Moira Jeffrey
Moira Jeffrey is freelance arts journalist based in Glasgow. She is art critic for The Scotsman newspaper. @moirajeffrey
For her Venice Biennale film, Spite Your Face, Scottish artist Rachel Maclean has created a re-working of the Pinnocchio story that explores power, political lies and the rise of populism. Moira Jeffrey talks to her about the themes and form of the work.
The UK’s presence at this year’s Venice Biennale is particularly strong, with Phyllida Barlow’s sculptures at the British Pavilion, Rachel Maclean’s new film for Scotland + Venice, James Richards’ sound and film work representing Wales, and the new Diaspora Pavilion reflecting the diverse cultural backgrounds of UK-based artists. Moira Jeffrey reports.
Speaking at a Glasgow Film Festival event on producing artists’ moving image in Scotland, Turner Prize nominee Luke Fowler has called for the creation of a cinema dedicated to artists’ work and experimental film.
This year’s engage International Conference in Glasgow focused on young people working with art and artists, with a remit to explore the gallery as a school, the importance of cross-disciplinary engagement, and the ethics of peer-led practice. But, as Moira Jeffrey reports, much of the lively and challenging discussion was wide-ranging and off script.
Recorded deep inside a granite mountain in Scotland, Maria Fusco’s Artangel/BBC Radio 4 commission, Master Rock, tells the story of the men who 50 years ago risked their lives to create the Cruachan hydro-electric power station, and the artist whose mural was commissioned at the site to mark its opening. Moira Jeffrey reports.
The sixth edition of Glasgow International, the biennial festival of contemporary art in Scotland’s biggest city, is the first with new director Sarah McCrory at the helm. On the eve of its public launch, she explains why both laughter and tears are important in art.
The lead up to the 19th Sydney Biennale has been marked by artists’ protests over the business activities of its founding sponsor, eventually leading to the Biennale severing links with its funder of 40 years. Now, with the Biennale open to the public and all but two of the original artists taking part, Moira Jeffrey considers the art, the context and the quiet steeliness of its curator.
For the third of our features looking at summer shows across the UK, we talk to 2009 Turner Prize nominee Lucy Skaer about her Mount Stuart commission, a series of poetic and precise interventions in this neo-gothic house on the Isle of Bute.