Glasgow International, the biennial festival of contemporary art which next year takes place across the city from 8-26 April, has announced its programme highlights.
Now on its seventh edition and directed for the second time by Sarah McCrory, the 2016 festival will feature over 40 group shows and 36 solo exhibitions by Glasgow-based, UK and international artists.
Central to GI’s Director’s Programme will be a group exhibition at Tramway which will respond to Glasgow and its status as a post-industrial city – a major theme of the 2016 festival. Co-designed by Glasgow-based, Turner Prize-winning artist Martin Boyce, the show will feature a wide range of artists including Lawrence Lek, Sheila Hicks, Alexandra Bircken, Mika Rottenberg, Amie Siegel.
“This year’s Director’s programme will look at the industrial heritage of Glasgow, and the city’s status as a cultural centre today,” says GI. “Acts of production, manufacture, artisanship, craft and industry prevalent in artist’s practices will highlight the history of making in Glasgow and how empty spaces, freed up by the demise of heavy industry, have been used as sites for experimentation.”
Other highlights of the festival are solo shows by artists including Claire Barclay, Tamara Henderson, Helen Johnson, Cosima von Bonin (pictured above), Derrick Alexis Coard, Tessa Lynch, Rallou Panagiotou and Monika Sosnowska; new commissions by Aaron Angell (Kelvingrove Gallery and Museum) and Turner Prize winner Simon Starling (The Common Guild); and a new site-specific, permanent work by Venezuelan artist Sol Calero (David Dale Gallery).
The recipients of the 2016 Open Glasgow awards – for Glasgow-based artists to make new works during the festival – include Corin Sworn, Co-Pourri (Laura Yuile, Leslie Kulesh and DKUK), and Erica Eyres and Garnet McCulloch. Inspired by Claes Oldenburg’s The Store, Eyres and McCulloch will present a ‘dysfunctional’ fruit and vegetable stand, featuring ceramic works, video and drawings.
Work by more than 228 local and international artists will be shown during the festival. Over 57 spaces will be showing work or hosting events, including commercial galleries, artist-run spaces and major Glasgow institutions. New venues not accustomed to showing contemporary art will include Kelvin Hall (currently undergoing a major refurbishment) and Roller Stop Roller Rink.
Glasgow International, 8-26 April 2016. glasgowinternational.org
