{"id":536,"date":"2020-04-20T08:28:14","date_gmt":"2020-04-20T08:28:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uj.ac.za\/artsdev\/?p=536"},"modified":"2023-01-18T08:31:08","modified_gmt":"2023-01-18T08:31:08","slug":"the-pandemic-project-allen-laing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uj.ac.za\/artsdev\/the-pandemic-project-allen-laing\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pandemic Project :: Allen Laing"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"vc_row wpb_row vc_row-fluid\"><div class=\"wpb_column vc_column_container vc_col-sm-12\"><div class=\"vc_column-inner\"><div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n\t<div class=\"wpb_text_column wpb_content_element \" >\n\t\t<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<p>Allen Laing is one of our \u2018The Pandemic\u2019 project featured artists. Laing blends performance, video and traditional woodworking techniques in his practice.<\/p>\n<p>Laing is based in Pretoria where he shares a studio space with Angus Taylor, Beth Armstrong, Heidi Fourie and Rina Stutzer.<\/p>\n<p>Laing was inspired by the UJ Choir\u2019s rendition of Loch Lomond well-known traditional Scottish song. This love song regrets the parting of the lovers in a sad, melancholic tune.<\/p>\n<p>See Laing\u2019s explanation of his work (insert modern Scottish accent)<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019 kin seem fortuitoos tha\u2019 th\u2019 six-foot-seven, red-haired, awnie giant jimmy wi\u2019 th\u2019 scots surname shuid be chosen tae interpret th\u2019 haunting an\u2019 nostalgic sang aboot Loch Lommond; bu\u2019 i\u2019 truth, this wark wis inevitable. It represents awthin tha\u2019 mah life haes bin buildin\u2019 towards. This project haes combined mah deep research oan architecture, engineerin\u2019, material technology, ecology, green construction, sustainability an\u2019 magic.<\/p>\n<p>Frae th\u2019 druid-builders o\u2019 ancient earth mounds , thro\u2019 th\u2019 kingly constructors o\u2019 cathedrals \u2018n\u2019 castles, tae th\u2019 modern machinists wha\u2019 harnessed th\u2019 power o\u2019 steam; th\u2019 kilted folk hae it in thair bluid tae heap things atop ane anither, \u2018n\u2019 tae aim higher than e\u2019en th\u2019 builders o\u2019 Babel.<\/p>\n<p>The low road teuk me, in engineer\u2019s blue overalls, tae th\u2019 dirt o\u2019 mah wee rented backgreen, whaur ah envisioned a soaring monument gart o\u2019 hee haw bu\u2019 natural materials. In th\u2019 10 square meter backgreen whaur we graw weeds \u2018n\u2019 lang grass ah wis able tae pick up th\u2019 straw-like leaf-stems o\u2019 uir indigenous Cussonia Spicata an\u2019 bind thaim t\u2019gether wi\u2019 th\u2019 vines o\u2019 th\u2019 gey invasive Cat\u2019s Claw an\u2019 Mornin\u2019 Glory creepers.<\/p>\n<p>The resultin\u2019 erection stauns as a memorial tae mah loov o\u2019 nature an\u2019 th\u2019 bens, glens, burns an\u2019 o\u2019 coorse lochs o\u2019 mah fatherland. Ah acknowledge that ah, tae, am an alien, an\u2019 tha\u2019 by windin\u2019 masell aroond this land ah kin hulp tae build something different, an\u2019 hopefully worthwhile, ye ken?<\/p>\n<p>Have a look at how beautifully Bonnie Backgreen Game came together.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t<div class=\"wpb_video_widget wpb_content_element vc_clearfix   vc_video-aspect-ratio-169 vc_video-el-width-100 vc_video-align-center\" >\n\t\t<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wpb_video_wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Pandemic Project :: Allen Laing\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/26v_VhW3z6U?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t<div class=\"wpb_text_column wpb_content_element \" >\n\t\t<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<p>#UJPandemic<\/p>\n<p>#CloseToHeART<\/p>\n<p>#UJChoir<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Allen Laing is one of our \u2018The Pandemic\u2019 project featured artists. Laing blends performance, video and traditional woodworking techniques in his practice.<\/p>\n<p>Laing is based in Pretoria where he shares a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":537,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uj.ac.za\/artsdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uj.ac.za\/artsdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uj.ac.za\/artsdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uj.ac.za\/artsdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uj.ac.za\/artsdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=536"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/web.uj.ac.za\/artsdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":538,"href":"https:\/\/web.uj.ac.za\/artsdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536\/revisions\/538"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uj.ac.za\/artsdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uj.ac.za\/artsdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uj.ac.za\/artsdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uj.ac.za\/artsdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}