This Week in Scottish Art: Lust & Fairytales

The Edinburgh Art Festival continues this week, and Summerhall unveils its new suite of exhibitions, while Glasgow and Dundee keep pace with new exhibitions and events from the Glasgow Print Studio, the Common Guild and Generator.

Feature by Adam Benmakhlouf | 04 Aug 2015

Edinburgh Art Festival is now in full swing and we've compiled our top 5 from the many events and exhibitions on show throughout the month. Summerhall also unveils its new suite of exhibitions tomorrow (5 Aug), which will run until 5 October. Earning its position as a gallery powerhouse with 10 new exhibits, amongst the varied programme there is painting and film work inspired by Albrecht Durer’s Young Hare from artist Derrick Guild. There's also performance from David Sherry, who opens a new exhibition of paintings, with performances on consecutive Thursdays in St Andrew Square, beginning on 13 Aug. Sherry goes for laughs, but also a thoughtful reflexivity on humour. Unlimited, an organisation supporting disabled artists, will also host its first exhibition in Summerhall, with works challenging the myths of disability. 

In Dundee this week, Generator previews its new “Takeover” exhibition tomorrow from 6-9pm – the slot when Generator members use the time between the curated programme for their own projects. This time, it’s Continuance from the Reunification Collective and featuring the work of recently graduated artists from Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee.

From 6-8pm and as part of the First Thursday night-time event in Trongate 103, Alistair Gow presents new paintings and painterly prints at Glasgow Print Studio. This recent work begins to consider the sharing of experiences in two-dimensional media, looking particularly to print as a medium’s multiple identities as a mass media, limited edition artworks, used variously to inform, to instruct and to sell.

Also this Thursday at 6pm, The Common Guild host an event for Anne Hardy’s immersive installation currently exhibited in the gallery. Dr Stephen Burn will give his take on the exhibition, from a background in English Literature, and specifically with reference to neuroscience, consciousness and the novel. Places are free to book via Eventbrite.

Staying in Glasgow, Market Gallery has announced a new collaboration with My Bookcase, “a social enterprise based in Glasgow dedicated to explore the book as a physical object of cultural, social and historical significance.” In Market Gallery, there is the provocatively titled I think you are using the word archive inaccurately”. Rather than a didactic restatement of the “proper” definition, however, My Bookcase invite individuals and organisations from Glasgow and Scotland to bring along their archive, whether it’s a folder, objects or printouts, to chat informally about it and lend it to the gallery for the summer.

Former curator of Summerhall Paul Robertson recently opened the latest exhibition of his new space The Lust and the Apple. Robertson is a vehement critic of the current arts funding policies in the UK, informing his decision to receive no public funding for the project. The space itself is in a former primary school near Gorebridge. It’s reachable by public transport, and is on the other side of an hour from Edinburgh city centre. Handily, “Lust & the Apple” is prominently featured on Google Maps. Robertson has assembled works from blockbuster 60s conceptual text artist Lawrence Weiner, as well as exciting emerging artists from Mexico, Denmark and Korea. The exhibition continues until 18 October.

Staying on the outer limits of Edinburgh, on Friday Jupiter Artland is host to one of the EAF's Detours events – “a series of intimate live performances in Edinburgh’s leading galleries by artists from the worlds of music, poetry and theatre.” In Jupiter this week, the event is titled A Pocketful of Grimms and the intention is to present some of the lesser known Grimm fairytales, with “a rich mix of clowning, physical theatre, puppetry, and music”. Tickets are £4, and include access to Jupiter Artland.

Also part of the Edinburgh Art Festival is an artist talk on Saturday 8 August by Lauren Cross, an interdisciplinary artist/filmmaker and scholar. Identifying as an arts activist, Cross identifies her curatorial practice as key to this role. The talk is at 3pm on Saturday at GARAGE, Northumberland Street North West Lane.

Also as part of the same Edinburgh Art Festival series of talks, there is also a presentation by Hanna Tuulikki, who will discuss her new commission for the festival – Sing Sign: a close duet with vocalist Daniel Padden, developed with Ruth Barker, who acted as a dramaturg for the project. As part of the presentation, British Sign Language interpreter Karen Forbes will join the artists to demonstrate some of the signs behind the choreography of Sing Sign. This is a free event, taking place on Sunday 9 August at 11.30 the Festival Kiosk on 9-11 Blair Street. Booking essential.

http://theskinny.co.uk/art