An Clar Glas (The Grey Album)

Artist The Danger Museum

Artist Miho Shimizu (Tokyo, Japan, born 1976)

Artist Oyvind Renberg (Oslo, Norway, born 1976)

Date2005

MediumLightjet print on paper

ClassificationsPhotography

DimensionsImage Size: 122 x 122cm

AcquisitionPurchased in 2006 with assistance from the National Collecting Scheme for Scotland.

LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub

Object numberABDAG014368

Keywords

Music

About MeOyvind Renberg (Norway) and Miho Shimizu (Japan) have worked together as the
duo 'Danger Museum' since 2001. Their work often evolves in relation to
specific cultural contexts and in collaboration with other artists or locals
around the world. Projects culminate in visual and sculptural pieces,
publications and web-projects. They have held exhibitions at inIVA in
London, Oslo, Ssamziespace in Seoul, Sparwasser HQ in Berlin, Cork Public
Museum in Cork and most recently in Aberdeen at Peacock Visual Arts.

An Clar Glas (The Gray Album) was produced during the LOCALE residency at
Peacock Visual Arts in Aberdeen in 2005. The artists chose to work with the Beatles
to respond to and reflect the LOCALE brief, that urges the resident artists
to collaborate with audiences outside the art scene. As first-time visitors
to Aberdeen, the Beatles became a common ground to meet and get to know the
city and some of its citizens.
An Clar Glas investigated ideas of community, pop culture and the art
institution by looking at the Beatles’ 'Sgt. Pepper' album. The project
culminated in a re-shoot of the iconic album cover. The image features a mix
of Aberdeen locals, Beatles fans and historic icons alongside the two artists.

Over three months we initiated events at Peacock, perhaps unlike that of an
art gallery, such as karaoke nights and screenings of rock movies,
attracting a curious mix of Beatles fans and gallery visitors. Some of these
apear in the Sgt. Pepper re-shoot. One is granite worker Jim Reid, who
followed our steadily accumilating set at Peacock in his lunch breaks.
Parallel to this, we sampled material from around Aberdeen: Photos of
animals in the Hazlehead park, seagulls from the beach, vegetation from the
Duthie Park Winter Garden, beach sand, oil and maritime items.
As a loose guide, we followed tips from Peacock staff, whom we had asked to
list people they would like featuring in the reshoot. So amongst those
apearing in the piece are shop owner S. Yaseen from the George Street Spice
Shop, and Beryl Reid from the Square One hardware shop side by side with
more lofty wishes such as Liz Taylor and Jesus.

For more information on how this work was acquired see http://www.ncsscotland.org.uk/collections