THE memorial cemetery to the Calton Weavers killed during the 1787 strike, Govanhill Baths and the Savoy Shopping Centre are among the unusual venues pressed into use for this year’s Glasgow International.
The visual arts festival, which will feature work by more than 220 of the best Glasgow-based and international artists, began its 18-day run yesterday.
The 2016 programme presents over 48 solo exhibitions and over 30 ambitious group shows from established and emerging artists as well as over 50 events and performances that include music, film and discussions. Diverse venues include Roller Stop Roller Rink, Calton Burial Ground, shopfronts, market stands, apartments, artist-run spaces and well-loved art venues such as Kelvingrove, Goma, Tramway and the Kelvin Hall.
“The influx of incredible artists from around the world, the considerable number of exhibitions by Glasgow-based artists and the anticipation of thousands of visitors attending has generated a palpable feeling of excitement across the artistic community in Glasgow,” said director Sarah McCrory. “Once again, the quality and breadth of practices will bring challenging ideas and a sense of discovery to the city for many audiences.”
Jill Miller, director of cultural services at Glasgow Life, added: “The seventh edition of Glasgow International once again shows why Glasgow is one of the most exciting cities in Europe for contemporary art. For 18 days there’s the chance to see amazing work by a stunning range of artists in well known spaces and surprising locations.”
WHAT ARE THE HIGHLIGHTS?
GLASGOW’S cultural spaces exist predominately as a result of its industrial legacy and this is the focus of this year’s Director’s Programme which looks at a range of subjects including feminist practices, industrial legacies and what it means to be working creatively as an artist today.
As a result, the festival is staging a group show by artists Lawrence Lek, Sheila Hicks, Alexandra Bircken, Mika Rottenberg and Amie Siegel at Tramway. The exhibition, co-designed by Martin Boyce, focuses on ideas of production, manufacture, material culture, design, history and labour as many of Glasgow’s galleries and museums are reclaimed spaces born from this wealth of industry.
Bircken is showing new works using reclaimed metal sheets which fit into the tracks of Tramway while Lek has used architectural models, renderings and virtual reality video to depict the fictional last voyage of the QE2 as it returns to Glasgow where it was designed and built amid the social and industrial upheaval of the 1960s.
American textile artist Hicks has created a vertical installation made of soft, sculptural threads tightly wound together to fill the height of the Tramway and which clashes with the industrial steel framework of the building to create a monumental presence within the space.
ANY MORE?
SOLO exhibitions include a show by Lebanese artist Akram Zaatari. For his first exhibition in Scotland, Zaatari is presenting a selection of works that reflect his interest in documentary and its place in the shaping of history.
Project Ability is the first solo exhibition outside the United States by New York-based artist Derrick Alexis Coard and is curated by Matthew Higgs of White Columns.
The exhibition has been installed in collaboration with artist Jim Lambie and is affiliated with New York’s Healing Arts Initiative (HAI), a not-for-profit centre that supports adult artists with mental illness and developmental disabilities. David Dale is hosting a solo exhibition by Venezuelan artist Sol Calero, including Desde el Jardín, a new commission taking its title from the Spanish translation of the film and novel Being There. The exhibition incorporates an immersive installation in the gallery space taking cues from a tropical garden. The project also involves a new permanent commission in the gallery’s courtyard.
At the disused Govanhill Baths, Body Blocks, a solo exhibition of soft sculpture by Josée Aubin Ouellette is being installed while the Carlton Burial Ground is staging a solo exhibition by Open Glasgow Bursary winner Georgina Horgan. It takes the form of a performance lecture and screening, exploring the relationship between popular uprisings and the witch scares.
WHAT ELSE IS ON?
GLASGOW-based artist Claire Barclay has created a new commission in response to one of Glasgow’s oldest arts spaces, Kelvin Hall, which is currently undergoing renovation with the first phase due to open later this year. Barclay’s work draws upon aspects of the building’s past to create a large-scale installation within one of the current disused spaces.
Also in Kelvin Hall, a solo exhibition by Australian artist Helen Johnson is being presented in collaboration with Mary Mary. Johnson’s work poses questions about the ways in which history is formed and its reliability today. The exhibition consists of a series of large scale paintings on un-stretched canvas suspended from the ceiling of the foyer.
Canadian artist Tamara Henderson has a solo exhibition at Mitchell Library. Henderson began creating the work for this show during her recent one-month residency at Hospitalfield Arts, Arbroath, as part of a joint Royal Over-Seas League Residency 2015. The exhibition features two large-scale sculptures, Garden Photographer Scarecrow and Body Fountain Fetch, which represent totems to seasonal change, pagan gods and goddesses.
WHAT ABOUT PERFORMANCE ART?
ELSEWHERE, performance troupe Mega Hammer, including artists Marvin Gaye Chetwynd, Jedrzej Cichosz, Baptiste le Chapelain, Victoria Pacheco Beristain, Zoe Walker, Neil Bromwich, Stasis, Been Caught Stealing Panache will showcase at Glasgow School of Art.
Mega Hammer is a reincarnation of the first Mega Hammer event, which was part of Open House Glasgow 2015, where the group transformed a domestic space into an ad hoc theatre.
At the Roller Stop Roller Rink, Asparagus Piss Raindrop will present a series of performances incorporating a group of professional skaters. Asparagus Piss Raindrop is a conceptual science fiction band formed from an ever-expanding pool of performers, composers and improvisers from the Glasgow experimental music scene.
Meanwhile artists Marc Baines, Rob Churm, Hour Projects (Kristina Bengtsson and Kevin Malcolm) will present Fantom Cinema at The Old Hairdressers. This show will turn the gallery space into a haunted cinema and bar, with a programme that conjures up the ghosts that haunted previous manifestations of this exhibition space.
For more information go to www.glasgowinternational.org
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here