I KEN WHAUR I’M GAUN
An immersive film and sound installation exploring oral traditions and languages in Scotland through folk songs found within the archives.
Cinetopia presents I Ken Whaur I’m Gaun (I Know Where I’m Going), an immersive film and music installation that explores oral traditions and languages in Scotland through folk songs recordings and moving image material found within the country’s archives. Working with folk-music duo Dowally and visual artist, Yulia Kovanova, this project will blend both mediums, sound and visual, to create a multi-sensory experience while showcasing this long standing tradition of storytelling through song.
Through archival film and folk song I Ken Whaur I’m Gaun invites audiences to immerse themselves into the sounds and visions of the unique culture, land and people of Scotland. The film/audio installtion will run continuously on a 12-minute loop and feature scenes and rare recordings from across Scotland from the country’s archives, including recordings by Hamish Henderson during the folk song revival of the fifties. Among the songs featured are ‘I Ken Whaur I’m Gaun’ by Jeannie Robertson and ‘A Pair of Nicky Tams’ by Jimmy MacBeath.
Different eras of archival film and diverse folk song traditions are brought into one space through a 12-minute multi-screen installation, which presents a meeting of different communities in Scotland. Those living and working close to the land, across time and place, are liked through folk song, carrying the unique character of their local culture and ways of life.
Edinburgh-based artist Yulia Kovanova, worked together with film editor, Kieran Gosney, and video projection designer, Mettje Hunneman, to create a unique rendering of some of the rich material found within National Library of Scotland’s Moving Image Archive. They reconfigure Scotland’s people and land, bridging different places and times into a singular experience. The very surface of the screens themselves, emerge out of the land and its people – sails, wool, aprons – as a way to bring tactility to the fabric of film.
Edinburgh duo Dowally dove into the rich archives of Scottish traditional music recordings to discover beautiful and rare songs in both Gaelic and Scots. With the help of traditional singer Scott Gardiner and Gaelic specialist/singer Rona Wilkie, they curated a small selection of songs to use in the film. These songs are steeped in history, character and emotion, sparking creative musical responses from the duo; ranging from sampling sounds from the recordings, adding some ‘modern day’ accompaniment on the fiddle or guitar, inspiring totally new musical ideas, or just playing the archive recordings as they are.
I Ken Whaur I’m Gaun is produced by Cinetopia with Amanda Rogers as Creative Producer.
Creative Team
YULIA KOVANOVA, VISUAL ARTIST
Yulia Kovanova is a Scotland-based artist, filmmaker, film curator and educator. Her practice focuses on the notion of entanglements and investigates the human within interspecies relationships, exploring crossovers between human and non-human worlds. Kovanova’s work has been presented at leading arts events, including Setouchi International Triennale, Edinburgh Art Festival and Edinburgh Science Festival, Aichi Triennale, Fruitmarket Gallery, An Tobar Gallery, and several international film festivals. Her experimental documentary film Plastic Man received BAFTA Scotland and UK Best Short Film (Open City Documentary Festival) nominations.
DOWALLY, MUSICIANS & COMPOSERS
Edinburgh favourites Dowally, Rachel Walker and Dan Abrahams, make joyful, thrilling, original folk music influenced by Scottish Trad, jazz, klezmer and everything in-between. They are prolific collaborators, having worked with Phil Alexander (Moishe’s Bagel), Graham Coe (Jellyman’s Daughter) and many more. This is their second soundtrack, following ‘ReDrawing Edinburgh’ which is nominated for Scots Trad Album of the Year.
KIERAN GOSNEY, EDITOR
An award-winning editor with over 10 years experience in documentary, and drama. Additionally, Kieran teaches editing in the undergraduate and masters programmes at Edinburgh Napier University and is an expressive and productive writer, capable of both strict copy and creative prose.
I KEN WHAUR I’M GAUN WAS PRODUCED BY CINETOPIA, with Amanda Rogers as CREATIVE PRODUCER & Amaya Bañuelos Marco as Associate Producer & Archive Researcher.
Funders and collaborators:
I Ken Whaur I’m Gaun (I Know Where I’m Going) was supported by the BFI Film Audience Network with National Lottery funding as part of Changing Times: Curious.