The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Artist serves up Burns Supper
Photos of Burns suppers sourced from around the world have been used by Fife artist David Mach to create a collage celebrating the global reach of Scotland’s national bard.
The Flying Haggis artwork was commissioned by the University of Glasgow’s Centre for Robert Burns Studies to mark the end of a two-year project researching the history of Burns suppers and mapping these events in the 21st Century.
It features between 30 and 40 of around 350 images sourced by the university from people who submitted photos of their own Burns Night events in 2021, many of which were held virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The artwork will be officially launched during a virtual reality event on Burns Night on Tuesday, at which people will also be able to experience the story and legacy of the Burns supper “as never seen before”, including a virtual trip to Alloway Auld Kirk as Burns imagined it in Tam o’ Shanter.
Methil-born Mach, known for artworks including the Big Heids alongside the M8 motorway in North Lanarkshire, said: “You’ll see Flying Haggis is not a stiff affair. I wanted to make a Burns Night that Robert Burns himself would want to attend.”
Mach, who studied at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee, added: “It’s a
collage but acts more like a film on pause, press play and the action will carry on. Even the room joins in the extravagance of the night.”
The Flying Haggis will be the centrepiece of a virtual reality exhibition created as part of the Burns Beyond Reality collaboration between the university and immersive learning platform Edify.
It will go on display in the university’s new Advanced Research Centre building in Glasgow in the coming months.
Dr Pauline Mackay, a lecturer in Robert Burns
studies who has been leading with Edify on the creation of Burns Beyond Reality, said: “Immersive technology enables us to access and experience Burns and his legacy in exciting and innovative ways, no matter where we are in the world.”
The Centre for Robert Burns Studies research has also mapped more than 2,500 contemporary Burns suppers, brought together on an interactive world map which was launched last year.
People can register for the free virtual reality event at gla.ac.uk/events/listings/