I Ken Whaur I’m Gaun
(I Know Where I’m Going)
Through fractured time and cycles of growth and decline, different generations of Scottish Highlands and Islands communities tussle over tradition and struggle against the elements. An immersive three-screen installation running continuously on a 15-minute loop using rare archive film and sound material remixed and repurposed through projection mapping technology.
Produced by Cinetopia and in collaboration with folk music duo Dowally, with the help of traditional singer Scott Gardiner and Gaelic specialist and singer Rona Wilkie; film editor Kieran Gosney and video projection designer Mettje Hunneman.
Initially presented in October 2022 at the French Institute, Edinburgh, as part of the British Film Institute (BFI) Film Audience Network Changing Times: Curious, this project is currently in further development for a wider Scotland tour.
Trailer showing some of the excerpts of archival material used within the installation at the French Institute, Edinburgh, in October 2022.
Through a unique rendering of the rich material of the National Library of Scotland’s 'Moving Image Archive' and The University of Edinburgh’s 'School of Scottish Studies' sound archive, with archive material dating from 1898 to 1980, 'I Ken Whaur I’m Gaun' immerses audiences into the sounds and visions of a unique culture and its oral traditions, the land and lives of Scotland’s highlands and islands. Those living and working close to the land, across time and place, are linked through Scottish folk song, one country’s rich oral history reconfiguring the unique character of their local culture and ways of life into a singular experience.
As the lives, traditions and communion of the fishing, sheep shearing and farming communities play out, each screen presents a different strand of various archives, sometimes as a singular progression, sometimes interacting with the imagery on the other screens, and sometimes all three screens become one visual field, the images talking to each other through time.
The very surface of the screens themselves emerge out of the land and its people – sails, wool, aprons – as a way to bring tactility to the fabric of the film. The film/audio installation runs through its 15-minute loop, telling a story of struggle with no established beginning, middle or end.
Funders and Collaborators
I Ken Whaur I’m Gaun (I Know Where I’m Going) was supported by the BFI Film Audience Network with National Lottery funding as part of Changing Times: Curious.