Fringe-lovers' chance to be part of the Twitterati

Published on Sunday 21 March 2010 22:07

THERE may be spacemen in tutus, bagpipe-playing aliens, a synchronised forklift trucking team, or even a Himalayan tap-dancing goat.

&#149 Some of illustrator Johanna Basford's work

No matter how outlandish the suggestions, members of the public are being invited to help design the cover of the programme for this year's Edinburgh Fringe.

The iconic publication, which has long served as an indispensable guide to what is on in Edinburgh throughout August, will serve as the canvas for a unique collaboration between the Fringe Society and a celebrated Scottish illustrator.

Over the course of two days, people will be invited to submit their ideas via the social networking service Twitter.

They will then be able to watch live as illustrator Johanna Basford, who counts Jack Vettriano among her fans, brings their tweets to life on a canvas, which will ultimately become the 2010 Fringe programme cover.

Already Fringe enthusiasts have offered a selection of esoteric ideas. They include a grinning apple with a beard, an underwater trombone player, a burlesque ensemble of polar bears and Christmas elves building a steampunk motor engine.

Festival organisers believe the idea embodies the "open access ethos" of the event, whereby anyone can bring a show to the capital.

Fringe Society chief executive Kath Mainland said: "The success of the Edinburgh Fringe over the last 60 years is, in part, due to its extraordinary ability to change with the times and absorb and illuminate changes in culture.

"One of the most profound changes we have seen over that time is the growth of social media. Like the Fringe, new and exciting ideas are the currency of social media.

"It is therefore completely natural that the Fringe should wholeheartedly embrace this extraordinary new medium."

With no fewer than 400,000 Fringe programmes printed and distributed, the successful designs will be guaranteed ubiquity.

The creative process will take place this Thursday and Friday, when people will be able to send their ideas and see them incorporated into Basford's canvas.

The 26-year-old Aberdeenshire illustrator said: "I'm really looking forward to this. I can't wait to start drawing people's suggestions."

While the Fringe Society is leaving itself open to the strange fruits of the public imagination, controversies over earlier festival programmes have occurred through design rather than accident.

Last year, the cover for the Edinburgh International Festival (EIF) provoked angry responses, with images of a man urinating by the Greyfriars Bobby statue and beggars huddled in blankets at the statue of David Hume.

The cover was designed by Glasgow firm, Timorous Beasties, and described by the EIF described the cover as "an unflinching view of a contemporary city."

This year it has opted for a simple design of interlocking geometric shapes.

The creation of the new Fringe cover will be streamed live at www.edfringe.com and the programme will be released on 10 June.

Scots artist well versed with microblogs

JOHANNA Basford has fast won a reputation as one of Britain's most talented young illustrators.

The 26-year-old from Ellon, Aberdeenshire, is known for her distinctive black and white images, which have won her a host of admirers since graduating in 2005 from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design with a first-class honours degree in printed textiles.

Basford, who describes herself as a "creative catch-all", works as a designer, illustrator and printer and said she is on "a mission to cover the world" with her intricate hand-drawn patterns and motifs.

Her baroque and sometimes gothic hand-drawn designs have been used on wallpaper, wedding stationary and even tattoos.

A series of her limited edition prints are sold by Heartbreak Publishing, a company part-owned by the artist Jack Vettriano.

The Fringe project represents a natural progression for Basford, who has experience in using Twitter to inform her work.

She has produced a series of detailed works dubbed TwitterPictures by inviting people to send in their suggestions in 140 characters or fewer on the microblogging site. The finished works are then available to buy as limited edition silk screen prints.

"It's a really exciting project, fusing together old-school creative processes and online social networking," she said.