Alastair Cook

Photographer | Architect | Artist

“My work centres on the immediate; I try to reflect what I see, what I feel, through this lens. I try to avoid image manipulation, letting the film or 35mm negative be raw and honest. This often makes for dark and derelict imagery, but often tinged with positivity, with a move forward”

Alastair Cook grew up in the rural landscapes of south west Scotland. He trained as an architect at Glasgow School of Art, then on graduating fled the country. After a dutiful spell in London and a more relaxed time in Amsterdam, Alastair returned to Scotland to follow his interests in photography, architecture and art. He now lives and works in Edinburgh, is studying for an MA in Architectural Conservation at Edinburgh College of Art and widely exhibits his photographs, film and music.

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Sutherland | Caithness

Solo photography and film show of site specific work at Timespan in Helmsdale
5th Feb – 21st March 2010.

An exhibition of large-scale black & white 35mm film photography and four accompanying films, illustrating the connections between place, people, heritage and land.

Alastair plans to exhibit Sutherland | Caithness this summer in Edinburgh.

D21 Kunstraum Leipzig

After completing the film The Silver Darlings for the exhibition Sutherland | Caithness, using original music by Italian composer Luca Nasciuti, Alastair was commissioned by Luca to create a film for a performance in Leipzig's
D21 Kunstraum this July. The piece will be developed as a collaboration, each artist reacting to the other throughout the
composition and shooting process.

this collection

A collaboration between Edinburgh writers and filmmakers inspired by poetry. The project founders, Claire Askew and Stefanie Tan, gathered 100 different poems by Edinburgh writers, each poem no more than 100 words long and each inspired by a different Edinburgh postcode. From there, they paired poets with local filmmakers, to create a collection of collaborative snapshots inspired by life in Edinburgh, shown at the McEwan Hall on 25th and 26th March.

Alastair made four short films for this collection: Scene, La Plage, Portobello and Niddrie. In addition, he commissioned a further film, The Hanging Stanes, by award-winning Las Vegas film-maker Ginnetta Correli. Alastair has recently been invited to make the film soundwork MALIN III, developing themes he first considered in MALIN I and MALIN II, both extended soundscapes dealing with sense of place and of journey.

Borderland

Alastair has worked collaboratively for the last ten years with London-based artist, James Norton, as DISSIMILAR. Together they produce art and film; showing film at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, and exhibiting artwork and film throughout Europe.

Alastair recently made his debut as an actor, taking the lead role in James Norton's film Borderland, co-writing the screenplay and music under the name DISSIMILAR. All Alastair and James's collaborative filmwork can be viewed here.

Borderland premiers on the 27th April in Whitechapel as part of the East London Film Festival.

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Alastair Cook
http://alastaircook.com/
Email: alastair@alastaircook.com