Siab / Drift Exhibition Opening

By Calum Mackinnon Ferguson Exhibition run: Fri 10 May – Sat 25 May Main Gallery

Created for the Clàr x An Lanntair 2023 Digital Art and Music Commission by Artist Calum MacKinnon Ferguson, Siab | Drift is a series of three installations that seek to draw out the juxtapositions of Hebridean weather lore and our current understanding of the natural environment.

The works are kinetic structures comprising wood, steel and found objects alongside commonly occurring natural materials of the Hebrides.

Cruthaichte airson Choimisean Ealain is Ceòl Didseatach Clàr x An lanntair 2023 leis an Neach-ealain Calum MacFhionghain Fearghasdan, ’S e sreath de thrì stèidheachaidhean a th’ ann an SIAB | DRIFT a tha a’ feuchainn ri ceasnachadh na rudan coltach agus eadar-dhealachaidhean eadar seanfhacal aimsir an Innse Gall agus an tuigse a th’ againn an-dràsta air an àrainneachd nàdarra.

Tha gach pìos obrach nan structairean cinneachail de fhiodh, stàilinn agus de rudan a tha gu lorg cumanta anns na h-Innse Gall.

The relationship of the people of the Gealteachd with their surrounding landscape has been ever-changing for the past millennia, from Pre-Christian Animists to subsistence Crofters. But only in the most recent fraction of this long history have we begun to stray from the once close bonds to the land.

Inspired by the Gàidhlig proverbs, sayings and stories of weather lore (one of the many ways in which the people of the Highlands and Islands have retained knowledge and understanding of the natural world) the work aims to highlight granular aspects of weather events, the feelings they evoke and ways in which we interpret them to amplify our current disconnect from nature in the modern world.

The pieces are arranged to work together in symphony or alone to create a sensory curve of the audio, visual and textural memories of the ways in which we read changes in our surrounding environment.

The three installation pieces created as part of the Clàr x An Lanntair Digital Arts and Music Commission 2023 sit alongside work from the earlier project: A’ Cunntadh an Uspag , created by the Artist during the Tobar An Dualchais x Atlas Art Summer Artist In Residence 2022.

Tha an ceangal a th’ aig muinntir na Gealtachd agus an cruth-tìre mun cuairt orra air a bhith a’ sìor atharrachadh airson nam mìle bliadhna a dh’ fhalbh bho na daoine Ro-Chrìosdail le creideamh anamach gu Croitearan teachd-an tìr; ach a mhain anns a’ chuid mu dheireadh de’n eachdraidh fhada seo a thòisich sinn air dol air falbh o na ceanglaichean a bha ann do’n tìr.

Air a brosnachadh le seanfhacail, abairtean agus sgeulachdan na Gàidhlig air beul-aithris na h-aimsire (aon de na h-iomadh dòigh anns an do ghlèidh muinntir na Gàidhealtachd agus nan Eilean eòlas agus tuigse air an t-saoghal nàdarrach) tha an obair ag amas air mion-fhiosrachadh a thoirt air thachartasan na h-aimsire, na faireachdainnean bidh iad a’ dùsgadh agus dòighean anns am bi sinn gam mìneachadh gus ar dì-cheangal gnàthach bho nàdar san latha an-diugh a mheudachadh.

Tha na pìosan air an cur air dòigh gus obrachadh còmhla neo leotha fhèin gus lùb mothachaidh a chruthachadh de na cuimhneachain claisneachd, lèirsinneach agus teacsach air na dòighean anns an leugh sinn atharrachaidhean san àrainneachd mun cuairt oirnn.

Tha na trì pìosan stàlaidh a chaidh a chruthachadh mar phàirt de Choimisean Ealain is Ceòl Didseatach Clàr x An lanntair 2023 nan suidhe còmhla ri obair bhon phròiseact roimhe: ‘A’ Cunntadh an Uspag’, a chruthaich an Neach-ealain aig mhuinntireas an t-samhraidh Tobar an Dualchais x Atlas Art 2022.