This Week in Scottish Art: 18-24 April

Wed 19 Apr: Ingleby Gallery

Ingleby Gallery’s latest installment in their and per se and rolling programme of exhibitions, pairing two works by different artists together for a two-week display, brings together Katie Paterson & Laurence Sterne. The show includes Paterson’s All the Dead Stars (2009), a map charting the Universe’s 27,000 dead stars made with University College London’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, and Sterne’s nine-volume novel The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy.

Sterne’s first volume, which appeared in 1759, will be turned to the black page, a monochromatic rectangle accompanying character Yorick’s death. The black page as well as Sterne’s irregular narrative are considered early examples of a modernism more commonly attributed to twentieth-century writers. Part IV opens today and runs till 29 April; visit Ingleby Gallery, Tuesday to Saturday from 11am to 5.30pm.

Thu 20 Apr: WASP Studios and Celine

WASP Studios at The Briggait previews Sura Medura from 6 to 7.30pm this evening. The exhibition looks back at artists who are previous residents at the Chandrasavana and Sura Medura residencies in Sri Lanka. Installations, performances, sound, video and other works by individual artists and artist collaborations are on display. 2016 residents Nichola Scrutton and Natasha Russell have created Wave Shift, a collaboration exploring shifts in people’s understandings and experiences of places over time.

Wave Shift was made after both artists completed a residency at Sura Medura and reflects their return to and resettling into Scotland. The exhibition will remain on display till 19 May, visit between 9.30am and 5.30pm everyday (If you’re hoping to receive a complimentary cocktail, please RSVP by email to info@uzarts.com).

Tonight’s second opening is for Jungle and takes place at Celine gallery from 7 to 9pm. Jungle presents new paintings by London-based Alexander James Pollard who was Scotland’s representative at the Venice Biennale in 2005. The exhibition is on display till 13 May, only open by appointment. Contact Celine via Facebook, email: contact@galleryceline.com or phone: 07500343764 or 07817252941 to arrange a visit.

Fri 21 Apr: Koppe Astner and Edinburgh Printmakers

Head to Koppe Astner for their private view for a new group show from 6-8pm. The exhibition features work by Darja Bajagic, Olga Balema, Charlotte Prodger, Benedicte Glydenstierne Sehested. This mysterious show is on till 2 June, visit Wednesday to Saturday from noon to 6pm.

There are two new exhibitions at Edinburgh Printmakers opening tonight from 7.30 to 9pm: Dr Eric Great-Rex’s My Cat Knows What I’m Thinking and It Works! – EP at 50. An artist talk given by Great-Rex accompanied by Dr Lesley Logue from 6.30pm precedes the preview for My Cat Knows What I’m Thinking. The talk is free, but reserve a space here via Eventbrite in advance to guarantee admission. Great-Rex is a London-based printmaker and ceramicist interested in our veneration of everyday life, domestic wares, and folk and outsider art; the title of his exhibition is inspired from his daily conversations with his cat - a humorous, but insightful and reflective activity. My Cat Knows What I’m Thinking is the first time the artist has combined prints and ceramics in display; these include four stone lithographs published by Edinburgh Printmakers and nineteen handmade ceramic plates.

The second new exhibition, It Works! – EP at 50, is an archive show curated by Dr Ruth Pelzer-Montada. This show features works from Edinburgh Printmakers; archive and asks questions about the nature, value and relevance of archival holdings and practices.

Sat 22 Apr: The Common Guild, Stills, Street Level Photoworks and Platform

London-based Steven Claydon’s exhibition The Archipelago of Contented Peoples: Endurance Groups opens at The Common Guild today. This is Claydon’s first solo show in Scotland. Claydon’s sculptural work is concerned with objects’ changing values, and acts out processes during which they may accrue meaning that endures or transforms. For this exhibition Claydon has created sculptural, installation and sound work referencing concepts and physical realities of pressures and jeopardy. This exhibition is on till 9 July; visit Wednesday to Sunday from noon till 5pm, with late night openings on Thursdays to 7pm.

There are two new exhibitions at Stills Centre for Photography in Edinburgh today, each open from 11am to 6pm. Urban Fabric: Greige is an installation of photographs of mid-twentieth century Melbourne’s curtain wall facades, which expose latent images of Harris Tweed. The exhibition presents an alternative legacy for the Hebridean weave and recalls a claim made by nineteenth-century architect Gottfried Semper that walls were originally woven.

This two-day installation in Stills' lower ground level, concerning heritage, craft and experience of place, features a free and unticketed programme of events including an artist’s talk by Peta Carlin titled “The Lure of the Image” from 12.30pm followed by a performance by Inverclyde-based Sgioba Luaidh Inbhirchluaidh and accompanying graphics by Spike Hibberd.

Also on at Stills from today is Ambit: Photographies from Scotland, a new partnership between Stills and Street Level Photoworks. Both venues will present work by five Scotland-based photographers working with diverse and innovative approaches to their medium and image making. Stills is showing work by Eden Hawkins, Lorna Macintyre, Norman McBeath, Kristian Smith and Karen L Vaughan. Street Level Photoworks is hosting a reception from 3-5pm today and features work by Margaret Mitchell, Donnie MacLean, Sylwia Kowalczyk, Tine Bek and Blazej Marczak. Ambit runs at both locations until 9 July.

Head to Platform from 3.30pm for Outskirts 2017. Outskirts is an annual celebration of cross-art form and experimentation. This year’s festival brings together a line-up of musical, visual, film and theatre artists including Steev Livingstone from Errors, Suse Bear from Tuff Love, Nic Green, Josephine Foster, Alex Neilson, Ortonandon and Fallopé & the Tubes, and Sound of Yell. Come along for new original music, poetry readings, a live score presentation and many more exciting acts. Purchase tickets here on Platform’s website, £10, £7.50 Local Links rate and free for under 16s. You can purchase a return journey on a bus running from Mono, Kings Court for the occasion. Spaces are limited so purchase your ticket in advance from Mono or email info@platform-online.co.uk.

Sun 23 Apr: Market Gallery and Mary Mary  

The Minch at Market Gallery closes today, visit between noon and 6pm. The Minch features a multimedia installation by Suzanne Déry and Susannah Stark combining moveable plastic prints, handmade instruments and disembodied voices. Artists Déry and Stark consider the swamp as a sonic space, and re-appropriated sounds and images from corrupted archives placed in new contexts. The duo’s installation aim to question material hierarchies and showcase human imagination’s potential to prescribe life and narrative onto objects, environments and concepts.

London-based specialist bookshop Claire de Rouen’s residence at Mary Mary, A fortnight of books, also ends today. Visit the pop-up bookstore from 11am to 6pm today to see work by Jesse Wine, Sara Barker, Lorna Macintyre and others, and peruse print products at the intersection of art, photography and fashion. Claire de Rouen presents artist books alongside artist-selected publications which have been sources of inspiration for the show.