Family Fugue
Family Fugue
George Finlay Ramsay & collaborators
Preview Night ‘Blast Pool’ - Friday 7th October 7pm-10pm
Show Run - 8th October - 6th November
‘Both funny and beautiful, which is rare’
Bella Marrin, Fieldnotes Journal
An exhibition circling around a film about how we are haunted by, and in turn haunt our ancestors, and a family who cannot agree on how to tell their own story.
In addition to the film, the space will be inhabited by ‘David’s Room’ a facsimile of a haunted room in Bamff House, Perthshire; 35mm production stills; fragments of forgotten lives, stuffed birds and exploded swimming pools.
Family Fugue (16mm to digital, 35 mins, colour, black & white, sound, 2022) is a contrapuntal film about a white snake, a red Duchess and a golden boy, spanning eight centuries and starting in a cave. It features performances from multiple members of the Ramsay family.
Beginning with the family's origin story of Neish de Ramsay, a 13th century wizard who was said to have cured king Alexander II of Scotland using a potion from a white snake; it continues with Katherine Stewart Murray, Duchess of Atholl, a trailblazing female MP in the early 20th century who fell out of politics because she vocally opposed fascism; and concludes with David Ramsay, a polymath prankster whose life was terminated abruptly during action in World War II, suggesting his death was not final.
Playing with these histories as a score to be interpreted, using documentary, reenactment and lush theatrical tableau, the film allows disagreement, criticism and self doubt to flow in and out.
‘Life is not the wick, nor the candle, it is the burning’
Katherine Stewart Murray
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Created in collaboration with Alex Hetherington, Luke Fowler, Nina Lopez Le Galliard, Annie Crabtree, Charlie Hope, Collective Text, Bebe Geen, Rudi Zygadlo, Mark Thomson, Chloe Charlton, Jo Barker, Digital Orchard, Kodak Film Lab London and the Ramsay family.
Funded by Creative Scotland, Hope Scott Trust & Generator Projects.
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Expanded Programme
Opening Event: Blast Pool
7th October - 6pm-9pm
Generator Projects
A screening of the film Family Fugue, a reading by Dundee poet Mark Thomson and an explosive performance from Nina Lopez le Galliard and George.
Workshop: Chimera; image making with 16mm film
3rd November & 3rd November
Cooper Gallery
A 16mm camera workshop with Alex Hetherington and George Finlay Ramsay as part of the Nashashibi/Skaer exhibition ‘Chimera’ at Cooper Gallery. During the first workshop participants will produce a short film together in small groups to be shown at the follow-up screening and reading event.
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About the artists
George Finlay Ramsay is an artist working across poetry, ritual and analogue film. He is making plans to have his body burnt in a volcano after he dies.
Nina Lopez Le Galliard is an eclectic and multidisciplinary artist, collaborating particularly in the scenic arts. She is creative and generous, always finding harmony in the chaos to make ideas become alive. As an artist she has a deep understanding of how to collaborate on ideas and bring them into the world with skill and sensitivity.
Alex Hetherington makes 16mm films that observe encounters between artists, spaces, objects, materials, biographies, writing and time.
Mark Thomson was born in Dundee. He left school at sixteen and worked on and off in factories or as a labourer on building sites for twenty years. In his early thirties, Thomson began to write down everything that had always gone on in his head and what went on around him, either in the schemes, in the pubs, in the city centre or on the streets. Once finished, Thomson knew he could never go back. His poetry is a testament to his passion and love of Dundee, its people and its language.
Bebe Geen is a fully qualified primary school teacher and art specialist. She has been leading art workshops for young people and families for over 25 years. From the large scale Angus Arts extravaganza at House of Dunn, to small group experiences at The Den of Airlie, she engages participants through inspiring stories and a range of materials, in a unique setting.
