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Roderick Buchanan: Charlotte Squared

 Randolph House, 4 Charlotte Lane, EH2 4QZ
31 July - 8 August, 23-31 August, Mon-Sun, 11am-5pm

 For his Edinburgh Art Festival show, Roderick Buchanan moves into Randolph House, a former accountant's office in the New Town, as the culmination of his residency at Edinburgh College of Art. Buchanan will present Number Crunching, a performative piece that aims to bring the life and work of eighteenth century radical and political reformer, Thomas Muir to wider notice.


What's the thinking behind Charlotte Squared?
The show is a sort of open studio. The audience is invited in during the first week and the last week of EAF. The students and I will be performing 'number crunching' which is close reading towards building an improved chronology based on the life and times of Thomas Muir. The atmosphere
is sort of educational with four blackboards which are there for the audience to read. These explain bits and pieces surrounding this work

What attracted you to Thomas Muir?
I've been working with his story for some years now. I attended Thomas Muir High School. None of the staff knew very much about the guy so in about 1998 I decided to look into the story and found that I connected pretty wholeheartedly with his tale.

Tell me about Number Crunching.
This is a piece about group learning and offers those involved the chance to contribute to the general archeology of the overall project. The participant sits down at the start of the week and chooses a source that could inform the project. Through study, notes are taken and then reworked for inclusion in the master document, which is also on display for inspection by those interested to find out more about the subject. The current document, called 'skeleton' is the result of pulling info from about 12 sources. The hope is that during EAF we can add a couple more.

Why do you think Muir doesn't get the attention he probably deserves from
the history books?

He has the anti Midas touch. Everything he worked at turns to shite. His bad luck even reaches beyond the grave. Even the school named after him in 1977 is now knocked down and the name lost in the local community in Bishopbriggs.

What do you think Muir's importance is today?
With him, and what happened to him, the authorities put an end to the Scottish Enlightenment. It's important to remember that after 1793 Scotland became a repressive country to live in. Being Scottish is not just about calling to mind the good times, we have to remember the bad old days also. Of course we can learn about the progressive and the repressive side of Scotland's story by looking at this period.

The List, August 2014


 ends

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