Colleen Thompson

Yesterday I got the chance to have a '4 minuet party' with my friend Colleen Thompson and to visit her latest exhibition. Colleen has always amazed me with the diversity of her output. Colleens work be it jewellery textiles or sculpture has a visceral dark quality to it but in this exhibition it was disguised by the reflective bling of sequins and glitter. '4 Minute Party', is a reaction to a lifetime of living under nuclear threat and a comment on the insights into the situation offered by the internet. Colleen is preoccupied with the information we are all subjected to during our waking lives, and the big issues that affect us all. Humour, the extraordinary world around us and texture are recurring themes. Colleen has created some concrete guts and protective sequin and glitter clothing especially for your '4 minute party'!

"The internet will tell you that the UK has the 5th largest nuclear arsenal in the world (225 bombs).1,71% of the world total compared to Russia (6,257 bombs), US (5,550 bombs), China (350 bombs) and France (290 bombs). The epicentre of the nuclear blast heats up to anywhere between7000-300,000 degrees celsius vaporising all living things, sever burns, blindness, cancer and death will be experienced up to five kilometres from the blast.n The shock wave will collapse buildings, throw people around like dolls, rupture ear drums and lungs, the radiation contamination will effect the surrounding areas well beyond the epicentre for several weeks. You can view maps depicting how far the radiation will effect the surrounding area if there was an attack on cities including Edinburgh or Glasgow. 

There are also photographs of nuclear bomb survivors in Hiroshima. These photos are sobering evidence of the human cost of nuclear disaster but there are hopeful details such as the effects of light coloured clothing as protection against burns, light reflective clothes are a must! There are so many things you can buy on the internet; radiation suit for £126.09 on amazon (it withstands up to 1000 degrees celsius) or a Chernobyl suit made of durable rubber £80.38 on ebay. You could easily get sucked down a panic buying wormhole, and you need some concrete to hide behind!  so brave yourself, get your cocktail shaker out and prepare for the most intense four minutes of your life!" Colleen Thompson