Helmut Lemke
The acclaimed contemporary artist, Helmut Lemke, was awarded the second Jon Schueler Scholarship at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig UHI in 2014. The German artist, who is based in Britain, works with a variety of sounds, some common, some obvious, and others that are to be found and often combines them with other media and art-forms in his exhibitions. Venues that the artist has explored and utilised include: concert halls, outdoor markets, galleries, museums, the frozen sea off Greenland, function rooms of pubs and international festivals. He has presented his work all over the globe, collaborating with other sound artists, musicians, dancers, scientists, visual artists, architects, poets, archaeologists, performance artists and wildlife rangers.
During his Jon Schueler Scholarship at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, sound artist Helmut Lemke presented aspects of his artistic practice and ongoing work. In an evening of experimental sound / music / poetry and performance, Helmut performed on an installation of long strings – long strings are an ever changing site-specific instrument that he began to play around 30 years ago. Helmut was joined on the night by Sabhal Mòr’s Visual Artist in Residence, MacGillivray; Kenneth Lindsay (Writer in Residence); Bàrd Rody Gorman and Musician Neil Campbell (MacBeat).
On the opening night of an exhibition at SMO, Helmut shared thoughts and preliminary results from his residence and showed drawings in response to the “sounding” environment of Sabhal Mòr Ostaig. He spoke about his time during his residency and how this close encounter with the Gaelic language and culture, the support of the local community and the community of Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, influenced his project. Helmut’s final event in closing his Scholarship at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig was the launch of an artist’s book of his work from the residency , CÀNAN SREATHAN TUINN.