MEET Unfinished Emptiness, Aberdeen Football Club’s new mascot, an ethereal soundscape created by Turner Prize-winning artist Gillian Barwick.
After the success of Kingsley, the David Shrigley-designed yellow sun giant for Partick Thistle, Dons chairman Stewart Milne approached Barwick to ask her to create a new friend for existing mascots Angus the Bull, Sammy The Seagull, and Donny the Sheep.
The club says the deep, guttural howling and reminder of the ephemeral nature of life will help get fans and players motivated.
Barwick’s piece is based on the echo of a half-filled Pittodrie on a Thursday night in November, combined with the sound made by ten fans singing “Peter Pawlett Baby” at 3am in the Espionage nightclub. To that the artist has added the noise Derek McInnes made when he heard about Jim Duffy asking Neil Lennon for a “square go”.
Those recordings have been “meshed together” to create a resonance that is “often asynchronous, but always whole,” the club say.
Dons chiefs are aware this could upset fans. “Normally we get a kid to design it,” a spokesman said, “but we’ve taken a risk and we’re pretty sure we can get some top-notch merchandise out of this.”
Meeting the new mascot ahead of Aberdeen’s match against Caley Thistle on Tuesday, The National’s art critic Phil Budd said it was powerful statement on sport.
“It feels as if Pittodrie has come to life,” he said “It’s almost as if it’s singing a lament for all it’s seen; sometimes an almost inaudible call will come from one corner, reminding us of our fleeting, fleshy existence.”
Fans are less enthusiastic. “It reminded me of my granny’s death,” one told The National. “I miss her.”
It’s not just Aberdeen and Partick Thistle cashing in on the trend for conceptual art mascots: Kilmarnock are reportedly in talks with Jim Lambie for a vinyl-striped floor sculptural installation.
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