Jenni Ajderian

          Lining one corridor inside the National Library are hundreds of books which censors did not want you to see. From the Song of Songs to the Satanic Verses , Lord of the Flies to Lady Chatterly's Lover , these books appalled, challenged and enticed the society of their times, and were all deemed unfit to be seen by the public. The exhibition aims primarily to spark debate- to make us question these books, the legislation under which they were banned, and the societies which banned them.      Perhaps predictably, books which display any kind of anti-clerical leanings make up a large part of the library's collection, and indeed were the first kind of literature to be cautioned at all. From David Hume's Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion to Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, these books were seen as indecent due to a glorification of paganism, misrepresentation of biblical verse or simple questioning of common belief.      As far back as 1559, th

(originally published by The Student )      Art's capacity for sparking debate can be found everywhere, from the Uni's comfiest lecture theatres to the bar at the Hive. Whether it's the beauty of a painting, a poem or a person we're talking about, one thing's for sure- everyone has their own tastes, and very rarely are these in perfect agreement with those of the next thirsty clubber.      The Talbot Rice Gallery has taken one of David Hume's great thoughts on the nature of beauty- that it is in the eye of the Beholder- and given local galleries, artists and organisations the opportunity to nominate a work of art which, to them, is beautiful. The result is an exhibition as varied in taste as that crowd at the bar, from the purist oil-and-canvas lovers to the multimedia fettishists, via the big names of Yoko Ono and Canterbury Cathedral.      As well as more classical choices of oils or pencil on canvas, we see representations of other forms of art entirely

(originally published by The Student )      Dovecot’s grand hall is lined with over three hundred works, and the wide space tempts the eye not only across, but also down to the floor below. With a working tapestry studio just over the handrails, the usual whitewash hush of conventional galleries is chased away, and we’re left at ease to appreciate the work of over one hundred artists, from pen-and-ink to still-life to lively textile and oils. Each piece has been donated to the charity MacMillan Cancer Support for their ninth annual Edinburgh Art Sale, and proceeds will be split evenly between the organisation and the local artists themselves.      Since this is a sale and not an exhibition, we have a lot packed into a small space, providing a sharp test for the curators, who have pulled off the execution of the exhibition wonderfully. Whether placing oils of Princes Street as a Winter Wonderland (Kate Green) next to pastels of sunny Venice, or particularly hopeful, br

(originally published by  The Student )      When you step between the vivacious colours and three-dimensional art of Anton Henning’s Interieur No. 493 and the Ragamala collection at the Talbot Rice Gallery, it’s natural to feel a little surprised.      The bright white walls of the main space, and Henning’s multi-format works, some of which are indistinguishable from furniture, create an environment far more domestic than your average gallery, and one in which abstract paintings, confused sculpture and a simple white sofa seem utterly disconnected from one another. The artist’s free reign over the gallery space means that he has manipulated it well, controlling as he does the lights, sounds and setup of the art we observe to distort the normal museum hush of such a space.      However it is hard to find a common factor in terms of style: even within his collection of paintings, some pieces show Henning’s knowledge of art history through familiar forms in contrasted,

(originally published by  The Student )      For a film aficionado, Edinburgh is the place to be according to Chris Brooks,  archivist for the Edinburgh Movie Production Society. “ This is a good city to be in. There’s the film festival, and there are always contacts bubbling away,” said Brooks.      Founded in 2004, EMPS brings the complex art of film production to a more accessible level. Even those who have never touched a camera before can create something, while those with more experience have the opportunity to make films using top-of-the-range equipment and mentor others.      “There’s a danger people will assess us very quickly,” Brooks said. “That it’s just for geeks who know how a camera works, but most of the society is made up of people who don’t even study film.” Drawing its members from across the University, members’ knowledge of film-making varies, meaning a range of talents and styles are pulled together and shared. The society brings film out into a l

(originally published by The Student )      “We've been killing a lot of zombies”, the comedian and bouffant-haired Tom Deacon explains from the notably zombie-free Brooke's Bar upstairs in Potterrow, “and I'm not really getting any thanks for that.”      Alas there are no awards for control of the undead, not like there are Chortle and Student comedy awards, which Deacon has no trouble in collecting. Away from the zombies and his beloved Xbox (“the most important thing in my life”), Deacon has his second hour-long Fringe stand-up show, a weekly Radio 1 show and a new comedy play to keep him occupied, all of which is a far cry from the dingy student pubs he was playing in just a few years ago.      Deacon is living a non-stop month this August on both sides of the border. In the day time, he performs in Joe Bor's new play Who Killed the Counsellor? , and finds the hormonal 17-year-old within. By turns huffy, boastful and sensitive, Deacon grins as he tells me he get

The all-absorbing nature of the Festival became all too clear when everyone started going on about some riots down south. Here, our newspapers are replaced by free review magazines, the daily grind with plays and comedy and exhibitions and the occasional concert. The strange filtering-through of news to a flat with no internet, no regular newspapers, no TV, was reminiscent of Glastonbury in 2009 when Michael Jackson died, and while the world outside was crying its face off, most of us were none the wiser. Whereas in the fields and the mud we had RIP Jacko tshirts by the following morning, up here in Auld Reekie the comedians react in the only way they know how- jokes. What seemed like a race to make the easy jokes first meant stand-ups were telling us how they were desperately trying to contact their loved ones in Tottenham- “Size eleven, nothing in white.” (Steve Day, Run, Deaf Boy, Run!), or how they were happy to be already in Scotland before the locals start re-building Hadrian

If you only see one monumental multi-media sensory-deprivation performance artwork this festival, this year, this lifetime, Il Pixel Rosso's And The Birds Fell From The Sky should be it. A mere fifteen minutes takes us from the real world to a dream and somewhere in between, everything communicated to us through the dense black goggles placed over our eyes and the headphones in our ears. Daylight seems unnatural. As we move through a world to which we are now blind, the world in the goggles reacts, and what starts as a mere vision turns into a story which has us responding to its every whim. We travel in a car with four Faruq- a race painted to look like monochrome circus clowns who speak an impenetrable language, see dreams and visions; we smell the rain, the vodka, the lighter, the grass, we hear the birdsong, and we are asked- Are you sleeping through the best part of this journey? We are given a keepsake. Mine was The Fool, The Tower and The Hanged Man. In Tarot cards, these p

We learn quickly. Aside from the festival favourites of Always Bring a Programme, An Open Mind and an Umbrella (ESPECIALLY if it doesn't look like rain), we learn the importance of timing. Deadlines being at noon on the following day, one doesn't want to write up reviews minutes after seeing the show for fear of missing the next one; neither should we write them at 2 minutes to noon, typing with one hand and nursing a cocktail of fruit juice, paracetamol and pro plus with the other. We learn the special kind of fatigue which comes from watching shows for four hours a day, walking between them all with our programme, our open mind and our umbrella in tow, and trying to socialise afterwards. See above and the fruit juice-paracetamol-pro plus cocktail. We learn the scale of the city, we learn to powerwalk off the beaten path and to cross junctions at a sharp angle. We learn how to avoid the flyerers which now plague the busy streets- either by singing loudly along with an iPod or

Scotland is not a hotbed for Japanese music, so Art Lee and his band of traditional Taiko musicians take time out of their set to give us a background of their art, before launching into an adaptation of Bach or songs from a Japanese coffee machine. In the day time Ocean shows, three musicians play with absolutely serene faces and powerful movements reminiscent of martial arts, while the Mountain shows in the evening feature talented drummers using simplistic instruments that resonate beautifully in this historical Prince's Street Church. Peaceful, meaningful music with a purpose, from prayer to celebration, is played alongside Tango or Rumba music, showing the versatility of instruments and musicians alike. **** St John's Church, 5 – 29 Aug (not 11, 18, 25), times vary, £10 - £12 [originally written for ThreeWeeks magazine]

...and a dolphin, a nude Scotsman and a whole host of prostitutes. There are hundreds of Holmes adaptations out there, and I am not afraid to say that this is the best. We are taken from Baker Street to Chicago in a flawlessly choreographed hour of fast-paced brilliance of Blockbuster quality on less than a B-movie budget. With only two bodies Max and Ivan create a world full of characters so clear-cut that they can all take to the stage at once, argue, fight, and still keep us captivated. Sound effects, flashbacks, theme tunes- nothing is beyond the range of this breathless production, which brings out the ridiculous in Holmes and sublimely exploits our understanding of the magic of theatre. ***** Ditto Productions, Pleasance Courtyard, 3 – 29 Aug (not 16), 3:30 pm (1 hour), £8.50 - £11.00 [originally written for ThreeWeeks magazine]

Fairytales grow up. They grow deeper, darker and stronger. Our heroine is no longer a scared little girl but a stoic woman who insists she is neither lost nor tired. Maggie, part realist, part sleeping child, is woken by a spellbinding fox, surrounded by weeping trees and mocked by a trio of birds. A dreamlike world is created under Soco's flaky ceiling by an earnest cast who take the idea of physical theatre and use it tastefully, and not so much that it should scare away fans of traditional theatre. Seated on camping chairs, we are taken through the forest and into the sky, through suffering and away from the howls of the wolf. Strange and beautiful, touching and magical. **** Flyaway Theatre, C Soco, 3 – 29 Aug (not 15, 22), 2:00pm (3:15pm), £6.50 - £9.50 [originally written for ThreeWeeks magazine]

If the noise and haste of the Royal Mile is getting to you already, I urge you to visit Thomas Houseago's exhibition at the Royal Botanical Gardens. Though huge, metallic and rough around the edges, Houseago's shining collection subtly blends into its leafy background; the piece entitled 'Reclining Figure', placed near a viewpoint of the whole city, echoes Arthur's Seat's curves, while the totemic 'Rattlesnake Figure' has woodgrain etched into its aluminium surface, letting it merge with the surrounding trees. A little far-flung, the pieces are easy to miss if you're not looking- or can't read maps. That said, if you find yourself with a sunny day and a compass handy, let Houseago draw you off the beaten path. *** Royal Botanical Garden – Inverleith House, 1 Aug – 4 Sep, 10:00am (open til 5:45pm), free [originally written for ThreeWeeks magazine]

Economics, like baking, is a tricky thing. I say this in full knowledge that my own economic understanding is comparable to making rice-crispie cakes.      The BBC headed up tonight's 6 o'clock news with a report on the rate of economic growth in the country and Head Chef and Chancellor George Osbourne's response to it. Over the last 12 months, our economic cake, if you will, has risen by only 0.7% (compare with Western Australia's puffing up of 4.3% in the same period), but Big Cook defends his handling of our new culinary foray, citing numerous causes for a slow rate of recovery.      The Royal Wedding meant people had an extra day to get pissed instead of working; public sector workers went on strike, leaving the ovens unattended, a fair few times; the Japanese earthquake slowed down (but, tellingly, did not stop) the rate of production of thousands of products sold in the UK. We're told the British Economic Cake is “more susceptible than others” to these ki

(originally published by  The Student ) THE REMOVAL of students from one of Glasgow University's buildings has been called “disproportionate and heavy handed” by the university's Student Representative Council.      The protest, which disputed the University's plans to convert the building into offices, saw a group of around 15 students occupy the Hetherington Research club for seven weeks, until police forces removed them from the building. Following nearly two months of occupation, the protests on 22 nd March grew during the course of the day to over 150 students outside the building. Strathclyde Police increased their presence to include over 80 officers, 18 vehicles and a helicopter.      Tommy Gore, president of Glasgow's Student Representative Council (SRC), insisted that the protest should have been “an internal University matter” and should not have required a police presence on University property.      A spokesman from Glasgow University told the B

(originally published by  The Student )      There's a real air of nostalgia in Rhubaba's tiny warehouse-gallery in Leith. Corrugated iron doors and white-washed walls are made homely by the sheer amount of sound coming from the installations and the street outside. Art made from tin cans and magazine collage provides a hopeful, home-made feeling and something every visitor can recognise.      The launch last Saturday of Rhubaba's latest occupation by InterCity MainLine (ICML) was nearly rained off. Co-director Rachel Adams explained that “turn-out wasn't as good as we were hoping because of the weather. But it turned into more of a fun experiment this way” , and the Watercolour Challenge paintings made by members of the public will be put into ICML's next Edinburgh-based zine publication.      ICML's five artists, each originating from Bristol, like to explore, share ideas and experiences of different cities, then collaborate to form art like the zine an

(originally published by  The Student )      THE UNIVERSITY and College Union (UCU) elected a new Vice President and future President in a ballot held last week. History lecturer Simon Renton of University College London, currently a national negotiator for the Union, won with 61 per cent of the vote. Renton will take up his post as president in 2013, following the end of Alan Whitaker's presidency.      UCU represents over 120,000 academic staff across the UK, including lecturers, researchers and postgrads employed by Universities and adult education centres. In Scotland its focus is on equal pay and job security within Scottish institutions, and campaigns against tuition fees and 'casual contracts', which leave new employees vulnerable to being underpaid, overworked and treated as temporary members of staff.      Internal politics within the Union has seen a split between the Independent Broad Left, of which Renton is a member, and the Left, represented in this

(originally published by  The Student )      In the 4 years between Lupe Fiasco's previous album, The Cool and now, he's had a few difficulties. Despite winning armfuls of awards, Atlantic Records refused to let him release another record, and fans had to resort to a public rally and petitions to ensure this third album came into being.      So it's no surprise that LASERS sounds like a protest. Fiasco explained to the Metro last week that the idea was to “get people to activate”, and in songs like State Run Radio it's clear this activation won't hide behind rhetoric. This call-to-arms song is one of the highlights of the album, and a clear backlash at his record company and the ideals of censorship.      The record has taken on various forms since 2007's predecessor, from farewell album to a compilation of great American rap, but what has emerged is an incredibly outspoken, almost riotous 12-track where each song has been touched by a protester'

(originally published by The Student )      Following forewarned slashes to the Art Council's budget, there have been whispers backstage of huge funding cuts to some of the UK's best and brightest cultural organisations. Here in Edinburgh we can see it already in the closure of the Roxy ArtHouse and the dwindling hopes of the Forest Café, so could it be curtains for Edinburgh's Art scene?      Well, not exactly. Though Arts Council England (ACE) 's budget has been tempered to the tune of a 30% reduction, Scottish equivalent Creative Scotland has secured its tickets into the middle of next year. This means that the 115 smaller arts organisations propped up by the government body will be protected- at least up until the election in May.      This possible passing-on of the country's purse means the future of Creative Scotland is not guaranteed. But considering that even in England, where some council's arts funds have been cut completely, theatres and gal

(originally published by  The Student )      If there's one thing that last Tuesday's Big Red Variety Show can tell us, it's just how much talent can be called upon at the University of Edinburgh at a moment's notice. Organised like a kind of mini Comic Relief show, the Variety Show was the brainchild of Edinburgh Societies' Charity Appeal (ESCA) member Tabby Gould, who had a lot of entertainers to pick from.      “I looked through the societies' guide for entertainment groups” she told me “the Fresh Air guys were doing the commentary at the Meadows Marathon, and I thought they were funny” and the rest, it seems, is history. The name of Comic Relief goes a long way towards getting support for an event, from both performers and audience members alike, and the hope of the event being filmed to have a clip featured on Friday night's show meant that societies were eager to get involved.      Drumming Soc started off the night with a tight-knit set that

(originally published by  The Student ) With the feel of a kind of upbeat Livin' on a Prayer , Noah and the Whale's latest release is a classic girl-meets-boy-while-working-in-a-seedy-bar tale, injected with the happy-go-lucky spirit you'd expect from its title. But woah there, things aren't so simple. The chorus itself may take some practising to sing along to, as you'll have to spell out the words in time, Aretha Franklin's RESPECT- style. Once you've got that down, you can start air-guitaring along to the guitar and, yes, the violin solo. Layered backing vocals abruptly chime in on this odd multi-instrumental spelling bee then duck out again for a nice key-change and a bit more repetition. Like life, the song goes on, and will stay with you from those seedy bars back to your lectures and home again.

(originally published by  The Student )      In 2008 a fresh-faced Lykke Li Zachrisson told the Guardian why she no longer want to be a dancer- “I want to be on stage and travel the world and live passionately and have love affairs and get drunk.” Since debut Youth Novels , Lykke Li has toured the world, ticking boxes one and two, and with this album sings through the other three.      The new album Wounded Rhymes takes its name from a line in one of the last and most mellow songs on the album- Sadness is a Blessing . Here she uses melodies and lyrics reminiscent of a 60s girl-band, with lines like “Sadness is my boyfriend / Oh, Sadness, I'm your girl”. An otherwise decent song is weakened by Li's voice, which here sounds sickly-sweet rather than the more sinister melodies heard elsewhere.      First track Youth Knows No Pain opens with a darkly energetic style which introduces us to the heavy, tribal-sounding drums that dominate the album. But at times this backbeat

(originally published by  The Student )       Walk into Grazyna Dobrzelecka's exhibition in the Forest gallery and you may well think this is just an empty room with the last show's remnants still nailed to the walls. Ten tiny pieces of art trail the bare white walls to the windowsill, where a visitor might end up feeling a little too conspicuous in the wide street-side window.      Named for the mythical Icarus, the boy who flew too close to the sun, the exhibition continues Dobrzelecka's interest in birds and flight. His previous showing, Pigeonholes at the ECA, was inspired by the effects humans have on the life of the humble city pigeon. Here his reference to birds specifically is restricted to a single tiny black and white photograph, but themes of freedom and captivity run through each piece, from the 2lb lead weight on one wall to the one-sided chess game on the windowsill, entitled Entrapment .      Elsewhere, Wing consists of a right-angled triangle of lin

(originally published by The Student )      Yes, another London-based four-piece come to try to steal your heart. The Vaccines have found their way into the public ear via the well-trodden path of fellow indiesters and friends Laura Marling and Noah and the Whale, but somewhere along the way they found a couple of electric guitars and a range of emotion rare in today's mainstream indie-pop.      What did you expect from the Vaccines? is populated entirely by songs which are teasingly short, and demonstrate a less-is-more attitude to song-writing. First track Wreckin' Bar (Ra Ra Ra) gives us an almost impressionistic snapshot of youthful obsession at a scant 1:24 long, which may not have made it the best choice for a first single (it reached number 157 in the charts back in November 2010), but the perfect way to start an album. Described by Zane Lowe as 'The Hottest Record in the World' just following its release, this first song serves as a tantalising introduc

(originally published by The Student ) ASTROPHYSICISTS AT the University of Edinburgh will be joining an international team of scientists in the search for earth-like planets in other solar systems.      The Kepler project, which since 1994 has searched the sky for planets similar to our own, aims to identify planets where water, and potentially life, could exist.      Edinburgh's scientists will be part of the team constructing an instrument for Kepler called the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher-North (HARPS-N). Based on a similar device in the southern hemisphere, HARPS-N will be mounted on a telescope in the Canaries and analyse data collected by the Kepler project.      Dr Ken Rice, a Reader at the University of Edinburgh's Institute for Astronomy, described the project as “the first hope to find planets like Earth”.      By observing tiny fluctuations in the gravity of stars in the Kepler field, and light we receive from them, scientists have been a

(originally published by The Student )      THE UNIVERSITY is set to launch its first Sustainability Awards to help reduce its environmental impact. A ceremony later in the year will see awards given to the teams which complete the most environmentally friendly challenges in an online workbook provided by the Edinburgh University Students' Association (EUSA).      Last year the University of Edinburgh was accredited Gold in the NUS' Environmental Impact Awards, and was the overall UK winner. This, the two-year-old Green Impact Scheme, compared Universities from across the country in terms of sustainability and global awareness. EUSA's newest venture is a similar scheme within the University itself, encouraging teams to think of new ways to reduce our effect on the world outside of Edinburgh.      Teams can be made up of staff and students in every part of the University, and will be accredited with Bronze, Silver or Gold awards according to the type and quantity of

(originally published by The Student )      When it comes to improvised comedy, students are a tough crowd. We've studied transcripts of comedies or the effects of laughter on the brain or the best way to deliver a line, or we've just spent one too many afternoons watching Dave. In the twenty-five years of Bedlam's resident Improverts giving weekly shows to its student population, improvised comedy has grown and exploded, and to a certain extent, we've seen it all before. It's clearly a challenge, then, for the Improverts to put on show every Friday night with a good enough mix of audience participation and performer control, all structured around comedy games which showcase the performers both individually and in groups.      Clearly, some games work far better than others. Our Honoured Guest involved one performer acting as translator for another, who speaks gibberish on a topic of the audience's choosing. We chose Michael Jackson. In such a game, a lot o

(originally published by  The Student )      It's hard to see the links between the gold-fronted screenplay, the video of a tapdancer and the severed arm in one corner, but this is all part of the art. Catherine Payton's one-room exhibition at Collective is focused on the relationships between seemingly ordinary objects and the possibility of warping these to create strange new situations.      Nestled halfway down Cockburn street, Edinburgh, the Collective gallery provides a space for new forms of visual art from new and international artists. As part of its New Work Scotland Programme, both Payton and Swiss-born Nicolas Party have a room to play with for the month.      Party's work makes the most of Collective's streetside windows with his Teapots and Sausages- an indistinct still-life which plays with shade and texture and is applied directly onto the wall. Party recently told The Skinny that his new drawings were designed to 'challenge the eye', and