Pop-up Art

MORE than 40 years ago, a pop-up set provided the backdrop to one of Scotland’s iconic modern plays. Now the set created for John Mcgrath’s The Cheviot The Stag and the Black, Black Oil, a giant book made the artist John Byrne, pictured above, has been revealed as the latest exhibit at the V&A Dundee.

Byrne’s work for the 7:84 theatre company has been the property of the National Library of Scotland since 2009, and indeed is its single largest book.

Now the art work, the backdrop to Mcgrath’s play about the history and exploitation of the Highlands, has been loaned to the new museum in Dundee for

25 years.

Made of cardboard, the set was cheap to make and could be transported on the top of a van and quickly set up in village halls as it toured around Scotland.

The actors would turn the page during the play to reveal the next scene. Now curators at the V&A will turn the pages regularly when it is on show.

Byrne said: “I am thrilled to see it again. It’s wonderful – I thought it was lost forever.”