The summer solstice will help inspire the theme for the fifth Cupar Arts Festival which runs from June 18 to 25.
Previously an autumn event, the festival, which first ran in 2008, has used the longest day to inspire its theme of liminality – a precise point where one phase ends and another begins.
Artists have been encouraged to use the widest possible interpretation of this theme, ranging from changing states in the natural world to changes in the role of an historic site or building.
The result is a prestigious line up of contemporary artists, who will present artworks and performances in venues and public spaces across the Fife market town.
The festival will celebrate Scotland’s Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design.
“One of the few curated visual art festivals in Scotland, Cupar Arts Festival 2016 will make use of a series of unconventional spaces including hoarding on industrial sites, the town’s historic County Buildings and courtroom, Burgh Chambers and churches, and the mediaeval closes of the town, “explained festival director Gayle Nelson.
“Artworks will be exhibited both within venues as well as outside in public spaces, enabling visitors to experience the artworks by both seeking them out and by stumbling across them.
“It is not only visual art that will bring this year’s festival to life there will be an eclectic range of live music, artist events, children’s activities and poetry.”
Festival highlights include guided tours of The Thermos Museum in which 12 suitcases unfold to reveal numerous astonishing displays.
The Caravan Obscura offers visitors the chance to step inside a world of optical illusions created by artist Kenny Bean using mirrors, lenses and light – all inside a caravan.
Anthony Schrag’s Walk and Screening Event, What Lies (Beneath Cupar)? is an opportunity to participate in a piece that is part interactive tour, part performance and part film.
Sun Dome by Mike Inglis is a geodesic dome installation combining traditional materials with new print making technologies. The dome will be situated in Haugh Park for the duration of the festival.
Rachel Maclean will be showing two films including a one-off screening of film Feed Me (commissioned by FVU and Hayward Touring for British Art Show 8 and supported by Arts Council England and Creative Scotland). In addition, Rachel’s film Over the Rainbow will be screened throughout the festival.
An Evening of Poetry comes from six of Scotland’s contemporary poets: Russell Jones, Aileen Ballantyne; Lauren Pope, Jonathan Bay, Rebecca Tamás, and Marianne MacRae.
A series of free concerts will also take place with music including Stephen Lee and Mark Small, David Webster and Stevie Anderson and the genre-defying act The Onion Club.
There will also a children’s activity room for youngsters to engage in hands-on creative activities.
