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Over 50 artists presented sculpture, drawings, installations, films, videos, sound works, performances and music in venues ranging from the city’s renowned Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum through the Hunterian Art Gallery and Tramway to diverse artist-run collectives, small galleries and temporary sites.
Using ceramics, bronze and a little taxidermy, Glasgow-based David Shrigley created a collection of intriguing sculptures and objects for museum cases at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum; Glasgow-born Susan Philipsz’ specially-commissioned and highly evocative sound work, Lowlands, resonated from bridges that span the River Clyde. One of the most acclaimed artists to have emerged from the city, Douglas Gordon, opened the Festival with a new video installation in Tramway’s celebrated theatre space citing his own landmark work 24 Hour Psycho. Renowned environmental arts organisation NVA re-enacted the infamous White Bike Plan, a Dutch anarchist eco-action of the 1960s, by releasing fifty white bikes on to the city’s streets for free use between Festival venues, while Kate Davis and Faith Wilding collaborated on an exhibition exploring feminist legacies in contemporary art at the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA).
A number of international artists were also at the heart of the programme: a significant selection of important works on paper by the enduringly influential Joseph Beuys along with a group of ‘vitrine’ sculptures, including the legendary ‘Fat Chair’ and the iconic portrait of Beuys by Andy Warhol on display at the Hunterian Art Gallery as part of ARTIST ROOMS on Tour; renowned Swiss artist Christoph Büchel, known for his massive-scale, hyper-real experiential works took on the imposing space at Tramway with the creation of an extra-ordinary, provocative and complex installation.
David Maljkovic (Croatia) - one of the most exciting artists to emerge from Europe in recent years - had his first solo show in the UK in a striking space in the Merchant City, made available for the festival. Maljkovic’s work reflects on the festival’s themes with a gathering of recent works in film and collage that explore the legacy of Modernist monuments and abstraction; while in an adjacent space Gerard Byrne, who represented Ireland to great acclaim at the Venice Biennale in 2007, presented a major new video installation commissioned by the festival that re-visited the history of Minimal Art and its reception. Internationally-acclaimed artist Fiona Tan showed her mesmerising video installation Tomorrow at the Gallery of Modern Art.
The redoubtable punk artist-designer Linder exhibited her montage images at Sorcha Dallas Gallery and presented a unique thirteen-hour performance in collaboration with celebrated fashion designer Richard Nicoll and musician Stuart McCallum; and Alice Channer, who is attracting increasing attention for her fabric-based works, took on the architecture of the Mackintosh Gallery in her first work in Scotland at The Glasgow School of Art. Washington Garcia presented the work of Australian artist David Noonan at the Mitchell Library, while the legendary Jimmie Durham showed Universal Miniature Go (The Promised Land) - the outcome of a Production Residency at Glasgow Sculpture Studios. Claire Barclay showed a range of new works using diverse techniques at Glasgow Print Studio; and The Modern Institute opened its new premises on Osbourne Street with a show by Glasgow’s own Jim Lambie.
Other galleries, venues and artists’ collectives involved in the festival included Transmission Gallery, Lowsalt, market Gallery, Mary Mary, FINN collective, and SWG3 and many more groups and individual artists.
Article Research Adrian Robb
