The Skinny Current Issue

Art takes centre stage this June. Glasgow’s in for an even more exciting time than usual, as Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art arrives with its biennial programme and eleventh edition. This year there’s a new director, Helen Nisbet, at the helm – we talk to her about the thinking behind the 2026 edition, and the challenges of producing against the backdrop of threatened closures for some of the city’s more significant cultural institutions.

Community is at the heart of it – the new strand of Special Projects celebrates organisations deeply embedded in the communities of Glasgow including Easterhouse and Govanhill. Of course, it wouldn’t be an arts festival in Scotland without an adjoining fringe of activity outwith the official programme – we pick out some highlights from the DIY artists and galleries exhibiting this month.

Scotland has made a welcome return to the international stage of the Venice Biennale with a new pavilion by artists Bugarin + Castle curated by Mount Stuart. We take a tour of Glasgow-based queer and trans artist-duo Davide Bugarin and Angel Cohn Castle's immersive installation reimagining cross-cultural traditions of public shaming.

The design column sticks with the theme, talking to the duo behind a new collaborative print magazine straight out of Glasgow, Piscine. We talk to author and art philosopher Daisy Dixon about her new book Depraved: the Story of Dangerous Art about how to deal with harmful art and its makers.

It’s degree show season – our poster this month comes from fresh Dundee graduate Isabel Roles. This magazine also contains our annual comprehensive guide to the Glasgow School of Art degree show, written by the students themselves for some insider knowledge.

There’s some stuff happening that isn’t art this month too I guess. Football’s really having a moment apparently – one writer amps up the anticipation by trawling through all of the songs vying to become Scotland’s World Cup anthem for 2026. Reports are mixed. Theatre’s also getting into football, as A Play, a Pie and a Pint stage Joe McCann’s Corinthian, which restores Andrew Watson – the world’s first Black international footballer – to Scottish history.

Kelburn Garden Party is coming up too. We (truly, exclusively, Tallah) have programmed their Pyramid stage again this year. We’ve got a run through the lineup alongside some words with Grace LaNasa, AKA Buckfast Barbie ahead of her takeover of the Saloon Bar.

Music looks forward to the debut, UK-wide Everywhere At Once festival, talking to Music Venue Trust, Purple Orange Arts Venue and Brooke Combe about the importance of grassroots venues. We meet Nigeria-born, Edinburgh-based soul singer James Emmanuel ahead of the release of his latest EP, Good Man, while Clubs responds to the Nightshift Glasgow blueprint to transform the city’s nightlife infrastructure.

Film talks to Sophy Romvari about her extraordinary debut, Blue Heron, and the fragmentary, deceptive nature of memory. Director Pete Ohs discusses his collaborative filmmaking process ahead of the release of Charli xcx’s latest film project, Erupcja, and Books celebrates the centenary of Milngavie’s very own Agnes Owens.

We’s back in the Art theme to close the magazine – Tahliah Simumba (also sometimes known by her musical alias TAAHLIAH) has an exhibition as part of Glasgow International, so she takes on this month’s Q&A.

- Rosamund West