Margaret Tait Resident 2023 Cal Mac begins residency in Orkney

Artist Cal Mac, recipient of the Margaret Tait Residency 2023, will travel to Orkney this week for the first part of his six-week residency at the Pier Arts Centre’s newly renovated facilities Linkshouse – Orkney Arts Residency. On the residency Cal will begin exploring the relationship between visual language and feelings about belonging, acceptance and being valued and ​‘at home’ for LGBTQIA+ people in different areas of Scotland in his moving image practice. We’re looking forward to working with Cal over the coming months as he embarks on the residency in October and March 2024.

On receiving the Margaret Tait Residency, Cal said: ​“The Margaret Tait Residency allows me the time and space to focus on what my approach to moving image is – without the demands of production or completion. During my time at the Piers Art Centre, I plan to merge my excitement for visual experimentation with my commitment to creating personal and evocative work. I became interested in what it means to be LGBT in rural Scotland in 2020, and so this residency allows me to experiment through a specific project that’s been in the works for a while. In discovering LGBT realities in Orkney, I want to explore conflicts of alienation, relationships with community, and attachment to home, but more specifically how these conflicts can be articulated in a way that’s unique to artist’s film. Through the experimental nature of the residency and through the support of LUX Scotland and the Piers Arts Centre, the possibilities of what this can look and sound like are vast. I’m beyond delighted to receive the residency to start working with LUX Scotland.”

Cal has recently exhibited work as part of a solo exhibition ​‘BLOODBATH’ at Outlier Gallery, Glasgow. In May 2022, LUX Scotland presented Cal’s film ​‘Agony to Ecstasy’ (2021), commissioned by Film and Video Umbrella, as part of our ONE WORK programme with a commissioned written response by Chris Fite-Wassilak. ​‘Agony to Ecstasy’ looks at the scope of the socio-addictive condition within Scottish people. It focuses on the relationship between pain and pleasure, between stress and relief and between entrapment and escape. There is an opportunity to see ​‘Agony to Ecstasy’ at ​‘Dance is a Place’, curated by Katie O’Grady and Rachael Ryder at Civic House, Glasgow, on 5 October 2023.

LUX Scotland recently premiered a new moving image work by Matthew Cosslett, recipient of the Margaret Tait Residency 2022, at Glasgow Film Theatre. Matthew’s work ​‘missing in-crypt tides’ grew from research developed while on the residency.

The Margaret Tait Residency is delivered in partnership with the Pier Arts Centre, Orkney, with support from Screen Scotland, builds upon the legacy of the residency delivered by Glasgow Film in 2012 – 2014. Aimed at emerging artists working in film and moving image with up to five years professional experience, the residency provides time and support for developing work and practice without the demands of deadlines or public presentation. Cal will spend up to six weeks at the Pier Arts Centre’s newly renovated facilities Linkshouse – Orkney Arts Residency.

The selection panel for the Margaret Tait Residency comprised Kari Adams, Curatorial Assistant, the Pier Arts Centre, Orkney; Sarah Forrest, artist and recipient of the Margaret Tait Residency 2012; Jesse Mpango, curator and co-founder of Ajabu Ajabu Audio Visual House, Tanzania; Sarah Smyth, International Distribution and Commercial Development Officer, Screen Scotland and was chaired by Eve Smith, Learning Programme Manager, LUX Scotland.