2 - 31 August 2008, Edinburgh Art Festival

ARC Projects presented a residency, exhibition and live performances by artist Mare Tralla as part of the Edinburgh Art Festival.

Our every movement and action today seems to be subject to surveillance. What do we need in order for public and private life to thrive? How can we define spaces that are absolutely free from the prying eyes of officialdom and others? Setting out to explore these and other notions of privacy, security and surveillance, the artist skillfully employs various media and styles, ranging from painting and video, live performance and photography to sculpture.

Mare Tralla’s residency in Edinburgh was accompanied by an exhibition of paintings from her 'Protected' series as part of 'Mutatis Mutandis', at The Embassy Annex, Edinburgh College of Art, Lauriston Place, Edinburgh, 2-31 August.

She also undertook a series of live easel painting performances, ‘tracking the movements’ of CCTV cameras throughout Edinburgh. The artist evokes this 16th century tradition, which set painters free from the constraints of working on walls or fixed, architectural schemes and increased the social and intellectual status of the individual artist. Performances will take place at various locations around Edinburgh during August, including Waverley Station, National Gallery of Scotland, Princes Street, North Bridge, Waverley Bridge, Royal Scottish Academy Building, South Bridge, Scottish National Portrait Gallery and The Embassy Annex. Details of times and places are below. Facebook users please see also the event page on Facebook.

ARC Projects’ international artist-in-residence programme launched as part of the Edinburgh Art Festival 2007, featuring Sarajevo-born artist Lala Rascic. Mare Tralla is the second resident artist commissioned to undertake a new project in Edinburgh during the festival. Protected is co-curated by Iliyana Nedkova and Chris Byrne of ARC Projects especially for Edinburgh Art Festival 2008. In partnership with Marc Bloch University, Strasbourg, the Annuale, Edinburgh and Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh.

Mare Tralla (b 1967 Tallinn) lives and works in London. Recent solo exhibitions were presented at Art Hall, Tallinn, and Kunsthaus, Graz. Biennale participations include ISEA 2008, Singapore ; Shiryaevo, Russia, 2007; Berwick upon Tweed 2005; Szczecin 2001. Over the past year she has exhibited in group shows including 'HacK.Fem.EAST', Kunsthalle Bethanien, Berlin; 'Borderstate', Art Museum of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Art, Guangzhou; 'Innovation', National Center for Contemporary Arts, Moscow; 'Multiplicities', ARC Projects, Sofia; 'Continuous Past', KUMU, Art Museum of Estonia, Tallinn.

Mare Tralla plein air painting performances

If you were out and about in Edinburgh you may well have spotted her at the locations listed below:

25.08 - 10.00-12.00 Waverley Station

26.08 - 11.00 - Nightingale Way
- 17.30 Conference Square, Bread Street

27.08 - 11.00 in front of Haymarket Station
- 16.00 Princes Street

28.08 - 11.00 around the Parliament
- 16.00 by Scottish National Portrait Gallery

29.08 - 11.00 in front of National Gallery Complex
- 12.30 - Calton Road

30.08 - 12.00 - York Place
- 13.00 - North St Andrew Street

31.08 - 12.00 - Edinburgh College of Art, preview of Edinburgh paintings
- 16.30 - Catch Mare from the comfort of The Embassy Bus tour which leaves ECA at 13.30. See The Embassy gallery website for details.