OISF 2021

With the sea running through the programme, we look at the progress of tidal power, and plans to row the Northwest Passage; at sea-cliffs and shore life and whale migration in Arctic waters. We hear about ways to tackle climate change, through soil regeneration and alternative power for flights and ferries. We hear how people fought Smallpox and Spanish flu, and about new research into genetics and Covid resistance. There is news of work on gravitational waves, and exploring space, and new ideas on the origins of life and the nature of time. ...

Scotland’s Year of Coasts and Waters is giving us the opportunity to develop a range of new events, among them an opportunity to experience the sights and sounds of Swona, with its seals and flowers and feral cattle. 360-degree photospheres and the voices of people past and present give a vivid picture of the uninhabited island, lying at the edge of the Pentland Firth’s tidal stream. ...

We have a rich mix of musical strands. There is music inspired by astronomy, with the five bright stars of the constellation Auriga each represented by a separate instrument, and music influenced by Nordic landscape and history in a concert of new work by composers from Ireland, Orkney and Faroe. We will also meet composers whose work is influenced by issues of climate and environment.

You can take a long slow look with Mark Jenkins at Rackwick, “the hidden valley of light” of George Mackay Brown’s poem, with the sounds of voices of the people of Hoy, past and present. You can explore the shore with Raymond Besant, with some previously unseen sequences of life along the Orkney shore. You can wonder with Selena S Kuzman about the sea and its transformations, and our relationship to it. “Our bodies follow the tidal movement of ebb and flow, hope and despair, joy and sorrow – are we carried in a deeper flow?”

Here is an opportunity for outdoor activity during the Festival. Orkney wildlife guide Megan Taylor of Wild Orkney Walks has put together a special programme of walks in varied parts of Orkney, to provide a range of hill views and coastal scenes. “My aim,” she says, “is to take you off the beaten track where you can see some different wildlife and enjoy Orkney scenery. ...