72 research outputs found
Calum Colvin: The Magic Box
No full textArtist Calum Colvin introduces his new exhibition, The Magic Box, which is an archaeology of his practice from the last 25 years. The exhibition will feature image transparencies from the early 1980s, new prints created at Edinburgh Printmakers, and an installation of Colvin's photography studio, which will be in use when Colvin photographs Scottish author Janice Galloway.The Magic Box is on at Edinburgh Printmakers, until the 6th September 2014. Find out more at edinburghprintmakers.co.uk
Fortissat Science Alliance podcast: Calum McAndrew
No full textCalum McAndrew is a public engagement professional at the University of St Andrews. He took part in the Fortissat Science Alliance podcast recordings in March 2021.What is the Fortissat Science Alliance?The Fortissat Science Alliance is a Wellcome Trust & Children In Need "Curiosity" project. This scheme provided informal STEM learning opportunities for young people who attended the community centre Getting Better Together Shotts (GBT Shotts) between 2019 and 2023. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, deliveries had to pivot online so the podcast was founded. These recordings were made via Zoom with warm-up STEM activities sent to every young person in advance, along with a profile page for each researcher, so that they were relaxed and able to ask excellent questions.Link to episode on Spotify.Depending on the broadcast date, podcast deliveries were co-sponsored by Glasgow Science Festival, EXPLORATHON 2021, or EXPLORATHON 2022/23.For the duration of the project, it was supported jointly by Children in Need and the Wellcome Trust. In 2021, EXPLORATHON episodes were supported by the European Commission [grant agreement ID 101036101]. In 2022-23, EXPLORATHON episodes were supported by the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council [grant number EP/X020894/1].Author contributions to contentCalum McAndrew was the guest featured on this episode. Rebecca Hay was the youth worker coordinating the young people who conducted the interviews as well as co-editing and broadcasting the recordings. Iain Hamilton co-edited the episodes. Kirsty Ross was the STEM consultant for the project and uploaded completed episodes to Figshare. </p
Meron T. Gebreananye, Logan Williams, and Francis Watson, eds, Beyond Canon: Early Christianity and the Ethiopic Textual Tradition
No full textRevie
Portrait of Hugh MacDiarmid
No full textA commissioned installation/portrait as one of the programme of public events at the National Galleries of Scotland/Royal Scottish Academy collaborative opus Ages of Wonder: Scotland’s Art 1540 to Now exhibition at the RSA. I was invited to ‘bring my studio’ into the building and create an artwork during the run of the exhibition in public view. The finished installation was marked with a public event in the Gallery with Calum Colvin and author James Robertson on 1/1/18. Subsequently the printed and framed photographic portrait was debuted at the RSA Annual Exhibition 2018, which was convened and curated by Colvin and included a number of guest artists who were invited to explore the links between poetry and visual art. This included a programme of public artist/poet talks. The portrait subsequently won the City of Glasgow College Purchase Prize
Smelt and Mary Scotland: Nicknaming in Frank Macdonald’s A Forest for Calum
No full textFrank Macdonald’s novel A Forest for Calum (2005, Sydney, NS: Cape Breton University Press) illustrates a variety of nicknames and explores their social functions and naming practices. The novel is set in Shean, itself a nickname for the town of Inverness on the west side of Cape Breton Island. Macdonald celebrates the culture, traditions and customs of rural Cape Breton while at the same time recording the inevitable changes resulting from the closure of town’s coal mine. Nicknaming, one of these prominent customs, is explored from the point of view of young Rod Gillies as he matures as a person and an artist. Although nicknames of adults occur in the novel, the author has a particular interest in the naming patterns of the younger characters. For instance, the protagonist is named Smelt as a result of a fishing accident, and his girlfriend, Mary Scotland, receives her nickname from an elementary teacher because she is one of three Mary Camerons in the class and her father has an interest in Scotland. Macdonald presents a realistic treatment of nicknames as demonstrated by comparison with the research on nicknames in general and on Cape Breton Island.Le roman de Frank Macdonald intitulé A Forest for Calum (une forêt pour Calum) (2005, Sydney, NS: Cape Breton University Press) illustre une variété de surnoms et explore leurs fonctions sociales et les pratiques de désignation des personnages. Le roman se déroule à Shean, une localité qui porte elle-même un surnom de la ville d'Inverness située du côté ouest de l'île du Cap-Breton. Macdonald célèbre la culture, les traditions et les coutumes des régions rurales du Cap-Breton, tout en enregistrant certains changements inévitables qui ont résulté de la fermeture de la mine de charbon de la ville. L'emploi de surnoms, l'une des coutumes bien implantées, est exploré du point de vue du jeune Rod Gillies, au moment où il devient adulte et artiste. Bien que les surnoms soient surtout le fait des adultes dans le roman, l'auteur manifeste un intérêt particulier pour le mode de désignation des plus jeunes personnages. Par exemple, le protagoniste est nommé Smelt (éperlan) à la suite d'un accident de pêche, et sa petite amie, Mary Scotland, reçoit ce surnom d'un enseignant du primaire parce qu'elle est l'une des trois Mary Camerons dans la classe, et son père a un intérêt pour l'Écosse. Macdonald offre un traitement réaliste des surnoms comme le démontre son ouvrage comparativement à la recherche sur les surnoms en général et sur l'île du Cap-Breton
Meron T. Gebreananye, Logan Williams, and Francis Watson, eds, Beyond Canon: Early Christianity and the Ethiopic Textual Tradition
No full textRevie
Täwaḥǝdo Theologizing as a Possible Guide for Ecumenical Fellowship in the Spirit of Nicaea
No full textThe Ethiopian Orthodox Täwaḥǝdo Church (EOTC) embodies a vibrant and unique heritage of self-theologizing that is both consistent with Nicene formulations and deeply accommodating of non-Western epistemic assumptions. As the only country in Africa never to be colonized, Ethiopia boasts an ancient written language, Gǝʿǝz (ግዕዝ), and a theological heritage that was virtually devoid of any direct Greek philosophical influence until the twentieth century. Täwaḥǝdo (ተዋሕዶ) is the term used today to express the Christology of the EOTC. More broadly and deeply, however, it encapsulates the manner by which the EOTC embraces the mystery of life in Christ through ‘Harmonious Tension’ and embodied practical experience. This article briefly explores the historical usage and development of täwaḥǝdo in the EOTC tradition to highlight several important characteristics and suggest ways that other church traditions might be able to learn how to better hold apparently contradictory theological perspectives in tension for the benefit of the Global Church
The Graphic Icons of Anastasios of Sinai
No full textThe interactions between Christians and Muslims have long fascinated historians, theologians, and scholars from several other disciplines. In recent decades, a great deal of research has been directed towards the development of Islam in relation to the Byzantine Empire. Archeological studies have delivered fresh insight regarding the tolerance of Christianity by the early Muslims. Numismatic research has demonstrated a strong relation between the political tactics of Byzantium and the Islamic Caliphate. Careful scrutiny of primary texts has also suggested that the early Muslims were far more similar to Jews and Christians than has been previously allowed. This similarity conflates many religious practices, often blurring the view of neat, linear, cause-and-affect progressions.
The first intentional effort of Muslims to distinguish themselves from the other religious entities in the Levant occurs at the end of the seventh century, a period of years that curiously coincide with a particular theological incident. This incident was pioneered by a monk named Anastasios, who resided at the Monastery of St. Catherine at the base of Mt. Sinai. Until now, Anastasios’ work has primary been studied for its value in elucidating internal Christian dialogues and concerns. Some have also analyzed the references to Islam in the writings of Anastasios, but such efforts have been mostly peripheral.
This paper aims to reach a better understanding of the early Islamic interactions with Christianity by considering the specific theological implications of Anastasios’ work. One of the most extraordinary aspects of Anastasios’ work involves the usage of religious images (icons). Anastasios does not merely offer a modified theological argument in the mold of previous theologians, but pairs his convictions with an explicit call for a new breed of icons. These Crucifix icons are the first to depict Jesus as completely dead, and will be carefully studied in the following pages. After consideration of these icons, this paper will reach a climax in the corollary assessment of the Iconoclastic Controversy. In Byzantium, this controversy lasted from approximately 726 – 843, but was heralded by a slightly earlier controversy in the Islamic world. Although many scholars have attempted to delineate the relation between these iconoclastic movements, none have yet provided a thoroughly conclusive explanation.
Here, an attempt will be made to present a plausible scenario for understanding the multifaceted features of the Iconoclastic Controversy. This will involve a considerable review of the theological debates that precede the Iconoclastic Controversy so that the controversy itself can be better apprehended. Likewise, a thorough survey of icons and their development will establish the backdrop against which Anastasios’ radical icons can be juxtaposed. In order to properly decipher the Islamic reactions toward Anastasios’ icons, a critical appraisal of Islam’s beginnings will also be conducted.
After an adequate contextual foundation has been laid, the specific work of Anastasios will be systematically discussed. As mentioned already, special focus will be given to the theological consequences of Anastasios’ work. It is vital to consider how Anastasios’ iconographical innovation was received by Muslims, but also by Monophysites and Chalcedonian Christians. During this process, several questions should be kept in mind: (1) What motivated Anastasios to depict what no other Christian artist had dared depict before him? (2) As a monk living under the rule of the Islamic Caliphate, how did Anastasios view the beliefs of his Muslim neighbors? (3) If Christians offended Muslims with their icons, why is it that much of Byzantium seems to react in the same way? In the course of considering Anastasios’ work, several persuasive answers to these questions will be proposed.
The final stage of this thesis will seek to determine the impact of Anastasios’ upon the immediate Christian posterity. Because the mandates of iconoclasm frequently demanded the destruction of icons, there is a noticeable dearth of pertinent artifacts available for scrutiny. Nonetheless, a glimpse of pristine iconographic thought during the Iconoclasm can be achieved due to the asylum that was provided by several monasteries in the Levant. These religious sanctuaries managed the exceptional feat of isolating monks from both their Islamic overlords and the more distant Byzantine authorities. The writings of John Damascene serve as an impeccable example of this phenomenon and also link his work to that of Anastasios. John, like all other Christian writers of history, was influenced by at least one specific theological legacy; by a stand of thinking that inspired him to adamantly oppose the emperor and many of his immediate Christian neighbors. This strand of thinking is of supreme importance, and although it feature multiple offshoots and divisions, it will be presented as a primary impetus of the Iconoclastic Controversy
Without ground: Lacanian ethics and the assumption of subjectivity.
No full textIn this new paperback edition, Calum Neill explores the ideas of Jacques Lacan to present a powerful argument for an approach to ethics which is neither rooted in a traditional morality nor reduced to a relativism, an ethics, that is, which is without ground. However we conceive of ethics, whether by appeal to an exterior or traditional notion of right and wrong, or by appeal to some form of individual virtue or responsibility, it implies some form of agency. Where there is an ethical act, there must be someone acting ethically. Working from this simple premise, this book argues that the manner in which we conceive that 'someone' is the condition of possibility for our conception of ethics and, consequently, our ethical potential. Against the commonplace conception of the modern individual as self-identical, self-aware and self-governing, the author presents a detailed introduction to the Lacanian subject, a conception of the self as anything but self-identical, self-aware and self-governing. The book goes on to show how such a rethinking of the subject necessitates a rethinking of our relation to law, tradition and morality, as well as a rethinking of ethics
Ages of Wonder: Scotland's Art 1540 to Now. Commissioned Installation.
No full textThis large scale historical exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy included a commissioned installation and residency by Calum Colvin. Ages of Wonder presents work from the NGS and RSA National Collections. The exhibition included over 450 works by over 270 artists and architects, from the masterpiece 'The Adoration of the Magi' painted by Jacopo Bassano of 1540, to recent Diploma Works by Callum Innes RSA and Alison Watt RSA. Integral to the exhibition was commissioned work for and during the exhibition by Calum Colvin RSA, Kenny Hunter RSA and Richard Murphy RSA.This project, recreating the artist's studio within an art gallery in order to allow a public viewing of the process of creation of an artwork over a period of time, allowed a unique access to the various stages in the slow evolution of one of Colvin's staged/painted and constructed pieces - from initial research, set-up and arrangement of objects to the process of painting and final photograph. A large format view camera was installed in the Gallery and the public were able to engage in dialogue with the artist as the piece evolved from an arrangement of objects in a three dimensional set to a large scale painted portrait. The subject was Hugh MacDiarmid- a major figure of 20th Century Scottish and European literature and a controversial political activist, this choice of subject stimulated much debate focussing artistic and visual dialogue alongside political and cultural discussion. Visitors contributed personal letters and objects associated with the poet, which became part of the fabric of the work. Images from the University of Dundee's Peto Collection were used as source material alongside photographic images made by the artist at Brownsbank Cottage, MacDiarmid's former home in Biggar. Public engagement was core to this project, with numerous spontaneous talks as well as pre-arranged lectures. Discussions around visual science, cultural and political engagement, art and poetry and potency of material culture were held. A final public lecture/discussion on the finished artwork/installation was held on Jan 1st 2018 alongside renowned Scottish author James Robertson
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