For its launch celebrations at The Common Guild in Glasgow on 13th March 2013, Outset Scotland commissioned special performances by three artists.
Ruth Barker, Demeter at the Equinox
Ruth Barker's performance work involves scripting and memorising substantial literary monologues that retell ancient myths as resonant, current events. Encapsulating an extraordinary act of generosity, Barker wrote and performed a specially conceived piece, called Demeter at the Equinox, inspired by the turn of the season, and heralding an auspicious new venture – "I give you the Spring" her incantation.
You were not waiting for the night, tonight, but it has come. It is night-time now. We stand at the hinge of the year. And so we feel the equinox, Tonight: we can hear spring calling, Like a girl with soil in her mouth.
Hanna Tuulikki, Air falbh leis na h-eòin
Performed by Hanna Tuulikki, Lucy Duncombe and Nerea Bello
Air falbh leis na h-eòin is a body of work exploring the mimesis of birds in Gaelic song. In 2014 it became a sited performance and installation, made for the Isle of Canna. It was created by an interdisciplinary team of visual artists, musicians, textile artists, dancers, writers, sound recordists, ornithologists, conservationists and anthropologists. At the core is Hanna’s vocal composition, 'Guth an Eòin ; Voice of the Bird', written for a female vocal ensemble. Arranged around the spectacular staircase at The Common Guild, as if on a cliff face, the audience heard an extract from an early version of the score for three voices.
David Sherry, Flip-Chart Performance
David Sherry's work is a comedy of manners composed with the lightest of touches – by doing as little as possible he always seems to be on the verge of a great anthropological revelation. His anarchic performance took its cues from a series of flip-chart drawings and texts that prompted comic songs, alarming gestures, existential introspection, and audience participation.
