GSA Degree Show 2025: Introduction

Welcome to The Skinny’s preview of The Glasgow School of Art Degree Show 2025. This annual exhibition of graduating student work is a highlight in the Scottish arts calendar. You can always expect innovative approaches, bold ideas, and a distinct sense of collaboration and community from the work on show. 

This student-led supplement acts as a survey and preview of the Degree Show, exploring our four specialist schools: the Mackintosh School of Architecture, the School of Fine Art, the School of Design and the School of Innovation and Technology. There are also features on graduate shows for Masters courses in Fine Art and Communication Design. Our student writing team is comprised of third year undergraduates, who have now become expert voices on the approaches, techniques and concepts explored by the community of artists and practitioners at The Glasgow School of Art. 

The work discussed is varied and multifaceted, but there are unifying themes – how personal and cultural identity intersect; the comforting ephemera of memory; how the deeply personal can be prescient and political. There is also a throughline of civic responsibility across architecture, art and design. Sustainability, marginalised perspectives and climate action are put front and centre.

Yanxi Li, Illustration Collection for GSA Degree Show 2025

Each feature in our supplement explores the depth and detail of these themes, shaped by interviews and thoughtful conversations with exhibiting Degree Show students. There is exploration of method and technique alongside investigative questioning. This makes the supplement a useful map of the Degree Show 2025 whether you’re visiting in person or online. 

The on-campus Degree Show coincides with the launch of its digital showcase. This platform is a place for students to present their work online, complete with personal context, and notes on their study and practice. It also gives audiences outside of Glasgow the chance to engage with the work of this year’s graduating cohort. Each page of the digital showcase has been curated by our graduands to display their processes, ideas and pictures of their work. As well as browsing by school and by student, entries have been categorised by theme. This emphasises the connections between works and provides a new angle on a traditional degree show exhibition. 

The Degree Show isn’t the only thing happening at The Glasgow School of Art this summer. Check out our Heads Up section to find highlights for your diary in the months ahead. 

We hope you enjoy this exclusive look at this year’s Degree Show 2025, and we look forward to welcoming you in person if you can make it. Finally, we’d like to give a huge thank you to our student writers, who have worked hard to bring the supplement together. Congratulations to The Glasgow School of Art Class of 2025.

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This supplement was produced in association with The Glasgow School of Art