Dangerous Encounters and Exuberant Greens: This Week in Scottish Art
There's plenty to be occupying ourselves culturally this week, with an informal chat about the posthuman condition, new exhibitions from Glasgow's major contemporary art institutions and two more degree shows.
We begin with the second round of this year’s degree shows, with Edinburgh College of Art and the City of Glasgow College this week presenting the work of their final year students. The ECA exhibition continues until this Sunday (7 Jun), and the City of Glasgow College will unveil their End of Year show next Tuesday in their North Hanover Street building.
Wednesday sees the opening of Enya Lachman-Curl’s and Ben Weir’s exhibition in The Old Hairdresser’s, which we already gave hearty advanced warning of last week. Lachman-Curl makes luscious semi-abstract landscapes with inspiration coming from JG Ballard, while Weir puts his architectural training to application in fine art.
On Thursday, after being used as a temporary exhibition space regularly over the last few years, the Savoy Centre will continue to host Gallery Unit, a non-profit, artist run space founded in January. From 4-5pm, Elaine Ang will present a video “that interchanges between the narratives of plants”, a love letter and collage of news footage.
Staying in Glasgow, from 6-8pm this Thursday, a special edition of the Goose Flesh zine launches at the Stock Take exhibition at Gallery 103 on the Trongate. Stock Take features works from the first four editions of the zine, which showcases the work of Glasgow-born, based and associated artists.
Thursday again, but this time in Dundee, and an informal discussion event in Dundee Contemporary Arts with the topic of the day being The Posthuman Future. As part of their Dangerous Encounters series, experts from microbiology, philosophy and the arts will ask: “What does it mean to be human now? If the future is “posthuman”, what exactly does that mean?” Chatting will begin at 7pm.
Tine Bek's new publication Et Dieu Créa La Femme launches at Good Press this week
Friday sees new exhibitions from Glasgow stalwarts The Modern Institute and the Common Guild. Starting early, from 11am on Friday, Anne Hardy will discuss her upcoming show with the Common Guild which opens this Saturday (6 Jun). For what promises to be her most ambitious work to date, Hardy will present photography, sculptural, installation and audio, looking towards the kind of "ambiguous parallel space you don't see".
In The Modern Institute, Urs Fischer presents his latest exhibition of his hefty, tongue-in-cheek work – see his 2007 piece 'You' in which he ripped the floor from Gavin Brown’s New York gallery. Fischer previews the work from 7-9pm this Friday (5 Jun).
Staying in Glasgow as the weekend begins, Mick Peter will discuss his latest show at Tramway from 2pm on Saturday. In Pyramid Selling, which ends next Sunday (14 Jun), Peter – through his sculptural installations – looks toward witty graphic designs from the 60s and 70s, in what intends to be “a satirical look at the role of the individual against the backdrop of industry and labour”.
Also this Saturday, Good Press launch a new publication by past Skinny Showcase artist Tine Bek. With 13 photographers, Bek has put together Et Dieu Créa La Femme, a showcase of the work of contemporary female photographers she has met during different residencies and programmes across Argentina, Glasgow and Denmark. From 3-6pm, “drinks will be served, fun will be had and of course, books can be bought!”
At 7:30pm and 8:30pm in The Art School's Assembly Hall, GSA student Tomas Palmer presents half-hour performance event "Winning: Toward a theory of instruction". There will possibly be toplessness, and "swaying in celebration". Keep an eye on the site for a review.
Coming to the evening of a busy Glasgow weekend, Sunday sees the opening for the last of 1 Royal Terrace’s 2015 programme, Riotous Exuberant Green and the Dutiful Beating of One’s Heart, by Birthe Jørgensen. Jørgensen is generally known for large, site-specific installations, working broadly with the idea of contemporary secular and sacred spaces, geographical displacement and the use of bricolage and assemblage in her work.
1 Royal Terrace, now coming to the end of its second year of exhibitions, “will function both as an installation in its own right and as a site for a series of conversations with past and current collaborators”. A series of events will accompany the exhibitions, starting with House Visit on 9 June at 7pm. Jørgensen will open her show this Saturday 7 June from 5-8pm.