I have now designed four books for the Edinburgh Art Festival’s Commissions Programme: Where Do I End and You Begin (2014); The Improbable City (2015); More Lasting than Bronze (2016); and The Making of the Future: Now (2017). This year, unlike previous years, there is not an over-riding theme that unites the commissions, so the Festival decided not to do a publication but to produce four interpretative leaflets, one for each artist. The 2018 Commissions Programme presents new work by four artists at sites across the city, ranging from the street performance sites of the Royal Mile, to a 15th century kirk, a Victorian fire station, and Scotland’s smallest wildlife reserve. Touching on current political and social concerns, several of the 2018 commissions have been developed in dialogue with other artforms – including poetry, music and magic. Strategies of orchestration and the act of close listening inform a number of the works, while freedom of expression and a questioning of economic models feature prominently as themes within the programme.
The 2018 Commissions Programme runs from 26 July – 26 August and includes:
Ross Birrell & David Harding: Triptych
Trinity Apse, Chalmers Close, 42 High Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1SS
Ruth Ewan: Sympathetic Magick
Various venues – see www.edinburghartfestival.com for details
Shilpa Gupta: For, in your tongue, I cannot hide
The Fire Station at Edinburgh College of Art, 76-78 Lauriston Place, Edinburgh, EH3 9DE
Adam Lewis Jacob: No Easy Answers
Institut Français d’Écosse, West Parliament Square, Edinburgh, EH1 1RF
Here are the proofs for the leaflets, which are being printed by Allander, Edinburgh on 160gsm Cocoon Offset. The leaflets have six pages, folded to 210 x 165mm – these are the dimensions of the last three Commissions Programme books that I designed for the Festival, the aim being that there will be a visual link to these previous publications. In addition to the leaflets, I have also designed a small booklet for Sympathetic Magick, Ruth Ewan’s project for the Festival.
www.edinburghartfestival.com
