Rhubaba: Ed Atkins, 'Spoiler'

Rhubaba are an emerging force within all that's legitimate and significant in the emigrating margins of art in Edinburgh; the outsiders becoming the insiders. As a collective of recently-graduated Edinburgh College of Art disciples, their religious devotion not only to the progression of their work but also their cherry-picked contemporaries is admirable. With our ears to the ground, we begin to hear the incoming onslaught of their impact.

Rhubaba ordained the Slade graduate Ed Atkins to show in the temporary Cowgate gallery space for their first curated solo show. Atkin's epilogue is the precursor to the exhibition, the 'spoiler'; an ominous tale of the death and intricate disposal of a dog beguiles us into an uncomfortable scenario. Assembled through mediating on the appropriated 'dead dog' performance, that initial flash of reality pursued into Atkins personal and fictitious incarnations becomes the subject of the show. This lingering myth enlivens the initially droll outlook we first witness, with the large photocopied screenplays seeming potentially laborious. In attentively devoting to this directed narrative, the wit and humour with which it dictates makes for a technicolor inauguration to the exhibition. From this point the surrounding work comes forth as multi-dimensional, furthering the reach of this conceit in attaining our emotive response.

The persistent audio from the neighbouring room bleeds into the first gallery space heavily. Shots of fractured noise erupt then settle; a filmic score to the work we've been perusing. Taking over the second room and stealing our gaze, the power of the image and audio in the video piece 'Cur' are immersive. A dark narrative of ambiguous direction pools beautiful images of isolated moments, quietly embroiling us in an unknown journey. The blackest moments are never such, as the screen is mottled with grey, just as the black and white of the photocopies revealed to be awash with a unsuspecting vivacity.

The collaboration of these young talents politely places a gauntlet to the established galleries in how successfully these sprouting collectives can begin to flourish. Accomplished in every way, Rhubaba and Ed Atkins have heightened the expectations of what can be achieved by the new generation.