Dancing, Witch Hunting, and The Skinny Showcase: This Month in Scottish Art
Our round-up of the latest exhibitions and events to see this February in Scotland
First off, from the 20 February in the CCA's Intermedia space there’s Rachel Levine, winner of our award at last year's RSA New Contemporaries. You can find out more about her exhibition Soft Play, conceived in the mountains of Canada, in our interview with the artist.
Kicking off at the very end of last month, Romany Dear has returned to the CCA, this time in the main space. She was resident in Intermedia throughout March 2013 (as another winner of The Skinny Award), when she used the exhibition space as a place for sharing, discussing and presenting her research into everyday movements. Along with the Glasgow Open Dance Studio (founded by Dear, Ashanti Harris and Julia Scott), until 15 March there’s a rich schedule of workshops, performances and conversation with those involved in the events. Details of the performances and workshops are available on the CCA’s website.
February is also the month of the Glasgow Film Festival, and as would be expected there’s an overlap between visual arts events and the GFF. A key example of this is Kari Robertson’s exhibition in SWG3, previewing on 12 February, 7-9pm. Entitled Ohmage, Robertson uses Jean-Luc Godard’s 1970 work British Sounds as point of departure for a series of film works that consider ideas of 'immaterial and cognitive labour' and how these concepts are present in communication. As part of the exhibition, there will be a panel discussion on sound artists in film, in which the panel will explore audiovisual process and the ways in which this is translated in the gallery. This discussion will take place on Sunday 22 February at 3pm.
From 14 February in Edinburgh’s Collective Gallery, there is the latest edition of the Satellites Programme. Georgia Horgan will present the first exhibition of the Satellites Programme 2015 with the fruits of a research project on the proliferation of the textile industry in Scotland and its connection with witch hunting in the 17th century. Horgan’s exhibition will take the form of a workroom, where she will display visuals, objects and writings of the project. Within the space, there will also be a series of screenings, events and discussion around how women, the body and labour are implicated in contemporary capitalism.
Staying in Glasgow, later in the month Kendall Koppe will present a new show by Niall Macdonald. Macdonald’s work consists of casts of groups of objects he finds in markets, streets and shores. Fusing these objects, Macdonald generates compositions and collages that often combine natural elements such as bone or rock, with fragments of technology, branded items, historical artefacts or objects that are ubiquitous with contemporary life. The exhibition is scheduled to open on 22 February.
Upstairs on 23 February, Mary Mary will open an exhibition by Lorna Macintyre. This show was featured already in the rundown of exhibition highlights of 2015 in last month’s issue. Macintyre will present a selection of photographic slides from her personal archive of more than 10 years.
Continuing through this month in the Glasgow Sculpture Studios is the exhibition Till the Stars Turn Cold. Bringing together six artist from across Canada, the USA and the UK, the exhibition pivots on 'an interest in objects and bodies that carry speech.' There’s a wide remit for the show, which takes in a variety of different moments of speech travelling through 'objects, bodies, mechanisms and situations, and to the moments of failure, breakage and slippage that reveal structural conceit and rules.' Till the Stars Turn Cold will continue until 14 March.