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Review: Hinterland ****

Michael Cox reviews 'an ambitious project that is worthwhile'.

Hinterland is many things: an installation, a celebration of a once-acclaimed building and a pitch for NVA’s proposal for a possible future endeavour. The site in question is St Peter’s Seminary, an excellent example of the brutalist movement from the 1960s. The building has fallen into ruin, and this project is a way of reclaiming the site from destruction brought about from neglect, trespassers and the elements alike.

The best way to think of Hinterland, however, is as an experience. It seems unfair to give away what happens, even if reviews, features and pictures are doing a good job in chronicling everything one will come across.

I suppose I can say this. You will board a bus in a car park in Helensburgh and be taken to the site in question. The experience starts once you get off the bus, and it takes about an hour to complete. You will be required to walk along muddy paths in the dark, and the building is not the easiest to navigate.

But you will also be greatly impressed. The music played in the building is lovely. The use of light (from lit walking sticks to bursts of light in the main chamber) is beautiful to behold. And the building itself slowly unfolds its secrets. Don’t rush through from point to point: take your time, and look at everything.

This is a project that is easy to be cynical about. A lot of money is being spent on this, and in these austere times there are many projects and companies that are getting little to nothing. However, to judge this solely on a price tag is unfair: Hinterland is an ambitious project that is worthwhile.

Review updated to include image, courtesy of Alaisdair Smith.

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