Spotlight On... Works In Progress

With the simple aim to “nurture emerging experimental talent in Edinburgh”, the inaugural Works In Progress took place in March of this year. A collaboration alongside community radio station EHFM and the Embassy Gallery, this weekend sees the second installment – Works In Progress II – take over Dissenter Space in Leith on Saturday 14 December. 

The event is curated via an application process, and once again some applicants' works will be broadcast on EHFM in the lead up to the event, with a select mix of experimental and audiovisual pieces performed live on the day. To find out more about the event, we catch up with WIP organiser Vicky Kavanagh.

First of all, can you tell us the idea behind Works In Progress?
As a group of creatives living and working in Edinburgh, we felt there was a need for more spaces to nurture emerging talent in music and the audiovisual arts. We created Works In Progress with the intent of giving new and underground artists a platform to share new and unfinished projects or ideas freely, develop them in an open-minded and welcoming environment, and to showcase the wealth of experimental musical talent the city has to offer.

Your first event took place earlier this year at Embassy Gallery, with your second taking place this month at Dissenter Space. Can you tell us more about the space and how you’re going to transform it for the event?
Embassy Gallery was a fantastic space for us to prove out the format and we were blown away by the attendance. This time, we’re thrilled to be able to offer a bigger space to enable more folk to come down and enjoy the performances. Dissenter Space is a disused office space which we’ll be transforming with lights, projection, and a glorious sound system (courtesy of friends and local party starters, GRDN collective). It’s a unique space; the kind that’ll have folk asking, "am I really in Edinburgh right now?"

Image: Works In Progress @ Embassy Gallery, March 2024 by Joanne Matthews

For the March event you had around 80 submissions for the event, with only six selected to perform at the event. How has interest compared for this month’s event, and what’s the selection process like?
We were absolutely blown away by the response to the last event. It was therefore a little nerve-wracking sending out the call for the next event; would we get the same response? Thankfully we didn’t need to worry! We’ve had close to 100 submissions this time, and we’ve enlisted eight performers who will perform across three stages. In a perfect world, we’d have everyone who submitted perform at the event but given we can’t actually do that, we’ll be broadcasting submissions live from EHFM’s studio at Ground Floor in Leith, 12-4pm on the day of the event.

Among the performers for Works In Progress II, you’ve selected samwooddoowmas, maniatrix, public swimming pool aesthetics, Anna Tewungwa, Camilla Grudova, Al Gu and Hayriye Selenay Tektunali. Can you tell us a bit more about each of the performers, and what led you to select them for the event?
As with last time, we selected a wide variety of performers across genres, disciplines and backgrounds, and we’ve programmed the performers in such a way as to take the listener on a journey rather than the traditional headliner/support dynamic. samwooddoowsmas is an eclectic experimental musician and visual artist, spanning ambient, techno and beyond, while maniatrix brings a blend of ambient electro and dark industrial dance tracks, with airy vocals and humorously disconcerting visuals.

As well as music, we’re very excited to have novelist Camilla Grudova read one of her works in progress. Hayriye Selenay Tektunali’s piece, Rhythm In Pain, explores sensorial materiality embodied to bring attention to pain and parts of the body, while Al Gu, Anna Tewungwa and public swimming pool aesthetics bring choral loops, samples, synths and more. We believe that creating a lineup devoid of hierarchy, and spanning disciplines, in turn creates an open-minded and free environment both on stage and off. 

What are you most excited about on the day?
Just like last time, we’re just so excited for folk to come along and be wowed by the talent Edinburgh has to offer. As a city and as a creative scene, we often do ourselves down and compare ourselves to scenes we perceive as having more going on, more funding, more artists. It’s an amazing feeling to watch people realise there’s more going on here, that maybe they don’t need to move away or make compromises to find a creative community. 

After this event, what are your plans for the future of Works In Progress? Will there be more to come in 2025?
We hope to really establish WIP as a platform for emerging musical and audiovisual talent in Edinburgh and we’re absolutely brimming with ideas on how to make it even bigger and better. We are 100% DIY and 100% reliant on wonderful folk such as readers of The Skinny loving what we do, buying tickets, supporting our artists and submitting weird and wonderful work. Given the amazing response we’ve had, we plan to run more regular events so do keep an eye out for more in 2025.

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Works In Progress II takes place at Dissenter Space, Edinburgh, 14 Dec, 5-10:30pm; advance tickets are £5, available here