Susan Brind & Jim Harold Curious Arts No. 6 Book Launch & Talk

Curious Arts No. 6 is a new publication by Glasgow-based artists, Susan Brind and Jim Harold, that brings into contemporary relevance ideas about the relationship between culture and nature. Inspired by Brind and Harold’s residency at Hospitalfield House, Arbroath in 2007, and produced in full colour, Curious Arts No. 6 is a 54 page book published by CCA that contains textual and visual essays by the artists, along with commissioned writing by Dr Nina Morris (School of GeoSciences, the University of Edinburgh) and Dr Francis McKee (Director of CCA and writer and curator based in Glasgow), with a preface by Lucy Byatt, Director of Hospitalfield Arts.

The dynamic of Hospitalfield House is about the relationship of the building’s interior to the surrounding landscape and, when read together, these reflect the 19th Century owners, Patrick and Elizabeth Allan-Fraser’s ethos: to be conscious of nature and to make aesthetics an integral part of life. Since the death of its owners, Hospitalfield has become a trust dedicated to the promotion of education in the arts and to fostering the work of visual artists in Scotland.

The production of Curious Arts No. 6 marks the completion of a number of gallery and site-specific installations by Brind and Harold that reflected on the history of the place and its significance to contemporary debates about art, place and the environment. The artists’ concept for this book-work is to disseminate knowledge of the uniqueness of the house, its holdings and its cultural significance more widely. As a result, Curious Arts No. 6 will be distributed freely to all Public Libraries in Scotland, Higher Education Institutional Libraries in the UK, and art libraries internationally. One hundred copies will be available for sale to the public.

At this event, the artists will introduce the project and talk with the two commissioned authors, Dr Nina Morris and Dr Francis McKee. A reading by Aberdeenshire-based, academic and writer Judith Findlay will follow the discussion. Her text has been commissioned by Brind and Harold especially for the book launch. Copies of the book will be available for purchase at the launch for the special price of £15. Remaining copies will be sold through Aye-Aye Books in CCA and at selected other art book shops, priced at £20.

This project has received funding from the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Glasgow School of Art’s Research and Development Fund.

For further details about the project, please contact the artists.