Aftermath

The launch party has been and gone like a whirlwind. ‘go reborn’ was packed with revelling punters. Andy Thoms and his girls Ali and Marie did us proud by supplying (and serving) their world-famous Bilgewater Gin to soon-merry customers, and Jamie and the girls at Red Bull poured rum and vodka cocktails with lashings of lime juice and ice. Photographer Dave Anderson was on hand to take portrait photos of the ‘go reborn’ crew and their fellow party-goers in various states of gin-fuelled joy. The dressing room was a busy flow of people trying on Godiva’s reworked dresses (many made on-site in our workshop) and our artists fared well; Solas Nicol and Tom Hutchinson both sold their photographic prints to keen and admiring art-fans; Elliot Neave’s video of Claudia Massie painting the skyline was a sped-up, jerky work of art in itself; in the hot room, Aberdonian Ricky Gibbs’ interactive video installation looked brilliant.

There was a raddled atmosphere of shouts and cheers as folk perused the ‘go reborn’ project; a glaring success, certainly, and more importantly a happy ambience of like-minded folk brought together by the ever-glamorous Fleur MacIntosh and her ragtag collective of futurists.

We at ‘go reborn’ are so happy to have presented our vision to Edinburgh. After the party on Saturday the space was gleaming and bright again and there was a steady flow of curious guests. Sunday at ‘go reborn’ and the sun was shining, Grace Jones was singing ‘My Jamaican Guy’ on the in-house system and her strident tones filled the space. The ‘go reborn’ scribe was still suffering from the after-effects of too much Bilgewater but the gallery continued with a steady trickle of hangers-on, customers and admirers.

Next week we’ve got lots of new things to look forward to – artist Neil Perry will take a break as his totem masterpiece has reached finishing point, and Matthew Swan and Kate McKay (an Edinburgh printmaker) will be in tomorrow to start some new exciting stuff.

AF Giles

More photos of the launch party can be found here:

Party 1

Party 2

Party 3

Party 4

Thanks to Rom for the snaps.

New arrivals

Is Neil Perry the first artist to place an octopus on a totem pole? His strange and marvellous interpretation of Native American tribal art continues apace, with dream-like rabbits ghosting across the canvas and the aforementioned grotesquely comic totem pole squat and menacing in the centre of the piece. Neil has really integrated himself into the ‘go reborn’ collective and is a pleasure to have around – and importantly, his work is monstrously good.

ECA graduate Ali Thoms’ ‘Albal’ collection arrived today – an extensive hand-printed range of screen prints, devore and box art that is filling another corner of the cavernous space that is ‘go reborn’. Ali has been selling her handprinted scarves in Godiva Boutique’s Grassmarket store for years now and has had great success.

Each hour the space seems to put out creative feelers – the workshop and the gentle humming and clacking of the sewing machine, Neil’s quiet concentration as he creates his post-modern totem, AwareInjustice’s Jaco Justice keeping it all together, talking people through the process and building up his technological wizard’s corner day by day, stacks of laptops and printers and wires and drawing boards.

I’m sitting in the Armchair here on the other side of the turret contemplating the Crags. A massive bank of cloud is building up behind the volcanic rock, but Edinburgh is dry for now, the sun slicing through and picking out bright faces and glinting window-screens and white gulls flocking inland.

Day Three is literally the quiet before the storm, as tomorrow is the launch party when the ‘go reborn’ opens its’ doors to the curious people of Edinburgh and plies them with Bilgewater Gin – look out for our strapping doormen dressed by 21^st Century Kilts, and the musical lift that will take you up to the wonderful, weird and wacked-out world of ‘go reborn’.