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OIL – A publication by Rachel Grant (Fertile ground)

Oil Publication - Front Cover

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This publication has developed from ‘Oil as far as the eye can see – Energy regimes in the everyday’ a tour curated and guided by Rachel Grant that took place across Aberdeen, as part of Myvillages’ Summer Camp titled ‘Who Has the Energy’, commissioned, produced and held at Scottish Sculpture Workshop in Lumsden, July 2023. 

Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire have been defined by oil’s discovery offshore in the North Sea. The way oil shapes places is particular. Between villages such as Lumsden and the city of Aberdeen as the gateway to the sector, its impacts are complex and have varying levels of visibility. The tour and this subsequent publication aims to locate and confront current and future energy infrastructure in Aberdeen and surrounding areas. The journey is reflected in the publication’s three parts, drawn from different oil-related spaces through the concepts and practices of ‘LIFELINES’, ‘PRACTICES OF REFUSAL & REDISTRIBUTION’ and ‘RENEWAL’. 

OIL was an invitation from Myvillages to write about the particularities of local economies in the context of the Rural School of Economics taking place at SSW from 2019 – 2023.      

It has been published by SSW and Myvillages and is the third publication in the Rural School of Economics series, following Rural Life in Hamar, Ethiopia (2022) and Zburazh Art Book (2024). It was commissioned by SSW as part of the BE PART Programme.

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