Ideas

27th January 2023

TOM NAIRN: THE WORK
reviews
by
Mitch Miller & Johnny Rodger

Who was Tom Nairn? One of the great political thinkers of his age, we mark his passing away with an introductory examination of his work - almost a Nairn For Beginners. These reviews/summaries of some of his most important works are excerpted from Tartan Pimps, a 2010 book by Mitch Miller and Johnny Rodger, which examined how the new Scottish politics were written into being.
27th January 2023

AN INTRODUCTION TO TOM NAIRN
The Enchanted Nat
by
Mitch Miller & Johnny Rodger

Who was Tom Nairn? One of the great political thinkers of his age, we mark his passing away with an introduction to his thought. This piece is excerpted from Tartan Pimps, a 2010 book by Mitch Miller and Johnny Rodger, which examined how the new Scottish politics were written into being. Some of the parliamentary politics here have aged a bit -Nairn's thought has not.
18th June 2022

INSTITUTION
by
Owen Dudley Edwards

What is the constitution of an institution? Who decides in and for an institution? What happens when an institution rejects us, or when we destroy an institution? Owen Dudley Edwards meditates ...
3rd June 2022

The ARCHES THEATRE:
The Unauthorised Autobiography
edited and introduced by Raymond Burke
reviewed by FOLOSA MELVILLE

The first book published in our 'Lost Institutions' series, it focuses on the early years of the legendary Glasgow theatre in the words of the actors who made it happen, collected and introduced by Raymond Burke. It was part of a thrilling scene says Folosa Melville in review.
3rd June 2022

GLASGOW COOL OF ART:
13 books of fire at the Mackintosh Library
by Johnny Rodger
reviewed by MURDO MACDONALD

A new book 'Glasgow Cool of Art: 13 books of fire at the Mackintosh Library' takes a personal, artistic, intellectual and critical view of the two fires in Mackintosh's masterwork. It attempts to square the trauma that the fires caused by looking at the effect on a wide range of people -adults, children, citizens, academics, artists, architects, and as Murdo Macdonald notes in review, addresses the challenge of the international worth or otherwise of that great building.
22nd April 2022

POSTING MAY DAY:
The story of International Workers’ Day through Trade Union Posters
by LORNA MILLER

The Story of May Day as the celebration of International Workers Day, and specifically the organisation of the Glasgow May Day festivities over the last few years, is told by artist and political cartoonist Lorna Miller in a wonderful insight into her work in creation of posters for Glasgow Trades Council.
19th March 2022

TOMOKO KONOIKE
Storytelling Table Runner
by Naoko Mabon

Japanese Artist Tomoko Konoike brought her wonderful dialogic textile art to an event co-organised by The Drouth for Glasgow International last year. Curator Naoko Mabon first published this text on Konoike in the online version of the Japan Quality magazine (Tokyo: Fudosha Co.Ltd.) in February 2022.
15th March 2022

UNWIELDY WASTE MATERIALS:
The work of Justin Carter & Onya McCausland
by Danny McNally

Originally commissioned for our Climate issue, in this article cultural geographer Danny McNally engages with, and explores the work of two artists who work in processes with special attachments to materials and the earth.
28th January 2022

POINTS IN THE AMBIENCE:
Travels with Archaeologists & Artists in Orkney
by
Susan Brind & Jim Harold, Alex Hale, Daniel Lee, Antonia Thomas

The document of a journey and one-day dérive from Happy Valley to Billia Croo. In a collaboration between Archaeologists and Artists across the landscape in Orkney, Susan Brind & Jim Harold, Alex Hale, Daniel Lee, Antonia Thomas reveal layers of data and perform a 'disappearance'.