A Beautiful Living Thing (2015) is the first in a series of 3 films which were produced in response to the Mackintosh fire of 23 May 2014.
'Let every artist strive to make his flower a beautiful living thing, something that will convince the world that there may be, there are, things more precious more beautiful – more lasting than life itself.’ C R Mackintosh “Seemliness” (Glasgow, 1902)
Taking its title from Mackintosh’s description of a work of art and funded by the GSA Mackintosh Restoration Project Research Development Fund, A Beautiful Living Thing documents the destruction of the Mackintosh library and the fire-damaged building and features a composition for solo violin which I composed specifically for the building and which was performed inside the ruined library by Bill Chandler (RSNO).
A second film features performances by members of the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra filmed over 11-13 September 2015. The film responds to the improvisation of fire as it moved through the west façade of the building, from the basement to the rooftop, in a series of solo and ensemble performances by 18 members of the acclaimed Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra performed on all four floors of the fire-damaged Mackintosh. The companion work, features a solo performance by dancer, Tom Pritchard.
A Beautiful Living Thing film series is structured, therefore, around a dialectic of composition and improvisation in response to architecture, music and fire and considered as modalities for artistic practice and research. An account of the development of A Beautiful Living Thing film project with reference to the aesthetic theory of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari and to the architectural theory of Luis Fernández-Galiamo, was published as ‘A Beautiful Living Thing’ in the ‘artist pages’ section of Performance Research, ‘On Libraries’ Vol. 22, Issue 1, Spring 2017; ISSN: 1352-8165; 115 – 119.
A Beautiful Living Thing was exhibited as part of documenta 14 in the Gennadius Library, Athens, 8 Apr - 16 July 2017.
A Beautiful Living Thing has also been screened in a number of international exhibitions, international film festivals and academic and professional conferences across a range of disciplines, including art, architecture, and mental health:
Glasgow School of Art, Building on Mackintosh Symposium, Reid Auditorium, 17 April 2015; Playfair Library, University of Edinburgh, part of exhibition, Where Language Ends, Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh, 23 April; closing event and Panel discussion for ‘Mackintosh Architect’, exhibition Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), London, 23 May 2015, with panel discussion with Robyne Calvert, Mackintosh Research Fellow at The Glasgow School of Art and Malcolm Mitchell at Page and Park Architects responsible for the Restoration of the building, Chaired by Hugh Pearman, Editor RIBA Journal; ‘Shining a Light on Depression After Psychosis’, a conference for the Institute of Health and Wellbeing, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, Glasgow University, The Lighthouse, Glasgow, 27 May; ‘Mackintosh Contemporary’ 1 Sept 2015 and Mackintosh Film Festival, GSA, June 2017; Ellen de Bruijne Projects, Amsterdam, 18 November 2017- 13 January 2018.
