Scottish Art Events & Exhibitions: December 2023

To accompany her current exhibition The Unbearable Halfness of Being at Cample Line, three films made by Jumana Emil Abboud in collaboration with photographer Issa Freij are available to view online until 17 December. The films are shot around ‘Ein Qiniya, a village in the West Bank in Palestine and locations of haunted water sources (spirit-waters) across the West Bank, Jerusalem and northern Israel.

At the start of the month, Transmission in Glasgow hosts Grey, a new body of work by Eden Dodd. The exhibition works with the symbol of the werewolf as representative of masculine, feminine and trans selves (1-5 December).

At The Common Guild’s temporary new space on Glasgow’s York Street, Corin Sworn’s In Reflection, Shimmer forms the final instalment of their Moving in Relation project, a series of public events and collaborative research into human interrelationships with technology, cloud computing and datafication. Continues until 16 December with an artist talk from 6-8pm on 7 December.

Corin Sworn, In Reflection, Shimmer. Credit: Courtesy of the artist

Also in Glasgow, at David Dale Gallery, Marija Nemčenko’s exhibition SWANBACK (until 16 Dec) centres on a hybrid film that blends documentary and fictional narratives examining how the symbolism of the swan emerges in both British and Russian imperialism as a method of enforcing and strengthening structures of oppression. 

At the National Museum of Scotland, Rising Tide: Art and Environment in Oceania explores humanity’s damaging relationship with the planet and how this is deeply felt in vulnerable communities across Pacific islands. The exhibition features works from a number of Indigenous Australian and Pacific Islander artists, as well as historical materials in the museum’s collection that were taken from the region. Continues until 14 April.

At Dundee Contemporary Arts, Our Mountains Are Painted on Glass by British-Sri Lankan artist Michelle Williams Gamaker opens on 9 December. The exhibition includes her new film Thieves, shown alongside an installation of props and sets used in the film, as well as a number of films created by Gamaker from earlier in her career.