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

An Edinburgh street was cordoned off for an hour yesterday lunch time after a jar of potassium cyanide was found in a house in the city’s West End.

A woman was clearing out her father’s home in Palmerston Place when she found the jar of the highly toxic substance is used in the jewellery making process.

Specialist Fire Service officers removed the substance from the property to be safely destroyed.

Police in Forth Valley are today revisiting the scene of a  fatal collision which took place a week ago today.

A family of four were killed last Wednesday afternoon (23rd July)following a collision between their black Fiat hatchback and an articulated lorry on the A801 near the Lathallan roundabout.

Road policing officers will be at the Bowhouse roundabout between 1.30pm and 3.30pm where they will be speaking to passing motorists to identify anyone who may have been in the area at the time of the collision.

Sergeant Andrew Thomson said: “We are appealing for anyone who was in the area at the time of the crash last Wednesday at around 2.30pm to come forward as they may have information which could help us piece together the circumstances before this tragic collision. We are still looking to trace the driver of a silver car  which was seen at the time of the crash.”

A second man has been charged after an alleged £1m robbery at Hamilton & Inches on George Street on June 6.

On July 16, Michael Hood (31) appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court charged with assault and robbery and road traffic offences. He made no plea or declaration and was remanded in custody while his case is continued for further examination.

Yesterday police confirmed that another man had been arrested and is due to appear in court in connection with the incident.

A spokesman for Police Scotland said: “A second man has been arrested and charged in connection with the Hamilton and Inches robbery on June 6.

“The 28-year-old will appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Wednesday.”

Second Arrest in Hamilton and Inches robbery

Play Day

Street performers needed!

Johnny is a fundraising hero

Creative Industries Open Day
A second man has been arrested and charged in connection with the Hamilton and Inches robbery on 6th June.

The 28 year-old will appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court today.

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Today the council is having a play day. Nothing to do with councillors but it is all to do with children.

The event hopes to build on the successes of previous years where thousands of people have came along to join in with Playdayactivities.

Playday is the national day for play, which is being celebrated next week. On Playday thousands of children and their families get out to play at hundreds of community events across the UK.

As well as a celebration of children’s right to play, Playday is a campaign that highlights the importance of play in children’s lives. It’s all about learning for life and showing that play is fun not just for the child but for adults as well.

Councillor Keith Robson, Play Champion for the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “Play is a massively important part of a child’s development and makes a tremendous contribution to happy and healthy childhoods. Our very popular Playday in the Grassmarket provides a fantastic opportunity to celebrate play and promote its many benefits.

“One of our objectives is that we want to ensure that communities recognise the importance of play for children especially outdoor play. Not only are there significant health benefits from being out in the open air, but also exposure to a range of different activities can help a child’s development.

“Here in Edinburgh we’re very lucky to have some fantastic outdoor spaces and I would encourage all parents to get outdoors with their children during these lovely summer months. The great park at west end of Princes Street Gardens has been a family favourite these holidays when friends have been visiting from around the UK.”

Edinburgh’s Playday event will be held in the Grassmarket from 12.30pm – 4.30pm. On offer will be a giant sand pit, water play, magic potions, cardboard city, play pod, mud kitchen, giant weaving, play for babies, junk drumming and much more!

Access is free but children should be accompanied by an adult. For more information contact cf.play@edinburgh.gov.uk

There have already been two meetings of the Edinburgh Play Forum which is made up of various community groups, schools and other organisations with an interest in promoting play in the city.  The aim is to make Edinburgh a playful city where children can enjoy their childhood.

The Council is currently updating its Play Strategy which will be discussed at the Education, Children & Families Committee later in the year.

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The Post Office is celebrating Sundays and wants to make a big song and dance about it. They are calling all street performers in Edinburgh who want to showcase their talent to perform ‘Easy Like a Sunday Morning’ on Sunday 10th August 2014 in Edinburgh to raise awareness of the fact that many of The Post Office branches are open on a Sunday.

They would love for all UK licenced street performers in Edinburgh to be a part of this through a simple application process. Entrants will need to have a partner record their performance and then send the footage to The Post Office HQ. The best 50 performances will then be picked and will all receive £30 as a thank you for their involvement in the campaign. Each piece of selected footage will be edited into a montage video to be shared online, on social and with the media.

The Post Office are looking for a variety of talent; be it singing, dancing, or playing an instrument – they want to hear and see a whole range of versions of this Commodores/Lionel Ritchie classic.

If you are a street performer and like the sound of this, just email streetperformers@speedcomms.com with the full names and contact details of everyone in your act. You will need to be free on Sunday 10^th August to perform and record your performance. Terms and conditions apply. Email to find out more – Good Luck!

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A pensioner who gives up his time every weekend to raise money for ABF The Soldiers’ Charity, is about to hit a grand total of £20,000 collected, in just two years.

Mr Johnny Jenkins, a 78 year old from Penicuik, started to raise funds for The Soldiers’ Charity in 2012, and is set to reach the figure next weekend.

A retired professional musician who still works as a part time piano tuner, Johnny has no connection to the Army, although his home is close to Glencorse Barracks, where 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland are sited.

“My grandfather was gassed in Loos in 1914 and he spoke with a husky voice for the rest of his life. I’ve always had a feeling for soldiers.  If I wasn’t playing here I’d be playing somewhere else.”

“I play a lot of Scottish pieces – pipe tunes go down well. I’m surrounded with pipers after all! It’s a cause that’s close to everyone’s hearts here. I’m resolved to carry on as long as I can.”

Supported by his wife Edna, Johnny plays his keyboard every Saturday and occasionally on Sundays, entertaining families and children in the restaurant at Dobbies, Lasswade where he is welcomed by the store manager, Mr Elliot Johnston.  He sometimes gets permission to play in other local stores which have included Tesco, Morrisons and ASDA.

Claire Heyes, from the Edinburgh office of The Soldiers’ Charity said; ‘this is a whopping total, we are so grateful to Johnny and to Edna, for their dedication. Without people like them, we couldn’t help soldiers, veterans and families who need a hand up in times of hardship.’

To find out more about fundraising for The Soldiers’ Charity, visit www.soldierscharity.org

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Thinking of a career in Creative Industries? Edinburgh College are holding an open day on 13 August 2014 to tell you all about the courses they are offering. They have two campuses where they run courses in different aspects of the industry. More details here.

Sighthill Campus
Music & Sound Production
Broadcast Media & Photography

Granton Campus

Performing Arts
Computing
Art & Design

WEDNESDAY 30TH JULY 2014

Herbal Medicine Workshop with the Friends of Harrison Park: 6.30-8pm, Harrison Park, Harrison Road – meet by the new community herb garden at the dog-free zone. Free, all welcome but under 16s should be accompanied by an adult. For more information contact Esperanza Martin on 0131 445 4025.

Blackwell’s Edinburgh presents Alan Cochrane and George Kerevan: Scottish Independence, Yes or No? Alan Cochrane, editor of the Scottish Daily Telegraph, and George Kerevan, Scottish journalist and SNP politician, launch their new book, looking at the potential impact of independence on key economic, social, political, defence and cultural issues. Cochrane will put his case for NO and Kerevan will put his for YES. 6.30-7.30pm, Blackwell’s, South Bridge. Free tickets can be obtained from the shop’s front desk or by calling 0131 622 8218.

Shadow Puppet Theatre: Katie Forrester and Moira Harvey show you how to make amazing creature puppets and put on your own shadow theatre show.  For ages 4-11, under 8s must be accompanied by an adult. 2-3pm, Central Library, George IV Bridge. Please book a free ticket via eventbrite for every child and every adult attending (maximum of one adult per child.)

Titian in Ten: ten minute pop-up talks delivered by NGS staff.  Gain an exclusive insight as staff from across the galleries offer different perspectives on Titian’s masterpieces. 2pm, Scottish National Gallery.  Free and unticketed.

Teen events at Moredun: activities for teenagers, from X-Box tournaments to nail art. 6.30pm, Moredun Library, 92 Moredun Park Road.

Ruskin and the Pre-Raphaelites: Stephen Wildman, Director of the Ruskin Library at Lancaster University and editor of a new collection of Ruskin’s writing about the Pre-Raphaelites, will look at Ruskin’s close involvement with the Pre-Raphaelite movement. 12.45-1.30pm, Hawthornden Lecture Theatre, Scottish National Gallery, The Mound. Free and unticketed.

Dog Tales: The Dogs Trust present canine story telling and an information session. 2.30-3.30pm, Colinton Library, Thorburn Road.

Lunchtime concert: Piano Speak with Will Pickvance. 12.15pm, St Giles’ Cathedral, Royal Mile.

Magical Mazes: online computer challenges and games for over 7s. 4-5pm, Stockbridge Library, Hamilton Place. Part of the Mythical Maze Summer Reading Challenge.

Zoolab: come and meet the animals at Zoolab’s animal handling workshop. 2pm, Fountainbridge Library, 137 Dundee Street.  Call into the library, call 0131 529 5516 or email fountainbridge.library@edinburgh.gov.uk to check times and to book a place, or join the event via the special Facebook page. Part of the Mythical Maze Summer Reading Challenge.

Live Music at the Pear Tree.  5-6pm: Simply Soweto Encha, a 5-piece a capella group singing gospel, soul, jazz, doo-wop and R ‘n’ B in both African and popular styles.  6-7pm: Ruari McMillan, singer, songwriter and guitarist whose influences include Dylan, the Stones and John Lennon. The Pear Tree, West Nicolson Street. Strictly over 18s only. Free.

Police in Edinburgh have confirmed that missing 12-year-old Jye Slater was found safe and well in the Muirhouse area of Edinburgh at around 4pm today.

They have thanked the public for their assistance during this appeal.

At about 3pm last Wednesday a guide dog went missing whilst on a free run with its owner. This happened near the Old Cemetery beside the river in Nairn – everyone, including local police, vets and the dog warden are aware, and guide dog volunteers and many other people have been searching for her ever since.  Her owner is naturally very distressed, and has of course also been searching for his companion.  Although Tess disappeared in Nairn she unfortunately could be anywhere by now, so please can you keep a look out wherever you are. Guide dogs are trained to return to their owners when free running, so it is particularly worrying that Tess has not been able to do so.  These are the details:

Tess – 6 year old black curly coated cross golden retriever.  She is microchipped and her collar has Guide Dog identification tags attached.

If you know where Tess is, or even think you may have seen her, please contact Guide Dogs on 0800 6888409, or contact local police.

If you have any family or friends in the Nairn area, please alert them too.  You can see more details on Missing Dogs Scotland’s Facebook page.