Running at the Speed of Light ArtWorks Scotland


Running at the Speed of Light

Similar Content

Browse content similar to Running at the Speed of Light. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!

Transcript


LineFromTo

Environmental public arts specialists NVA have taken things a

:00:30.:00:37.

step further. For 20 nights, audiences of 800 people climb 700

:00:37.:00:40.

feet to the summit of Arthur's Seat. I don't know any other event with

:00:40.:00:45.

the same level of ambition. For up to four hours, runners in white

:00:45.:00:50.

suits run in choreographed sequences on the path network below.

:00:50.:00:53.

At points, I thought this is the most complicated thing I've ever

:00:53.:00:58.

done. Speed Of Light is the most physically challenging event for

:00:58.:01:00.

off the audience and performers ever staged at the Edinburgh

:01:00.:01:10.
:01:10.:01:16.

I ran as a way of life. I run the to sort my head out. I run to stay

:01:16.:01:24.

young. Or younger. I run as a way of making work. It's a good way of

:01:24.:01:31.

making sense of the world. Speed Of Light is Hill runners on one of the

:01:31.:01:38.

greatest mountains in Scotland. The idea is that they will run on a

:01:38.:01:43.

nightly basis Indies' incredible hand-made suits. As they are

:01:43.:01:49.

creating these patterns of light, an audience, creating their own

:01:49.:01:53.

patterns, moved to the summit of Arthur's Seat. As they move up, and

:01:53.:01:58.

looked down on these runners, animating the path network and

:01:58.:02:03.

choreographed lines, they begin to see them just as lines of energy,

:02:03.:02:09.

as dots. You lose the human and it becomes about something bigger. Or

:02:09.:02:13.

smaller. It could be the inside of an atom or something on a stellar

:02:13.:02:18.

level. It becomes extracted. It is just the sheer beauty of looking

:02:18.:02:24.

down from the smart and top. Seeing the energy of running, the

:02:24.:02:31.

insurance. The willpower, manifestos light. That is the fag

:02:31.:02:38.

packet for urgent. -- version. main thing is the dynamism. Whoever

:02:38.:02:42.

is at the outer edge of the explosion, comeback at the same

:02:42.:02:46.

time. The sharper your group are, that communicates the image. That

:02:46.:02:51.

is being seen as tiny dots of light from any quarter of a mile through

:02:51.:02:57.

dark space. If a few Adair but others carry on, it just feels a

:02:57.:03:03.

bit when are we. The more it is like, get there, turn, it is all

:03:03.:03:08.

about sharpness. That did what makes it look really good. This is

:03:08.:03:13.

a really big moment. After two years of planning, tonight we get

:03:14.:03:18.

the light suits for the first time. There have been six different suits.

:03:18.:03:25.

We are on mark 6. Tonight, we get 120 light suits, 240 runners. We

:03:25.:03:31.

get a chance to put them out of the hill and see what it looks like. I

:03:31.:03:34.

know what is going to be an interesting piece of work. But is

:03:34.:03:44.
:03:44.:03:46.

it going to be a great piece of Each performance of Speed Of Light

:03:46.:03:50.

is designed for over 200 runners. Taken from a pool of over 4000, all

:03:50.:03:56.

of whom have signed up for the event through the internet. It just

:03:56.:03:59.

seemed really interesting. I fancied a shot of the light suits

:03:59.:04:04.

as well. It's something different. Today is a chance for some of these

:04:05.:04:09.

volunteers to try out the equipment and for the organisers to test

:04:09.:04:13.

there logistics of the performance. You can put that higher, if you

:04:13.:04:22.

want. Just so it gets into the small of your back. We have never

:04:22.:04:26.

seen choreography in white suits on the hill. It's the first time I'm

:04:27.:04:31.

going to see it live. That is a big part of tonight as well. There is

:04:31.:04:35.

no guarantee any of these runners will be fit enough or that any of

:04:35.:04:40.

them will choose to return in August. It looks very interesting.

:04:40.:04:44.

Let's see whether we will like it or not. And when we come back,

:04:44.:04:49.

whether we will do it or not. show time, during the Edinburgh

:04:49.:04:52.

International Festival, each and every performance will rely on a

:04:52.:04:57.

new set of runners. The only regular runners throughout if the

:04:58.:05:03.

20 performances will be the 31 running leaders. We are going to

:05:03.:05:10.

head up there and do some hand signals. When the leader puts the

:05:10.:05:13.

arm down, that is the firefighter. It is a random run between two

:05:13.:05:23.
:05:23.:05:24.

people. Can we do it? Just run, anywhere that you want to go.

:05:24.:05:28.

pleased with that. We had good spacing. Everybody seemed to

:05:28.:05:32.

memorise the signal. We are one of the flat at the moment, we will see

:05:32.:05:38.

what it is like up on the hill. Speed Of Light is the 10th

:05:38.:05:43.

environmental art performance conceived by NVA. It is by far the

:05:43.:05:53.
:05:53.:05:55.

most challenging and ambitious. stands for National active life. It

:05:55.:06:01.

is the idea that you make the society that you are in. You take

:06:01.:06:10.

part, you have that right, you have that potential, as an individual.

:06:10.:06:16.

It is a term, denoting that, really. This is where the individual

:06:16.:06:20.

becomes part of this mass, collective thing. This is show

:06:20.:06:24.

conditions. I need you, individually, to commit to really

:06:24.:06:27.

working hard on the hill. If you feel like walking, you should not

:06:27.:06:32.

be here. It is a serious undertaking. If you walk, it slows

:06:32.:06:39.

the whole section down. That means that sequence, in lighting, goes

:06:39.:06:47.

out of sync. Then that the patterns that are being made that dark

:06:47.:06:52.

joyous 16,000 -- the public, that are paying for the ticket, there

:06:52.:06:56.

will be going... Well, it's all right. I think I will go and get a

:06:56.:07:01.

cup of tea. We are extremely excited to be here. Remember,

:07:01.:07:11.
:07:11.:07:21.

safety, concentrate and give it Anyone can have a good idea. I can

:07:21.:07:26.

say, great, let's send a lot of people running around Arthur's Seat

:07:26.:07:31.

in light suits. Without these immensely talented and tenacious

:07:31.:07:37.

people, none of it would be a reality. I was kind of intrigued by

:07:37.:07:41.

this. It's not normally the thing that we do. I do a lot of work in

:07:41.:07:45.

film. I remember rocking up there and they had sent me an e-mail

:07:45.:07:49.

saying that we were going to be going on sight. In my mind, that

:07:49.:07:56.

was, like, like a film style reconnaissance where you jump in a

:07:56.:07:59.

car, hop out with a camera and take a couple of pictures. But they

:08:00.:08:05.

meant actually hiking up to the top of Arthur's Seat. I remember coming

:08:05.:08:08.

down and I had totally inappropriate clothes for it. They

:08:08.:08:16.

were, like, did you get the e-mail about hiking, the wet-weather gear?

:08:16.:08:19.

I went to an animation company had worked with a lot before on the

:08:20.:08:27.

film side of things. Initially, we did something quite complex. First,

:08:27.:08:32.

we created a three-dimensional version of the hill, that was

:08:32.:08:38.

accurate. We created little animated runners in white suits.

:08:38.:08:43.

Normally, as a choreographer, it is very visceral, it is very hands-on.

:08:44.:08:47.

You're dealing with people. This was most challenging, in the sense

:08:47.:08:57.
:08:57.:09:00.

If you think about each of our runners as an individual white

:09:00.:09:08.

sauce, we have a battery in a little waist pack. -- light source.

:09:08.:09:12.

Each of them is like an individual light source that you can control

:09:12.:09:16.

through a conventional, wired system. We are making pictures with

:09:16.:09:23.

these runners on the dark hillside. You have a group from this side and

:09:23.:09:29.

that side and you want them to meet at the same time. But one are going

:09:29.:09:33.

up hill, the other acme downhill. It's a complete the different

:09:33.:09:38.

amount of time. If it is on a flat space, you just say, each do eight

:09:38.:09:44.

steps and get to the centre. I colour-coded the maps according to

:09:44.:09:48.

elevation. This is the downhill map. This is downhill, intermediate.

:09:48.:09:54.

Just to get a sense. Then I could start drawing patterns which are

:09:54.:10:04.
:10:04.:10:14.

This is the most important rehearsal so far. Intensity? All at

:10:14.:10:21.

fault, I believe. We will never see them in these light conditions.

:10:22.:10:25.

This is way lighter than we would do the performance. Let's go for it,

:10:25.:10:35.
:10:35.:10:46.

That's not even a hard path! That is the easiest. One of the issues

:10:46.:10:50.

is the runner's fitness. People sign up for a hill run and then

:10:50.:10:55.

there is a path that is basically horizontal. In the first two

:10:55.:10:58.

minutes, people are walking on the easiest path on the entire hill.

:10:58.:11:05.

Already, they are completely at a sequence. I'm here already. We are

:11:05.:11:10.

quite far behind. Thank you. There is not much that you can do about

:11:10.:11:16.

it. That's beautiful. And this isn't even a good sequence! This is

:11:16.:11:26.
:11:26.:11:26.

the one we were thinking about cutting! Why does it work? The

:11:26.:11:29.

things that you thought were going to work do not work. The things

:11:29.:11:39.
:11:39.:11:54.

that were not that good, are really If you see any incoming groups,

:11:54.:12:02.

pass that message on. I'm close to cutting it. It's a hard call. Can

:12:02.:12:12.
:12:12.:12:14.

you ask Orange how conditions are? A sleet storm and 30 mph wind is

:12:14.:12:18.

presenting a dilemma. To abandon or continue the rehearsal? Have we

:12:18.:12:25.

ever had whether this bad in August, in all honesty? Yes. We would like

:12:25.:12:29.

you to come out of the holding area. This is a total change to the

:12:29.:12:35.

choreography you have got. Come along the C path, then go along the

:12:35.:12:41.

audience path. I do go to the marquee... Or extend and go back

:12:41.:12:46.

down. Or go back down, depending on conditions, or over. Could you

:12:46.:12:54.

We are three-and-a-half months off the show. The suits work. We know

:12:54.:12:59.

what the problems are. It means we have to simplified its that are

:12:59.:13:02.

complicated. It was very important to work in bad conditions. Only

:13:02.:13:07.

through that, if we had a benign night and everything just danced,

:13:07.:13:12.

and then we hit August 9th, 30 mile per hour of wind and driving rain

:13:12.:13:15.

and we are facing that for the first time... It is always better

:13:15.:13:25.
:13:25.:13:26.

to have bad weather. It's a gift from God! I wouldn't go that far.

:13:26.:13:34.

As safety concerns grow, Angus decides to call a halt. If there

:13:34.:13:39.

was not any risk, we would be doing cinema. It's very easy, the analogy

:13:39.:13:45.

I always used his that live events, they are live. When you buy your

:13:45.:13:50.

ticket for the event, you are taking a risk. What is exciting

:13:50.:13:54.

about the work is that. At a very basic level, we are all excited by

:13:54.:13:58.

the idea of making a collective effort, taking the risk and

:13:58.:14:08.
:14:08.:14:17.

It will be warm her in August. worse it got, the funnier it was.

:14:17.:14:23.

Was it the right decision? Did we pull it too soon? It was the right

:14:23.:14:29.

decision. It was wet and windy, but as soon as we got running, it was

:14:29.:14:35.

fun. The gap between how the final work should be and what I saw

:14:36.:14:43.

tonight is really quite big. The choreographer and the lighting

:14:43.:14:47.

designer need to sit down and we need to strip it back and say what

:14:47.:14:53.

is working and what is not and go with what is working, keep it

:14:53.:15:02.

simple and allow the whole thing to breathe. Part of the team is

:15:02.:15:12.
:15:12.:15:13.

resonance FM, a left-field radio station. Come on in. We are

:15:13.:15:21.

providing the sound aliment. station's ethos is quite

:15:21.:15:25.

experimental, so we are always broadcasting kind of works in this

:15:25.:15:32.

kind of area, so we need to take as many opportunities to produce work

:15:32.:15:37.

like this as we can. They are designing this remarkable little

:15:37.:15:47.
:15:47.:15:47.

system. It is quite simple on its own. These tones will be contained

:15:47.:15:53.

on the audience light sticks and as they walk to the summit and hit a

:15:53.:15:59.

certain altitude the tones will kick in. By moving the like stick

:15:59.:16:06.

you modulate the sound. They might tip the sticks lightly. It is

:16:06.:16:13.

shifting tonally and shifting by the movement of the Walker.

:16:13.:16:18.

analogy would be to take a gigantic church organ, pull out all it stops

:16:18.:16:28.

and then drag it up a cliff. There is 800 in the audience and they are

:16:28.:16:35.

each given one of these and they liked the way and they create a

:16:35.:16:45.
:16:45.:16:45.

snake like an animal. I am happy with the sticks and the suits. You

:16:45.:16:49.

imagine in your head what a number of sticks is going to look like and

:16:49.:16:54.

you just do not know. But when we saw them on their help it was a

:16:54.:17:04.
:17:04.:17:12.

great feeling, yes it works and it With two months until the Edinburgh

:17:12.:17:17.

Festival, they organise another rehearsal of Speed Of Light. I have

:17:17.:17:24.

no doubt that some will turn up who are not really prepared. They may

:17:24.:17:30.

be prepared in their minds, but it will be extremely tough. We are

:17:30.:17:36.

going to push them to run in time and to run hard. If they do not, it

:17:36.:17:40.

will not be as good a piece of work for people watching and the gaps

:17:40.:17:49.

will appear and the whole thing will not flow. Every show during

:17:49.:17:53.

the festival will have a different set of volunteer runners, so it is

:17:53.:17:58.

down to the leaders to ensure the performances run smoothly on the

:17:58.:18:04.

hill. You are still performing and people are still watching you.

:18:04.:18:08.

is not about speed, but that dynamism of the basic running

:18:08.:18:14.

movement. Visually what we are seeing is really strong. The areas

:18:14.:18:20.

of pattern-making that were not working a couple of months ago are

:18:20.:18:23.

starting to fill out and the movement over the hill is much

:18:23.:18:29.

stronger. Although it is tougher to manage, it is beginning to work in

:18:29.:18:39.
:18:39.:18:48.

terms of linking back to the Go away. Back in. Very good.

:18:48.:18:58.
:18:58.:19:20.

HEAVY BREATHING. Get ready to sparkle. Brilliant. Do not go too

:19:20.:19:30.
:19:30.:19:46.

far. This is your last one, come It is looking fantastic. They are

:19:46.:19:49.

doing this for the first time, runners who have never been on that

:19:49.:19:55.

hill before in darkness, in light suits and they are creating the

:19:55.:19:59.

patterns we imagined. I cannot be objective about it, but for my

:19:59.:20:09.
:20:09.:20:18.

money it looks pretty good. It is a It is good now have. We have sorted

:20:18.:20:27.

out the choreography and we have sent out a film letting people know,

:20:27.:20:30.

letting the 4000 runners know what they are letting themselves in for,

:20:30.:20:35.

so we are getting a lot of cancellations. That is great, it is

:20:35.:20:39.

what we intended. It is August and the task of managing a different

:20:39.:20:45.

set of runners every night becomes a reality for the leaders. This is

:20:45.:20:50.

a show, there are 800 paying audience members and the runners as

:20:50.:20:56.

well and you have a responsibility. Although you might be a little cog

:20:56.:21:01.

in a machine, you have got the responsibility. Running on a hill

:21:01.:21:07.

at that time of night will be a different experience. It is a great

:21:07.:21:17.

honour to be able to take part in it. It has been a huge undertaking

:21:17.:21:20.

for NVA and the project has been in development for at least three

:21:20.:21:25.

years, and that has involved not only building up the partnerships

:21:25.:21:29.

with our funders and our stakeholders like Historic Scotland

:21:29.:21:33.

to have given us permission to work on the site, but the project has

:21:33.:21:37.

grown in terms of the number of people we need to deliver the

:21:37.:21:45.

project. I thought it would be a fantastic way to experience are

:21:46.:21:50.

they seat with the light and everything else. It will be

:21:50.:21:54.

beatable being on top of Arthur's Seat combining the geology and the

:21:54.:21:59.

like. We will see how it works out in the end. It will be fun because

:22:00.:22:06.

I'd have got friends who went up to the top when they were students,

:22:06.:22:16.
:22:16.:22:26.

but they didn't have any light and Welcome to the Speed Of Light...

:22:26.:22:29.

the first audience of the night get their safety briefing, the runners

:22:29.:22:38.

take to the hill for the start of the performance. Going up RSA seat

:22:38.:22:42.

in the dark is a wonderful experience and something you feel

:22:42.:22:48.

you should not be doing. Just going up there is incredible and the view

:22:48.:22:53.

of Edinburgh is astounding. The other thing is being part of a

:22:53.:22:57.

group of people with the sticks creating this strange, Centipede

:22:57.:23:07.
:23:07.:23:17.

like creature going up the hill, so 20 and go. The performance begins

:23:17.:23:21.

and as the audience walk through the valley they get their first

:23:21.:23:31.
:23:31.:23:44.

I think for me it has always been about contrast, contrasting the

:23:44.:23:54.
:23:54.:23:56.

natural and the a symmetrical with the ordered and the symmetrical.

:23:56.:23:59.

People will have an amazing experience, whether they connect

:23:59.:24:04.

directly with the work a lot, they will appreciate the effort and

:24:04.:24:13.

understand and appreciate the individual runners within that.

:24:13.:24:23.
:24:23.:24:42.

are doing really well so far. One, Before reaching the summit the

:24:42.:24:46.

audience will pause to contemplate the performance below. Their light

:24:46.:24:54.

sticks are designed to emit sound on approaching this viewpoint.

:24:54.:24:58.

psychological way you think there is a correspondence between these

:24:58.:25:08.
:25:08.:25:36.

distant, flickering figures and It is very important not to see

:25:36.:25:41.

this as a piece of theatre or a big show or a spectacular. It is a very

:25:41.:25:47.

low key piece of work, a very gentle piece of work. To get the

:25:47.:25:52.

most out of it you have to sit and settle down and allow these images

:25:52.:26:02.
:26:02.:26:16.

to gently build up and dissipate For me this is the duration of

:26:16.:26:20.

sculpture, it is work that is unfolding and lighting a landscape

:26:20.:26:27.

slowly over time. It is a subtle piece of work. It is expensive, it

:26:27.:26:33.

cost over �1 million. And that has created a piece of work that will

:26:33.:26:38.

probably now travel the world. We are already getting contacts from

:26:38.:26:42.

different parts of the UK and we have got delegations coming from

:26:42.:26:47.

Rio de Janeiro to see it, so we may take it out to the Olympics in four

:26:47.:26:52.

years time. At the summit of Arthur seat at the tops of the light

:26:52.:26:58.

sticks are removed and become part of a sound and light sculpture. The

:26:58.:27:05.

audience then make their way off the hill. Many people looking at it

:27:05.:27:08.

will see different things, depending on what they have read

:27:08.:27:14.

and what they had seen. Some people see it in an abstract way and other

:27:14.:27:24.
:27:24.:27:25.

people have references. I do not know if it was what I expected to

:27:25.:27:31.

see or not. I have enjoyed it a lot. I think the runners are fantastic.

:27:31.:27:35.

They have put a lot of effort into it and it has turned out really

:27:35.:27:41.

well. It is about honest graft and the incredible effort that has been

:27:41.:27:45.

made both by our team and the runners. Beyond whether you think

:27:45.:27:51.

it is good art or not, ultimately it is about that endeavour.

:27:51.:27:56.

certainly has been an experience. I think maybe what the directors

:27:56.:28:02.

intended us to take but it was not what I took from it. For me it is

:28:02.:28:07.

too small scale. I think you need many more people dressed up. But

:28:07.:28:11.

Edinburgh is a very beautiful and inspirational place and that is

:28:11.:28:16.

what will stay with me, I think. cannot pretend everything is

:28:16.:28:20.

perfect for everyone. It is real life and some people get it and

:28:20.:28:24.

some people do not. What you are hearing now is the cheering from

:28:24.:28:30.

Download Subtitles

SRT

ASS