Giles Bailey: Performance and Book Launch

Please be aware, this event will start promptly at 7.30pm.

To mark the final week of his exhibition at CCA, Giles Bailey will perform his new work The Chemical History of a Candle in CCA's Theatre space.

Bailey’s new work The Chemical History of a Candle was originally inspired by and performed in Flat Time House, London. Researching the John Latham archive, and works commissioned by other artists at Flat Time House, Bailey was struck by a moment in Laure Prouvost’s film All These Things Think Link, where Latham peruses a book shelf within the house, pulling out a number of books. One of these was The Chemical History of a Candle, by Michael Faraday, a series of six lectures for children on the chemistry and physics of combustion. In memoriam to the late Latham’s practice of using books in more imaginative or spatial ways, Bailey interprets the contents page as a series of movements and gestures.

Following this, he will talk about and present two new publication projects. The first - This Massive Power - is a volume of stories written collaboratively with the artist Serena Lee, from which Giles will read.

The second project is a new publication documenting a 2012 interview with the late artist Ian White. Following the performance, Bailey will be in discussion with LUX Scotland Director Isla Leaver-Yap about Ian White's work, life and the progress of the project.

7.30pm, Theatre - The Chemical History of a Candle - Performance will begin promptly and lasts 15 mins
7.50pm, Cinema - This Massive Power - Introduction and reading
8.20pm, Cinema - Ian White discussion and Q&A with Isla Leaver-Yap, LUX Scotland.
9.00pm - Finish

This Massive Power will available for a specially reduced price on the night. This is a collaboration with Serena Lee that has its origins in a workshop that was led by Chris Evans at the Piet Zwart Institute entitled ‘Spastic Logic’. It consists of two volumes, each of 24 very short stories that are generated by (slightly Oulipian) system, one written by Serena, one by myself. From each pair of stories a list of vocabulary is extracted consisting of words or phrases that must be incorporated into the next story, and so on.