LUX Scotland announced today that artist Isabel Barfod is the fourteenth recipient of the Margaret Tait Commission.
Isabel’s new moving image work will be held by new research in Scotland and England to consider the relation between Blackness, water, swimming and public swimming pools. Isabel will develop an experimental animation which seeks to gather, unpack and speculate alongside counter-historical, experiential and mythological actors, as a way to render the multiple planes of feeling inside isolated ephemeral encounters.
This year’s commission sees an increased budget of £20,000 to produce a new work, which will premiere at Glasgow Film Festival in 2024, followed by a solo presentation at LUX in London alongside a Scotland-wide tour.
Artists Renèe Helèna Browne, Rhona Mühlebach, and George Finlay Ramsay were shortlisted for the commission, from a significant number of eligible artists who were nominated through an open call process.
LUX Scotland are also pleased to announce Cal Mac as the 2023 recipient of the Margaret Tait Residency, an opportunity for artists working with film and moving image to develop their practice, in partnership with the Pier Arts Centre, Orkney.
Building upon the legacy of the residency delivered by Glasgow Film in 2012 – 2014, the Margaret Tait Residency is aimed at emerging artists working in film and moving image with up to five years professional experience. The residency provides time and support for developing work and practice without the demands of deadlines or public presentation.
Cal will spend up to six weeks at the Pier Arts Centre’s newly renovated facilities Linkshouse - Orkney Arts Residency, exploring the relationship between visual language and feelings about belonging, acceptance and feeling valued and ‘at home’ for LGBTQIA+ people in different areas of Scotland in his moving image practice.
Cal Mac said, “The Margaret Tait Residency allows me the time and space to focus on what my approach to moving image is – without the demands of production or completion. During my time at the Piers Art Centre, I plan to merge my excitement for visual experimentation with my commitment to creating personal and evocative work. I became interested in what it means to be LGBT in rural Scotland in 2020, and so this residency allows me to experiment through a specific project that’s been in the works for a while. In discovering LGBT realities in Orkney, I want to explore conflicts of alienation, relationships with community, and attachment to home, but more specifically how these conflicts can be articulated in a way that’s unique to artist’s film. Through the experimental nature of the residency and through the support of LUX Scotland and the Piers Arts Centre, the possibilities of what this can look and sound like are vast. I’m beyond delighted to receive the residency to start working with LUX Scotland.”
Kitty Anderson, Director of LUX Scotland, said, “It’s been a pleasure and a privilege to oversee the selection on the 2023 Margaret Tait Commission and the Margaret Tait Residency. We received a fantastic range of nominations for the commission, and a huge number of applications for the residency, demonstrating the demand for opportunities such as these. We were delighted to see the strength and breadth of practice in moving image from across Scotland, and my thanks go to all the applicants and nominated artists (and their nominators) for taking the time to submit their work for consideration. I also want to thank Creative Scotland for their ongoing support of the commission and the residency, and to our partners Glasgow Film and the Pier Arts Centre.
The standard for both shortlists was incredibly high and I’m grateful to the artists for their thoughtful and considered proposals. My thanks also go to this year’s selection panels for their time and energy – it’s rewarding to have such in-depth and rigorous discussion about artistic practice. We look forward to working with Isabel and Cal over the coming months.”
Kari Adams, Curatorial Assistant at the Pier Arts Centre, Stromness, Orkney said: “We are pleased to be involved in this residency which gives artists the opportunity to experiment within the landscape of Orkney. Cal has a brave, sensitive and playful response to filmmaking, and the work he has proposed for the residency underscores his ambition to instigate cultural exchange, whilst developing a visual language which speaks of time, place, visibility and belonging. Being able to support artists and new work created here in Orkney is extremely important, and we are very excited to be working with Cal and be a part of this lineage of artists working with film and moving image in Scotland today.”
Jesse Mpango, curator and co-founder of Ajabu Ajabu Audio Visual House, Tanzania said “It was a great pleasure to be on the panel for the Margaret Tait Residency. The delicacy and imagination of the work received was truly inspiring - and testament to the variety and depth of artists working in Scotland. Congratulations to Cal Mac, whose collectively driven, emotionally precise approach is sure to find new dimensions at the Pier Arts Centre.”
Anne Petrie, Visual Arts Officer at Creative Scotland said: “Congratulations to both Isabel Barfod and Cal Mac on becoming recipients of the 2023 Margaret Tait Commission and Residency respectively. Creative Scotland is delighted to be a partner in both of these opportunities which offer valuable time and support to artists. The standard of submissions across both awards was incredibly high, and we look forward to seeing how Isabel and Cal use these awards to develop their moving image work as well as seeing Isabel’s work premiere at the Glasgow Film Festival in 2024 before being presented in venues across Scotland as part of the planned tour.”
Background
Established in 2010, the Margaret Tait Commission is a LUX Scotland commission delivered in partnership with Glasgow Film, backed by the National Lottery through Creative Scotland.
Previously known as the Margaret Tait Award, the name was changed in 2023 to more accurately reflect the nature of the opportunity. Inspired by the pioneering Orcadian filmmaker and poet Margaret Tait (1918 – 99), the commissioning opportunity recognises experimental and innovative artists working with the moving image, offering a unique avenue of production support and providing a high-profile platform to exhibit newly commissioned work.
LUX Scotland is a non-profit agency dedicated to supporting, developing and promoting artists’ moving image practices in Scotland.
Glasgow Film is an educational charity which runs Glasgow Film Theatre (GFT), Scotland’s original independent arthouse cinema and the home of film in Glasgow; Glasgow Film Festival (GFF), one of the UK’s leading public celebrations of cinema; and Glasgow Youth Film Festival (GYFF), a fast-growing international three-day festival co-curated by teenage film-lovers in the city.
The Pier Arts Centre in Stromness, Orkney was established in 1979 to provide a home for an important collection of British fine art donated by the author, peace activist and philanthropist Margaret Gardiner (1904 – 2005). The Pier Arts Centre is currently working on a project to develop Linkshouse – Orkney Arts Residency an accessible residency facility with studio provision for individual or group use. Linkshouse will act as a launch-pad for local artists and a landing-strip for artists visiting the county.
Creative Scotland is the public body that supports the arts, screen and creative industries across all parts of Scotland distributing funding provided by the Scottish Government and The National Lottery. Further information at creativescotland.com. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Learn more about the value of art and creativity in Scotland and join in at www.ourcreativevoice.scot
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