ViewForth Gallery presents a brand new collaboration with environmental arts collective And If Not Now led by sound designer Philip Pinsky and visual artist Karen Lamond.

The Forecast: Imminent, Rising, Becoming Severe is a site specific immersive installation, which transports you into a mesmerising vision of the future. Initially conceived as part of a series created in response to the climate emergency, And if Not Now debuted at the National Museums of Scotland in 2021 as the Museum’s centrepiece for COP26. This immersive installation will viscerally bring to life imminent danger, prompting a desire for action. The aim of this project is to bring awareness and promote action, starting with those in the front line of the campaign against rising sea levels.

Rising sea levels are going to have a catastrophic impact on everyone in the near future. Most adversely affecting those least able to deal with it. The chance to take concerted immediate action has been squandered. Our response is to make a direct emotional connection between the rising sea and everyday life. The idea is a simple one; a timeless phenomenon in its purest form. Using an ancient technique, a camera obscura will project real time moving images of the North Berwick sea and shoreline into a coastal interior, a place in imminent danger from rising seas. These images will cover the room and its contents, but due to inversion caused by the camera obscura, the sea will be above our heads. This is a direct metaphor for what we face in the near future. The ever changing ethereal moving images provide a heightened sense of the world outside, which we cannot see but which intrudes into our limited view. The vision created is a beautiful, painterly one, but the message it conveys is a shocking prophecy of what is to come.

This visual experience will be engulfed by a swelling and receding soundscape incorporating a Shipping Forecast from the future. The Shipping Forecast is a BBC Radio transmission of weather reports for the seas around the British Isles. While being a matter of life and death for seafarers, the familiar rhythm of the Shipping Forecast is a source of comfort and reassurance to those on land who believe they are not at risk from the unpredictable savagery of the sea. This immersive installation will viscerally bring to life imminent danger, prompting a desire for action.

The aim of this project is to bring awareness and promote action, starting with those in the front line of the campaign against rising sea levels. Reflecting the unseen, The Forecast is a portal into the future, an immersive experience of haunting purity and an unsettling meditation on simple truth.

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Philip Pinsky is a composer, sound designer and sound artist. He is a former Associate Artist at the Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh, winner of the Critics’ Award for Theatre in Scotland, and founder member of electro-acoustic group Finitribe.

Karen Lamond is a visual artist who began her career in the music industry as photographer and as music video director working with artists like MJ Cole, Lamb, Dazed and Confused, Seal and Garbage. While directing these projects, Karen continued developing her fine art photography, at the same time extending her skills into drama and documentary film-making. In 2020 she was commissioned by the Scottish Film Talent Network to direct the multi-award winning short film Consumed.

Kitty Douglas-Hamilton, gallerist and owner of ViewForth Gallery, has worked extensively in the arts, at Modern Art Oxford, Summerhall, National Galleries and Museums of Scotland, and as freelance project manager for the environmental blockbuster Out of Ice,The Secret Language of Ice, Ambika P3 & CASO (Contemporary Art Space, Osaka).

ViewForth Gallery is located on North Berwick’s beautiful coastal shore-line, and is a brand new pop-up venue and creative space dedicated to art and the environment. Located in an old laundry, the venue dates from the 1780s, contemporary with North Berwick’s historic harbour built by the famous Stevenson Lighthouse Engineers, and is a member of the Gallery Climate Coalition. Accommodation and work space is provided for free.

A donation will be made from ticket sales to the North Berwick Harbour Trust to support their Just Giving campaign. Following the tidal swells on Sunday 28th and 29th October 2023, the harbour suffered extensive damage leaving a 16ft gap and the walkway partially collapsed. We are fundraising to strengthen, repair and secure the historic harbour dating from 1780’s from future storm damage and ensure the historic harbour wall is fully repaired. We are grateful to Robbie Whiteman, and the Volunteers from the North Berwick Harbour Trust, and Fringe By the Sea for all the support.

Please note the venue is not accessible or suitable for those who are mobility impaired. The entrance is short and hazardous, with deep steps down. The venue will be lit only by natural light from the camera obscura. Attendees enter at their own risk. Under 16s must be accompanied by an adult 18+. Entrance is strictly through ticket purchase only. 

If you have questions about accessibility please find more information here  or contact info@fringebythesea.com

 

Photography credit Murdo Macleod