CCA Highlights: September 2024

Ando Glaso Roma Festival

(Multiple venues, 7 Sep)

The Ando Glaso Roma Festival, dedicated to the strengthening and support of Roma culture within Scotland, hits Glasgow this month. There’s pop and dance performances at Drygate Brewery on 6 Sep, but be sure to catch the informative and engaging events coming to CCA on the 7th.
See a screening of documentary Roma Kids, presented by Stacey Dooley, which covers the Hungarian authorities’ displacement of Roma children. There are workshops on Roma customs, language and music, a Q+A with some of the UK’s leading experts on Roma culture, and some unmissable concerts. As well as heading a crash course on gypsy jazz, Lulo Reinhardt (the grandnephew of jazz legend Django Reinhardt), shares a set with Belarussian guitarist Yuliya Lonskaya, and don’t miss traditional Andalucian musicians TuFlamenco, or new group Rootless delivering their fusion of Indian and Roma sounds.

Low Rent

(Theatre, 12 Sep)

Low Rent, by anarchist/feminist filmmaker Cloudberry MacLean, documents a year of the artist’s life living out of a hut, built secretly on MacLean’s allotment in Edinburgh. The lesser-seen sights and sounds of Scottish wildlife are captured, soundtracked with live improvisation by Jer Reid and Una MacGlone, and juxtaposed with pressing questions around Edinburgh’s housing crisis and the impact of capitalism on the security and sustainability of shelter – a topic which has only become more relevant since the project started in 2005. This event is a pay-what-you-can fundraiser for the Govan/Ibrox branch of tenant’s union Living Rent.

Sonica Festival @ CCA

(Multiple venues, 19-24 Sep)

Cryptic, the organisers of Glasgow’s audiovisual arts festival Sonica, are celebrating thirty years of arts promotion by taking over the town between 19-29 Sep. Events can be found from Tramway to the Glad Cafe, but there’s some unmissable action arriving at the CCA. For multidisciplinary piece Cycles, Martin Messier has programmed erratic light beams and buzzing sounds, switching through phases of harmony and discordance. Bill Vorn’s I.C.U (INTENSIVE CARE UNIT) is a display of mechanical lifeforms struggling with artificial life, designed to resemble life-support machines and vitals monitors. Sonia Killmann and Laura Mannelli delve into new perspectives on the world with installation Umweltraum((a)), and Beny Wagner and Sasha Litvintseva host a screening of My Want of You Partakes of Me, a film interrogating figurative and literal consumption in our modern world.

Jalsaghar

(Gallery, 28 Sep-21 Dec)

Edinburgh-based, British Bengali artist Debjani Banerjee takes over CCA’s exhibition gallery with Jalsaghar, a multisensory project incorporating sculpture and textile work, audio installations and participatory art practices. Translated to ‘The Music Room’, the exhibition captures episodes from Banerjee’s childhood in 1980s Britain, interwoven with Indian pop culture references and traditional crafting techniques. The immersive fusion of cultural touchpoints encourages people to challenge dominant Western perceptions on race, gender, identity and migration. Other artists, such as Marta Aspe and Susmita Pujara, have contributed to the exhibition to represent Banerjee’s interest in communities, and the sharing of perspectives that they offer.