ARTIST # 19: SUSANNAH STARK
In April this year, as a result of the Covid- 19 pandemic, the 2020 edition of the Edinburgh Art Festival had to be cancelled. However, as Edinburgh and its vibrant visual art scene begin to emerge from lockdown we are delighted to present this weekly showcase, produced alongside Edinburgh Art Festival, featuring work by artists with digital and/ or physical exhibitions at the city’s galleries.
Susannah Stark is an artist and composer who lives in Glasgow. She is one of four artists showing at Platform – the annual exhibition for emerging artists presented by the Edinburgh Art Festival, currently at the City Art Centre. Stark’s work explores histories of habitation in Scotland – personal experiences and instances of cohabitation/ communal living, and the development of private property – through research into oral histories and Scottish song archives.
Her work for Platform consists of a surround soundscape of layered field recordings, interviews and song fragments, interwoven with video “moving collages” made from touristic postcards and property adverts which emanate coloured light. Across the floor are sculptures assembled from various natural and synthetic objects sourced with help from the artist’s mother, that are suggestive of meditating bodies. The entire installation is bathed in a red glow from a window assemblage related to a previous work Correspondences – a sound and light installation she made with Hussein Mitha for Hospitalfield in Arbroath in 2019.
Susannah Stark has recently released music with Belgian label Stroom, https:// stroomtv. bandcamp. com/ track/ saturn. Platform: 2020 presented by Edinburgh Art Festival is at the City Art Centre, Edinburgh until 29 November, www. edinburghartfestival. com/ whats- on/ detail/ platform- 2020