Stopping in Dundee two days in a row en route to Edinburgh and on the way back, I first went to check out Aberdeen-born, Edinburgh-trained, London-based Ruth Ewan’s first major solo show, Brank & Heckle, at DCA. As a incredibly thorough researcher, Ewan pulls together histories of radical actions and actionists including Paul Robeson, a jukebox of people trying to change the world, to the Decimal clock. Tying it into Dundee, a city with its own rich history of radical voices, Ewan traces the etymology of “heckle” back to the juters of Dundee, a city known for its jute as much as its jam and journalism. Related programming is happening on Sept 15, check here for details. 

I then stopped by past Deveron Arts artists-in-residents Dalziel and Scullion Studios for a well-fed studio visit. As environmental artists increasingly taking on public art commissions and projects ranging from the ecological balance of up keeping grousing estates to reclaimed parkland in former mining towns, Dalziel and Scullion engage with their audience through spellbinding narratives, stories that do not employ dogmas or fear-driven rhetoric, rather, they share stories that fascinate and enchant through an awe-filled wonder with the natural world. 

The next day, I returned to see the DJCAD Masters Degree Show, which I can’t say yielded anything of note. But I did continue onto Generator to get a glimpse of Twenty Four Hour Football by Catrin Jeans and Fraser MacDonald, and even subbing in for blue for a couple of goals.  While 24 hour football matches have come and gone for glory and for charity, the concept for a socially engaged art event works very well in bringing everyone, men and women, boys and girls, athletes and art critics, all together for over 1000 goals scored in a ebb and flow of team dynamisms. 

Image credit courtesy of Twenty Four Hour Football