Virtual Symposium : Imagining an Island

Friday 25th – Saturday 26th September 2020

A two-day Symposium, in collaboration with University of the Highlands & Islands, Centre for Rural Creativity and the Art School at UHI, North Uist, in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides, foregrounding Contemporary Landscape Practices in Photography and Film.

The Symposium, Imagining an Island, is based on the Isle of North Uist in the Outer Hebrides.

An island is a singular place, its boundaries are clearly defined. It is both a microcosm of the World and a philosophical idea. It is a place that invites departure and return and it is a place that engages our imagination whilst continually inspiring re-definition. How have artists responded to these concepts, and how can we further engage with, and develop our understanding of these ideas through Arts Practice?

Using a range of approaches with Contemporary Artists working in Photography and Film, this event will explore the inter-connectedness between people and places, and ask how this is changing and offering new perspectives, due to newly developed technologies and the availability of virtual communication. The Symposium will address our assumptions around identity, belonging, culture and citizenship along with questioning the development of new identities as a result of global diaspora.

Friday
Neil Simco, John Kippin & Nicola Neate, Maya Derrell-Hewins, Andy Mackinnon, Alix Rothnie, Kevin Atherton, Helen Fox, Keith McIntyre, Ysanne Holt, Francesco Sindico, James Ellsmoor, Michael Cope, Dr Siun Cardin, Dr. Andrew Jennings, Huw Wahl & Stephen Watts.

Saturday
Robin Gillanders, Kate MacMillan, Roxanne Permar, Fraser Macdonald, Rachel Fermi, Matt Sillars, Rosie Blake, Benjamin Skop, Amund Bentsen, Anne Bevan, Anna-Wendy Stevenson, Simon Bradley and Joshua Bonnetta.

We will be exploring Contemporary Rural Life, moving away from the prevalent idealised and nostalgic representations, questioning who is defining and shaping the culture and landscape today, and assessing how artists responses to these new practices sit within more conventional and historic frameworks.

Book here.