1. Art and Diseño

Dearest Scotland
Friends, inspiring Scots and all round bad-ass dream team Sarah Drummond and Cat Cochrane formed Dearest Scotland to give a democratic opportunity to people to write a letter
to the sort of Scotland they want to see. Bringing their tools across the country, they are using a creative and expressive approach to participation. They are planning to publish all
the letters they receive in a book next year and showcase them in an exhibition at the Scottish Parliament. We caught up with Cat to pick her brains on the project.
It actually started even before I met Sarah. It was her, Lauren and another lassie who was at Snook. They do service design in communities and were in a meeting with people in East
Dunbartonshire, redesigning health services with them. They recognised that there were so many great ideas from just ordinary people, but no platform for it. They reckoned that the
mainstream media isn’t interested in what people have got to say, politicians are only interested if there’s an election, and so this was really a needed platform for these really wise
ideas coming from the grassroots.
Sarah wanted it to be totally egalitarian and inclusive. Where everyone in Scotland, no matter what class, no matter where they’re from (we’ve had a lot of letters from Scots living
abroad, in Canada and America) can get involved. From the ages of 6 right through to 106.
At the end of the last year, in the year of the referendum, it was the time to ramp it up, and she asked me if I wanted to be involved with the work. I said brilliant, I love Dearest Scotland,
and so that took us through from March when we had the launch in the Glad cafe. And since the launch we’ve just being doing events like the one at the Arches with the Common
Weal and in cafes. Over the summer we did a wee bit of a tour and went to Dunkeld, Greenock, the Glasgow Women’s library - places like that.
’s been tricky because people love the idea of Dearest Scotland but see trying to get people to actually write their letter? It’s quite tough. In the year of the referendum, when
everybody’s mind’s are a little bit open to the future of Scotland, we try to get them to not just write their letter about the referendum. It’s trying to think 10, 20, 30 years down the line
to what Scotland could look like. What their version of Scotland could look like and maybe in 10, 20, 30 years we can look back, collate it and think “Oh thats a nice archive of what
it was like thinking about the future of now”.
When we have our workshops we have little prompt cards on the tables and we ask strangers to sit together to spark a wee bit of discussion so the prompts are things like: ‘What
will a Scottish education look like in 2030?” “What will the future of a Scottish High Street look like?” Because of that, you get a nice selection of letters that are about education or
about energy or about employment or about social justice, and we’re hoping to get enough so that we can actually put them into categories so the book could have the categories
that readers could go straight to. When we publish the book, any money over and above publishing cost will go back into literacy projects in Scotland.
I went to speak to our local MSP and the MSP that’s connected to my college, and they loved the idea of Dearest Scotland. They put forward a members debate motion which they
had the other day in parliament. It’s contradictory because although we try to stay apolitical, it’s exposure and it gets people thinking. When we had the debate, suddenly a lot of
teachers were getting in touch and asking if they could take it into the school’s curriculum. We’ve also had people getting in touch with us from India and Iran to ask for tools for
Dearest India and Dearest Iran.
My mum wrote a letter for example. In her letter she said that she want’s an independent Scotland because as far as she can remember everything that’s gone wrong has been blamed
on the Tories and its time to just have a change and have a hand in our own affairs. Because at least if we fuck up, its by the work of a Scottish hand, and somehow that’s much better.
And when I read her letter I cried, because I believe she is speaking for a whole generation of women. There’s a lot of letters that are like that: reflective about the future, because there
are things that can be learned about the past that can take us forward. I’ve loved working on the project. It’s been a privilege to sit down and read the letters. They’re quite visionary.
Published in Glasgow by Northern Renewal
www.northernrenewal.com
@renewal_north
facebook.com/northernrenewal
Borders features a range of work: from litho prints to scottish
rap and in the languages of Scots, English and Gàidhlig.
Featured:
Loki and Black Lantern Music (interview)
Elisaveta Maltseva
Map Not To Scale (mixed media)
Nikki Robson
Thoughts of an ex pat (poetry)
Samantha Jack
Lino Cut (lino cut print)
Find the template for your Dearest Scotland letter after unfolding the issue. Feel free to write your letter there, and either scan, photocopy or cut it out to send to Dearest Scotland, to be part of their historical archive.
CONTENTS
Michael Kelly
Featured Cover
Editors
Editors’ note
Marcas Mac an Tuairneir
Nàiseantachd/ Nationalism (poetry)
Alasdair Wallace
Trickle Down (monotype print)
John McGlade
Far Right (poetry)
Peter Stewart
The BS Translator (script)
Ann MacKinnon
My Country (poetry)
Features: Dearest Scotland (letters)
Featured: Lateral North
(Atlas, Interview)
Simon Forsythe
A Yes a Day (photography)
Elyse Jamieson
A Long Distance Relationship (prose)
Ross McLeary
A Tangerine Dream (short story)
Loki
Black Lantern Music
We met Loki AKA Darren McGarvey and Bram from Black Lantern
Music to discuss their collaboration on Loki’s upcoming album,
GIMP, the crowdfunding campaign which made it all possible.
Funders have already received their album, and it will be released
for general sale after the Referendum. We chatted Hip Hop,
privilege, imperialism and Sci-Fi
D: It came about because me and Bram were talking
from time to time. Bram was kinda supporting me
with wee things and he became a go-to person for a
bit of advice and I started to feel like, maybe I could
go to Black Lantern and just partner with them.
A: So you were building on what was already there?
BORDERS. These invisible lines have long been challenged, erased, redrawn
and redefined. To some, borders are a new territory of experience; the chance to
delight in our differences. For others they are something to fear and to be fought
over. Do these boundaries define our experience? Or in the digital age of global
capitalism, where every high street looks the same, have they become irrelevant?
As our wee patch of green shudders on the verge of change, Scotland is enlivened
with creativity and debate. We are witnessing dialogue about the future of our
country on a scale that Scotland has never seen. The debate on constitutional
reform has brought a new gust of life not only into Scottish politics, but also the
civic and creative life of the country too, empowering a range of new voices to
emerge. We are thrilled to present some of these new voices in BORDERS.
Democracy is not just something to have at the heart of our politics, but something
to aim for in our own work too. With this in mind we invited issue one’s contributors
to return as guest editors of issue two, and were grateful for their role in finalising
the choice of works you see featured in this zine. Northern Renewal is unique in
this cooperative approach to documenting Scottish arts, which belongs to no one
exclusively, but is a community legacy.
I: Wonderful. Ms. Wantoo, sorry for the delay, please
continue.
BS TRANSLATOR: (heavy Scottish accent) Alright there
hey, is this junk on?
I: Erm, goodday? Testing?
SFX: Static stops.
I: Almost there… hokum, nonsense, gobbledegook…
aannnnddddd bullshit mode, activated.
SFX: Fiddling with gizmo: beeps and static
I: Oh, sorry to interrupt, Ms. Wantoo: it seems our
listeners are having some troubles. Please stand by
while we install our bullshit translator.
DW: Certainly. You see, basic economic theory argues
that -
I: Thank you both for coming. Now, Dinah, I wonder if
you could begin the discussion. You believe Scotland
should remain part of the UK, yes?
NODDIE CHANCE: Hello.
I: And Mr. Noddie Chance, defending Scottish
Independence.
DINAH WANTOO: Good-day.
I
NTERVIEWER: Welcome back to Overview, examining
the case for Scottish Independence. Here today we
have Mrs. Dinah Wantoo, arguing the case for unity-
THE TRANSLATOR
From Marcas Mc’s Gàidhlig to Ann MacK’s Scots, a resident expat’s fears to
the diverse faces of a Yes vote, the work featured in BORDERS captures the
plurality of Scottish identity, exploring, as Elyse Jamieson does in ‘a long distance
relationship’ whether this makes us different or the same, and whether this is the
question we should be asking.
A&K
So in a way this works on two different levels: where
people who don’t know about my stuff will get the
story and for people who are fans and know all the
details, I wanted it to be something that they could
really enjoy and be excited about as well. It’s coauthored in a way because they’ve helped to create it.
A: Is it like a confidence thing, you know, Nationally?
B: The best science fiction is always very close to the
present. I’ve been writing about Scottish hip hop for
10 years and I’ve always fervently believed that there
would come a time when the Scottish accent in rap
would become a selling point rather than a hindrance,
and I don’t think we’re there yet, but I think we’re
getting there.
B: It was the ambition of the project that attracted
me to it. Science fiction is one of my favourite things,
and this is a dystopian spin on hip hop. Nobody had
really done that in Scottish hip hop before - I think
it’s the first Scottish Hip Hop concept album really.
To tell a narrative over the course of a whole album, I
can’t think of any other examples of that.
DW: Ah, Thank you. As I was saying, it makes no
economic sense for Scotland to leave the UK: Our
production capability is limited, and we need the capital
bulk of London traders. We need to engage with our
Southern neighbours to forge a vibrant future.
SFX: Brief burst of static
BS TRANSLATOR: Look, we’re skint and on the dole.
But Alan Sugar lives in London, right? So let’s go with
Britain, should be good for a punt.
I: Hm, excellent points, Ms Wantoo. Mr. Chance, do you
wish to retaliate? Can Scotland provide a solution to the
economic problem?
NC: Well of course we can, you only need to look at our
vast reservoirs of oil: the North Sea alone produces 950
000 m³ of the stuff every day – found in fault bounded
anticlinal traps, you see – and with the rise of investment
preemptive of Scottish Independence, contracting can
only ever boom.
SFX: Static, beeps.
BS TRANSLATOR: Maybe because oil? I don’t know
how oil works. Do YOU know how oil works? I don’t
know how oil works.
INTERVIEWER: Interesting, interesting. But both of you
must admit that there’s more to independence than cold
cash?
NC: Of course... while we’re keen to avoid the isolationist
nationalist narrative,
BS TRANSLATOR: It’s no’ about William Wallace,
NC: That, uh, that’s what I think voters should consider.
I: Stop translating!
END
BS TRANSLATOR: Nobody knows nothing about anything and our country is doomed, I’m off for a drink and
a fag.
I: No, please don’t… Well, they’re off. I’m sure our
audience will agree that some fascinating points have
been made.
SFX: Rustle as interviewees leave the studio. Slamming door.
BS TRANSLATOR: Whinge, whinge, Haggis, whinge.
NC: Yes, for once I agree with Dinah, I think he’s very
unfair-
BS TRANSLATOR: Whinge, whinge, Love Actually,
whinge.
DW: That’s it! I’ve had enough. Your translator is quite
rude.
BS TRANSLATOR: TOWIE and Royal Weddings and
that.
DW: (listening, starts to back-pedal in a panic). But, but
- at the same time, it’s vital to remember that Scotland is
a part of Britain, which has a vibrant culture.
BS TRANSLATOR: All we got is David Bowie.
DW: I’m – I believe that to deal with the psychological is
a red herring, and we should-
BS TRANSLATOR: Naw fair! Braveheart’s so cool!
BS TRANSLATOR: Braveheart wants yer vote.
BS TRANSLATOR: but it’s a wee bit about William
Wallace.
NC: we nevertheless insist that self-determinism is
important.
B: It’s an essential component of Hip Hop full stop. It’s
a working class movement, it started in working class
neighbourhoods. And I say that as someone who is
very middle class and raps, I know that I can’t fully
embody what it is to be a rapper. If you look at Hip
Hop internationally it’s a working class movement and
it will hopefully remain so.
DW: I’ll have to interrupt you here, Noddie, as I think
you’re telling a falsehood.
D: To be honest, I would hope that. I mean, if I
create something it’s mine until I put it out, then it’s
up to whoever. I want to compete with the canon of
Scottish History, I don’t want to compete with the
other MCs. This album, is basically just a rebuttal to
the way that they think Hip Hop should be done. I’ve
made an album that sounds like its in the future, and
it’s just Boom Bah! People talk about progression.
What they’re really talking about is a change of style,
I’m talking about pushing the boundaries of what you
can actually write about. Look at it from what is ok to
say, what is not ok to say, and that is what the real
progression’s got to be.
K: Do you ever fear that people could take this accent
and these stories away from their context and giving
a different meaning?
K: Do you think that class associated authenticity
becomes a prominent feature of the hip hop scene in
Scotland?
Real hip hop is about activism. The thing about hip
hop is you can only watch it for so long before you
want to participate in it.
D: No because, the dialect is like a veil that the
language is wearing so whatever’s in the language
is what’ll get right through. So if its infused with
something meaningful then it’ll connect. So it’s really
trying to strengthen on this culture we’ve got at the
moment in Hip Hop where people feel that they can
be themselves and just about empowering people to
do that.
B: It’s that cultural cringe and I think Scotland’s
stepping away from it, and it has been like that for
decades. But to give credit where its due, within
the hip hop scene, it has levelled up seriously in the
past few years. It speaks for itself now. It doesn’t
need anyone to come along and say its ok to have a
Scottish accent. These people are building their own
culture.
K: Do you ever worry that Scottish Hip Hop would
become twee?
The notable thing about Dr Who is that if you jump
into Dr Who then you can start from any point
and engage with it and then you can learn all the
backstory later. So what I’ve tried with Gimp is to do
the same. I wanted to go back to some of my early
music and find the stories that really connected with
[fans] to work it into this.
D: Becci got me into Dr Who, and it got me thinking
about how you make time travel happen in a music
thing, in audio. How could you actually create the
sensation for the listener that they were being thrust
forward through time? I started to click together that
it was these different stories intersecting at different
points. And when I started writing about it she said:
“Do you know what this is like?” And she explained
about Lanark, which I haven’t read. And then when I
was describing it to the artist who did the front cover,
Oliver, he says, “Oh like Lanark!” And it really struck
me that this must be something that’s in the Scottish
ether!
A: Is there a Scottish connection with the Sci-fi stuff?
It reminded me of Alasdair Gray’s Lanark so I wasn’t
sure…
D: The albums a dystopia that presents a future
country that’s called New Glasgow. So Scotland?
The name Scotland’s dropped, its just a big mega
city in the central belt and the population’s been
moved, so there’s 5 million people living in Glasgow
and there is no Edinburgh! It’s just New Glasgow.
The idea is like there’s a pillar in the middle where
the professional class live and they live in there to
protect culture from the slums. Tae be honest it’s no
too far removed from what I’m experiencing just now
in life anyway.
D: Yes, it’s really helped me focus on just the writing,
and commissioning the other visual artists to do
different things to help tell the story more so the
project exists on a lot of different platforms.
The connection between art and politics is never more
poignant than in moments of change. People in Scotland are
energised by the referendum debate, and creatives are no
exception. In its dedication to documenting the arts in Scotland, Northern Renewal is now turning to address this pivotal
moment in our collective, creative experience of civic life.
(believe me,
i’m trying.)
and because the former is less likely to accept the face printed on my fiver i am supposed to view this as different?
at fifty miles south or sixty degrees north it was all doon sooth to me regardless of which side of The Borders you were on because a full degree didn’t so much as get me to
Scotland. that sweeping generalisation is not seen as a tenable position here, or anymore, and yet i can swipe right and be dating someone in england just as easily as i could
be dating someone in glasgow
/
there is, therefore, less than zero point one five of a latitudinal degree between my current location and An English Location.
this also translates to approximately five hundred and fifty six (point six) miles north of the most southerly point of the united kingdom, but only approximately fifty miles north
of the most southerly point of scotland.
and while four degrees of separation may not seem very much
for roughly one thousand eight hundred and twenty six days (give or take), this nine-point-eight-on-a-scale-of-one-to-ten northern person has lived at a latitude of approximately fifty six degrees north.
/
nae bad.
and, you see, as someone who lived at that latitude of approximately sixty degrees north for approximately six thousand five hundred and seventy four days of their life, nine
point eight felt, in both the grand british and scottish scheme of things
the calculation of this figure was based upon a number of things – primarily, that at that exact moment, i was sitting in my parents’ house, in the middle of the sea, approximately fifty miles south of the most northerly point of both scotland and the united kingdom.
i answered nine point eight.
combine the quantitative and the qualitative and give a made up statistical reason which legitimises my otherwise entirely emotional point of view.
not least that i have spent most of my life in a box
And yet aw that is you
is aye there, your brawness
staps me wi wantin
but insteed o the canny
accepin o yir scuffin
there’s a new lifie in yir step.
a long distance relationshiP
but i was trying to impress and when posed with these sorts of problems i like to do what i like to think i do best:
i found the question problematic for many geographical and perceptual reasons
i was once asked, on a scale of one to ten.
“how northern are you?”
Hatred
Of people you never met.
Pride
In things you didn’t make.
Nationalism
Thoughts of an ex pat
I left the border balaclava’d behind me.
An imaginary line my teacher said,
but its real shadow
daubed slogans on our walls, shot
division through neighbours,
demanded we define ourselves
in painted kerb and brandished flag.
That border turned me immigrant.
I am conflicted by the threat
of another, redrawn
an unsettled settler.
Far Right
Is it just us of has Scotland got that creative tingle?
But there’s a split-new
teuchness in yer grasp,
a haud that’s nae sae supple.
Like weel kent auld shin,
you rowe your hairt aboot
me.
You haud me tae ye.
My Country
Gràin
Air feadhainn nach do thachair riut a-riamh.
Pròis
À rudan nach d’ rinn thu.
Nàiseantachd
A Tangerine Dream
It was clear the end was nigh when, in the year of our lord 2015, Dundee
United won the UEFA Champion’s League. Even though the fans of
Manchester United, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich had watched their
teams lose one by one, it was only after the match ended that they saw
that the final whistle for humanity had blown.
It was a flagrant, ridiculous result. The devil’s work. Football fans across
the world united in protest. This would not stand.
Protest camps appeared in every major city across the globe.
Demonstrations and sit in protests occurred in London, Manchester and
Edinburgh. Xabi Alonso went on hunger strike. Wayne Rooney started
a petition on Change.org.
It only truly began to escalate towards the end of the first week when
headlines like “Arabs Dominate Europe: Protests Escalating Daily”
went viral across the Atlantic. America would not stand by and let this
happen. The United Kingdom parliament sought to de-escalate events
but were told to butt out. The Scottish Government, feeling that this
was a devolved matter, stood in unflinching solidarity with their nation’s
finest footballing success in decades. With Dundee they would remain
united. They would stand with their Arab brothers.
This inflamed America further. Seeing no other option, America declared
war on Dundee United.
The invasion was a delicate operation to organise. Whilst having a distinct,
numbers advantage (The United States Army outnumbered Dundee
United by about 22572 to 1), the United States army moved cautiously:
they were acutely aware of the impressive youth development system
successive managers had overseen in the last decade. They were also
aware that traditional camouflage was rendered useless on the vibrant
orange and black terrain.
Only when the US Army dropped their nuclear payload above Tannadice
did they realised how prepared Dundee United were. As the bomb
reached ground level the stadium rolled forward, the bomb deflected
off a laser shield and limply rolled down the offside of the building,
disappearing forever.
Shortly after, Dundee United released a statement through a blindfolded
and confused Jim Delahunt. “If you do not cease your aggression we
will be forced to deploy Jackie McNamara.”
Brian Taylor of the BBC secured an interview with a balaclaved man
who only referred to himself as a Tannadice Trendy. “So. Can you tell
us, does Dundee United have nuclear capability?” The Trendy stared
at him in stolid silence for 30 seconds before replying, “I’m no gonnae
answer a stupid question like that.”
Behind closed doors peace talks were arranged. The President of
the United States of America was keen to see a resolution after their
miscalculation with the bomb. In the interest of fairness they agreed to
meet on a mega-yacht in the North Atlantic ocean, equidistant between
Tannadice and the White House. The President, nervous but keen to
come out of the whole situation looking strong, spoke of cooperation,
of new-found respect. Of the desire for both sides to resolve their
differences peacefully.
Two weeks later, on board the HMS Jim McLean, the President sat
waiting at an official dinner for the Dundee United ambassador to show.
At exactly a quarter to three in the afternoon, in international waters, the
HMS Jim McLean sank to the bottom of the ocean. No one survived.
“Sacrifices had to be made,” came the cryptic public statement from
the Dundee board. In an unusual national address, the Vice-President
announced they were updating their Axis of Evil. Iraq. Iran. North Korea,
Tannadice Park.
The following morning, Dundee vanished under a cloud of smoke. A
week later, when the smoke cleared, Tannadice Park was gone. All that
remained was a giant orange and black hole in the ground filled to the
brim with Mitre products. Mainly footballs. Five hours later an unusual
signal came from an unusual location and the signal was broadcast live
to the world.
The picture flickered for a few seconds before they saw Jackie McNamara
stood before a series of elaborate computers and touch-screen panels.
Behind him, drawing the eye far stronger than his chiselled good looks,
was a window filled with stars.
It was only at this stage that the Secretary of Defence combed over
the data and realised that there weren’t even any Arabic players in the
first eleven at the time and that the whole thing had been an elaborate
misunderstanding. Nonetheless, nobody had uncovered any intelligence
suggesting Dundee United had an operational space program.
“In the name of Paul Hegarty, we leave this place. Finn Døssing, watch over us
all. We take the next step forward. The next big step for Mankind, for Scottish
Football: Dundee United in Space.”
And with that, they were gone.
Aren’t Americans awful?
Always driving
On the wrong side
Of the world
My idea with it was to try and create something that
was compelling enough that someone who didn’t
understand Glaswegian would learn it. It was just to
try and invert the traditionally imperial way of looking
at it which is: drop your accent if you want to get
anywhere in life. Renounce who you are, and a lot of
people have done great out of that, but I think there’s a
strong argument to be made for retaining your identity
in that it diversifies global culture and that makes
things more rich and real. Its very subtle, but it’s a
big, serious thing when you cognitively renounce your
identity and automatically speak American the first
time you try to rap. It really begs the question, what
else do we do automatically? That we don’t think?
And that’s what I’m really trying to get to underneath
the argument about accent, its not really about rap its
about the mechanics of imperialism.
08/09/2014 12:52
Borders Indesign.indd 1
200MW
50MW
50MW
50MW
200MW
100MW
100MW
20
50 KM
PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT
PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PR
HYDRO POWER
PERCENTAGE OF EUROPE’S
WIND RESOURCE FOUND
WITHIN SCOTLAND
OFFSHORE WIND
ONSHORE WIND
PEAK
ENERGY
REQUIREMENT
OF
SCOTLAND
10.5GW
WIND ENERGY CAPACITY
OF SCOTLAND
159GW
ONSHORE WIND
PEAK
ENERGY
REQUIREMENT
OF
SCOTLAND
10.5GW
WIND ENERGY CAPACITY
OF SCOTLAND
159GW
ENERGY POTENTIAL
Scotland has a natural abundance of renewable
energy potential. Will it also be at the forefront
of renewable technology development, creating
institutions to educate and to develop future
renewable technologies?
Could the mass of renewable energy potential
enable students to test realistic prototypes across
Scotland?
WAVE & TIDAL
SCOTLAND’S SHARE OF
EUROPE’S TIDAL ENERGY
25%
SCOTLAND’S SHARE OF
EUROPE’S WAVE RESOURCE
10%
WAVE & TIDAL
SCOTLAND’S SHARE OF
EUROPE’S TIDAL ENERGY
25%
SCOTLAND’S SHARE OF
EUROPE’S WAVE RESOURCE
10%
Can tourism and energy production work simultaneously alongside one another in a future Scotland?
LEGEND
PEAK TIDAL FLOW 2-4M/S
TIDAL FLOW 0.75 -2 M/S
NRIP SITES
PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT
Contains Ordnance Survey data ©
Crown copyright and database 2013
CROWN ESTATE
SOURCES:
BRCC, 2011
10GW
GENERATING
CAPACITY
PLANNED FOR SCOTTISH
WATERS
25%
POSSIBLE NO OF +5MW
SCHEMES AVAILABLE IN
SCOTLAND
7,000
TOTAL HYDRO GENERATION
CAPACITY IN SCOTLAND
1.5GW
SCOTLAND
TIDAL ENERGY POTENTIAL
100 KM
TRANSVERSE MERCATOR PROJECTION
1:2,000,000
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T: And kelp is used in just about everything, toothpaste, pharmaceuticials, fertilizer, food.
G: The projects are to provoke. To a certain extent we don’t believe any of them will happen on the
large scale. I mean, are you going to have a 30 berth container terminal in Orkney? Probably not, but
its nice to think about the possibilities.
T: I think it would be nice to see something that we’ve done in the Atlas happen in real life. That’s
actually helped people to develop something that’s beneficial to their community specifically. That
would be a landmark.
K: And what would be your final goal? Your success?
T: The Hebridean islands and the Orkneys are two very specific case studies and essentially, we could
do this for every single community in Scotland. Looking at all these places in more detail. The limits of
what Scotland can do is unbelieveable - people need to know what’s on their doorstep.
G: In Orkney alone there’s so much untapped potential among many industries, this is just one. I
suppose the Atlas was about the potential of the whole of Scotland. Its looking at everything that we
wanted to look at.
A: So in terms of untapped potential for scotland, what kind of scale?
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G: Well the Orkney project was because we asked the question: ‘Is Scotland a Nordic country?’
The Orkney and Shetland islands had the biggest relationship with these countries. And when we
researched the islands, we found this proposal for a container terminal in Orkney, and we realised
that this would be the place. So it informed the research. And everything started to fit into place. The
proposal was to put one berth for a ship, so it was absolutely tiny. We started to find out why it was
proposed for there, and it was because of new trading routes through the Arctic. We visited and heard
that the population of Orkney would rise by like 5%. And we took that and said, well let’s imagine
it rose by 500%. And then immediately when you do that, even though its just a number, it gives
you more interesting architectural possibility, and even if that doesn’t happen it’s at least provoking
people into thinking what things could be like.
K (To G): So why Orkney?
A: And independence is a redesigning in itself
K: So to go back to the original project, Hebrides and Orkney. Is that indicative or where you guys
come from?
G: But your project was also informed by your time in Sweden
T:Yeah I saw a lot of parallels between the Swedes and, particularly with the people in the Highlands
and Islands, historically anyway. Obviously, they’ve built themselves up along the coastline, and
that’s what all these small communities used to do. Piers were the center of these communities. And
these piers are still physically at the centre, but they are disregarded. So our project was a series of
interventions to keep the pier active throughout the 12 months of the year, so you could bring some
consistency to the direct communities that were there, and to try and hem the flow of people leaving.
K: What kind of interventions?
T: For example, in a small bay on Harris we had a sailing school which obviously generated springsummer-autumn activity. And perhaps when its not so busy, we’re looking to transform it into a mussel
farm. During the inactive months, the structure that holds the sailing school is a farm as well, so it has
another function. We look at multifunctionality and adaptability in all that we do.
YES A DAY
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In his project ‘A Yes a Day’ photographer and filmmaker Simon Forsythe brings
together his two great passions: independence and photography. Between
the 1st of June and the referendum, he set out to capture a portrait a day of a
person who is in favour of Scottish Independence, and in doing so to document
the different nationalities that live here and call Scotland home. Also part of the
Documenting Yes project, Simon’s projects have taken him up and down the
country as he travelled to the Isles of Harris and Lewis and through Ullapool in
search of Yes’s. Not that he has to travel so far: “Finding Yes supporters wasn’t
the challenge, the challenge was actually approaching and speaking to people I
had never met.” Simon says (noting that it normally took him about 5 minutes to
find a Yes supporter), “ the amount of support for Independence is inspiring.” The
resulting work is a series of optimistic and thoughtful portraits that convey the
deep conviction of many Scots for independence across age, gender and race.
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With special thanks to our guest editors Claire Barclay, Anton Zhyzhyn,
G: Yeah, look at kelp farming. If you look before the highland clearances, more than 60% of their diet
was kelp. It was huge then, and after the clearances that whole industry died.
A: For example with offshore farming.
0
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where our letters come from and we can credit your input
to the collective vision of Dearest Scotland
G: Okay so for example with a fish farm, they’re known for releasing pollutants into the water, but
if you pair this with a kelp farm, which absorbs pollutants, you have them both working in synergy.
T: Symbols of capitalism.
G: Yeah, and instead it should be like, [lateral hand gesture].
K: So capitalism is vertical and socialism is horizontal?
T: Yeah and hopefully in an independent Scotland land will be cheaper, and so horizontal can be
everywhere. Maybe.
G: Socialism can’t afford vertical! It has to be horizontal!
T: As Masters go, its a sentence that starts as an idea, and you build it from there. It was quite useful
that Graham had such a large scale project, and I looked at a series of smaller interventions and it was
the conglomeration of these ideas that created something new again.
T: Where I come from, yes. I’m originally from Harris. I was born and brought up there until I was five
and then moved to a small village near Inverness and stayed there until I was of age to go to university
and I’ve been in Glasgow since.
G: We are looking at branding and slightly more controversial projects. Like something that’s selfinitiated is a project around a Scottish Embassy in Brazil after a Yes vote. We have four Brazilian
interns working for us at the moment, and it made sense because they know their own culture.
A: Why Brazil? Because of the interns?
G: It sort of started off like that but things fit into place quite well. It just happens that the Brazilian
embassies are all in Brazilia, and Brazilia, from an architectural point of view, is a planned city and all
the embassies are in the same place. If you go anywhere else, London or Edinburgh, they’re all dotted
around the city, there’s no coherence to them. If you look at the street we chose, there’s Norway,
Sweden, Finland and Denmark all sitting next to one another, and then there’s a big plot of land lying
empty.
A FEW DETAILS...
G: An opportunity to break from the norm. London is a megopolis filled with these massive towers.
G: We were talking about this last night like the UK embassy is right next to America. You know the
UK is still a small country hitting above their weight, with these huge imperial powers. We think that
Scotland should be amongst a different family of nations, and to have the embassy be among them,
to have a totally different dynamic to it.
9
1/3
John McGlade is a
freelance
writer
from
Glasgow. He performs
his own poetry and short
stories around the country.
He also scripts comedy
material for television, radio
and theatre productions.
Peter is Irish, and writes
comic
sketches
and
short stories. He moved
to Scotland three years
ago, which means he can
vote in the referendum but
does not understand all
the issues. However, he
believes he is not alone
in this regard. He has
written a commercial for
Glasgow which was aired
on MTV, published one
short story, and wrote the
short film “Pictures and
Perspectives.”
Elizaveta
Maltseva
creates large works on
paper with a non-linear
narratives. She uses a
self-developed
digital
photographic monoprint
process and often works
a drawn layer into the
image post printing. She
prints photographs of
fleeting moments, broken
dreams and obscured
realities, and creates
works that look like faded
memories.
http://www.
elizavetamaltseva.com/
http://instagram.com/
didiandstories
Elyse Jamieson is a
postgraduate
research
student in linguistics,
originally from Shetland
and currently living in
Edinburgh.
Sometimes
she writes things, which
are most often somewhere
in between poetry and
prose. She also tweets a
lot.
Samantha Jack’s practice
exists as an exploration
of
the
relationship
between art, activism
and technology. Through
a variety of politically
motivated mixed media
works
and
socially
engaged art projects she
discusses, visually and
dialogically, the notion
that art is activism. www.
samanthajack.co.uk
G: I suppose scale is a really good point to our idea. It’s not just Scotland, it’s down to towns and
cities. Art installations in communities like the Gorbals and then to the Arctic scale of our geographic
position. It’s to get people thinking differently about architecture: it’s not just housing extensions, it can
be a feasibility study about how you move people around, why they happen to be there etc.
K: And it’s hard to make a second move when your first move was so big. Do you have an idea of
what that might be?
K: Was that the goal at the start?
G: But then we didn’t want to just restrict ourselves to the islands, and so we thought right, let’s just
do the whole of Scotland, as a project. We looked at Scotland’s place within the Nordics and within
the Arctic, to have a different perception of Scotland.
T: Myself and Graham finished our Masters course here in June so, it was from a postgraduate diploma.
I looked at the outer Hebrides and a series of small, architectural interventions in the community, and
Graham looked at a shipping container in the Orkneys.
K: So first question; talk to us about LN and why you started it up.
Inspired by their Atlas of Productivity, we caught up with Lateral North (Graham Hogg and Tom Smith)
to hear about what inspired the project and to chat about their future plans.
Lateral North
Michael Kelly is interested
in trying to occupy and
articulate
authoritarian
aesthetics. He is not
concerned with limiting
himself
to
specific
materials, but instead
tries to playfully change
an aesthetic’s variables
using whatever materials
it makes relevant. He’s
also a freelance Graphic
Designer,
Illustrator,
and Lecturer living and
working from Muirkirk,
Scotland.
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10
10GW
GENERATING
CAPACITY
PLANNED FOR SCOTTISH
WATERS
25%
PERCENTAGE OF EUROPE’S
WIND RESOURCE FOUND
WITHIN SCOTLAND
OFFSHORE WIND
200MW
0
400MW
200MW
PENTLAND FIRTH & ORKNEY
Dearest Scotland,
Ross McCleary is a writer
from Edinburgh. His work
has appeared in Valve,
Dactyl and Spontaneity
amongst
others.
He
also writes semi-regular
pieces of football flash
fiction for http://www.
chutneyexhibition.com/.
He
doesn’t
support
Dundee United.
Ann Mackinnon is this
year in receipt of a New
Writers’ Award from the
Scottish Booktrust. Her
task is to gather together
a collection of poems in
Scots. My Country is one
she wrote in the year of
the referendum.
Alasdair Wallace studied
Fine Art Painting at
Glasgow School of Art
between1987 and 1991.
Wallace lives and works
in Glasgow and exhibits
regularly
in
London
and Glasgow. He has
won numerous awards
including the prestigious
Noble Grossart Painting
Prize in 2001. Alasdair’s
work can be seen at the
Glasgow Print Studio in
the Merchant City.
Marcas Mac an Tuairneir
was born in York and
educated at the University
of Aberdeen and Glasgow
Caledonian University. His
debut collection, Deò, was
published last year and
it’s follow up, Guirmean,
is expected next year
alongside his début novel.
www.marcasmac.co.uk
d e a r e s t s co t l a n d .co m
#dearestscotland
Can strategically-placed offshore wind developments generate sufficient energy to meet domestic and
industrial demands?
1.5GW
TOTAL HYDRO GENERATION
CAPACITY IN SCOTLAND
7,000
POSSIBLE NO OF +5MW
WATERS
SCHEMES AVAILABLE IN
1:1,000,000
SCOTLAND
HYDRO POWER
200MW
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I’ve sat with, and intermittently poked at this piece for a few years. It came to be a kind of unofficial brand for my student
blog, and developed as I passed through art school. It brings together my own performance and graphite drawing,
with pressed plant life from Linlithgow and Skye, textured with representations from my interest in science (the Cosmic
Microwave Background, the first line of code from the Human Genome Project, and Koch Snowflake fractals).
K: That’s pretty symbolic.
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Lucian Moriyama, Shona McCombes, Stephen Watt and Craig Allan.
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Name
While I set out to playfully deconstruct a symbol of the British state, I feel these traces of its ultimate development can
speak to both sides of the current debate. As I see it, it may be apprehended both in terms of an adaptive, if radical moment
of a continuing structure - and a bursting out of given confines that may rupture and even destroy its vessel in the process.
To p F l o o r
1 5 1 Ba t h St r e e t
Glasgow
G 2 4 SQ
08/09/2014 12:52
Borders Indesign.indd 2
WRITE TO THE FUTURE OF SCOTLAND
As a space for performing and recording my self reflection, I feel it helped move my point of view from a Euclidean to a
fractal appreciation of space - as well as my beginning to think of objects and their spaces in terms of relationships, as
well as discrete parts. Although this kind of reflection is ongoing, I feel that the piece has reached its conclusion, and that
it’s time to put it out of my hands.
DEAREST SCOTLAND
Nikki
Robson
enjoys
capturing life in poetry and
holds an MLitt in Writing
Practice and Study from
the University of Dundee.
From Northern Ireland,
she lives in Kirriemuir
with her husband and 3
children.
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Michael Kelly on the cover...
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