Running Time

Running Time comprises an eclectic mix of more than 100 films by over 60 artists, so viewing it is the equivalent to analysing almost 50 years of Scottish film and video works. Anyone who doesn't profess to be an expert in Scottish film would do well to make their way out to the Dean Gallery in the spirit of an uneducated observer keen to broaden their artistic horizons.

The exhibition is unusual in that the programme of films alters week on week for the five weeks it is running. Each week has a broad theme and in the words of the exhibition booklet, "invites thematic comparisons between generations of artists". I attended the week entitled 'Drama and Suspense’ and was confronted with an overwhelming number of films which varied considerably in quality and in the emotional reactions they elicited.

The works of Henry Coombes, The Bedfords and Laddy and the Lady, transported me into a surreal and often grotesque world in which sexual tension bubbled, and the boundaries between animal and human were often blurred. His films, although narrative in form, are similar to the works of the great surrealist filmmaker Luis Buñuel, in that they are fragmentary and exist in their own reality. David Shrigley’s films, Conveyor Belt and The Flame were amusing and in their cartoony style nicely offset the more sinister works of Coombes.

Other works however, were unforgivably tedious and generated little drama or suspense. Whilst watching Matt Hulse’s Half Life I drifted off and found myself making a mental shopping list. Not every film included in Running Time is worth watching but in the wide variety provided there is undoubtedly something for everyone.