Tag Archives: Venice Biennale

Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Hephzibah Israel and Jesse Jones

28 September 2023

This month head to the Talbot Rice Gallery for three new exhibitions on show by artists Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Hephzibah Israel and Jesse Jones. 

Lawrence Abu Hamdan’s new film commission, 45th Parallel, focuses on the Haskell Free Library and Opera House, a unique municipal site that straddles the jurisdictions of Canada and the United States.

Commissioned by Talbot Rice Gallery and produced in collaboration with Fraser Muggeridge studio, மொழிபெயர்ப்பு / the nature of difference is a series of twenty individual text works by Hephzibah Israel that poetically explores the nature of translation and what it is to navigate borders.

Jesse Jones’ new film installation The Tower is the second part in a trilogy beginning with Tremble Tremble, which was commissioned for the Irish Pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale in 2017. 

Ishiuchi Miyako

29 September 2022

This month we will be heading to Stills for their exhibition Ishiuchi Miyako, where we will be joined by Stills director Ben Harman. 

Coinciding with the Edinburgh Art Festival, Stills presents a solo exhibition by Ishiuchi Miyako – an influential post-war Japanese photographer. It is the first time her work has been exhibited in Scotland. The show consists of a selection of work from some of her most celebrated series including, Mother’s, the series with which she represented Japan at the Venice Biennale in 2005; work documenting the belongings of victims of the atomic bomb which are kept at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum; and photographs from the series Frida, made at The Frida Kahlo Museum in Mexico City where Miyako photographed Kahlo’s garments such as corsets, cosmetics and shoes. 

Tremble Tremble & At the Gates

29 November 2018

This month we invite you to see Tremble Tremble by Jessie Jones, the Irish representation at the 2017 Venice Biennale, installed in the Talbot Rice Gallery. We will be joined by assistant curator James Clegg who will introduce the exhibition.

Approaching modern gender politics through a dramatic aesthetic, Jesse Jones’ piece evokes a multitude of associations, cultural links and triggers. For the making of this work, Jones drew from recognisable political references, such as the very title. Tremble Tremble references the 1970s Italian women’s protest of the same name, which called for wages for housework. Referring to the medieval prosecution of witches and also to the historic Repeal the 8th movement in Ireland this summer, she has created a layered and dense visual narrative which sits somewhere between theatre, film and sculpture.

The group exhibition At the Gates is shown alongside Jones’ work and consists of work by fellow women artists exploring feminism, self-empowerment and current social and political events. Often brushing up against the law, or institutions of power, these artists and their projects demonstrate the impact art can have when it becomes part of a public discussion.

Rachel Maclean: Spite Your Face

26 April 2018

For the last 15 years, Scotland + Venice has been providing artists based in Scotland with a valuable platform to showcase their work on the international stage at one of the world’s most prestigious visual arts festivals, the Venice Biennale. Previous artists have included Graham Fagen, Karla Black and Martin Boyce.

For the 57th edition of the Venice Biennale in 2017, the selected artist was Rachel Maclean. A graduate of Edinburgh College of Art, Maclean makes films using green screen technology to create outlandish characters and fantasy worlds in which she explores politics, society and identity. Spite Your Face was written when Donald Trump had just won the Presidential election and in the aftermath of the EU Referendum and explores, amongst other things, notions of truth. The basis of the narrative in which Maclean plays all the parts, is the classic Italian folktale, The Adventures of Pinocchio.

This is the UK premiere the work which was originally commissioned by Talbot Rice Gallery ad Alchemy Film and Arts for Scotland + Venice. We will be joined by Stuart Fallon, Assistant Curator at the Gallery who worked closely on the project.

Vertigo Sea – John Akomfrah

30 November 2017

This month, we will be exploring the work of the acclaimed artist and filmmaker, John Akomfrah. Vertigo Sea (2015) is a three-screen film installation that draws together archival footage, literary sources and newly shot footage, weaving together narratives of slavery, whaling and the current refugee crisis. Initially prompted by a radio interview with a group of young Nigerian migrants who had survived an illegal crossing of the Mediterranean, it expresses the vast beauty and cruelty of the sea. Vertigo Sea was filmed in Skye, the Faroes, Norway with the BBC Natural History Unit and at its core are two remarkable books: Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick (1851) and Heathcote Williams’ epic poem, Whale Nation (1988). Vertigo Sea was one of the standout works at the Venice Biennale in 2015.

Also on show is a video and sound installation – At the Graveside of Tarkovsky (2012) – a meditation on disappearance, memory and death and an ode to the Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky who inspired Akomfrah as a young filmmaker.

Karla Black and Kishio Suga: A New Order

26 January 2017

In our first event for 2017, we will be exploring the work of Karla Black (born in 1972, Alexandria, Scotland) and Kishio Suga (born in 1944, Morioka, Japan).

This is the first time that these two artists have been shown together, and neither artist was aware of each other’s work before the exhibition. What unites both Black and Suga is their use of everyday materials to create sculptural installations in response to specific spaces and locations.

Karla Black, who represented Scotland at the Venice Biennale in 2011, creates installations using traditional art materials including plaster, paint, paper and chalk in combination with everyday items including soap, eye shadow, toothpaste and cotton wool. She made most of the sculptures directly in the rooms of the gallery.

Kishio Suga is a key figure in Japanese contemporary art. In the late 1960s, he began to produce and exhibit his work as a member of the artistic group, Mona-ha (School of Things) which was formed and developed in Tokyo between 1969 and 1972. Suga also uses everyday materials including rocks, wood, wire, paraffin, stones, almost anything to hand, to create what he calls ‘situations’. The exhibition features recreations of existing works spanning his 50-year career and a new work conceived for Gallery 8. Suga represented Japan in 1978 at the Venice Biennale.

Rosemarie Trockel – Drawings, Collages and Book Drafts

28 April 2011 at 6pm

This month, we will be visiting the Talbot Rice Gallery to see the largest display of works on paper to date by the internationally renowned artist Rosemarie Trockel.

Rosemarie Trockel (1952) became prominent in the mid 1980s with her now famous ‘knitted pictures’ and is highly regarded internationally as well as representing Germany at the Venice Biennale in 1999 and 2003. In recent years, collage has become an enabling tool for Trockel to combine aspects of her multifaceted practice, which includes photography, film, sculpture and installation.

This exhibition includes Trockel’s book drafts which, like her drawings, play with expectations and negate easy readings. They open up the possibility of interpreting Trockel’s work in a non-linear fashion, seeing them as potential ideas for future works, while simultaneously being a record of her past ideas. Advocating her interest in a combination of male and female identities – of the female within the male and vice versa – Trockel’s work presents us with the grotesque, the theatrical and chimerical.

Studio Visit: Claire Barclay

21 January 2010 at 6.30pm

Spin: Glasgow visit the studio of internationally acclaimed Scottish artist Claire Barclay as she prepares to exhibit new work with the Glasgow International Festival of Contemporary Art and the prestigious Whitechapel Gallery, London.

This rare opportunity to discuss and gain insight into Barclay’s practice as she prepares and develops work for exhibition. Claire Barclay is a known for large-scale installations consisting of collections of sculptural objects brought together into precisely plotted relationships. Her work combines familiar materials such as leather, earth, fabric, wool, straw and metals, generating intensely tactile environments. Her work has been installed in a variety of locations, including a Venetian palazzo, a former fireboat station and a hay barn. Nearly all of her installations have only been exhibited once.

Born in Paisley and based in Glasgow, Barclay has shown her work around the world in solo and group exhibitions. Her recent exhibitions include Mudam Luxembourg, Luxembourg; The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh; Camden Arts Centre, London; Washington Garcia Gallery, Glasgow; Tate Britain, London; Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee; Moderna Museet, Stockholm. She represented Scotland at the Venice Biennale in 2003 and is represented by Doggerfisher Gallery, Edinburgh, and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London.

Spin-Off Trip to the Venice Biennale 2009

22-24 October 2009

Spin is offering its members a weekend trip to the oldest and most prestigious contemporary art festivals in the world, the Venice Biennale. Held every two years, the Biennale is an excellent opportunity to see works by leading, international and up-and-coming contemporary artists. Over 77 countries are taking part this year (a record number) and include first-time participations of Montenegro, Republic of Gabon and the United Arab Emirates.

There are two main strands to the Venice Biennale: the Giardini which houses 30 permanent national pavilions and a curated exhibition by the Biennale’s appointed director – Daniel Birnbaum, Rector of the Staedelschule Frankfurt/Main and its Kunsthalle Portikus – which is presented in the newly opened Palazzo delle Esposizioni (formerly known as the Italian Pavilion) in the Giardini and the Arsenale – the buildings of the adjacent formal naval dockyard. Birnbaums chosen theme is Making Worlds (Fare Mondi) and comprises works by over 90 artists from all over the world including John Baldessari, Carten Holler, Goshka Macuga, Yoko Ono, Philippe Parreno, Simon Starling, Wolfgang Tillmans and Richard Wentworth.

Steve McQueen has been chosen to represent Great Britain in the Giardini. McQueen, who works primarily in film, won the Turner Prize in 1999, was official war artist in Iraq in 2003 and won of the Camera dOr at Cannes for his debut feature, Hunger, about the death of Bobby Sands. For the Biennale, McQueen has made a film entitled Giardini which focuses on the gardens once the Biennale is over.

Other National Participation highlights include Liam Gillick (Germany), Fiona Tan (Netherlands), Bruce Nauman (USA) and the joint collaboration between Denmark and the Nordic Countries – The Collectors by artist duo, Elmgreen and Dragset.

Collateral exhibitions take place in venues spreading across the city of Venice. Scotland is presenting the work of Martin Boyce in the Palazzo Pisani Santa Marina where he has transformed the fading grandeur of a 15th century palazzio with a series of sculptural installations which echoes the maze-like nature of Venice. Representing Wales at the Giudecca is John Cale who has created an audio-visual film work.

In a labyrinthine city like Venice, given the sheer number of artworks to see, it is impossible to visit everything. So thats where we come in. We went on a research trip during the opening week in June and have come up with an itinerary which selects and showcases the very best of this years Biennale. This formula has worked well on our previous trips with members in 2005 and 2007.

The tour will take place from Thursday 22-Saturday 24 October 2009.

Claire Barclay – Openwide

26 February 2009 at 6.15pm

This month we will be visiting The Fruitmarket Gallery to see a solo exhibition of work by Scottish artist Claire Barclay, known for work which takes the form of highly crafted sculptural objects brought together into precisely plotted relationships. Featuring newly commissioned work shown in the context of objects made over the course of her career, the exhibition offers an opportunity to trace the development of the artist’s singular sculptural language.

Barclay encourages us to engage with her work on a profoundly instinctual level. We think we recognise familiar objects, like keys, pots or combs, but all have been shaped in such a way as to prevent any practical use. Tables defy gravity to stand on three legs, while chairs have neither a seat nor a back. Unable to attribute meaning through function, we are led instead on an associative journey triggered by memory and the imagination that draws on the sensory and the subconscious as well as the demands of reason.

Biography: Claire Barclay was born in 1968 in Paisley and currently lives and works in Glasgow. She graduated from the Environmental Art and Sculpture Course at Glasgow School of Art in 1990 and completed an MFA in Glasgow in 1993. In 2003, she represented Scotland at the Venice Bienniale alongside Simon Starling and Jim Lambie. She is represented by doggerfisher, Edinburgh.