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WENDELIEN VAN OLDENBORGH'S 'BEAUTY AND THE RIGHT TO THE UGLY'

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REVIEWED BY RHYS FULLERTON 

Beauty and the Right to the Ugly (BRU for short) is a major new work, conceived specifically for Collective’s City Dome on Calton Hill. 

It is presented as a three-channel film installation, and set in Het Karregat – a multifunctional community centre in Eindhoven. That Dutch building was designed by architect Frank Van Klingeren, who intended it as a way to enhance communal forms of living. 

BRU is a film about a building which was intended for one purpose but is now used for another. Already it resonates with the City Observatory, but whilst Collective’s move here has been successful so far, Het Karregat has not fared so well. 

Van Oldenborgh’s style is halfway between directing the participants and letting them lead. She allows the camera to drift through the building, focusing on the people inside and the architecture. The camera lingers on doorways, ceilings, rafters, beams and walls being torn down. We become very aware of the detail in the building and what it means to the people who use it.

BRU ends with the camera panning down from the sky to reveal the building and the Lidl supermarket which now occupies part of it. It’s a scenario very familiar to residents in this part of Edinburgh

Watching the film is an immersive experience. The way in which it’s displayed is pivotal to it belonging in a gallery setting. The work is split into three segments, and each one appears on a different screen. I liked the way it was shown, and thought the use of the space was effective. The setting enhances the experience and will make you think differently about it.

The debate about whether film-art belongs in art galleries intensified recently when last year’s Turner Prize was dominated by such entries. My own take on the subject is that – as with any kind of work – you have to approach each example with an open mind. Some will be successful, some won’t. By the end of Beauty, I had been won over.

Will visitors to Calton Hill feel the same way? Will they watch the full 55 minutes or make return trips to watch it in sections?

That remains to be seen, but it’s important that the gallery continue to take risks and hold exhibitions like this which challenge our preconceptions about art and the form it takes. I recommend you to go along and judge for yourself.

Beauty and the Right to the Ugly starts on the hour every hour. Spoken in Dutch with English subtitles. It runs until 29 March 2015 at Collective’s City Dome (City Observatory, Calton Hill). Admission free.

[All images except the one at top-right are from Wendelien van Oldenborgh, Beauty and the Right to the Ugly, 2014; stills from the film (55 min.) Courtesy Wilfried Lentz Rotterdam and the artist.]