Art Late!

Thursdays might be the official late-shopping days, but this week will be different. From 6pm onwards, art galleries throughout Edinburgh will welcome visitors while local and international artists present a wide range of events offering live music, visual art performances and commissioned tours.

Smoke, the ultimate destination of Art Late, will combine music, performance and club night at the Electric Circus on Market Street. From 6pm-3am, various local artists (including staff from The Skinny!) will collaborate for a performance that is not to be missed. The evening will eventually lead to the Art Late PARTY to close the Edinburgh Art Festival with a night of Scottish bands and DJs.

Other highlights of the night are...

Collective Gallery Acclaimed comedian Phil Kay will read from How Not to Cookbook, a limited edition book and art project by Aleksandra Mir, inspired by her personal history of cooking disasters. The book is on sale and also includes advice from 1000 people around the world about how not to cook.

Edinburgh College of Art Three Milestone sculptors will give a blacksmith demonstration of how to make the tools used for stone carving.

Edinburgh Printmakers At 7.30, the staff will guide you through a printmaking demonstration. The Peter Blake exhibition, Venice, is also worth a look before it goes on tour.

Ingleby Gallery The Gallery currently shows works by the Scottish artist Callum Innes. For Art Late, it will also host a collaboration between the experimental one-man band Wounded Knee and dancer Ianthe Wright.

The Blank Canvas Bike Tour will go start at the Ingleby Gallery at 6.45 and go to the Travelling Gallery, the Grey Gallery, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, doggerfisher and end at Dovecot. The tour expects participants to become involved by collaborating and conversing with other spectators. It will culminate in an exhibition with prizes rewarding the best/worst/funniest efforts.

Finally, for those who might be at a loss in front of so many choices, Spin is a contemporary art members’ group that has created a tour of their highlights of the galleries for Art Late. Aiming at providing information while welcoming discussion, Spin is available to all levels of interest and knowledge of contemporary art.