When I was nominated for the Springboard residency in 2005 - just after I had graduated.

HOW HELPFUL DID YOU FIND YOUR ORIGINAL SPRINGBOARD RESIDENCY HERE? WHAT WORK DID YOU PRODUCE AS A RESPONSE TO THE ORIGINAL RESIDENCY?

My original Springboard Residency bridged the gap between leaving art college and individual professional practice - it gave me time and space to make a new body of work surrounded by encouraging, supportive and motivated creative people. The work I produced as a result continued and developed work I had been making in my final year which was based on the documentation of my surroundings and historical representations of the Scottish landscape.

WHEN DID YOU FIRST REALISE YOU WANTED TO BE AN ARTIST? WHO ARE YOUR GREATEST INFLUENCES?

As a child, I always drew and painted, and throughout school years, the art classroom was always the room I felt most comfortable in. I don't really have any great influences other than people throughout my life who have been supportive, encouraging and interested in what I have decided to pursue.

COULD YOU SAY A LITTLE ABOUT PAST AND FUTURE ANDERSONMACGEE PROJECTS?

AndersonMacgee projects have focused on the cultural histories of place - particularly those places where the history has been forgotten, re-contextualized or marginalized - spaces which gain a heightened importance by containing remnants of peripheral details to history's major narratives. Our most recent project involved an 'interventionist excavation' of a gallery space - revealing a material history of the building and by implication its inhabitants. Paired with an ivy plant/text installation situated in the public space, these two interventions formed the main part of an exhibition in Stoke-on-Trent earlier this year. Discussion and collaboration with other writers and artists are fundamental to the work and the dialogue had about the work informs the project and the final outcome. Work made in a public context does not demand attention but seeks to inhabit the same space of meaning with which it critically engages. Previous to this, working in Scotland (namely, Banff and the north-east) meant that our geographical context and its spaces for a large part provided the stimulus to make work and this leads me to your next question...

HOW IMPORTANT IS SCOTLAND IN YOUR WORK?

It is perhaps too simplistic to say that we were responding to our context and that therefore Scotland and 'Scottishness' were incidental, however where we found ourselves did evoke our responses. Where you are from/where your roots are obviously plays a part in what one is drawn to, influenced by or feels able to respond to in an insightful way - and so growing up in the north-east will continue, perhaps even unconsciously to inform the work.

COULD YOU SAY A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR 'VIDEO DOCUMENTATION 2' PROJECT?

Video Documentation 2 (2005) began as a response to a painting which hangs in Duff House (Banff, Aberdeenshire) by David Allan entitled A Highland Wedding at Blair Atholl. The scene, depicting a highland dance was the starting point for an earlier work comprising a video installation with three television monitors each depicting a series of highland dance performances danced in a domestic setting. This led to Video documentation 2 which comprised a series of re-interpreted highland dances, projected on a screen suspended in 'Ivy Blanchard's' (a closed drapery shop in Banff, Aberdeenshire) for 24 hours over a two week period. A number of stories and anecdotes from local people, about the shop, about the area and about the piece arose from this work and a book and text piece were made which documented these observations and stories.

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO BE WORKING ON NEXT?

The next AndersonMacgee project is an intervention at Aberdeen Art Gallery, opening in October this year. The Melancholy Thistle and Other Works takes the form of a thematically curated exhibition drawn from works in the Gallery's permanent collections and shown 'embedded' within the current displays. Delving into the works in the archives, the selection process has evolved from our own practice and an accompanying publication will further develop the intervention's narrative through a series of commissioned texts that reconsider the nature and essence of the selected works.

Briony Anderson
W: brionyanderson.com | andersonmacgee.co.uk