Glasgow International Festival of VIsual Art

Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art kicks off this month, and it’s safe to say nothing else in Scotland quite has its breadth and diversity. The two-week art extravaganza showcasing some of the finest contemporary artists working in Europe and abroad, including Jeremy Deller, Wolfgang Tillmans and Flokert de Jong.

As well as attracting big-name artists to our northern climbs, Glasgow International supports lots of home-grown talent, with excellent exhibitions by Glasgow-based artists to be shown at some of Glasgow’s new and established artist-run spaces, including The Mutual, Transmission, David Dale Gallery, The Duchy and the Glue Factory.

In their main space on Duke St, The Duchy will exhibit Pio Abad’s solo show, Dazzler. Soon to graduate from the MFA programme at The Royal Academy in London, Abad is interested in the relationship between Disco and militarism, decorating the gallery with a particularly jazzy camouflage wallpaper lent dark undertones.

The Duchy will also host a large-scale off-site exhibition at the Lighthouse, showing new work by Rachel Adams, Nicolas Party, Amelia Bywater and Alan Stanners. The exhibition encourages artists to show ambitious work and will be the first of a yearly event, showcasing emerging artists.

David Dale Gallery and Studios will be exhibiting new work by Kilian Rüethemann and Kate V Robertson. Both artists will be responding directly to the gallery’s brand new spaces after a recent move to a new venue. Robertson will be exploring the futility inherent in making and showing work in an art environment that seems already to have exhausted every possibility, while Rüethemann will likely be altering the very fabric of the space.

Transmission will be showing six works of art by different artists, encouraging viewers to interpret the pieces for themselves. The show, according to the gallery’s description 'establishes a scenario where the provenance of an artwork is demoted to make space for more irreverent interpretations.' Which, in translation, encourages us viewers to stop listening to galleries’ convoluted descriptions and start understanding the works for ourselves.

The Mutual, perhaps one of the few Glasgow art organisations with no permanent residence, will introduce the third installment of their WIKI exhibition. The pop-up exhibition will include work by artists Carla Easton, Marlena Morris and Shelton Walker.

The Glue Factory will, as ever, host a show exhibiting pretty much everyone in the world, including Cara Tolmie, Nicolas Party, Conal McStravick, Aileen Campbell and Rory Middleton. A fantastic big space, we anticipate the opening night will be as raucous as ever, and the show as chaotic as we’ve come to expect.

Glasgow International is the most exciting art event on the Scottish calendar and is not to be missed. Make sure you get yourself along to as many of the openings as possible, getting a real sense of the party atmosphere. We all know that artists know how to have a good time (and it’s certainly not all about stroking your chin), so get in amongst it, and make the most of this special occasion.