New Work Scotland Programme 2011: Rhianna Turnbull, Gordon Schmidt, Amelia Bywater & Christian Newby

The 12th New Work Scotland Programme to take place at the Collective is a diverse three part event featuring works by Gordon Schmidt, Rhianna Turnbull and Amelia Bywater & Christian Newby. Each explores the concept of culture and how it is expressed as a reality, representation and as something imagined.

Rihanna Turnbull’s screened documentation of women driving is hypnotic. Very organic footage filmed from the passenger seat subtly highlights the different women’s idiosyncrasies and accumulatively creates a sense of the strength, confidence and assertion of the 21st century woman.

At the exhibition Gordon Schmidt personally elaborated on the inspiration behind his three channel synched video projection Sterling. He is fascinated by the career of The Stone Roses, particularly the high expectations they faced. The colours in the Sterling have a dewy, saturated quality as though shot through a lomography camera. This creates a perfect sentimental-nostalgic vibe which underlies the reminiscent narratives. 

Schmidt’s three-way projection acts a substitutive, retrospective representation, providing a strong, authentic and sometimes humorous voice to those who attended the 1990 Stone Roses’ concert. In it, entertaining and reminiscent anecdotes are quirkily accompanied by interesting and at occasions, beautiful footage of an idyllically sunny Glasgow.

Bywater & Newby’s image of a women viewing an array of text based posters is perhaps the most thought-provoking, leaving a lot up to the viewer’s interpretation. The exhibition is an eclectic mix and leaves a lot to ponder. As ever, the Collective's light and open space adds an overriding sense of modernity to the contemporary culture that is explored in the New Work Scotland Programme.