Message from the Skies

Message from the Skies returns for Edinburgh’s Hogmanay from 19 – 25 January with Earth Calls at the historic Trinity Apse, located just off the Royal Mile. Earth Calls is the poetic response of three specially commissioned Scottish artists to the climate emergency with their message to the skies.

Hear the thought-provoking, newly-written words of Anna Fleming, Andrés N. Ordorica, and Mara Menzies and underscored by a powerful, specially commissioned soundscape from Calum Paterson. Featuring vibrant, animated projection from designer Hazel Dunn and the digital studio NOVAK, Earth Calls will illuminate the historic Trinity Apse.

Message from the Skies marks the fourth edition of the innovative cross-artform collaboration, delivered by Edinburgh’s Hogmanay producer, Underbelly, on behalf of the City of Edinburgh Council and in partnership with The Edinburgh International Book Festival and funded by Creative Scotland through the Scottish Government’s Edinburgh Festivals EXPO Fund.  

Message from the Skies is a free, non-ticketed event running from 19 – 25 January, and presented nightly from 5pm to 9pm.

 

About the writers

Anna Fleming – LAND A Call to Action

Anna Fleming is an Edinburgh-based environmental writer who explores people’s relationships with nature, place, and landscape. Her book, Time on Rock: A Climber’s Route into the Mountains is out with Canongate in 2022. As well as writing for the Guardian, Anna is a regular contributor to Caught by the River and has published her work in journals, magazines, and anthologies.

“We are nature.

We are of the earth and the earth is of us

The land loves and sustains us”

Download LAND A Call to Action

 

Andrés N. Ordorica – The Air it Calls to Us

Andrés N. Ordorica is a queer Latinx writer based in Edinburgh. He is a recipient of the Edwin Morgan Trust’s Second Life grant. In 2021, he was shortlisted for both the Morley Prize for Unpublished Writers of Colour and Mo Siewcharran Prize. He is the author of At Least This I Know (404 Ink).

“The air is constantly shifting like the winds – is a life force, life taker, life maker.”

Download The Air it Calls to Us

 

Mara Menzies – Ocean Mother

Mara Menzies is a narrative artist, drawing on her rich, dual Kenyan/Scottish cultural heritage, to create worlds that explore contemporary issues through legend, myth, and fantasy. With her own vision of the beauty, history and aspirations of people of African heritage, she fuses ancient and modern in an intoxicating experience where the audience takes center stage leading to invitations to perform across the world and to create bespoke stories for those who dare to step into the world of fantasy.

“For eternity I have watched my waves rise and fall with the waning of the moon.”

Download Ocean Mother

 

PROJECTION AND ANIMATION

NOVAK

NOVAK is a creative studio producing innovative and ambitious art and design projects. Specialising in video design and immersive experiences, this encompasses projection mapping, art and museum installations, stage visuals for music artists, and video accompaniments for theatre, dance, and events.

 

HAZEL DUNN

Hazel Dunn is a Glasgow-based designer who works between illustration, textiles, printmaking, and community-engaged arts projects. Hazel’s style is influenced by the Bauhaus, the Russian avant-garde, and Folk Art movements, with wider inspiration drawn from themes of childhood, print process, and the natural world.

 

SOUND DESIGN

CALUM PATERSON

Calum Paterson is a Sound Designer & Composer. He specialises in immersive and binaural techniques and creates work in all areas of live performance and digital media. From audio-drama to theatre, Calum is passionate about using sound to tell transformative stories that bring people and communities together through collective experience.

 

COMMISSIONED AND PRODUCED BY UNDERBELLY

Directors - Charlie Wood and Ed Bartlam

Creative Producer - Haitham Ridha

Event Producer - Rachel Sivills-McCann

Production Manager - David Graham

Projection & Lighting - Catalyst Event Production Services