✳ NOT AS RECORDED is an ongoing research project that constellates around ‘LIVINGSTON – A PLAN FOR LIVING’, a 1976 film made to promote my hometown of Livingston, one of Scotland’s postwar new towns.
One of many new town propaganda films made around this time, the film features actors playing a family who start a new life in Livingston, and aims to showcase the town’s industrial potential to prospective international investors. Through archival research and conversations with the cast and crew of this film, as well as my own family members, this research considers what the production and distribution of this film can tell us about the distortions of the screen encounter.
This research was supported by LUX Scotland, part of a research and development programme that included mentorship from artists Basma al-Sharif and Michelle Williams Gamaker.
✳ NOT AS RECORDED was presented at a work-in-progress sharing event at Collective, Edinburgh, on 23 Feb 2026.
With thanks to the National Library of Scotland and Historic Environment Scotland.