The Future of The Commonty

From Team Commonty

Celebrating the Commonty's fourth birthday this week marks a change in the wind for team Commonty, as we look forwards to the future of the blog which has thus far had over 350,000 views and over 2,700 blog posts – thank you to everyone who has contributed over the past wee while! As DG Unlimited continues to grow into the region, weekly news and opps can now be found across on the DGU website available here. But fear not, Commonty reader! It is important to the Commonty and the wider region that there remains a space for unofficial and unclassifiable stuff to be voiced, shared and aired, the collective or independent voices of everyone from the Upland Shepherd and Amy Able, to Ray Gin Pedant, Philipa McSoiree and the very many anonymous lot.

The Commonty continues on in this spirit of debate and discussion.

The Commonty has always been a completely uncensored and free space for debate – we would love to hear from you. You can add your voice in two ways:

a) send an email to thecommonty@gmail.com with something you want to say and we will post it on the blog as a new article
OR
b) comment on any article already on the site (creative alias’ welcome!)

The arts in D&G are what you make it. 

In particular, The Commonty will be place where the comings, goings and doings of the Regional Arts Hub are reported and dissected. WTF is the Regional Arts Hub you cry...well thank you for asking, RAH is:
a) every arts organisation in receipt of support from DGUnlimited and/or Dumfries and Galloway Council
b) all arts D+G arts organisations that form part of the Creative Scotland National Arts Portfolio (errr currently that is The Stove Network and Wigtown Festival Company)
c) the four Area Arts Convenors

The RAH Working Group is meeting on Monday 30th March and the agenda for the meeting is:
· Round table discussion of Working Group members working priorities – with particular    emphasis on regional working/development
· Working with the DGU Board – strategy for AGM
· Specialist Art-form groups – priorities/process
· Developing a ‘Charter’ for Events regionally (including a Clash Diary?)
· How to approach Scottish ‘Years of..’ and other national/international opportunities as a region
· Regional Focus – Conveners reports (5 bullet points from each convenor about current concerns/needs/themes in their area)

I'm sure other will have thoughts about any/all of these subjects....do your worst in the comments section below this post!


Notes from the meeting will be posted as soon as we have them

Striding Campbell's Soup tin Arches?

From Linda Mallett

Eagled eyed Linda noticed this interesting Andy mix-up in her current edition of the Green Handbook...

The Green Handbook for South West Scotland gives you:

a Directory of alternative & complementary therapists, counselling, organic food, vegetarian cafés, health products, eco-products, martial arts, meditation, personal growth, sustainable crafts, green businesses.

a Diary of groups, courses, workshops and events.

The Green Handbook for South West Scotland comes out four times a year and is distributed free all over Dumfries & Galloway, from Sanquhar to Wigtown, from Stanraer to Gretna Green.

For more details head across to their website here

Calvin created disco but can he save our pub?

Calls from Doonhamers for help to re-open the beloved Lyver which closed it's doors last week have called on local lad Calvin to step in and save the pub…

Full story in the Daily Record

Surviving the Sahara: On being Bored (Reposted)

From Elizabeth Roberts

Re-posted from Transpositions website and available in full here

Denny Kinlaw - Surviving the Sahara: On being Bored

In his 1989 address to the graduating class of Dartmouth College the Russian poet Joseph Brodsky decided to forego the platitudes that comprise such ceremonies to instead admit that “a substantial part of what lies ahead of you is going to be claimed by boredom.” Aside from the incongruity of such advice at an event, it remains significant that a man who survived multiple arrests, an Arctic exile, and countless other Soviet affronts can reduce it all to “nothing in comparison to the psychological Sahara that starts in your bedroom.”[1]

The unique agony in the experience of boredom is perhaps our most common and yet least examined condition as a species.

Understood as the inability to perceive meaning in one’s life, boredom—or, ennui, tedium, apathy, accidie, etc.—is in fact one of the few experiences that separates us from the contented stupor of animals. As Georges Bernanos writes in the opening toDiary of a Country Priest: 

The world is eaten up by boredom. To perceive this needs a little preliminary thought: you can’t see it all at once. It is like dust. You go about and never notice, you breathe it in, you eat and drink it …  But stand still for an instant and there it is, coating your face and hands. To shake off this drizzle of ashes you must be forever on the go. And so people are always ‘on the go.’[2]

The ingenuity of our capacity to distract ourselves day-in and day-out (Buzzfeed, Facebook, Netflix) is a well trodden path that need not be revisited here; however, it remains unclear what this militant obsession of regimented distraction conveys regarding the theological significance of boredom (is there any?) and if that experience of “complete rest” requires an imaginative element for it to be endured.

Edgar Degas. L’Absinthe. 1876.
Courtesy of Wikipaintings

Theological considerations of the question of boredom have been largely limited to its more medieval incarnation: acedia. Defined broadly as a self-directed turning away from God and the abandonment of spiritual determination, acedia, or “sloth,” is characterized by an active turning away from the goodness surrounding us through restless activity. 

Boredom, on the other hand, operates as a portal in which the goodness of all matter may again be glimpsed. But it comes at the cost of an introductory agony: “When hit by boredom, go for it. Let yourself be crushed by it,” Brodsky commends.

A theological formulation of such a feat may be found in St. Ignatius, whose Spiritual Meditations advise that “we must make ourselves indifferent to all created things.” According to St. Ignatius it is this indifference that enables one to move past the empty consolations of diversion toward an understanding of one’s finitude in relation to the infinite.[3]

Boredom thus becomes the paradoxical opening in which the presence of the infinite passes through the insignificance of the finite.

Brodsky captures this imaginative interlacing of the transcendent within the immanent when he suggests “this is what accounts … for the fascination with which one watches sometimes a fleck of dust aswirl in a sunbeam.” But if the endurance of boredom requires the imaginative capacity to situate one’s immanent environment within a transcendent framework, it follows that the true tedium of life comes in part from a failure of the imagination. Even in stillness, it seems, one can miss the “invasion” of matter by the immaterial.

This is the image we are given in C.S. Lewis’s Screwtape Letters wherein the diabolic agents seek to staunch the spark of imagination with rote mindlessness: “You can make him do nothing for long periods. You can keep him up late at night, not roistering, but staring at a dead fire in a cold room.”[4] Such imaginative torpor robs man not only of the joy of divine participation but mere material diversion as well. Only today the “dead fire” is simply the flickering screen of a computer, the drone of a speaker, or the empty exchange of information in conversation. In either case, one escapes the ash of boredom and thus fails to confront one’s true condition.

To achieve the delight waiting on the other side of boredom we must allow the ash of the mundane to settle upon ourselves. Only then will we perhaps discover the imaginative resources needed to survive our own Saharas.

Denny Kinlaw is currently studying for his PhD in the Institute of Theology, Imagination and the Arts, St Mary’s College, University of St Andrews. His interests include American Literature and the intersection of literary theory and theology in the work of David Foster Wallace.

Towards a new Cafe Culture

We tripped across the Guardian's recent article on a new 'cafe' space in London.. stepping beyond the cafe as we know it and into a space for meeting/exchanging/sharing and a sense of community/collective. 

"Ziferblat translates into "Clockface" in Russian and German. As such, when guests arrive, they are given a clock and keep this with them until they leave… a kitchen in the back room, where there is microwave, boiler and coffee machine, people help themselves to food and drinks while others wash their own plates and cutlery. Shelves are stacked with jam, peanut butter and various other condiments.

"Ziferblat's doors are open to everyone, and we all share expenses equally," Mitin explains. "To be able to pay rent and buy food, we need people to pay for Ziferblat's existence. We invite our guests to participate in our development."

Read the article in full here

Seafood Liaison - an opportunity.....if prawns could talk?

Seafood Industry Liaison Officer

£22,000 - £25,000 (depending on skills and experience)

Full-time, fixed term to end December 2015

Solway Firth Partnership is seeking applications for a Seafood Industry Liaison Officer to support a new project called Out of the Blue.

Out of the Blue aims to drive the sustainable and profitable development of local fisheries and increase the social and economic contribution the seafood sector makes to the coastal communities of Dumfries and Galloway.  Actions will include fostering collaboration between industry, environment, science, regulatory and tourism sectors; delivering education and promotional initiatives; and creating interpretive material that increases understanding of local fisheries. The project will forge stronger links between the local area and national and international initiatives that support sustainable fisheries and promote seafood.

We are looking for an enthusiastic, positive and self-motivated person who takes a pride in the quality of their work. An outgoing personality with the ability to communicate with a wide range of people is essential along with a commitment to building strong working relationships. Education to degree level in a related discipline is preferable but not essential.  Knowledge and experience of the seafood industry and its sustainable development is essential.

For further details of the application process including a full job description and application form please visit: www.solwayfirthpartnership.co.uk

Please note that our new website will be live soon and will include more current information about the work of the Partnership.

Closing date for applications 5pm Friday 31 January 2014

Zip Wire for Charity - Scream it out for Cancer

Laggan Outdoors' longest zip wire in Scotland has provided the inspiration for Fiona Colley to organise what she hopes could become an annual cancer fundraising event. 

The Big Zip - Scream it Out for Cancer is to be held over two days this September, the 7th and 8th, where it's hoped anywhere between 100 and 180 will scream their way down the wire. And to help reach their target numbers, they need as many people as possible to sign up. Registration costs £20 with a minimum sponsorship of £100 to be split between Marie Curie, Macmillan and Brest Cancer Care. 

Fiona, who has been diagnosed with breast cancer explains: "Whether you are living with cancer yourself or are a relative, friend or partner, why not give it a go and help get rid of all those pent up emotions while raising money for the three cancer charities." 
If you are interested in taking part, please contact Fiona by email: fiona@screamitoutforcancer.co.uk

Meeting Maxwell - Celebrating Science through Dance

A new campaign to highlight Scotland’s greatest scientist is to be launched in his home region of Galloway.

James Clerk Maxwell laid the foundations for the electronic communications so vital to today’s world with his electromagnetic theory of light and radio waves. Many regard him as one of the three greatest physicists of all time – along with Newton and Einstein.

The aim of the new campaign, Meeting Maxwell, is to bring the story of Maxwell to the people of Scotland, commemorating him in music, song and dance. The campaign will be launched with a unique ceilidh in Dumfries on the evening of Saturday 27 April. The ceilidh will feature a new dance, Maxwell’s Waves, created by traditional Scottish dancing teacher from Dufftown, Jessie Stuart. The dance is unusual, with four lines of four dancers forming first a square and then a wheel, and the steps build up a wavelike
pattern. The dance also features a person carrying a light.

“It’s a beautiful dance,” says Rebecca, “and the music for it was composed by Freeland Barbour, who will be playing at the ceilidh with his band, The Occasionals. The tunes for the dance are called Glenlair and Maxwell’s Waves. The dance is on YouTube, and the band will also have a dance caller with them.”

Also at the ceilidh will be singer Andy Munro, who with his daughter Flora has recorded the song ‘James Clerk Maxwell’ written by Howie Firth.

The ceilidh, to be held in Easterbrook Hall on Saturday 27 April, will start at 7 pm. Tickets are available online from http://maxwellceilidh.eventbrite.co.uk and at the door.

Maxwell’s achievements were dazzling, and include the production of the world’s first colour photograph; the foundation of the modern theory of gases; and the proof by mathematics that the rings of Saturn are made of rock fragments. The American physicist Richard Feynman said that in ten thousand years from now Maxwell’s work on light would be seen as the most significant event of the whole of the 19th century.

Yet in his native land of Scotland, Maxwell’s name is far from being as familiar as that of Newton and Einstein. Determined activity to raise awareness of him has been carried out by Scotland’s leading scientific organisations and there is now a statue of him in George Street in Edinburgh. But no British postal stamp has yet honoured his work – although many other countries around the world have done so, from Mali to Mexico, and from the US to Germany.

Local artist sets feet on fire?!

Poorboy Theatre Company is organising a sponsored Firewalk – a group of 40 willing and able brave souls who will walk across burning embers, at dusk, in the heart of the Scottish countryside, cheered on by a piper and drummer and dozens of other participants for a good cause.

Local artist Will Levi Marshall is going to have a go if he raises the cash you can donate here to make sure he burns his feet!
https://www.justgiving.com/Will-levi-Marshall/

More info here
http://www.creativedundee.com/2013/04/would-you-walk-through-fire/

And link to the poorboy promo here
http://vimeo.com/26426071

May the Fourth Be With You/Science IS Cool

Dumfries & Galloway Wild Science Family MAYHEM! Day is back for the fourth time on Saturday 4th May. So it’s a case of ‘May the Fourth Be With You’ and a Star Wars flavoured programme that will appeal to mums and dads, kids and teachers and all manner of wild grandparents! And everything is FREE.

Wild Science Family MAYHEM! Day is packed with all things science from the eye-poppingly amazing to the downright weird. The doors open at 10am at the University of Glasgow Crichton Campus where workshops, stalls, displays and demonstrations for everyone will be on offer, much of which comes straight to Dumfries from Glasgow Science Festival. Find the Starlab Planetarium and investigate the science of Star Wars. Meet an inflatable R2D2… and build your own R2D2 in motorised K’NEX. Discover Lego Mindstorms and SpheroRobots; giant bacteria furry toys; make your own woodpecker and teach it to peck; get soldering with MadLab, or launch your own Bottle Rocket. And every household needs some Star Wars fridge magnets – choose R2D2, C3P0, Darth Vader or Stormtroopers. Or get a pulse-raising interdisciplinary experience with Glasgow Science Centre Fit-Lab in Dumfries.

Professor Martin Hendry Professor of Gravitational Astrophysics and Cosmology at the University of Glasgow will introduce the ‘Physics of Star Wars – Fantasy or Reality?’ display. If you have questions about the science of Star Wars - spaceships, planets, weapons or anything else – here is the man to tackle them.

Catch up with new workshop ‘Science is Cool’, brought to Dumfries by Heriot-Watt University. Science is always cool. Really cool science is called ‘cryogenics’. ‘Science is Cool’ explores the effect of temperatures of almost minus 200 degrees Centigrade. Find out about low temperature science, with a twist, at this interactive mini-show. Suitable for all ages.

And there’s an unusual opportunity to find the art in science. Poet and educator Jean Atkin offers Quantum Poetics, two lighthearted and exploratory short workshops. Jean will help participants find their way into making a short poem inspired by science, using appropriately ‘Mayhem! Day’ unorthodox and experimental techniques. Expect both laughter and some serious creativity. 

The workshops are at: 11am – 12 noon and 1.30pm – 2.30pm. Free entry (age 14 to 104) but please book
(rebecca.crawford@glasgow.ac.uk ) as places on the workshops will be limited.

'Just remember that your standing on a planet that's evolving...'

And now for something completely different...

Dumfries and Galloway's Science Festival 2013 is on it's way with everything from THE Science Pub Quiz to 'action packed science demonstrations'. New for 2013 will be two author events:

1. Jessica Fox, author of ‘Three Things You Need to Know About Rockets’ kindly hosted by The Station Hotel, Dumfries, at 7pm on Tuesday 30th April.

2. Sara Maitland, talking about working on a book based on conversations with scientists - trying to create a realm of the imagination, where science carries the same metaphorical richness as – for example landscape or spirituality. This event is kindly hosted by The Powfoot Golf Hotel at 7pm on Wednesday 1st May.

For more info about these (and other events) hit the Science Festival website here

Buttkicking Defense at Old School

Might be just the thing for one of those challenging arts admin meetings....?

"Fairy Bod Mother is TOO excited about the launch of our new project.... BUTTKICK DEFENCE!! What is this I hear you say?! BKD is the self defence training arm of Team Buttkick offering the Personal Defence Readiness (PDR) ™ programme. 

PDR is based on Tony Blauer's S.P.E.A.R. System™ which is the first genetically and behaviourally inspired self defence course of it’s kind. It is the only self defence system that fully integrates the body’s automatic reflex responses and instinctive survival mechanisms making the S.P.E.A.R. System™ the easiest, most natural way to protect yourself. Our programme also includes unique and patented learning models but most importantly, we have pioneered research on how to manage and overcome fear "

You heard right, there's a new kind of magic flurrying about Dumfries, head to 'The Fairy Bod Mother' at The Old School here for more info or to book here

Young artist turned Myth-seeker

These can be wide and varied, from the Young Farmer's stories that no one could quite believe, to the vague memories of your grandparents - I am looking to build an archive of personal histories (especially those with a link to where you are from/grew up/live now/holiday-ed in), the small stories help to build up an overall picture and - possibly - identity?
Katie Anderson
(Based in both Kirkcudbright and Brydekirk, Annan)

First Big Data Farm in Scotland Planned for Ecclefechan

from the Sunday Herald
A decade-long campaign to bring the booming "big data" processing industry to Scotland looks set to bear fruit early in 2013 when a Scottish start-up unveils a "radically new" data centre model near Ecclefechan in Dumfries and Galloway.

The Sunday Herald understands that Scotia Global has signed a memorandum of understanding with one of the world's biggest electrical and electronics firms to build what is claimed to be the world's first "industrial estate" for data on 40 hectares of Dumfriesshire farmland. Details will be announced in January, with construction slated to start in May.

Apple's data farm in North Carolina

The development is being touted as the "world's first truly expandable, build-as-you-grow" data centre model, saving at least one-third on both capital expenditure and operating costs. 

read the full story here

Creetown Dreamin'

How cool is this? It is Quarry Garden in Shanghai using an abandoned quarry as an extension of the Shangai Botanical garden.....does make you wonder about Kirkmabreck at Creetown - no? 
Thanks to Charles Blanc of the Watershed+ project in Calgary for the image from Shanghai

One of the quarries at Kirmabreck

Magical History Tours

Dumfries Cycle Club c.1900

The Dumfries Museum has joined forces with two local cycling organisations to create four cycle tours with a difference - exploring the hidden history of the area. The rides will be easy paced and a reasonable length (around 15-20 miles, which isn't as far as it sounds) and for the most part will stick to cycle paths and quiet rural roads. The tours will run on the last Saturday of every month (except December) and the first one will be on the 27th October, starting at 10:30 am at the Museum. It will explore the history of the Nith's Docks and take in Dock Park, Glencaple and Kingholm Quay. It's entirely free and there's no need to book, just turn up on the day.
 

More information:
http://cyclingdumfries.wordpress.com/autumn-winter-rides/

The Dude Abides

from Colin Tennant

Will the real Dude please stand up - video here

Ring that bell

Well as the morning's get lighter, the sky gets brighter and the days get longer, there's something waiting for us all in our collective sheds and garages... You know what to get on.








Posted by MMac

Crime and Crochet...

There's an intriguing story developing that involves crocheting, an innocent abroad, the UK legal system and how in this day of spam and phishing a plea for help can raise the most cynical of eyebrows. 



Agata Oleksiak, aka Olek, a Polish born American artist, according to her blog arrived in London for a couple of professional engagements and to donate some of her work to a charitable organization. After the charitable event an altercation with a drunk man ended up with Olek falling foul of the Kafkaesque English legal system. Held in remand for five days and then subject to an 8am - 6pm curfew and the added delight of being forced to wear an ASBO bracelet, Olek finds herself in a rather stressful situation where she's not allowed to leave the UK. There's no trial date, her legal aid lawyer is alleged to have messed up, the as yet unspecified case, she has limited funds and a need to raise money, clear her name and get back home to New York...


A plea to US friends for help in funding produced much incredulity and assumptions that her on-line life had been hacked and any plea for assistance, must be part of an elaborate scam.


Yet, there are links to her lawyer, and Tony's Gallery  which is exhibiting her show in London in January 2012. That takes a lot of brass neck 


A Facebook friend in the US Savannah Spirit  received an email and the link to Olek's blog and put it up on her facebook page. Over the course of the evening, sensible realistic people sensing a scam, urged caution. Then Olek herself joined the conversation, this was still not enough for some, who asked that she call a friend. She duly did this and Cat Weaver who runs Art Machine blog posted the following piece. This is still not enough for some people to believe that a plea for help in funding a lawyer is genuine.


So the arts community is faced with this dilemma, do we believe that someone who does yarn bombing for a living has fallen foul of the system and in exasperation has made a plea for help or do we simply adopt the cold hearted cynical view that any plea for money is bound to be a scam? Naturally, those of an even more cynical bent might view this as a scam not on the generous hearted, but the actual art world, no stranger to hoaxes and scams itself...


I make no judgements here, but I have called the Lawyer's office and am waiting on confirmation that Olek is actually a client and that he has approved her blog appeal.

Posted by MMac


  

Surviving Hurricane Bawbag

As Hurricane Bawbag turns over bins and causes hardened Scots to turn up an occasional collar. Here's how Momus aka Nicholas Currie views the phenomenon of weather reporting.