Our humble white cube was drastically transformed with a coat of red paint as Katie and Emma got to work on their rave inspired week long residency show 'Gala-Globular Vibrations'. Using 90's rave flyers as a starting point, the pair worked up a series of designs and motifs in their Edinburgh studio which could be adapted and warped to create optical illusions throughout the Kekun space. With Emma's design background paired with Katie's mural painting skills, the duo set about realising their 2D sketches into the 3rd dimension.
Easier said than done of course but that's part of what the residencies are about, giving artists the space and freedom to experiment and make a few mistakes and us providing a bit of support. With long days and late nights they worked tirelessly to create the rather mind bending artwork which morphed across the walls and floor of the studio. It proved a great learning point for ourselves as curators as we worked as a team to realise their vision and to fill the studio with some good vibrations over a pretty gruelling week.
The show opened to the public over the weekend 23rd & 24th February and was rounded out by a special 'design your own rave flyer' workshop on the Saturday. Artists, design students and ravers alike attended and produced some fantastic work which was later pasted up down at The Tunnels along with some Gala Globular posters on bright pink and orange paper stock, sure to stand out on the white walls! The duo also printed a new set of A3 riso prints at Peacock Visual Arts taking inspiration and incorporating postive rave slogans. All prints are £15 and available for purchase from our online shop here.
That's where the funding becomes vitally important, especially now with news articles revealing the ridiculous amount of unpaid work being carried out across the cultural sector as big arts organisations seem to budget for everything but paying artists a living wage. As artists ourselves and as a studio, our no 1 goal will always be to give artists their dues along with the other forms of support they need whether its help setting up a projector or a dose of positive vibes at 3am as you struggle to pick up a brush.
That said I'm sure many of us will continue to slog on in the hope of securing long term Creative funding. In the meantime we'll try to squeeze a bit more out of the funding we've received and continue to open up art and culture to anyone who's willing to step through the door. You'll find us at 63 Rosemount Place in the bottom door, we'll pop the kettle on and get ready for the good vibrations! Special thanks to Katie & Emma at Studio No Name for their incredible hard work. It's onto the next one for us with Jetpack Dinosaur so watch this space, or watch the Kekun Studio instagram.
