Alex Hetherington
Alex Hetherington is a visual artist who works with 16mm film. Recent exhibitions include SEEN AND NOT SEEN, with Scott Caruth, CCA, Glasgow, June-July 2022. Recent films include Ilam Actual (2023) with Luke Fowler for Arts&Heritage, Sister Films (2023) for CCA Annex, Women's Studies (2021) developed during a Creative Lab, CCA, Glasgow, August 2021, castorocene (2021), Rupert Journal, Vilnius for George Finlay Ramsay,Talking, Counting, Blinking, Noting; 16mm film as a collaborative action (2019-2020), Anonymous Writes A Spell for the Camera (2019) screened at Anxiety & Invocation at Experiments in Cinema V.15, Albuquerque, US and Twin Eye presented at Studio Jamming, Cooper Galley, Dundee, September 2019. Recent writing includes essays commissioned by Collective, Edinburgh to accompany artist Karen Cunningham’s new moving image work Oct 2020 and for Savinder Bual for PEER, London.
• Selected publications, performances, screenings and installations
Participating in ‘Video Poems for the 90s’, a 16mm filmmaking workshop with Ute Aurand, Pier Arts Centre, Stromness, Orkney, 29 March 2024 (Screen Scotland/Urth Productions bursary)
Participating director in Bridging the Gap documentary scheme, Scottish Documentary Institute, Edinburgh, R&D phase with a new experimental documentary short, Oct 2023–Jan 2024
16mm DP sequences for Conor Baird for a solo show at Glasgow Project Room, March 2024; 16mm work with MFA DJCAD student Khadea Santi, 2023
Ilam Actual (version), 16mm film with sound: Luke Fowler with Alex Hetherington and Lee Patterson, Arts & Heritage, shot Ilam Park, June 2023. Arts&Heritage Screening Room, screening 6–19 November 2023
SISTER FILMS, CCA Annex, with Catherine Street and Luke Fowler, web page developed by Rectangle, March 2023, with a text by Jess Higgins, The Making of a Film, published June 2023, MAP Magazine and CCA ANNEX
DOP on On Volya, 16mm film by Ayla Dmyterko, in production 2023, funded by Creative Scotland and screening work in progress, Galerie Pangée, Montreal, Canada, summer 2023
16mm film cameraless workshop, Deveron Projects, Huntly, Sat 21 & Sun 22 January 2023, with In the Shadow of the Hand (Sarah Forrest & Virginia Huchison)
Chimera: image making with 16mm film, two-part workshop as part of Chimera, Nashashibi/Skaer, Cooper Gallery, Dundee, 30 September – 10 December 2022
Not the wick, nor the candle, but the burning. George Finlay Ramsay, Mark Thomson, Coby Sey, Alex Hetherington, Rebecca Salvadori, Sandro Mussida. Garden Nights: an evening of film, video and music, Camden Arts Centre, London 22 August 2022
YOU’VE GOT A NICE VOICE ACTUALLY, SCOTT, A review of Scott Caruth & Alex Hetherington’s joint exhibition Seen and Not Seen by Jess Higgins, CCA, Glasgow for MAP magazine, July 2022
Scott Caruth & Alex Hetherington, Seen and Not Seen, 3 June — 16 July 2022, CCA, Glasgow
Castorocene (2021), WNDX Film Festival, Winnipeg, Canada, curated by Hagere Selam “shimby” Zegeye Gebrehiwot, 10 October 2021
CAConrad on Castorocene (2021), published by LUX Scotland, 5 October 2021
Castorocene (2021) at Walk-in Cinema, Video Art & Experimental Film Event, SEAfoundation, Tilburg, The Netherlands, 23–25 September 2021
Castorocene (2021), Münster Film Festival 2021, Programme 5, screening September 23 2021
One artist | One work, George Finlay Ramsay/Alexander Hetherington, castorocene, LUX Scotland, September 2021
DOP for artist George Finlay Ramsay’s 16mm film production castorocene, commissioned by Rupert, Vilnius, Lithuania, April 2021
portals, book launch readings by Rosie Roberts, Daisy Lafarge and Lotte L.S. and screening 16mm film, Untitled (eclectic poison) by Alex Hetherington, SPAM Press, Zoom, 6 August 2020
CCA, Creative Lab, Glasgow, 7–20 December 2020 (now 2-15 August 2021)
Anxiety and Invocation at Experiments in Cinema, Albuquerque, New Mexico, US, 14-18 April 2020: Luke Fowler, Rachel Maclean, Duncan Marquiss, Kimberley O'Neill, Alex Hetherington & Michelle Hannah, Seán Martin, Beagles & Ramsay, Holly McLean, Louise Milne, Sandra Johnston and Richard Ashrowan.
"...on being still but moving at the same time (though not small dances)” Raman Mundair, Emma Ready, Libby Odai, Alex Hetherington, Helena Salgueiro, Courtney Stoddart and Shelltoe Mel & Becci Wallace, Dance base, Edinburgh, 2 November 2019
Twin Eye, performative 16mm film screening, Studio Jamming, Cooper Gallery, DJCAD, Dundee, 18 September 2019
Talking, counting, blinking, noting; 16mm film as a collaborative action, ongoing 2019, made with the participation of Anne-Marie Copestake, Emma Balkind, Leah Millar, Rowan Markson, Nathalie de Briey, Helen McCrorie, Rosie Roberts and others to be confirmed, 16mm film, colour and black and white, sound, 60mins
(A plan) For A Spell… films by Emily Wardill and Laida Lertxundi, video by John Maybury, Jo Ann Kaplan, Lynn Hershman-Leeson and Vera Frenkel, readings from Susan Sontag, Stanislav Lem, Marcel Mauss and William Burroughs. Live readings by Anne-Marie Copestake, 21 July 2018, Market Gallery, Glasgow
FRACTO, Experimental Film Encounters, 24 – 27 May 2018, ACUD Cinema & Studio, Berlin, Germany
“Press the eject and give me the tape”, Anne-Marie Copestake, Kate Davis, Michelle Hannah, Alex Hetherington & Lyndsay Mann, Duncan Marquiss and Corin Sworn, 17 February 2018, Cooper Gallery, Dundee
Here Was Elsewhere: >>FFWD, Artists’ Moving Image, with film and video by Anne Colvin, Anne-Marie Copestake, Karen Cunningham, Kate Davis, Katy Dove, Kathryn Elkin, Sarah Forrest, Allison Gibbs, Michelle Hannah, Elín Jacobsdottir, Mairi Lafferty, Adam Lewis Jacob, Lyndsay Mann, Duncan Marquiss, Oliver Mezger, Rosalind Nashashibi, Lucy Skaer, Bobby Niven, Hardeep Pandhal, Ross Sinclair, Pernille Spence, Corin Sworn, Tom Varley, Dominic Watson, Cooper Gallery, DJCAD, 19 January 2018 – 17 February 2018
“The singer has once more risen above the object of his song”, or ‘No Space is Innocent!’, Films by Ursula Mayer, Gail Pickering, Gabriel Abrantes, texts from Anne Carson and the transcript of I Want by Pauline Boudry / Renate Lorenz based on writing by Chelsea Manning and Kathy Acker, guest star artist filmmaker Lyndsay Mann, Cooper Gallery, Dundee, Thursday 23 November 2017
TREATMENT, publication limited edition on Kate Davis, Nudes Never Wear Glasses, Stills Gallery, Edinburgh, published August 2017
Five Propositions, Toward A Scottish Collection of Artists’ Moving Image, LUX Scotland, CCA, Glasgow, 13 January 2017
The Hallucinating Edge, with Sophia Hao and Sarah Forrest, Red Brick Art Museum, Beijing, China, 20 Dec 2016
Pure Movement, with Sophia Hao and Sarah Forrest, K11 Foundation, Wuhan, China, 18 December 2016
FFWD, Rosalind Nashashibi, Michelle Hannah, Sarah Forrest, Lyndsay Mann, Corin Sworn, Kathryn Elkin, Tom Varley, Anne-Marie Copestake, Anne Colvin, Bobby Niven, Duncan Marquiss, Allison Gibbs, Kate Davis, Katy Dove, Oliver Mezger, Skaer/Nashashibi, Ross Sinclair, Pernille Spence, with selections from Rewind, collection of video from the 1970s and 80s, CURRENT, Cooper Gallery, Dundee and Mingsheng Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, December 2016 – January 2017
Do It All On The Same Day and Rerecording, text by Richard Taylor, Modern Edinburgh Film School archive, performance reading and publications, October 2015 – August 2016
Rachel Reupke & Ursula Mayer, screening of selected works, Rhubaba Gallery, Edinburgh, June 2 2016
Elin Jakobsdottir, Patience in Virtue of Débordement, super-8mm and 16mm films, CCA, Glasgow, 24 May 2016
Distribution as (Subversive) Practice, LUX Scotland, Collective Gallery, Edinburgh, 5 April 2016
Silhouette Proximity Panopticon Score, Lauren Printy Currie, Jessica Ramm, Lyndsay Mann, Kirsty Hendry, curated insert and text, Scottish Art News, November 2015
Curating Materiality, Writing Feminist Art Histories, ECA, June 2015
MOTHS, Lucy Skaer, Anna Lucas, Zoë Forthergill, Amy Pickles, Mairi Lafferty, Allison Gibbs, Anne McGuire, Bobby Niven, Katrina Vallé and Jenny Brady, film screenings, print and performance, Summerhall, Edinburgh, June-July 2015
Ripples on the Pond/A Poetic Measurement, Annabel Nicolson, Rosalind Nashashibi, Anne-Marie Copestake, Anne Colvin, Mairi Lafferty, Lauren Gault, Karen Cunningham, Allison Gibbs, Sarah Forrest, Catherine Street, with a new commissioned performance by Ruth Barker and public talks with Iain Morrison, Suzanne van der Lingen, Dr Glyn Davis, Dr Angela McClanahan, and Dr Sarah Neely, with published poetry by Margaret Tait, Glasgow University Affiliate/Gallery of Modern Art, CCA, GSS, GSA, and Old Hairdressers, May 2015–April 2016, essay republished in Yearbook, Affiliate: Thinking Collections, Glasgow University, Feb 2016
Queer Information, with Catherine Street, Jamie Crewe, Sean Elder, JL Williams, et al, experimental writing anthology, Modern Edinburgh Film School, December 2014
“A new island forming…”, artists' interview artists publication with Laura Edbrook, Suzanne van der Lingen, Leah Millar, Katrina Vallé, Annuale 2014, Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh, June 2014
“the National Review of live art”, film, videos and spoken-word performance by Shona Macnaughton, Karen Cunningham, Amy Pickles, Levi Hanes, Alexander Storey Gordon, Yelena Popova, Tako Taal, Suok Woon Yoon, Seijen Choi, Daniel Lichtman and Catherine Street, Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow International, 12 April 2014
The Social Media of Too Long/ACRCIT, writing on performance and installation by Dinda Fass, Lauren Gault, Michelle Hannah, Catherine Street, Modern Edinburgh Film School, March 2014
Modern Edinburgh Film School/Mairi Lafferty, film screenings and talk, Edinburgh College of Art, Friday Lecture series, 17 January 2014
A Salon of the Voice, with Dr Ella Finer, talk and screening for Georgina Starr, Before Le Cerveau Affamé, Cooper Gallery, Dundee, 28 November 2013
The Free Arc of Life, writing on Karen Cunningham, Collective Gallery, Edinburgh; Allison Gibbs, Intermedia Gallery, CCA, Glasgow; Mairi Lafferty, and Georgina Starr, Cooper Gallery, Dundee, Modern Edinburgh Film School, Nov 2013
Hold This Object Up Until There is Nothing Left of You, screening of film and video by Stephen Sutcliffe, Ben Rivers, Mairi Lafferty, Jen Liu, Bill Leslie, ESW, Edinburgh 31 August 2013
Ute Aurand, FILME, 16mm films, in conversation with Dr Sarah Neely, Stills Gallery, Edinburgh, 2 August 2013
Ute Aurand, FILME, Film Lounge, Stills Gallery, Edinburgh, 2-31 August 2013
Lauren Gault, Granular and Crumb, commissioned film and installation, ESW, 26 – 28 July 2013
• Recent, selected group shows
Atelier Public 2, Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow International, February – May 2014
Open, StreetLevel Photoworks, Glasgow, December 2012–February 2013
Artists' Books, DCA, Dundee, November 2012
Cycling Through, Tramway, Glasgow, September 2012
Cave Art Fair, Liverpool, September 2012
Walls of Light, CCA film commissions, CCA, Glasgow, 14 October 2010, Stina Wirfelt, Henry Coombes, Clara Ursitti, Alex Hetherington, Calum Stirling, Katri Walker
• Recent Awards
Creative Scotland Open Project Fund, 2019-2020
Creative Scotland Open Project Fund, 2016-2017
Edinburgh Visual Arts Award, 2015-2016
Creative Scotland, Visual Arts Professional Development, 2013–2014
Alt-W Award, New Media Scotland, 2013
• Selected Writing
The student of hallucinations, the absent Moon and the rule of the feather, on moving image artist Savinder Bual, publication, PEER, London, June 2021
Karen Cunningham, Mean Time, Collective, Edinburgh, September 2020
Helen McCrorie, Emmie McCluskey, Kimberley O'Neill, Katie Shannon, Satellites, Collective, Edinburgh, This is Tomorrow and alexanderhetherington.com
Laida Lertxundi, ‘WORDS, PLANETS’, Tramway, Glasgow, 21 June – 1 July, 2018, Review for This is Tomorrow, June 29 2018
Alex Millar, Gold Head Yellow Dancer, exhibition essay, Dornoch St Project, Glasgow, June 2018
Margaret Salmon, Circle, Tramway, Glasgow, "This is Tomorrow", February 2018
You hardboiled I softboiled, Rhubaba, Edinburgh, "This is Tomorrow", August 2017
Tschabalala Self, Tramway, Glasgow, "This is Tomorrow", June 2017
'The football player skates across the battlefield, On folly and performance', for Rowan Markson at David Dale Gallery, Glasgow, 3 June 2017
Sky is Falling, CCA, Glasgow, “This is Tomorrow”, May 2017
Of Other Spaces; Where does gesture become event?, C2, Cooper Gallery, Dundee, DISPATCH, March 2017
Shanghai Biennale/Raqs Media Collective, Power Station of Art, Shanghai, China, “This is Tomorrow”, Jan 2017
Edinburgh Artists’ Moving Image Festival 2016, January 2017
Artists’ Moving Image Festival 2016, Tramway, Glasgow, LUX Scotland, November 2016
Rob Kennedy, Acts of dis play, Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh “This is Tomorrow”, November 2016
Of Other Spaces; Where does gesture become event?, C1, Cooper Gallery, Dundee, “This is Tomorrow’, Nov 2016
Ross Fraser McLean, Summerhall, Edinburgh, 28 October – 23 December 2016
Helen McCrorie, The Clock in Commune, Glasite Meeting House, Edinburgh Art Festival, August 2016
Tatham/O’Sullivan, ‘A petition for an enquiry into a condition of anxiety’, Modern Institute, Glasgow, ‘This is Tomorrow’, May 2016
Claire Barclay, Bright Bodies, Glasgow International, Kelvin Hall, Glasgow, “This is Tomorrow”, April 2016