Stills

This is a great wee gallery not only offering exhibitions but also courses to get you spot on with your camera. It’s free to get in to see the exhibitions and it’s not the that far from Prince street so you can walk it. The outside sign is ceratinly small so you could walk past this little find many a time and not realise it! I’ve heard thee is a small café space in the basement but was off limits due to a course being run on the same day. Apparently you can donate the cash you would spend on a wee biscuit and cuppa– which is rather quirky if i do say myself!

Don’t feel you are missing out by either not going here. You are unlikely to miss anything other than the the purest arty bollocks imagineable. This is the classic art for arts sake gallery. It exists to fulfill a supposed cultural need within Scottish society but the reality is most are not dim enough to give it the time of day. Do yourself a favour and read a good book as there is nothing to stimulate the grey matter within these walls.

Was lucky enough to attend a screening of a locally made film here.
It’s one of those arty type places that if you’re welcomed in, you feel part of the team. That you might come back again and again. I felt an urge to sign up for a photography course just so I could visit again. Or you might walk in here whilst on a wander, not quite knowing what exactly you’ve just stepped into, and walk straight back out again, nonethewiser.
There were no exhibitions on show during our visit, but I’ve heard they can be exceptional. But on the same note, I’m sure there is a fair amount of self-loving-I’m-capturing-my-inner-self type indulgence to be found.
If you’re keen on photography, then do go and see what’s on offer.

Half of my graduating class were self-​proclaimed photographers, angstfully capturing the «essence that is life» with ridiculously expensive cameras, so you can’t blame me for being a tad sceptical about photography.
I finally made it in to the gallery after walking past it quite a few times, and I wasn’t disappointed at all. There’s a pretty cool exhibition on show at the moment, which should last throughout the whole festival, called the Pursuit of Fidelity (very deep name ofcourse…). I won’t say I’m a convert, but it was definitely a good way to pass time! What’s even more interesting about Stills is the opportunity to get quite involved if this is your sort of thing; they have impressive darkrooms we were lucky enough to check out, and actually offer professional training for would-​be photographers! I fleetingly considered it… as it would probably be a nice break from university for a while.

If you happen to just be wandering up or down Cockburn Street, trying to avoid all the über expensive shops that seem to just stare you down, in a vigorous attempt to get you to give into purchasing pretty unnecessary items, stop by Stills instead. Why? 1) Because you don’t have to pay anything to go in and ogle some hit-​or-​miss photography and 2) Because checking out someone’s photographs beats ogling ridiculously expensive clothes any day. And though the people who work there might seem disaffected and indifferent to your presence, it’s probably just because they’ve been sitting in the same place for a few hours with nothing to do. If you have any questions, though, they tend to perk up and become willing to give you a hand.
Stills isn’t just a gallery, though. There they have digital labs and darkrooms and all sort of delicious photographic facilities that you can use (at a price, of course). They also hold workshops from time to time.
Once you’ve been to Stills once, it becomes a bit of an addiction. The huge windows that give you a peek of whatever exhibition is in there at the moment, beckon to you with open arms. And they’re not even trying to take your money. Who woulda figured!

The kind of place people who read The Metro pretend to like when they’re not sending in ill-​informed, badly spelt wisecracks to the letters page, Still is a wonderfully self-​absorbed little unit on Cockburn Street,. It manages to trick all and sundry into believing just how clever, modern and cutting edge it is, whilst failing to provide any substance to back this up.
Dull photography and featureless, sparse exhibits all served up in a sterile atmosphere that takes itself very seriously, yet doesn’t have much of a clue about what point it’s actually trying to make. This gallery really does sum up modern art to a T.

Stills on Cockburn Street is a great little place that is more than just a gallery. In addition to holding interesting exhibitions of contemporary art, it also bills itself as Scotland’s centre for photography and runs various related courses. I attended an evening event a few weeks back ‘Screen Bandita’ which was a film /​art installation/​show — the women putting on the event had found old super 8 35 mm film, which they projected onto the wall with gramophone music to accompany it. Weird, but interesting. This is typical of the things that happen here. For the culturally minded, it is a place worth checking out — entry is usually free or, at the most, a couple of pounds.

Stills host a variety of photography exhibitions especially of less heard of artists. This allows you the opportunity to broaden your knowledge in terms of photography and in terms of what’s going on in the art world generally as time goes on. It isn’t a huge space but is perfect for one man shows.
Stills also provides educational materials and opportunities. It runs a wide range of classes from photoshop to final cut film editing. It is a great place to learn from experienced people.

The Stills is a great little photography gallery. It offers contemporary exhibitions that make you think about the medium of photography– this is true even if you’re unsure about the worth of the content of the exhibition in and of itself. The basement of the Stills offers a photographic lab and resource center and there are sometimes films that run on loops there– these are free to watch, as is the whole gallery to visit. The only complaint, or compliment, that can be said about the Stills is that at times it seems quite an esoteric enterprise– both in the set up of the gallery and in the content of the art works put on. For some, this may be an accolade but to the uninitiated, this can be off-​putting. The gallery is small, considering it is one of Scotland’s biggest photographic galleries but this, perhaps, says more about the state of the medium than of the gallery itself. If walking down Cockburn, its definitely worth popping in and seeing what is going on. It could be cutting edge or avant garde or it may seem amateurish or redundant. Maybe none of these things are mutually exclusive– it’ll be up to you to decide.