Language, Place and Understanding

(Running time: 60 minutes) 

We adopt different languages - verbal, literary and visual - to explore and describe our environment, whether it may be physical, cultural or ideological. This programme of six films presents us with an intriguing variety of ways of forming an understanding of these varied contexts. 

Oana Stanciu, Stai in banca ta/ Behave, 2021 (7:24)  

Ronald Forbes RSA, Behaviour Patterns, 1977 (5:00)  

Tracy Mackenna RSA, Language, Listening and Belonging, 2017 (8:59)  

Rachel Maclean RSA (Elect), Dr Cute, 2019 (4:44) 

Alicia Bruce, Sim Scenario, 2015 (6:23)  

Katri Walker, Rapture, 2012 (5:20) 

Murray Grigor HRSA, Space and Light Revisited, 2009 (7:37)  

In Stai in banca ta/ Behave, Oana Stanciu creates a macro-environment as she grapples with, and becomes embedded in, pieces of furniture. She choreographs these clips into multiples that appear to liberate rather than confine. 

In Behaviour Patterns, Ronald Forbes RSA uses images of simple street scenes, alongside clips from well-known films. He distorts these through an array of patterns, testing our ability to perceive and comprehend. 

In Language, Listening and Belonging, Tracy Mackenna RSA employs a creative toolkit of self, voice, sound, drawing, writing, film, travel, learning, story and people in a visually fast-moving sequence that causes the viewer to flit between different types of comprehension. 

In Dr Cute, Rachel Maclean RSA (Elect) uses the context of an academic lecture to examine the meaning of ‘cute-ness’. As the visuals and action become ever more extreme, the authority of the professorial verbal diatribe is somewhat diminished. 

In Sim Scenario, Alicia Bruce undermines our expectations when we are presented with a sterile medical setting where a medical practitioner appears to offer treatment to a patient in a hospital bed. It later becomes apparent that the patient is not real and this is part of an externally controlled training programme. 

In Rapture, Katri Walker presents a documentary about a long-established evangelical Christian book shop based in an Edinburgh flat. The family members who own and run it provide a voice-over as the camera meanders around the space and the merchandise. 

In Space and Light Revisited, Murray Grigor HRSA uses twin images on screen where his earlier documentary is paired with a more recent examination of the same subject.  One shows the early glories of the recently built and occupied architectural masterpiece, St Peter’s Seminary, Cardross, and the more recent work shows its current state of dereliction and decay.