It all started with a “really good top” from TK Maxx.
When Helen Nisbet, the artistic director for Art Night, came to visit her brother in Dundee 10 years ago, she fell in love with the “absolutely magical city”.
“I remember just having an absolutely incredible few days,” says Shetland-born Helen, who has overseen the biannual contemporary art festival since 2018.
“The weather was amazing, we went to Mennies and walked up the Law. And at the end of the day, I found a really good top in TK Maxx!”
But as well as her new fashion favourite, it was Dundee’s dark horse art scene which sealed the deal on Helen’s love affair with the city – and led to Dundee being chosen as the first city outside of London to host Art Night since the festival’s inception.
“I remember having a walk down the Perth Road and just finding so many brilliant arts organisations,” Helen recalls.
“It seemed like every single one of them had events going on. All of a sudden it felt like I was seeing, unexpectedly, some of the best art I’d seen in a long time.
“When it came to deciding where the perfect place to host Art Night would be, I just thought: Well, Dundee’s kind of magical.
“There’s nowhere better in the world to be right now than Dundee.”
Now the free, ticketless night-time festival is due to explode across the City of Discovery next weekend, with a packed programme including 10 major commissions and series of community-based installations.
Designed to be walkable and accessible, it will take over various venues in Stobswell, Hilltown, the city centre and the West End.
Who is Art Night Dundee for?
“Dundee’s a very convivial city, and the scale of it’s very convivial as well,” notes DJCAD professor Maria Fusco, whose opera film History of the Present will be screening hourly as one of the festival commissions.
“So I think the way that Art Night is structured, in terms of folk being able to walk around and see different things, just seems to fit in with the vibe of the city in a really nice way.”
She observes that contrary to the sometimes elitist nature of contemporary art events, Art Night has the potential to “invite people into places where they’d maybe normally think ‘that’s not for me'”.
Raised near a peace line in Belfast during the Troubles, Maria knows all too well the feeling of being on the outside of the art world ‘bubble’.
So for her, the chance to let the people of Dundee see what goes on in institutions like DJCAD is invaluable.
“If you’ve got a building with a door on the front of it, it’s difficult to know who’s allowed in,” says Maria matter-of-factly.
“I’m from Belfast and I’m from a working class background myself, so I understand that, not knowing if you’re allowed to go in that door.
“And like thinking, ‘What do art students actually be doing? What do artists do in there?'”
As part of Art Night, the art school’s Cooper Gallery will be open to the public from 7pm until midnight, as well as a host of other venues including Baxter Park Pavilion, DCA, Greenmarket Car Park, V&A Dundee, RRS Discovery, the Keiller Centre, and Dundee Rep, where Maria’s film will be screening hourly.
‘Dundonians always sound like they know what they’re talking about’
Fascinated by how voice and accent related to class, Maria’s film – co-created with filmmaker Margaret Salmon – is about “forefront working class, Irish women’s voices”.
“Ireland, like Scotland, is a matriarchal society with lots of very strong women who have big opinions about things,” laughs Maria, 51.
“In a lot of my work, I definitely focus on class and this question of who has the right to speak, and in what way? Do you always have to talk in someone else’s accent all the time?
“What I really enjoy about working in Scotland, and particularly in Dundee, is working with a lot of students who still have their own accents.
“I like the tone of the voice in Dundee, actually. It sounds very authoritative, Dundonians always sound like they know what they’re talking about!”
Indeed, a huge part of Art Night’s ethos is celebrating the culture and art which already exists in Dundee, rather than carting in artists with no connection to the city itself.
“We’re not trying to come in and say ‘Dundee’s a great city but look at these artists we’ve brought in’,” explains Art Night curator Elizabeth Day, who is also the co-director of the Keiller Centre’s vending machine project, Volk Gallery.
“It’s really about what’s going on here already, that’s why Dundee’s been picked.”
Elizabeth, 26, heads up Art Night’s parallel programme Inwith, which runs alongside the core contemporary art commissions to highlight Dundee’s community-based art groups.
Working with grassroots organisations like Open/Close, Dundee Women’s Aid, Dundee Community Gardens Network and more, Elizabeth is committed to “amplifying existing voices” at Art Night through billboard installations, flower shows and interactive exhibits.
Where do I start on Art Night?
As for how visitors might approach Art Night, her advice is simple: “Just start with the commission that’s closest to you!
“There’s no way you can see the whole festival in one night,” she goes on. “So just have a look at the map and have a little think.
“Stobswell’s a great example, as we’re working in Baxter Park Pavilion. It’s so close to so many wonderful homes and I think it’ll be a natural centre for people to come in and start there.
“There’s some fantastic music lined up, a really beautiful choral piece from Richy Carey. I think everybody can enjoy a beautifully sung piece of music.”
Music fans can groove at Keiller Centre
For music fans looking for something more glam-rock than abstract, the Inwith project at the Keiller Centre has that covered with its latest edition of Keiller Nights.
Dundee musician Connor Liam Byrne, and his band The Bad Kissers will take to the stage in the shopping centre’s trendy Federation Gallery to get Art Night audiences dancing to original songs that “sound as if AC/DC played David Bowie songs”.
“They’re grooving, but the words aren’t all about s******* and rock ‘n’ roll,” laughs songwriter, guitarist and lead singer Connor, 24. “Cause I’m not about that either.”
The two 45-minute sets from 9pm-11pm – one a solo set from Connor, one with The Bad Kissers – will have a festival atmosphere, with a DJ, catering from pop-up Holy Bagels, and workshops around the centre.
“We’re going to be set up a bit like the Velvet Underground – projectors and mirrorballs and stuff – and just play tunes for all the folk in the Keiller Centre,” smiles Connor, whose debut single Glorious Glamorous has garnered more than 1,000 streams since its release last month.
“It’ll be class.”
One man’s wheelie bin is another man’s gallery
And for those Saturday-night revellers who want just a tiny taste of Art Night to line their stomachs, Elizabeth points out the peculiar ‘Get In The Binnn’ project – tiny ‘galleries’ set in wheelie bins, dotted along the art festival route.
“They’re just three wheelie bins!” laughs Elizabeth when I ask her to explain. “It’s quite a new project, The Binnn, it was started at the end of last year.
“But the great thing about it is you put a padlock on a bin, and the number on the front of the bin, which you’d assume is a house number, is actually the code to open it so you can look inside.”
The three bins, which will be placed at Le Freak Records on Perth Road, Nola on Union Street and at the corner of Princes Street and Ferguson Street, will contain a video (“a telly in the bottom of the bin”) by Jade Smith, an interactive drawing machine by Connor Leslie and plaster casts by Anna Brodie.
“It’ll be a fun little thing to come across as you make your way round,” adds Elizabeth.
What’s that thing with the tentacles?
Another artist keen on people ‘happening upon’ them is commissioned artist and recent DCA show holder Saoirse Amira Anis.
And her contribution is likely to be one of the most talked-about of the night.
As part of her project Breach of a Fraying Body, DJCAD graduate Saoirse will inhabit the guise of a bright red, mop-like, tentacled ‘creature’, in a tavelling performance piece which will slither and slide from DCA to HMS Unicorn, via Discovery Point and V&A Dundee.
“I like the idea that people can just happen upon me, I’ve always liked that about public art,” chuckles Saoirse, 25, whose ‘creature’ is a continuation of their film-based DCA show Symphony for a Fraying Body.
“There’s also the surreal aspect of it, the fact it’s in this place that you’re used to or you walk through every day and then there’s suddenly this weird thing there. I think that’s quite exciting.”
Also exciting to her is the potential opportunities that Art Night can bring to a city like Dundee.
“I hope people see Dundee is deserving of this influx of funding and energy,” Saoirse adds, “and that it leads to more exciting things happening here.”
One Art Night artist who has long been embedded in the Dundee scene is city-based Euan Taylor, of Inefficient Solutions.
Instagram-friendly art at Art Night
His colourful Hi-Visit commission at Generator Projects on Mid Wynd has been attracting glances from passers-by for several weeks in the run-up to Art Night.
For lorry mechanic Euan, Inefficient Solutions – founded in 1995 – is about looking playfully at “the problems we create for ourselves in trying to solve other problems”.
“Think of the way we heat our homes, and all the effort that goes into that, and then what you end up having to do is also buy a fridge to keep things cold,” observes Euan.
Similarly, the Hi-Visit looks sideways at the ways press calls and photo opportunities for politicians and public figures allow leaders to take credit for work they haven’t done.
Visitors will have the chance to have their photo taken with the installation, which will have been put together in advance thanks to a team of litter pickers.
But with props such as hard hats or yellow bibs, ordinary folk can “align themselves with that a lot of hard work they haven’t done”.
“The message behind this is, one, don’t drop litter,” Euan says candidly. And two, be careful about the stories that photographs tell you.”
Art Night is being brought to Dundee on Saturday June 24 in partnership with Dundee Contemporary Arts, among other major partners, and is supported by The Courier. For the full programme and map, please see the Art Night website.
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