A Beautiful Living Thing is the title of a series of inter-related films made by Ross Birrell in the wake of a devastating fire in the Mackintosh building of The Glasgow School of Art, 23 May 2014. The first two films in the series – themed around composition and improvisation - were exhibited and screened as part of documenta 14 in Athens and Kassel, 2017. A multi-channel installation film featuring improvisational dancer Tom Pritchard is in post-production. A final film based upon a choral performance will be made to coincide with the completed restoration of the Mackintosh building.

The films trace a dialectic of design and destruction and respond to the original composition of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the improvisation of fire.

A Beautiful Living Thing [Part 2]: Improvisation #1 features performances by members of the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra filmed inside the Mackintosh building of the Glasgow School of Art, in the aftermath of the devastating fire on May 23, 2014.
Conceived and directed by Ross Birrell, filmed in collaboration with Hugh Watt and Produced by Jo Crotch, A Beautiful Living Thing [Part 2]: Improvisation #1 supported by the Mackintosh Restoration Research Development Fund, The Glasgow School of Art.

A Beautiful Living Thing [Part 2]: Improvisation #1, premiered at documenta 14, Kassel, 2017 as part of Final Cut season of films at Filmladen, Kassel, selected by Adam Szymczyk, Artistic Director of documenta 14.