Upcoming Events At Peacock

 Aberdeen City, Articles, Community, Events, Featured, Gigs and Concerts, Information  No Responses »
Feb 032012
 

With thanks to Kylie Roux.

YOUR LEANING NECK – SONG AS PORTRAIT – Steven Anderson

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Based on an event from November last year at The Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Your Leaning Neck is a performance project that aims to challenge institutional representations of national identity by giving voice to non-institutional values.

A silent video installation showcasing last November’s event from two perspectives will be shown in the Peacock gallery.

Saturday 18 February – Saturday 10 March 

– Live Performance

Starting off at Peacock’s gallery then moving onto the Episcopal Cathedral Church of St Andrew, visitors will be treated to a live re-contextualisation of the performance event created as a site-specific response to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery’s collection of portraits from the Scottish Enlightenment. Within the performance, oral tradition singers are presented alongside contemporary artists who also use their unaccompanied voice as a means of expression.

Friday 24 February | 7 – 9pm | Peacock Visual Arts | FREE 

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GIG IN THE GALLERY – Martin John Henry

Recently praised by Sound-Scotland, as “one of Scotland’s finest songwriters”, Gargleblast Records and Peacock Visual Arts present Martin John Henry.

The Lanarkshire born singer songwriter is best known for fronting Scottish Rock Band De Rosa – critically lauded and championed by John Peel and Steve Lamaq – as well as writing, recording and playing with many of Scotland’s finest musicians including Barry Burns (Mogwai), Robert Johnston (Life Without Buildings), King Creosote and Malcolm Middleton.

Saturday 4 February | 8pm | £8 on the door 

RESIDENCY/PERFORMANCE – ONE MAN UNIT – Paul Wiersbinski and Wieland Schönfelder

1manunit
ONE MAN UNIT is a hybrid of man and sculpture. Through a variety of outputs, audiences are invited to interact with and experience the spontaneous and unexpected developments of this creative beast, as it evolves during the artists’ two-week residency at Peacock.
You can follow the construction of this half man half machine via their daily blog on Peacock’s Facebook page. The ONE MAN UNIT will then be let loose on the public on two occasions:

Saturday 28 January – Friday 10 February

– Note: Aberdeen Voice updates Peacock info periodically, but there may be recently added events not included in this post. Please contact Peacock direct for the latest information.

Peacock Visual Arts
21 Castle Street
Aberdeen
AB11 5BQ
Tel: 01224 639539
Mob: 07947 490626
e: kylie@peacockvisualarts.co.uk
Website: www.peacockvisualarts.com
Online Print Store: www.peacockvisualarts.culturelabel.com

Pittodrie’s Silent Assassin – Davy Johnston

 Articles, Community, Featured, Information, Opinion, Sport  No Responses »
Oct 152010
 

David Innes Reviews Donald Wilson’s New Book about AFC, Nairn and Inverness Caley hero Davy Johnston.

When Dons fans of a certain age reminisce about their heroes of the1960s, this can be a short discussion. Certainly Charlie Cooke would be mentioned, maybe Jinky Smith and, at a pinch, the young Martin Buchan, although his major successes were still three or four years into the future.

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Heroes were thin on the ground at Pittodrie during those barren years. However, as a loon growing up obsessed with the late 60s squad, they were all heroes to me, and among them was Davy Johnston, whose goal-packed career is commemorated in Donald Wilson’s affectionate tribute.

Davy, you see, was a hero to hundreds, if not thousands, long before he made his Aberdeen debut shortly after signing in late 1966. He was already a legend in the Highland League, where his goals and influence on the great Nairn County side of the early and mid-60s are still remembered by those fortunate enough to have witnessed this very special player. He was Donald Wilson’s hero too, and as Morrissey once warbled, it’s time the tale were told.

Drawing on formidable local press research and anecdotal evidence from star witnesses such as Davy’s contemporaries and fans at Nairn, Aberdeen and Inverness Caley, Wilson paints a picture of a prodigiously-gifted footballer whose modesty almost outweighed his talent. Unfortunately, so did his lack of self-belief and his inability to come to terms with the demands of the city and the expectations of a full-time footballer ultimately saw him return to his Highland League comfort zone after less than three years in the sacred red. Happily, Johnston carried on where he left off and he thrilled Highland League fans for a further seven seasons, playing a bit part in Nairn’s finest hour, their dramatic clinching of the 1976 championship.

I was privileged to have seen Davy in his prime at Pittodrie, and in his Highland League heyday and it still saddens me that he did not go on to be the success that his talent deserved. For those who missed out, Pittodrie’s Silent Assassin tells the whole tale in a very readable and superbly-researched style. There should be much more of this sort of thing.

Pittodrie’s Silent Assassin – Davy Johnston. By Donald Wilson. Desert Island Books. www.desertislandbooks.com 160 pp. £14.99.