A new multi-sensory art exhibition will this weekend take visitors into a maze of 'Occupied Thoughts, Occupied Space', shaped by Scottish artists' response to occupied Palestine.
The installation, created by a collective of artists and in part inspired by a visit to Palestine, features printed hangings, ceramics, sound and music, canisters and an urban garden, each giving insight into the lives and experiences of people who live there.
Created by Celie Byrne, Pearl Kinnear, Iain 'Hendo' Henderson, Ruaridh Law and Palestinian poet Alice S Yousef, the exhibit features film and 'soundscapes' as well cassette tapes with music ranging from Rage Against the Machine and Wu Tang Clan to PJ Harvey, Pink Floyd and Portishead.
The artists also hope that the exhibition will be another significant step forward in the fight to save Dunoon Burgh Hall, highlighting the venue's important place within the local community and as one of Scotland's many local and vital cultural links.
The 150 year old serves as a gathering place for local groups and people and, in its history, has also hosted significant exhibitions and works from celebrated artists including Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Andy Warhol and others. However, rising operating costs and and the loss of substantial funding from Creative Scotland has raised fears for its future.
Opening on Friday January 10, and running until Friday February 15, Occupied Thoughts, Occupied Space illustrated the range and quality of the works and events hosted by the hall.
For Celie Byrne – the daughter of the late celebrated artist John Byrne – and Pearl Kinnear, they hope to bring more eyes to Palestine, while changing perspectives on what the country by reflecting the lives and thoughts of those who live there.
Their art, is combined with film made by Iain on a trip to Palestine in 2016, sound work from Ruaridh and poetry from Alice – who still lives in the war-torn state - and is inspired by the time they have spent in Palestine, namely in Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Ramallah, Hebron, Jenin, Ni’lin and the Jordan Valley.
That personal experience within the state is, Pearl believes, "incredibly important because it feeds into the narrative of the exhibition and the idea of how information is received and from whose viewpoint.
“I can only speak to what I’m seeing, Celie can only speak to what she is seeing, Iain can speak to what he has seen and Alice is over there as well, so to have this many people involved with different perspectives of what Palestine is is important too.
“If you want to go and see an exhibition that gives you something to think about and maybe question the materials and how they have arrived in the state they have, this is the exhibition to come and see.
“We were really interested in the prism that people see the media through. What part of the world you’re in and the political leanings of the media will influence how much you know and what side of the story you get to hear.
“The idea of information going over to the public is carried through the materials we have used as well. We’ve taken things that hold information and transformed them into objects of art and prisms to guide people through the actual gallery.”
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“Its about the kindness of human nature”, added Celie. "We’ve got these speakers we’ve made in ceramics that are bombs before and after explosion, so we have a soundscape coming through.
“We used this little speaker, so you’ll hear different elements from Palestine through these ceramic speakers, which is exciting for us to do as a collective in a big space.”
The campaign to save and preserve Dunoon Burgh Hall is another reason why this installation is so important to the artists.
For Celie there is a lifelong connection, holidays, visits and a link to her dad which unfortunately failed to come to fruition in 2017 when the hall was renovated.
“I hopped on the ferry and remembered coming here in the summer with my great aunt. They had a tin hut, a little holiday chalet, so I’d come out quite often during the summer when I was primary school age. To come back was very nostalgic.
“My dad was going to be doing a mural here when it got refurbished too," she added. "That didn’t happen but that latter day connection is there.”
Pearl added: “It’s important that the Burgh Hall is saved. It has had important exhibitions. Last year they had Rosettis up on the wall, they’ve had Warhol, they’ve had Celie’s dad up on the wall, they host really important work.
“Scotland is such a huge tourist draw so it’s important we nurture and maintain important buildings that keep cultural creativity going on all over Scotland for everyone and the Burgh Hall provides such huge range of activities. It’s not just an art gallery, they’ve got their café, a theatre, they host talks, it’s an outstanding building that needs to be supported. It’s saddening they have to fight to get funding.”
Those working at the hall have started a CrowdFunder to try and help save it and have other plans in the works too.
Among the key supporters is local businessman Greg Girard, who joined the trustees.
“That hall needs saved," he said. "It's right at the heart of the town. It needs the support of everyone that's local and we need to share the message far and wide.
“We have events for elderly people, which building that community around them and gives them people they can rely on. We have youth projects, aimed at younger people and bringing them into the hall. We really need to pull them together to save the hall and make it the community hub we know it can be.”
To help save Dunoon Burgh Hall, click here
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