I often wondered what was the attraction of my film on the Bridge of Allan Highland Games this summer. I thought it was nostalgia, all those ex-Scots abroad wanting a taste of their homeland. Now I have just received a comment from a 35 year old man in Israel and the secret of the 2,546 hits is clear: it's the blonde girl wrestling her male opponents!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GncZoKF-v_c
One of the big attractions of You Tube is that it offers inter-activity. You create a piece of work and others comment on it.
Its no longer the perogative of art critics and curators to say what is or isnt art.
In the new digital world we are all critics.
So I was delighted today to find a Canadian performance artist had found my spoof video on "The Conceptual Artist" hilarious.If links work you should find it at:
The Conceptual Artist
http://youtube.com/watch?v=sNa_GL2SX8U
Received my first electronic Christmas card of the season – from Glasgow School of Art. http://www.gsa.ac.uk/
Seems they are cutting back on Christmas cards ( an excellent idea!) and using the money instead to fund scholarships.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=MRRzv-APp2U
Will this work? some friends went to the Antartica earlier this year and I put their photos together into a musical slideshow and popped it up on You Tube.
I'm following Anne Brodie's account of her residency in Antartica with great interest.
I was going to show a video in Cafe Flicker last night at the open cinema run by Glasgow Media Access Centre http://www.g-mac.co.uk but decided instead to write the piece for the BBC Wales online site. Have just sent it off.
I cannot speak too highly about Cafe Flicker. It is an excellent community led project whereby anyone, and I mean anyone, can walk in on the night and show a film. Now some are professional ones made by film students and recent graduates from film course, some are properly funded projects , and the rest, like myself are folk who just make short films because we love the medium. It's a very supportive environment. You get to talk about the film and answer questions.. Sometimes this can be a bit intimidating because Glasgow audiences are tough , streetwise and very savvy about modern culture.
Ann Shaw is an artist/writer based in Scotland working in new media. As a journalist she campaigned and wrote about many social and medical issues. She is a feminist and founder member of Falkirk Womens Aid, active in the trades union movement and former member of National Union of Journalists Equality Working Party, and founder member of Forth Valley Open Studios.
