ONE WORK | George Finlay Ramsay & Alexander Hetherington, 'CASTOROCENE'

For the next online event in the ONE ARTIST | ONE WORK series, George Finlay Ramsay & Alexander Hetherington present their recent work, CASTOROCENE (2021).

You can watch CASTOROCENE on the LUX Scotland website HERE.

‘which architect could cut the neckof one tree & make ten grow?’

After humans have destroyed the world (again) an unnamed beast swims up from a forgotten swamp and rebuilds the world from zilch. CASTOROCENE, shifting between essay and semi-fictionalised nature documentary, is a ​‘film pome’ dedicated to one of nature’s great architects. Depicting wetlands as the living entity that they are, the camera dwells on a landscape of viscous textures, organic debris and nonhuman sculptures, considering parities between acts of borrowing, rewilding and animal world building. Filmed by artist Alexander Hetherington on 16mm film in the wetlands at Bamff in East Perthshire, Scotland.

A commission for Rupert Journal’s second edition on ​‘Post Pandemic Futures’.

CASTOROCENE can be viewed for free online for the month of September on the LUX Scotland website with captions. The discussion event will take place on Thursday 30 September, 7.00pm.

Captions by Collective Text and George Finlay Ramsay.

ONE ARTIST | ONE WORK is a series of online events established in response to the first lockdown in March 2020. Focusing closely on a single work, these generous discussions provided an opportunity for an artist based in Scotland to present a recent work and talk through how the work came into being. These events have since developed into a more substantial part of our programme, and now include a month-long online screening and a specially commissioned written response that will be published on the LUX Scotland website. The series now provides an opportunity to think more deeply about the work and provide a record of the discussion events.

How it works

Our online events will take place on Zoom. The event will be live transcribed using otter​.ai live transcription. We will also use the chat space to post questions /​comments being raised by the guest artist so they can be referred back to.

We ask that all participants are respectful and listen to the facilitators and other participants. An attendee list will be circulated to all participants in advance of each event. At the beginning of events we will introduce the guest artist and invite participants to briefly introduce themselves and their reason for joining.

During the event discussion, we ask that one person speaks at a time and that you type ​‘hi’ in the chat to indicate you want to contribute. A member of the LUX Scotland team will keep a track of who wishes to contribute and will direct the conversation to you. You may also wish to use the chat space to type your question or comment, should this be preferable for you. We ask that you keep your microphones on mute until you are going to speak to ensure everyone can hear clearly. We invite you to have your cameras on, where possible, as this maintains a feeling of being together in the space.

If you require support to participate in our online events, or have any questions, please let us know by contacting us on email hidden; JavaScript is required and we will be happy to assist.

LUX Scotland is dedicated to providing a welcoming online environment for everyone, regardless of gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, or religion or belief. Participants who do not adhere to this code of conduct and the participation guidelines will be asked to leave the event.

Image description: a close up of lichen through a macro lens, we can see the details and textures of the organic form in pale greens, beiges and whites. As the curving lines of the lichen come closer to the lens, they blur out of focus. The image is framed by the lines of the 16mm colour film stock.

children & dogs

are good at telepathy

i want to be a child

& a dog again

not an insensitive adult

adept at touch typing

but unable to speak on my

god given telephone

George Finlay Ramsay is an artist from scotland. He makes films, pomes, performances, music, installations & so on. George likes to invent religions to play inside & decide if he believes in them later or never. Recently he has been working with volcanoes, bringing books full of people’s regrets to burn in their mouths.

George’s work has been presented by NTS (International), Art Basel (Switzerland), Matadero (Spain), L’Orto Botanico di Roma (Italy), CTM Festival (Germany), Bow Arts (Elngland), Generator Projects (Scotland), Rupert (Lithuania), Camden Arts Centre (England) & BBC Late Junction (UK) & funded by Oxford University, Arts Council England and Sound & Music.

Alex Hetherington is an artist who works with 16mm film. Recent films include Women’s Studies (2020 – 2021) developed during a CCA Creative Lab, August 2021; Untitled (eclectic poison) screened to accompany the launch of Rosie Roberts’ publication portals (2020); Anonymous Writes A Spell for the Camera, with Michelle Hannah (2019) screened at Anxiety & Invocation at Experiments in Cinema, edition 15 (June 2020) and Talking Counting Blinking Noting; 16mm film as a collaborative action (2019 – 2020) part screened at Twin Eye, Cooper Gallery, Dundee, September 2019 and Claricia Parinussa’s residency at Dance Base, Edinburgh, November 2019. Recent writing includes essays on Karen Cunningham for Collective, Edinburgh (2020) and 9 Notes on Savinder Bual for PEER, London (2021).