Robin Ince: The Universe and the Neurodiverse
Modern life is unavoidably stressful and demanding and counterintuitive and unforgiving; in addition to the ubiquitous mental background noise of the everyday, Edinburgh in August is also overcrowded, competitive, begging for attention and struggling to make ends meet on a shoestring budget and slim margins, so it is helpful to know there is an oasis of serenity and quiet warmth to be found in the city centre in the middle of the day.
The National Museum of Scotland always a fascinating and diverting place, the cool white stone floors of the airy grand hall a neutral space of calm from which the various wings can be accessed, filled with objects and ideas and endless possibilities of learning, for several seasons the perpetually wandering writer, broadcaster and presenter Robin Ince has made it a roosting point in his peregrinations, welcoming the audience with soft light and music and encouraging them to be comfortable.
This year celebrating The Universe and the Neurodiverse with observations and poetry, an artform he has only adopted recently yet become both moderately obsessed with and adept at, offering both pointed truths and whimsy, sometimes simultaneously, gone are the shrouding cosy cardigans, his shoulders and arms strong from carrying books everywhere he goes along with too much of the weight of the world, now lifted, he explains, with delight and enthusiasm, by medication which has addressed the anxiety which has plagued him with persistent and unjust criticism heard only by himself.
Unleashed and upbeat, the hour is less structured than freeform jazz, the random firing of neurons as he flits between photographs of his encounters, determined to find beauty in every encounter and situation, “joy as an act of rebellion,” and like the Cambridge County Mobile Library whose rounds he once joined Ince wishes education, enlightenment and simple entertainment to be accessible and available to all without judgement or barriers, he the man on the stage but the audience feeling as much a part of the show as the host.
