Part One, 2010
Video, 33:09 min.
Color, sound
Part One is a video of the first thousand years of the history of the formation of Scotland by Alves, which was made during her residency at the Glasgow Sculpture Studios in 2010.
By removing historical dates but maintaining the principal persons and distilling the main historical causes for alliances and/or betrayals, an abstract epic evolves facilitating the viewer’s precision of the contemporary while at the same time questioning the moments that have been included or excluded in the construction of Scotland.
The title suggests the on-going possibilities of our actions.
Three Extracts:
….Time passed and the Picts continued fighting the Scots but now Norsemen invaded. The Picts lost and their last king died. This permitted the Scots to move northwards and eastwards. More Norsemen came from Norway and Denmark and the Scots fought them. The Norsemen conquered some parts of the north but could not expand their land base because of arguments amoung themselves. The Anglo-Saxons from England attacked, destroying the army of the King of the Scots. There followed lots of arguments amoung the Scots resulting in wars and some Scottish kings being killed. Then the Scots attacked England but were defeated and in retaliation an army of Danes and Anglos marched north and captured Lothian. The local nobles were angry at the King of the Scots for all of this trouble and killed him. There were arguments again. The grandson of the King became King but then the Macbeth killed him in battle and took over. The grandson’s son was angry at Macbeth and killed him in battle at Arberdeenshire. The borders were undefinable, and the Normans in England invaded all the way up to Stirling…….
…..The men of the Moray revolted against the King of the Scots but their army was betrayed and they lost. Their lands were given to the Normans. King David decided to fight the English. But the Bruce said to David that since he was more Norman than Scots and since the King of England was more Norman than English, What was the problem? King David still went to war but the Bruce switched to the English side. David was defeated by the men who deserted him. There then came Malcolm lV who was the Last King of the Scots with a Celtic Name.
…..The King died and his son was held captive by the English. There were more battles which becomes confusing but finally there was an uneasy peace for awhile which dissolved into a war between the Donalds and the Stewarts. James, the son of the third Stewart king, who was being held a prisoner by the English (because the Scottish Regent would not pay his ransom so that he could continue in power, but then the Regent died and the ransom is negotiated) and he returned home. Some such as the MacDonalds were not pleased and revolted. There were problems with the Douglases also.
