ROGER&REID CULLODEN RESIDENCY... THE STORY SO FAR!

Posted by REID - 11:49 on 30 May 2011

 ROGER&REID POST*1 BY REID.

SO.. FOR THE PAST 7 TO 8 YEARS OR SO ROGER&REID HAVE INVESTIGATED, VISITED, PERFORMED IMPROMPTU HARMONIUM/CLARINET PIECES, RAN ACROSS, FLOWN KITE CAMERAS THROUGH, HUNG TEMPORARY FLAGS, SUNG ON AND GENERALLY EVOKED THE SPIRITS IN BATTLE SITES ACROSS THE UK AND THE EAST COAST OF THE USA. THIS SHARED INTEREST IN HISTORICAL ANOMALIES, CULTURAL ODDBALLS AND THE DEEP VIBES HELD WITHIN THESE BATTLE SITES IS A CONTINUING WORK.
SINCE MARCH THIS YEAR WE HAVE BEEN REGULARLY VISITING CULLODEN AFTER BEING ENROLLED AS RESEARCH ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE, WITH THE BASIC CRUX OF SEEING 'HOW ARTISTS CAN WORK?' ON A HISTORICAL SITE OF SUCH CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE TO SCOTLAND AS CULLODEN.
ANYONE WHO HAS VISITED SITES SUCH AS CULLODEN AND GLENCOE CAN'T HELP BUT STIR A PROFOUND FEELING OF LOSS, REMEMBRANCE AND PASSING AND IT IS THESE EMOTIONS THAT WE HOPE TO EVOKE AND COME TO TERMS WITH SOMEHOW.
ANYWAYS....
THE BEST WAY WE WORK IS ON OUR LITTLE FEET AND KEEP THE WEE NOSES IN BOOKS TIMES TILL JUST BEFORE BEDTIME.... WITH THIS IN MIND WE DONNED OUR KILTS AND FLASHES AND ATTENDED THE CULLODEN ANNIVERSARY ON THE 16TH APRIL WHERE WE MET AND INTERVIEWED AN ECLECTIC ARRAY OF CHARACTERS, LORDS, CLAN LEADERS, STAUNCH SCOTTISHERS, LADIES, HISTORIANS, SOUTH AFRICANS AND TREE DWELLERS! WE FILMED THIS EXPERIENCE AND OUTPUT FROM THIS DAY CAN BE VIEWED ON OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL (www.youtube.com/watch).
AN UNDERCURRENT OF FEELING FROM THE DAY WAS VOCALIZED FROM MANY OF THE INTERVIEWEES AND IT WAS THAT OF THE SITE AND ANNIVERSARY DAY WERE A PLACE OF REMEMBRANCE NOT JUST FOR THE PAST BUT THE PRESENT ALSO. MANY SUGGESTED THEY COME TO CULLODEN AS A PLACE OF SOLACE AND REFLECTION AND THAT THE FALLEN REMEMBERED WERE PAST/PRESENT/FUTURE WITH MANY COMMENTING ON ONGOING BATTLES IN AFGHANISTAN, IRAQ AND OTHER SHORES HELD A KINSHIP WITH CULLODEN. I GUESS THAT OF POLITICAL/SOCIAL UPRISING WITH THE SAD OUTCOME OF CIVILIAN DEATH.
ALSO THE NIGHT BEFORE THE CULLODEN ANNIVERSARY THE TERRIS, CADETS AND ROYAL MARINE RESERVES RE-CREATED THE JACOBITE NIGHT MARCH WHICH HAD TAKEN PLACE 265 YEARS BEFORE. THIS 22 MILE HIKE FOLLOWED THE ORIGINAL ROUTE TAKEN BY THE JACOBITE TROOPS FROM CULLODEN TO NAIRN. THE HISTORICAL PLAN WAS TO SURPRISE THE GOVERNMENT FORCES IN NAIRN THE NIGHT BEFORE THE BATTLE OF CULLODEN. THIS ATTEMPT BY THE JACOBITES FAILED DUE TO BAD WEATHER, FATIGUE AND TIRED FRENCH TROOPS AND WAS A MAJOR REASON IN THE BATTLE THE FOLLOWING DAY BEING SO HARD, LACK OF SLEEP/ENERGY.

WE FOLLOWED THE MODERN TROOPS INTO THE WOODS OUTSIDE CULLODEN AND QUICKLY LOST THEM DUE TO THEIR MARINE PACE AND OUR CAMERA KIT/STUPIDITY. WE THEN SPENT A FEW HOURS TRAMPING ABOUT IN DARK, UNABLE TO USE MODERN SAT NAV TO FIND ANYTHING, TIRED, BEAT AND BROKEN WE RETURNED TO MY 2001 NISSAN ALMERA, MUCH LIKE THE CONTEMPORARY JACKOBYTES THAT WE ARE!

SINCE THEN WE HAVE BEEN EXPERIMENTING ON SITE WITH OUR PATENT 'ROGER&REID KITE CAMERAS' GETTING ARIEL ETHEREAL FILM SHOTS AND DREAMING OF HUGE MULTI- MEDIA 3-D ROCK OPERAS TO TAKE PLACE ON SITE.

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