Four centuries of cutting / the city, then the festival

The motto that got shorter

Glasgow has been editing itself since 1631

The cut

Stage

How the cut is shown

Measure

Glasgow’s motto started as an inscription on a bell cast for the Tron in 1631: “Lord, let Glasgow flourish by the preaching of thy word and praising thy name.” By 1663 it had been cut down, and by 1699 it was four words. The city has been shortening its own sentence for four centuries, which is a strange thing for a short film festival to be able to inherit. So the mark keeps the cuts visible: the words that went are still there, struck out or ghosted, and each edition cuts one more. Glasgow Short Film Festival becomes Glasgow Short Film, becomes Glasgow Short, becomes Short — the same edit, continued by the festival.

← The mark