3:02:33 > 3:02:37Welcome to the Culture Show at the Edinburgh Festival where
3:02:37 > 3:02:38ably assisted by writers,
3:02:38 > 3:02:40musicians, comics
3:02:40 > 3:02:43and, well, weavers, we'll be freaking out
3:02:43 > 3:02:46and seeing if we think we're funny.
3:02:46 > 3:02:49The circus traders next move is known as the fallopian flip.
3:02:52 > 3:02:53Ow!
3:02:55 > 3:02:57Coming up - good times -
3:02:57 > 3:03:00I get groovy with disco legend Nile Rodgers.
3:03:00 > 3:03:01So you think you're funny?
3:03:01 > 3:03:04Jason Byrne explains why Edinburgh's best to find out.
3:03:04 > 3:03:08Speed of light - Michael Smith walks through a festival fantasia
3:03:08 > 3:03:12and Alistair Sooke talks warp and weft at Dovecot Studios.
3:03:13 > 3:03:17It's virtually comedy law that any stand-up that wants to stand out
3:03:17 > 3:03:20should enter the So You Think You're Funny Competition.
3:03:20 > 3:03:24In 2012 it's now reached its 25th anniversary and has
3:03:24 > 3:03:29brought us such luminaries as Peter Kay, Dylan Moran and Sarah Millican.
3:03:29 > 3:03:33Way back in 1996 Jason Byrne was a finalist.
3:03:33 > 3:03:36Now he's one of the biggest selling acts on the fringe.
3:03:36 > 3:03:40So we sent him along to check out this year's crop of contenders.
3:03:41 > 3:03:43Scotland's contribution the space race!
3:03:46 > 3:03:47Failure to launch!
3:03:57 > 3:04:00Are you going to be my friend for the night?
3:04:00 > 3:04:04I've been Jason Byrne. Thanks a million!
3:04:08 > 3:04:13I first did shows here in 1996 but now I play pretty big venues.
3:04:13 > 3:04:16Some people say I'm lucky, others say, "No, you'd have worked hard."
3:04:16 > 3:04:18That's right. I worked hard.
3:04:18 > 3:04:22I did many, many shows here over the 17 years but none of them
3:04:22 > 3:04:24have been as important as this!
3:04:25 > 3:04:29Are you ready for a top semi-final of So You Think You're Funny?
3:04:29 > 3:04:31CHEERING
3:04:31 > 3:04:32This is So You Think You're Funny.
3:04:32 > 3:04:35It's an annual comedy competition for brand-new acts
3:04:35 > 3:04:38and the final is held here at the Gilded Balloon.
3:04:38 > 3:04:40Gilded Balloon!
3:04:40 > 3:04:44It's one of the biggest five minutes ...must be like being in the X Factor or something.
3:04:44 > 3:04:49- Afterwards you feel absolutely dazed.- It feels amazing and so cool.
3:04:49 > 3:04:52I feel like oh! I'm buzzing! It's the best thing ever.
3:04:52 > 3:04:56It's a pretty basic format - acts perform short sets in heats
3:04:56 > 3:04:57and then judges choose who makes the final.
3:04:57 > 3:04:59No!
3:04:59 > 3:05:03It's now in its 25th year and in that time it's provided
3:05:03 > 3:05:07a launch pad for some of the biggest names on the circuit.
3:05:11 > 3:05:14So getting to the final of So You Think You're Funny can set
3:05:14 > 3:05:16a comedian on the path to comedy greatness.
3:05:18 > 3:05:21In the noughties, all the finalists are working.
3:05:21 > 3:05:23Like John Bishop, Russell Howard, Sarah Millican -
3:05:23 > 3:05:25none of them won.
3:05:25 > 3:05:27They're doing fantastic, as you are!
3:05:27 > 3:05:30Are you from Edinburgh then, yeah?
3:05:30 > 3:05:32'So You Think You're Funny was a major leg-up for me
3:05:32 > 3:05:34'and for all the other lads as well. We didn't realise
3:05:34 > 3:05:37'how important it was then and Tommy Tiernan won by one point.
3:05:37 > 3:05:39'He beat me by one point.'
3:05:39 > 3:05:41I don't mind. It's grand.
3:05:41 > 3:05:43I love nearly winning things.
3:05:43 > 3:05:47Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the next act. It's Mark Watson.
3:05:47 > 3:05:49CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
3:05:51 > 3:05:53Ta. 'Bill Bailey was hosting it'
3:05:53 > 3:05:56the year I did it.
3:05:56 > 3:05:58For me, it was enough I was even on the same stage as Bill Bailey.
3:05:58 > 3:06:00We had Mark Lamarr.
3:06:00 > 3:06:03I spent the first half minute of my set just giggling
3:06:03 > 3:06:06going, "It's Bill Bailey and all you here."
3:06:06 > 3:06:09What a lot of people. What a lot of expectation.
3:06:09 > 3:06:13When we did it it was definitely just for the fun of it and excitement.
3:06:13 > 3:06:15And there was nobody talking to us about careers.
3:06:15 > 3:06:18No, I think no-one was doing the final thinking,
3:06:18 > 3:06:20- "OK, after this this is my five-year plan."- Write me sitcom.
3:06:20 > 3:06:24Whereas now they're really slick and the last minute of their set
3:06:24 > 3:06:27is basically them going, "Here are my contact details..."
3:06:30 > 3:06:33They're going to be in there feeling the nerves.
3:06:33 > 3:06:36Some people need to go to the loo quite a lot, other people
3:06:36 > 3:06:37physically get sick.
3:06:37 > 3:06:42What I did was I paced up and down in that room in 1996 a lot.
3:06:42 > 3:06:45Some of them might be doing this for the first time. Those are the rules.
3:06:45 > 3:06:47They're going to be crapping it.
3:06:47 > 3:06:53Johnny Vegas was in '95 and he nearly fell off the stage,
3:06:53 > 3:06:56forgot his lines and just fell apart.
3:06:56 > 3:06:57Never did comedy for two more years.
3:06:57 > 3:06:59Oh my God.
3:06:59 > 3:07:03- You are officially in the final? - Woo-woo! Yeah!
3:07:03 > 3:07:04I'm Irish, by the way.
3:07:04 > 3:07:06LAUGHTER
3:07:06 > 3:07:10I always want to use that as a surprise reveal at the end.
3:07:10 > 3:07:11When people don't like you it's
3:07:11 > 3:07:15the worst, horriblest, loneliest thing, but when they do, it's fulfilling.
3:07:15 > 3:07:17She whispered to say,
3:07:17 > 3:07:20"I wonder what sleeping with a black guy feels like?"
3:07:21 > 3:07:25And I said,
3:07:25 > 3:07:26"I don't know."
3:07:26 > 3:07:27LAUGHTER
3:07:27 > 3:07:29Tell me, why did you do this?
3:07:29 > 3:07:30I wanted to know
3:07:30 > 3:07:32if people thought I was funny.
3:07:32 > 3:07:35You know, just getting through to the final is actually
3:07:35 > 3:07:39big enough to give me the confidence I need.
3:07:39 > 3:07:42What's your job? What do you do?
3:07:42 > 3:07:44- My job description is a bingo caller.- My God!
3:07:44 > 3:07:47Why would you leave that? Hang on a second!
3:07:47 > 3:07:50You can definitely keep working and do stand-up.
3:07:50 > 3:07:53It hasn't even started in here yet but as usual, with these rooms
3:07:53 > 3:07:55it's absolutely boiling which isn't going to help
3:07:55 > 3:07:59any of the acts that are on stage.
3:07:59 > 3:08:02So this gig needs to start as soon as possible before those
3:08:02 > 3:08:04lights turn this room into a sauna!
3:08:04 > 3:08:06APPLAUSE
3:08:06 > 3:08:10Good evening, everybody. Are we well?
3:08:10 > 3:08:12NO AUDIENCE RESPONSE
3:08:12 > 3:08:17He's really nervous. His throat is all dry.
3:08:17 > 3:08:20Didn't see that one coming.
3:08:20 > 3:08:22The problem is now is that he hasn't won them over quick enough
3:08:22 > 3:08:26and now he's lost them and has to try to win them over.
3:08:26 > 3:08:30Because you only get a few seconds to win them over.
3:08:30 > 3:08:32CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
3:08:39 > 3:08:41- Hello.- AUDIENCE: Hello.
3:08:41 > 3:08:42Believe it or not,
3:08:42 > 3:08:46when we were growing up in Scotland we all got told that
3:08:46 > 3:08:50no matter where we went in the world people loved the Scottish accent.
3:08:50 > 3:08:52And then we went abroad
3:08:52 > 3:08:54and we found out that it's actually a registered disability.
3:08:56 > 3:08:59You see, this is the point I was making earlier on.
3:08:59 > 3:09:03You only get a few seconds and he's already cracked it,
3:09:03 > 3:09:07so now they really like him and he's just a likeable fellow now.
3:09:07 > 3:09:09It doesn't really matter what he does now.
3:09:09 > 3:09:11They're going to laugh at everything he says.
3:09:11 > 3:09:13Guys, thank you. Good night.
3:09:13 > 3:09:15APPLAUSE
3:09:15 > 3:09:17Yeah, I'd say he's going to get through.
3:09:17 > 3:09:19CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
3:09:19 > 3:09:24So that's 25 years of So You Think You're Funny. Will it last any longer? Well that's up to you.
3:09:24 > 3:09:28You can give it a go and try and make it last another 25 years!
3:09:28 > 3:09:30God help us all!
3:09:30 > 3:09:34The winner of So You Think You're Funny will be announced tomorrow.
3:09:34 > 3:09:37Jason Byrne embarks on a national tour in September.
3:09:37 > 3:09:40Arthur's Seat is a magisterial mound that dominates the Edinburgh
3:09:40 > 3:09:43skyline but this year it's the focal point of an event
3:09:43 > 3:09:45in the international festival.
3:09:45 > 3:09:48Speed Of Light combines performance, public art
3:09:48 > 3:09:52and also an awful lot of huffing and puffing.
3:09:52 > 3:09:54We told Michael Smith to take a hike.
3:09:57 > 3:10:01Edinburgh must be one of the most urbane settings to experience art
3:10:01 > 3:10:02in Britain.
3:10:02 > 3:10:05A rich poem set in stone.
3:10:07 > 3:10:09But Speed Of Light
3:10:09 > 3:10:12commissioned for this year's international festival jolts us out
3:10:12 > 3:10:14of this familiar context
3:10:14 > 3:10:19and plunges us into a far stranger, more profound place.
3:10:22 > 3:10:25Every night the extinct volcano that looms over Edinburgh
3:10:25 > 3:10:30is brought to life by a spectacular theatre of light.
3:10:30 > 3:10:33200 runners kitted out in specially made LED light suits
3:10:33 > 3:10:37weave their way across the nooks and crannies of Salisbury Crags,
3:10:37 > 3:10:42leaving beautiful abstractions in their wake.
3:10:45 > 3:10:47It's a participatory event.
3:10:47 > 3:10:50Each audience member carries their own portable light source
3:10:50 > 3:10:52and becomes part of the artwork.
3:10:59 > 3:11:03As the dusk draws into darkness we walk in single file like some
3:11:03 > 3:11:06fluorescent caterpillar from the deep seabed,
3:11:06 > 3:11:10slowly becoming aware of patterns of luminous joggers in the dark,
3:11:10 > 3:11:13like wondrous, mediaeval, angelic creatures
3:11:13 > 3:11:17slightly scary as they rush headlong towards us.
3:11:19 > 3:11:21It's a very minimal piece, this one.
3:11:21 > 3:11:24Stripped back to a meditation on one of our most basic everyday
3:11:24 > 3:11:28activities - running, walking, moving through this spaces
3:11:28 > 3:11:31we inhabit, but it re-imagines them
3:11:31 > 3:11:35as something magical, mystical, sublime.
3:11:35 > 3:11:38The project was conceived by Angus Farquhar,
3:11:38 > 3:11:42the founder of Glasgow-based organisation NVA.
3:11:42 > 3:11:45It's been a long time coming this piece, hasn't it?
3:11:45 > 3:11:48You've been thinking about this for a long time. Why was it so important
3:11:48 > 3:11:50that you got it done?
3:11:50 > 3:11:52I've been a runner...since I hit 39
3:11:52 > 3:11:55I'd been running for 13 years.
3:11:55 > 3:11:57And I got more and more passionate about running.
3:11:57 > 3:12:02And so I think when the Olympics came round
3:12:02 > 3:12:07and when the chance came to make maybe a generational work, you know,
3:12:07 > 3:12:11you only get to make these works I think once every 10, 20 years.
3:12:11 > 3:12:14I wanted to do it about the thing I was really passionate about.
3:12:14 > 3:12:16Being that it's a, sort of, public work
3:12:16 > 3:12:19and that the audience form a really important part of the work,
3:12:19 > 3:12:21what sort of reaction have you had from the audience?
3:12:21 > 3:12:24I think, for some people, it's tough getting to that summit
3:12:24 > 3:12:26and it's quite hard for them to,
3:12:26 > 3:12:31to get that sense of peace and stillness to watch the work.
3:12:31 > 3:12:35Other people come off and it can be quite a life changing experience.
3:12:35 > 3:12:36So, you get the full mixture.
3:12:36 > 3:12:40So, what's the inspiration, perspiration, erm,
3:12:40 > 3:12:43ratio for this piece, then?
3:12:43 > 3:12:48I think it's, er, 98% perspiration and 2% inspiration.
3:12:48 > 3:12:50- Oh, I'll have that, that's all right, yeah.- Yeah.
3:12:50 > 3:12:52Yeah, good, honest graft.
3:12:55 > 3:12:59Is this a piece of art, or a piece of sport, or a piece of science?
3:12:59 > 3:13:01Hmm, I'm not quite sure what it is.
3:13:02 > 3:13:05It's made by the effort of the runners
3:13:05 > 3:13:07and it's also completed by the effort of the walkers
3:13:07 > 3:13:10and the movement of the light to the top of the hill.
3:13:10 > 3:13:13It's a piece of work that's very subtle - it's durational.
3:13:13 > 3:13:16It's like, it's like a slow-moving human sculpture.
3:13:19 > 3:13:23Sometimes I just sit out on the hill and I just think,
3:13:23 > 3:13:25"I've never seen anything like this before."
3:13:29 > 3:13:32'The steep climb brings a whole new perspective.
3:13:32 > 3:13:35'Not only do we get a bird's-eye view of space
3:13:35 > 3:13:37'but a bird's-eye view of time.
3:13:37 > 3:13:41'The deep time of cosmic and geological processes,
3:13:41 > 3:13:45'the births of constellations, the drift of tectonic plates.
3:13:48 > 3:13:50'The experience of Speed of Light
3:13:50 > 3:13:53'crescendos at the peak of Arthur's seat.
3:13:53 > 3:13:57'Up here we can wonder at our own slightness and insignificance
3:13:57 > 3:13:59'in the face of the big wide world.
3:13:59 > 3:14:03'At all human endeavour reduced to tiny jogging,
3:14:03 > 3:14:06'luminous dots of light in the night-time.'
3:14:06 > 3:14:10The runners are in metaphor for the real city down there.
3:14:10 > 3:14:12For all our cities and civilisations.
3:14:12 > 3:14:16For all human adventures over the generations.
3:14:16 > 3:14:21Accreted like the coral fossil of Edinburgh lit up below us.
3:14:28 > 3:14:31And you can appear in Speed of Light until September 1st.
3:14:31 > 3:14:34Next up, Nile Rodgers is a disco genius
3:14:34 > 3:14:36who's freaked, funked and flatlined his way
3:14:36 > 3:14:38through an extraordinary life.
3:14:38 > 3:14:39Working with his pop band Chic
3:14:39 > 3:14:42and also the likes of Madonna and David Bowie,
3:14:42 > 3:14:43his legend is extraordinary.
3:14:43 > 3:14:45Well, he's at the Book Festival this week,
3:14:45 > 3:14:47reading extracts from his autobiography
3:14:47 > 3:14:50and I went along to have a chat with him.
3:14:50 > 3:14:52And, if you're thinking of writing in, don't worry,
3:14:52 > 3:14:55no rare psychedelic flamingos were harmed
3:14:55 > 3:14:57during the making of this piece.
3:14:57 > 3:14:59# Freak out
3:14:59 > 3:15:00# Le freak, c'est chic... #
3:15:00 > 3:15:02With hits like Le Freak and Good Times,
3:15:02 > 3:15:05Chic were THE cool face of '70s disco.
3:15:05 > 3:15:07Nile Rodgers entertained the festival audience
3:15:07 > 3:15:08with some of his classic songs,
3:15:08 > 3:15:13whilst also revealing the highs and lows of an extraordinary life.
3:15:15 > 3:15:16# Le freak, c'est chic... #
3:15:16 > 3:15:2013-year-old Beverly Goodman gave birth to Nile in 1952
3:15:20 > 3:15:22and later married his stepfather,
3:15:22 > 3:15:25white Jewish jazz fan Bobby Glanzrock.
3:15:25 > 3:15:29His childhood was unconventional, to say the least.
3:15:29 > 3:15:32Both of your parents became drug addicts
3:15:32 > 3:15:34- but it's a very loving portrayal of them.- They're wonderful.
3:15:34 > 3:15:37It's very bohemian. You don't get uptight drug addicted parents.
3:15:37 > 3:15:40- Well, they were heroin addicts, to be clear.- Mmm.
3:15:40 > 3:15:44They weren't just drug, regular, I mean, they were, hell,
3:15:44 > 3:15:46they were full-blown, erm...
3:15:46 > 3:15:49but they were both very, very beautiful,
3:15:49 > 3:15:52very smart, super intellectuals.
3:15:52 > 3:15:56It was very stimulating to be a six, seven, eight, nine-year-old kid
3:15:56 > 3:15:58in that environment.
3:15:58 > 3:16:00The great thing about it,
3:16:00 > 3:16:02the by-product of being in that environment
3:16:02 > 3:16:04is I became independent at a very early age.
3:16:04 > 3:16:07I ran away from home and ultimately moved out when I was,
3:16:07 > 3:16:08you know, 14 years old.
3:16:08 > 3:16:12- I suppose you were living in a displaced fantasy world by now, as a kid?- Right.
3:16:12 > 3:16:14Because the real world, however bohemian you describe it,
3:16:14 > 3:16:16is not always a very cool place to be.
3:16:16 > 3:16:18- No.- It's pretty, you know,
3:16:18 > 3:16:20they're becoming lost to their addiction,
3:16:20 > 3:16:22then you succumb to your own addiction VERY early on.
3:16:22 > 3:16:25Yeah, at 11 years old I started sniffing glue,
3:16:25 > 3:16:28which changed my whole perspective of the world.
3:16:28 > 3:16:31All of a sudden, instead of the world becoming scary place
3:16:31 > 3:16:33and people not liking me,
3:16:33 > 3:16:35everybody became friendly and I became brave.
3:16:35 > 3:16:37And you knew the particular,
3:16:37 > 3:16:39you know, you knew what kind of highs
3:16:39 > 3:16:41- different kind of glues could give you.- Yes.
3:16:41 > 3:16:45And from then you're onto Amyl, from then you're onto booze, from then, and then...
3:16:45 > 3:16:48Acid, I did acid with Timothy Leary at 15 years old.
3:16:49 > 3:16:52Fortunately, drugs were not Niles's only release,
3:16:52 > 3:16:53his childhood passion for music
3:16:53 > 3:16:56turned into a multimillion dollar career
3:16:56 > 3:16:58when he and musical partner Bernard Edwards
3:16:58 > 3:17:01started the band that made everybody dance.
3:17:01 > 3:17:04To start from when it starts to really kick off with Chic,
3:17:04 > 3:17:07tell us what happened in the formation of that.
3:17:07 > 3:17:11My girlfriend at the time was into a band called Roxy music,
3:17:11 > 3:17:12which I had never heard of,
3:17:12 > 3:17:16and it was the first time I had seen anything like that.
3:17:16 > 3:17:18Roxy had this whole thing where the audience was beautiful,
3:17:18 > 3:17:19they were cool.
3:17:19 > 3:17:23So, I said, "What if we did the black version of that?"
3:17:23 > 3:17:26And Bernard said, "Great, why don't you call it Chic?"
3:17:26 > 3:17:30# I want your love I want your love... #
3:17:30 > 3:17:31Atlantic records were keen
3:17:31 > 3:17:35to sprinkle the Rodgers and Edwards Stardust over other acts.
3:17:35 > 3:17:38The duo wrote and produced hit for Sister Sledge...
3:17:38 > 3:17:40# We're lost in music... #
3:17:40 > 3:17:42Then went on to work with Motown royalty Diana Ross.
3:17:42 > 3:17:46The resulting album, Diana, became the most successful of her career
3:17:46 > 3:17:50and made Nile the go-to producer for the biggest pop stars of the '80s.
3:17:50 > 3:17:53# I'm boom boom boom boom coming!
3:17:53 > 3:17:55# I'm coming out
3:17:55 > 3:17:59# I want the world to know I've got to let it show... #
3:17:59 > 3:18:02Continue to make Chic records, we never get another hit,
3:18:02 > 3:18:07- but then I go on to do David Bowie, Let's Dance.- Yeah.
3:18:07 > 3:18:10- That kind of works for you. - Then I go on to do Duran Duran.
3:18:10 > 3:18:12- That also works.- The Reflex. - Reflex, yeah.
3:18:12 > 3:18:15And then I go on to do Madonna, Like A Virgin.
3:18:15 > 3:18:19# Like a vi-i-irgin... #
3:18:19 > 3:18:22Madonna's 36th birthday is not a good day for you.
3:18:22 > 3:18:27I had gone on a three-day alcohol and drug binge
3:18:27 > 3:18:29where I hadn't fallen asleep.
3:18:29 > 3:18:31People had to carry me out of Madonna's house.
3:18:31 > 3:18:33That was...
3:18:33 > 3:18:3518 years ago, as of a few days ago.
3:18:35 > 3:18:38I've never had another drink or another drug since.
3:18:38 > 3:18:42As somebody who is clean and sober, creatively, what are the things that excite you now?
3:18:42 > 3:18:46When it came to writing the book,
3:18:46 > 3:18:50which took better than four years,
3:18:50 > 3:18:55I thought that this was the singular - and I still believe this -
3:18:55 > 3:19:01most daunting task that I've ever embarked upon in my life.
3:19:01 > 3:19:06Because a lot of it was from my childhood,
3:19:06 > 3:19:07so when I confronted my mother,
3:19:07 > 3:19:11which wasn't a harsh confrontation cos she's very open...
3:19:12 > 3:19:16..it was actually a bit of relief.
3:19:16 > 3:19:20It was getting clarity and resolving things, baggage,
3:19:20 > 3:19:22that I've been carrying for years.
3:19:22 > 3:19:26I feel really glad you spent four years, because it's a most incredible story.
3:19:26 > 3:19:30And when you read it, you have to remind yourself it's non-fiction.
3:19:30 > 3:19:32- And I mean that as a compliment. - Thank you very much.
3:19:32 > 3:19:36- Its an amazing life, so thank you for sharing it.- Thank you. - It's incredible.
3:19:36 > 3:19:38# Good times. #
3:19:38 > 3:19:39Everybody sing, come on!
3:19:39 > 3:19:43# These are the good times
3:19:43 > 3:19:46# (AUDIENCE) These are the good times. #
3:19:46 > 3:19:48CHEERING
3:19:50 > 3:19:53The Dovecot Studio is home to some of the most extraordinary weavers
3:19:53 > 3:19:56who worked with the likes of David Hockney and also Henry Moore.
3:19:56 > 3:19:59To celebrate their centenary, they've mounted a special exhibition
3:19:59 > 3:20:01as part of the Edinburgh Art Festival.
3:20:01 > 3:20:04Alastair Sooke went along to find out more.
3:20:04 > 3:20:07Get your hands off me. You've got wood...worm.
3:20:10 > 3:20:13Say the word "tapestry"
3:20:13 > 3:20:15and you might think of twee craft kits from the 1980s,
3:20:15 > 3:20:16the Women's Institute,
3:20:16 > 3:20:20or dusty wall hangings in your granny's living room.
3:20:21 > 3:20:25Once upon a time, it was all very different.
3:20:25 > 3:20:27Back in the Middle Ages and Renaissance,
3:20:27 > 3:20:30tapestries were prized far beyond paintings.
3:20:30 > 3:20:33They were considered the most prestigious and most expensive
3:20:33 > 3:20:34art objects that money could buy.
3:20:34 > 3:20:37And they were designed by some of the most famous artists in the world.
3:20:37 > 3:20:39Masters like Raphael.
3:20:39 > 3:20:42What's quite surprising, though, is that in the last 100 years,
3:20:42 > 3:20:46tapestry has been embraced not just by crafters,
3:20:46 > 3:20:48but also by some of the biggest names in modern art.
3:20:53 > 3:20:57'Established in 1912, The Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh
3:20:57 > 3:21:00'have produced more than 800 tapestries.
3:21:05 > 3:21:07'Their new show, Weaving The Century,
3:21:07 > 3:21:10'reveals some of the highlights, with works by artists such as'
3:21:10 > 3:21:16David Hockney, Graham Sutherland, Peter Blake and Eduardo Paolozzi.
3:21:18 > 3:21:22'Skills like these take years to acquire,
3:21:22 > 3:21:25'so artists working and tapestry collaborate with a weaver.'
3:21:25 > 3:21:28..and it's a completely different mark on the painting.
3:21:28 > 3:21:31'Artist Victoria Crowe is currently in the process of creating
3:21:31 > 3:21:34'Large Tree Group, based on an existing painting.'
3:21:34 > 3:21:38I'm very intrigued about what tapestry sort of adds
3:21:38 > 3:21:39to your practice, what you make.
3:21:39 > 3:21:41Mm-hmm.
3:21:41 > 3:21:44Well, I think the scale, for a start, completely changes the image,
3:21:44 > 3:21:48because the painting is quite of a domestic kind of scale.
3:21:48 > 3:21:52And also the way light is absorbed by wool.
3:21:52 > 3:21:55You're getting a different response from the painted surface.
3:21:55 > 3:22:00So it's almost like me seeing the translation into another language of it.
3:22:02 > 3:22:06It's this other person's process that comes into it
3:22:06 > 3:22:08that's really quite exciting.
3:22:08 > 3:22:13- I mean, this is going to take David, what, about eight months, David, do you reckon?- Probably.
3:22:13 > 3:22:15- Nine months?- Nine months. - What, just on this?
3:22:15 > 3:22:16- On this one alone.- Yes.
3:22:16 > 3:22:19- You won't be making anything else at all at the same time?- Probably not.
3:22:19 > 3:22:21That's a big commitment!
3:22:21 > 3:22:23But I hope someone else might come on with me,
3:22:23 > 3:22:25just for a bit of company, but...
3:22:30 > 3:22:35'Husband and wife weavers Douglas Grierson and Fiona Mathison
3:22:35 > 3:22:38'help create many of the works in the show.
3:22:38 > 3:22:40'They married after meeting at Dovecot.'
3:22:46 > 3:22:49I think this is one of the most exciting tapestries in the show,
3:22:49 > 3:22:53- and it dates, I think, from the '60s?- Yes, that's right.
3:22:53 > 3:22:57- And it's by one of Britain's finest pop artists Eduardo Paolozzi. - Yeah, yeah.
3:22:57 > 3:22:58Oh, when we wove this,
3:22:58 > 3:23:01I was a young man, and...
3:23:01 > 3:23:04and it brings back some nice memories, you know.
3:23:04 > 3:23:07We thought that that was really
3:23:07 > 3:23:11what we'd call now cutting edge stuff, you know,
3:23:11 > 3:23:13but that's what it felt like back then.
3:23:13 > 3:23:17You know, that we were doing something quite important.
3:23:17 > 3:23:19And how did Paolozzi react to it?
3:23:19 > 3:23:22Because, I'm thinking, you know, as a pop artist,
3:23:22 > 3:23:25- he was fascinated by things like plastic toys.- Yeah.
3:23:25 > 3:23:28- Yeah.- Ephemera and junk he collected from the 20th century world.
3:23:28 > 3:23:31So I'm quite surprised that he was drawn to tapestry.
3:23:31 > 3:23:35In a sense, that's quite Eduardo to have a bit of a joke
3:23:35 > 3:23:38with the idea, because the notion of tapestry
3:23:38 > 3:23:42is something for a kind of grand... a grand hall.
3:23:42 > 3:23:44And he's introducing cartoons.
3:23:44 > 3:23:45Absolutely. Yeah, yeah.
3:23:45 > 3:23:48I mean, that's something which is very throwaway,
3:23:48 > 3:23:50and yet, tapestry is so time-consuming.
3:23:50 > 3:23:53- Yeah.- It's noticeable that here you've got one main stalwart
3:23:53 > 3:23:56of British pop art, and then on the wall over there is another one.
3:23:56 > 3:23:59- Yes.- Hockney in his pomp. Is that from the '60s as well?
3:23:59 > 3:24:03Yes. And Hockney didn't... He didn't come very often.
3:24:03 > 3:24:07And when he did come, he upset the weavers by saying,
3:24:07 > 3:24:13"Ooh, that just took me a second to do, and it's taken you a week."
3:24:13 > 3:24:15- And he seemed to think that was... - How bloody rude!- Yes!
3:24:17 > 3:24:20'David Hockney's work from 1969 is called
3:24:20 > 3:24:24'A Tapestry Made From A Painting, Made From A Painting Of A Tapestry,
3:24:24 > 3:24:27'Made From A Painting.'
3:24:27 > 3:24:29- This is a reproduction of the original painting.- Yeah.- Yes.
3:24:29 > 3:24:31And you must have relished taking this on,
3:24:31 > 3:24:34because, as you can see, it's a painting of a tapestry
3:24:34 > 3:24:37now being translated back into tapestry.
3:24:37 > 3:24:40Yeah, and that was the sort of in-joke at the time.
3:24:40 > 3:24:43You know, that seemed to be an idea that,
3:24:43 > 3:24:45or a notion, that Hockney liked.
3:24:45 > 3:24:48The thing that intrigues me is that obviously, it's beautiful.
3:24:48 > 3:24:53I think this is beautiful, but what does it bring to the table that the painting doesn't already have?
3:24:53 > 3:24:56Well, in this case, it probably brings less to the table,
3:24:56 > 3:25:02because I believe that weaving a painting the same size as a tapestry
3:25:02 > 3:25:05does draw the weaver into a copying situation.
3:25:05 > 3:25:08And I think we've got to give it scale,
3:25:08 > 3:25:09we've got to intensify the colours,
3:25:09 > 3:25:14and give the tapestry something that the painting can't give.
3:25:19 > 3:25:22Weaving The Century runs until 7th October and then tours the UK.
3:25:25 > 3:25:27# Boom! Shake, shake, shake the room... #
3:25:27 > 3:25:31Now, critics are hailing Kirsty Gunn's new novel as "extraordinary" and "a masterpiece".
3:25:31 > 3:25:35She takes as her inspiration for The Big Music, Scotland's history,
3:25:35 > 3:25:39landscape and also its signature sound, the bagpipes.
3:25:39 > 3:25:40I went along and had a chat with her.
3:25:40 > 3:25:43# Boom! Shake, shake, shake the room
3:25:43 > 3:25:45# Tick, tick, tick, tick, boom! #
3:25:45 > 3:25:47Magic! Could you make Michael Gove disappear?
3:25:47 > 3:25:49# Boom! Shake, shake, shake the room
3:25:49 > 3:25:51# Boom! Shake, shake, shake... #
3:25:51 > 3:25:53BAGPIPES PLAY
3:25:53 > 3:25:56Translated from the Gaelic, The Big Music is "pibroch",
3:25:56 > 3:25:59the ancient classical form of the Highland bagpipe.
3:26:05 > 3:26:08Set in Sutherland in the far north of Scotland, Kirsty Gunn's novel
3:26:08 > 3:26:10is a story of family secrets
3:26:10 > 3:26:13and a dying man's obsession
3:26:13 > 3:26:16with composing a musical lament to his life.
3:26:16 > 3:26:19"From childhood and manhood to age,
3:26:19 > 3:26:22"all here laying itself out
3:26:22 > 3:26:24"like a map of all the places he knows
3:26:24 > 3:26:27"and of his history and the people he has known,
3:26:27 > 3:26:31"stranded together in this grass under his feet,
3:26:31 > 3:26:37"spread out at his feet as he walks further and further away."
3:26:40 > 3:26:44What I like about this book and what I respond to most is not that it's about music,
3:26:44 > 3:26:49but actually that it evokes the qualities of music itself in its four minute structure.
3:26:49 > 3:26:52It's not an easy read. It asks quite a lot of you, but that's great,
3:26:52 > 3:26:55because it reminds you how mollycoddled you've been,
3:26:55 > 3:26:59you know, in the things that you've read of late.
3:26:59 > 3:27:01And it's ambitious and it's daring, it's difficult,
3:27:01 > 3:27:06it's contrary, but it is, as critics have said, a really blazing,
3:27:06 > 3:27:08trailblazing work of contemporary fiction.
3:27:08 > 3:27:11So, Kirsty, in the year that the literary landscape -
3:27:11 > 3:27:14I say literary loosely - has been dominated by the phenomenon of 50 Shades Of Grey,
3:27:14 > 3:27:20you have elected to bring out this beautiful, lyric novel
3:27:20 > 3:27:21in the modernist tradition.
3:27:21 > 3:27:24Do you feel you're ploughing a sort of incredibly solitary
3:27:24 > 3:27:26sort of road at the moment?
3:27:26 > 3:27:31I certainly do. The book took a huge amount of work.
3:27:31 > 3:27:34Seven years in the writing,
3:27:34 > 3:27:36and in that time, yes,
3:27:36 > 3:27:39I asked myself if I was completely mad.
3:27:39 > 3:27:41Yeah! Do you ever sort of think to yourself,
3:27:41 > 3:27:44"I could have spent six months and written a bestseller"?
3:27:45 > 3:27:47I wish!
3:27:47 > 3:27:51- Is it not...? Is it something you couldn't...?- Just can't do it.
3:27:51 > 3:27:53Either you're going to write for entertainment,
3:27:53 > 3:27:56which has all kinds of wonderful things,
3:27:56 > 3:27:59including a nice cheque at the end, normally,
3:27:59 > 3:28:04or you're an artist. In which case, you're launching yourself on this
3:28:04 > 3:28:08extraordinary voyage into the unknown.
3:28:08 > 3:28:11- We don't know where we're going to land, we don't ever know if we'll come home again.- Mm.
3:28:11 > 3:28:14BAGPIPES PLAY
3:28:15 > 3:28:17"For what can you do to stop a thing once you've started?
3:28:17 > 3:28:21"You don't stop it.
3:28:21 > 3:28:24"The laying out of the ground, the setting forth of the beginning,
3:28:24 > 3:28:27"the music that's always been in his head,
3:28:27 > 3:28:31"getting to hear itself now he's coming to the end."
3:28:33 > 3:28:39I knew that I wanted to use this pibroch form as my underlying structure.
3:28:39 > 3:28:42And I knew I wanted these haunting kind of intervals that occur
3:28:42 > 3:28:45in that music to be present
3:28:45 > 3:28:49in the book in some way. To show emotional relationships,
3:28:49 > 3:28:54to show the distance between people, and yet also the intimacy.
3:28:54 > 3:28:58The secrets, and yet also the told formal stories.
3:28:58 > 3:29:01So, all of these things kind of came to play and settled around that form.
3:29:01 > 3:29:06Some people might find, you know, the novel more of an ask than most.
3:29:06 > 3:29:09Yes, it's the very opposite of a narrative line,
3:29:09 > 3:29:15where we begin at the beginning and various events occur and then here we have the ending.
3:29:15 > 3:29:16- Yeah.- This is, as in life,
3:29:16 > 3:29:21all of our memories and events taking place
3:29:21 > 3:29:25in a kind of repeated, cyclical way.
3:29:25 > 3:29:28BAGPIPES RESUME
3:29:28 > 3:29:30"It's late.
3:29:30 > 3:29:33"But the house is here. It's looking after him.
3:29:34 > 3:29:38"All through those years away, the false years,
3:29:38 > 3:29:40"there's been this place, waiting.
3:29:43 > 3:29:47"And so, he had cast his eyes about the hills today, had he not?
3:29:49 > 3:29:53"And claimed it all, the air, its sound.
3:29:53 > 3:29:58"Only casting about in this fine day the last of the summer in it,
3:29:58 > 3:30:01"and the future in his arms."
3:30:03 > 3:30:06The great thing about the book is you journey in the landscape
3:30:06 > 3:30:08and you get lost for a while.
3:30:08 > 3:30:11I say that openly, as the reader will experience that sense of dislocation
3:30:11 > 3:30:14that you do get with lyric novels. You're not...
3:30:14 > 3:30:16Your hand isn't held at any point by the writer.
3:30:16 > 3:30:20I love it that you said "I get lost", because, exactly,
3:30:20 > 3:30:23that's the exciting journey that we hope literature will take us on.
3:30:23 > 3:30:25Mm.
3:30:25 > 3:30:30And to have somehow been changed, to have been altered on that journey.
3:30:32 > 3:30:36That's it for now, but we're back next week for more Festival frolics.
3:30:36 > 3:30:40We leave you now with Mexican duo Rodrigo y Gabriela
3:30:40 > 3:30:44who have turned up in town with, well, just a few friends in tow.
3:30:44 > 3:30:45Arriba!
3:30:45 > 3:30:50Sort of a sombrero short of the full carnival there, but gave it my best.
3:30:50 > 3:30:51Goodbye.
3:31:29 > 3:31:33Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd