ROLL THE DICE
Further information
Arcade commission : ROLL THE DICE
Drawing inspiration from the layered patterns found in nature and urban play spaces – tidal rhythms of waves and slot machines, sunshine shimmers and flickering arcade lights – ROLL THE DICE explores tensions between randomness and repetition, pleasure and discomfort, connection and disconnection, winning and losing.
The resulting film layers abstract fragments of movement and light from a bespoke Move To Feel session held on Portobello Beach in July, led by Ailsa Lochhead and filmed by Solen Collet. Intercut with the neon pulse of Noble’s Amusements, the black-and-white installation becomes a sensory collage – blurring serenity and overstimulation, meditative dance and hypnotic gameplay – inviting viewers to gamble with perception itself.
The wooden arcade console, built by Old School Fabrications, includes tactile wave patterned grooves where you would normally find bright flashing buttons to bash, creating a completely different sensory experience. The natural materials chosen to echo the wooden groynes of the beach to bring the outside inside.
Originally commissioned by Art Walk Porty, funded by Creative Scotland.
In response to Portobello’s seaside era of showground entertainment and travelling showpeople culture, ARCADE explored spaces in and around Portobello beach and promenade as a playground for encounter. A series of performance and installation based works were created.
Mixed media collage by Solen Collet
To accompany ROLL THE DICE at Art Walk Porty, Solen wrote a personal essay around where the collaboration originated, alongside her interest in vaudeville and Portobello’s rich entertainment history.
mixed media collage by Ailsa Lochhead
Art Walk projects commissioned Circling the Fair Ground in response to the Arcade commissions. Written by Dr Meryln Seller
And visit this page for full info on the project.
Work by Solen Collet
ROLL THE DICE
video by Solen Collet
Roll the Dice By Charles Bukowski
if you're going to try, go all the
way.
otherwise, don't even start.
if you're going to try, go all the
way.
this could mean losing girlfriends,
wives, relatives, jobs and
maybe your mind.
go all the way.
it could mean not eating for 3 or 4 days.
it could mean freezing on a
park bench.
it could mean jail,
it could mean derision,
mockery,
isolation.
isolation is the gift,
all the others are a test of your
endurance, of
how much you really want to
do it.
and you'll do it
despite rejection and the worst odds
and it will be better than
anything else
you can imagine.
if you're going to try,
go all the way.
there is no other feeling like
that.
you will be alone with the gods
and the nights will flame with
fire.
do it, do it, do it.
do it.
all the way
all the way.
you will ride life straight to
perfect laughter, it's
the only good fight
there is.
Mixed media collage by Ailsa Lochhead
Artist statements & CVs
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SOLEN COLLET
Solen is a commercial photographer and creative working from Out of the Blue Drill Hall in Leith.
Her personal work explores connection - to self, to others, to nature and to creative energy itself. Solen often uses creative play, in the form of digital and film photography, written word, collage and mixed media, to transmute difficult life experiences and to make sense of emotions.
Last year she took part in 10 exhibitions nationally, including an Art House for Art Walk Portobello. She hosted her first solo exhibition at Agitate and curated a group show for over 20 artists and makers resident at The Drill Hall.
Her work this year has encompassed video installations, mixed media collage and self portraiture 35mm photography.
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AILSA LOCHHEAD
Lochhead’s practice explores the intersection of body, intuition and presence within the physical world. Rooted in fine art and education, her works spans sculpture, installation, collage and writing, often guided by instinct and play.
A shift to home-based making during early motherhood deepened her engagement with the body as material, leading to training in somatic movement and the creation of Move To Feel - a mindful movement practice fostering creativity, connection and expression.
Recent collaborations continue to blur boundaries between art and healing, expanding her exploration of materials, emotion and embodied experience.
