AHM

2011-12-12T16:12:00.000-08:00

AHM End of Residency Farewell

Habitual escapees Sam, David and Sandy, otherwise known as AHM, move out - and on? Before they go they would like to invite Members to a Farewell Event.

Wednesday 14 December 2011
4pm – 5pm
Research Resource, Glasgow Sculpture Studios

“After three years of getting to know how to get to Kelvinhaugh Street we will have to find another route to somewhere else. The GSS residency has offered us a variously warm and always friendly place. Great staff support, and mingling with a bunch of terrific artists, has meant we couldn’t have had a better place for our weekly ‘thought showers’. And what were they all about? Well nothing less than to change the whole culture of where visual arts stands in Scottish life – for the better of course. Did we achieve this - of course not. But we don’t share the aspiration of the character in an Eric Linklater novel who ‘aimed low and missed’.

We spent a lot of time working to set up an idealistic ‘drawing school’ for ‘disadvantaged’ 16 year-olds but the recession did for that. We worked on our proposal to present an exhibition in Glasgow in 2014 that told the 30 year story of the enormous success of Glasgow artists but national/local cultural politics did for that. (The National Galleries with Glasgow Life and others across Scotland will celebrate contemporary art in 2014 and we await details of that.) Our recorded ‘Conversations’ with artists, critics, writers and, more generally, thinking people, prepared us for the presentation of three symposia over twelve months under the title of State of Play - Art and Culture in Scotland Today. In our view, and that of many others, these have been a great success and to maximise that we have to publish the material that they produced. So we move on to doing that.

We received financial support from a private donor and, for some of our research, from the SAC as was. We also got crucial support for the symposia from Glasgow University, the National Galleries of Scotland, Dundee Contemporary Arts and The Hope Scott Trust.

We had two absolutely brilliant research assistants Naomi Brown and Helen Shaddock who kept us on track and worked way beyond the call of duty.

Our sincere and grateful thanks go to David and Amy who invited us to be part of GSS‘s aspirations and activities, and wish them, and all who work in and support what the Sculpture Studios stands for every success in the fantastic potential of the new home.”

Sam, David and Sandy

Image Credits:-

AHM Portriat (l-r Sandy Moffat, Sam Ainsley & David Harding) 2008 © Alan Dimmick
sponsors

Portikus exhibition photos

2011-11-26T16:59:00.000-08:00

Colour, Rhythm and Form: John Duncan Fergusson in France and Scotland

2011-11-15T16:35:00.000-08:00

DACE DAY EVENT

Colour, Rhythm and Form: John Duncan Fergusson in France and Scotland

Saturday 26 November 2011 10.00-16.00
The Hunterian Art Gallery, University of Glasgow

This one-day symposium has been organised to coincide with the Hunterian Art Gallery's autumn exhibition, 'Colour, Rhythm and Form: J D Fergusson and France' which will mark the 50th anniversary of the death of the Scottish Colourist John Duncan Fergusson (1874-1961). Bringing together the expertise of leading researchers, this symposium examines Fergusson's contribution to art in Britain and France, his artistic legacy and his wide-ranging cultural links with contemporary literature, music and dance. Professor Alan Riach, Alexander Moffat, Dr Laurence Grove, Jenny Kinnear and Sarah Skinner are among the guest speakers at this special event. The fee includes free entry to the exhibition on the day of the symposium.

Symposium Timetable

10.00 Welcome (Dr Maureen Park)

10.10 ‘Colour, Rhythm and Form: J D Fergusson and France – an Introduction to the Exhibition’ (Sarah Skinner)

10.20 ‘John Duncan Fergusson, Hugh MacDiarmid and Revolutionary Nationalism in Modern Scottish Art’ (Professor Alan Riach and Alexander Moffat)

11.20 Coffee break in foyer outside lecture theatre

11.40 ‘John Duncan Fergusson and Margaret Morris’ (Jenny Kinnear)

12.40 Lunch break

14.10 ‘Popular colours: Tintin comes to Scotland’ (Dr Laurence Grove)

15.10 ‘More Sun, More Colour: J D Fergusson and the South of France’ (Sarah Skinner)

15.40 Visit to Exhibition

16.00 Close

Culture Cafe

2011-11-09T17:08:00.000-08:00

Karla Black and Martin Boyce interviewed re Turner prize etc (both Env Art and MFA graduates) and many others interviewed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/tv

It says a lot about the extraordinary circumstances that have made Glasgow a centre for contemporary art internationally

You like this garden?

2011-11-05T06:23:00.000-07:00

Annual Steven Campbell Trust lecture

2011-10-28T16:05:00.000-07:00

6PM, THURS 3 NOVEMBER 2011
THE ANNUAL STEVEN CAMPBELL TRUST LECTURE
MAIN LECTURE THEATRE, EDINBURGH COLLEGE OF ART, MAIN
BUILDING, LAURISTON PLACE, EH3 9DF

New York writer and performer Barry Yourgrau will give a lecture titled:
TALES OF THE DISRUPTIVE GENE: A Talk and Reading-Performance from
Steven Campbell's New York Years, by His Sometime Literary Collaborator

Sandy to speak at J D Fergusson day event at the Hunterian Art Gallery, 26 November

2011-10-19T14:29:00.000-07:00

Colour, rhythm and form: John Duncan Fergusson in France and Scotland

DAY EVENT

Saturday 26 November 2011
10.00am – 4.00pm
Venue: Hunterian Art Gallery
Fee £24.00*
(*Special concession fee of £14 for full-time GU students)

This one-day symposium has been organised to coincide with the Hunterian Art Gal-
lery's autumn exhibition, 'Colour, Rhythm and Form: J D Fergusson and France'
which will mark the 50th anniversary of the death of the Scottish Colourist John
Duncan Fergusson (1874-1961). Bringing together the expertise of leading research-
ers, this symposium will examine Fergusson's contribution to art in Britain and
France, his artistic legacy and his wide-ranging cultural links with contemporary literature, music and dance. Professor Alan Riach, Alexander Moffat, Dr Laurence
Grove, Jenny Kinnear and Sarah Skinner will be among the guest speakers at this
special event. Please note there will be a special concession fee of £14 for full-time
GU students.

AHM want to hear from you

2011-10-16T16:21:00.000-07:00

Were you at the last AHM Symposium at DCA, Dundee earlier this month?

If so, AHM would like to hear from you!

It would be great if you would be able to put a few sentences together as a response/reflection of the day's proceedings.

You could leave a comment on the blog, or email your response to
ahmglasgow@gmail.com

AHM look forward to hearing from you!

Jean Urquhart presentation

2011-10-15T16:13:00.000-07:00

Jean states that it is no good for artists to talk to themselves - they need to talk to politicians

Jenny Brownrigg presentation

2011-10-15T16:11:00.000-07:00

24 Hour Football presentation

2011-10-14T16:04:00.000-07:00

Fraser MacDonald and Catrin Jeans talk about the project which took place at Generator Projects gallery, Dundee on 26th August 2011

Gerry Hassan in conversation with Sandy Moffat

2011-10-14T16:02:00.000-07:00

Gerry Hassan - keynote presentation

2011-10-13T15:56:00.000-07:00

ImagiNation: Stories of Scotland's Future

2011-10-10T15:55:00.000-07:00

A panel discussion of authors, graphic novellists and poets led by Gerry Hassan and Christopher Murray, 'professor of comics', on the important role of comics in allowing people in Scotland to dream big and let their imaginations go wild. Covers everything from The Bash Street Kids to Judge Dredd, as well as looking at the more gritty style of contemporary Scottish graphic novels.

15 Oct, 1.30pm, free
CCA, Glasgow

http://mhfestival.com/events.php?display=details&event_id=248

Yuck n Yum manifesto

2011-10-10T15:50:00.000-07:00

t s Beall manifesto

2011-10-09T15:48:00.000-07:00

Chris Dooks manifesto

2011-10-08T15:34:00.000-07:00

The Exhausted Artist reaches the end of the line with healthcare providers causing his already weak rainbow to flicker and dull.

ii. The prism that previously created this rainbow now needs re-calibrating or ‘patching’ with adaptations to repair it or to replace it.

iv. To restore the affected frequencies of this ‘rainbow of exhaustion’ we instigate super-low energy art interventions across three seemingly idiosyncratic hierarchical categories;

1. As as Immediate Triage

2. Art as Perceptual Enhancer

and

3. Art and Cosmological Portal…

v. We use psychogeography, alpha states, astronomy, broken instruments, bricolage, but in particular art that is made through appropriation, allowing large-scale artworks to be built without budget or physical effort

vi. Accidentally, these processes are of benefit to audiences outside of the M.E./chronic Fatigue Syndrome community

Icons, Landmarks and the Meanings of Scotland

2011-10-07T15:51:00.000-07:00

* Tuesday, 11th October 2011
* 12.45-1.45pm
* Hawthornden Lecture Theatre - Gardens Entrance (Scottish National Gallery)
* Free
* No booking required: free, unticketed.

Charles Jencks, eminent architectural critic, artist, and author of The Iconic Building, the Power of Enigma (Frances Lincoln, 2005), has been appointed Creative Director for Scotland's newest icon, the Gretna Landmark's Star of Caledonia.

This discussion will include looking at the controversy behind trying to design architectural icons as contemporary successors to the monument and how to develop a meaningful icon for Scotland.

Joining Charles will be Cecil Balmond, influential designer and artist behind the Gretna Landmark's Star of Caledonia, who will discuss his own creation process for envisaging and designing the Star of Caledonia as a contemporary icon.

The Anthropo-scene Evolution manifesto

2011-10-07T15:30:00.000-07:00

2011 saw the culmination of avarice that necessitates naming the human impact on all earthly things. In response we wish to reject humanity’s supposed dominion over nature and to take responsibility for wilful and excessive impact. Our intention is to constitute greater empathy between the world’s free-living things. As creative pragmatists committed to producing practical wisdom, we recognise a loss of humility and seek to reengage the aesthetic and the sublime, which provide interface and witness to spirit on earth. Cultural responses to the anthropo-scene realize that there are opportunities embedded in new constraints; but more importantly there is generative force amongst living things that must be engaged anew. We experiment with a new materialism and aim for new metaphysical purpose for the arts and humanities within the public domain.

Jacob Kerray Manifesto

2011-10-06T15:27:00.000-07:00

The following words are scheduled for one fall introducing first the greatest artist in the world JACOB KERRAY.

I don't hate you artists I hate the idea that you are the best, because you are not, I'm the best, the only thing you are better at is suckling at the teat of art, chewing its puppies raw. I've grabbed for so many brass rings that I've come to realize that that is just what they are, Brass rings. I don't have an upcoming exhibition, I'm not represented by a gallery, I'm not in MAP magazine and I'm not main eventing G.I but I can draw better than any of you people, I can Paint better than any of you people and I can theorise better than any of you people. In that studio, in the gallery or on this microphone, No one can touch me.

Commercial Break.

The EARL OF PAINFORDSHIRE took control of this manifesto during the commercial break countering an early aggressive onslaught:

Early Doors

Don't be precious about your work

Secondary Research

Jabroni's

Anti-Aesthetic

Minimalism

Absence

Void

Negative space

Informing my Practise

Process

Site specific

Contextualisation

Mark Making

Man Marking

Cleverness

Ritual

Repetition

Part and Parcel

Hyperbole

Reversal

The Ball never gets dirty, It is the artist who soils himself and those who ingest it with clever grins, Intellectuals and Smooth talkers. What I have said means nothing, any attempt to understand or interpret what I am saying is pointless. Resistance is futile. Confusion is the only comfort.

3:16

Attitude Era

Art is Jericho

We Have No Mouth

It's True, It's True

RAW IS WAR

PHENOM

KING OF KINGS

KNOW YOUR ROLE

To be the Man you gotta beat the Man.

WOOOOOOO!

1-2-3. Ring the bell.

Music.

(drop microphone)

Thanks for your time

Helen Shaddock manifesto

2011-10-05T15:20:00.000-07:00

Art is, and can be many things

Art : political : art : captivating : art : public : art :

loud: art : thought provoking : art : light : art :

critical : art : colourful : art : challenging : art :

beautiful : art : permanent : art : enlightening : art :

intimate : art : poetic : art : huge : art : meaningful

: art : soft : art : moving : art : reflective : art :

sensual : art : controversial : art : tactile : art :

temporary : art : pertinent : art : complex : art :

humorous : art : difficult : art : inspiring : art :

quiet : art : engaging : art : emotional : art :

stimulating : art : important

Ewan Morrison manifesto

2011-10-04T15:15:00.000-07:00

Stop Laundering Blood Money - Stop Making Bloody Art

Art is only as good as the economic system that support it – it has no real meaning beyond that. No matter what critics and art specialists say, the content of art is meaningless when removed from social function. All art means is its context. Art has become a form of investment for extremely wealthy elites. These are people who wreck currencies through speculation; who destroy indigenous industries by outsourcing to third world sweatshops; these are people who pay no taxes and have Swiss bank accounts; these are people who got rich on short selling pension funds and repossessing homes; these are people who got rich on selling lies and crap products to millions of people; these are people who look at your art as what it really is – a thing empty of content, with a price tag – a speculative investment.

Which is why you have to stop making Art.

Or why you have to only sell your labour to people who can afford to pay you for the amount of time you put into it, on a scale comparable to the minimum wage.

You get paid £5.93 an hour.

Take it or leave it.

When you sell an artwork to a global murderer, you become their alibi for murder.

You become an ‘ethical’ money laundering scheme.

We don’t care if you mean well, if you love your art.

We tell you now that you have to take responsibility for the final meaning and resting place of your work, and if it sits in a bank vault or hangs on the wall of a CEO then you are a banker, you’re are a CEO.

Find out who you are selling to.

Follow the links in their business chain to see their connections with banking and weapons manufacture.

Until you do this, you have to stop making art. Or we will destroy the art you make, in the name of true art.

AHM Manifesto

2011-10-03T15:10:00.000-07:00

Saturday 1st October - big thanks to all involved

2011-10-01T16:12:00.000-07:00

We thoroughly enjoyed our 3rd State of Play Symposium, and want say thanks to all those involved:

Thank you to everyone who came to AHM's State of Play symposium at DCA today.

Thanks, of course, to Gerry Hassan, 24 hour football, Jenny Brownrigg, Jean Urquhart, Ross Sinclair for their presentations and Ewan Morrison, Helen Shaddock, Jacob Kerray, Chris Dooks, The Anthropo-scene Evolution Alliance, t s Beall, Yuck n Yum for their artist manifestos.

We also want to express our thanks to all the team at DCA and DJCAD who made the symposium and CentreSpace exhibition possible - Clive Gillman, Alice Black, Katy Brignall, Ian Banks, Sophia Yadong Hao, Laura Simpson, Andrew Dodds and Graham Domke.

Thanks to the DJCAD students who volunteered throughout the day - Joanne Macfadyen for her work with registration and refreshments and Michael Pilkington and Michael Spink for the video and sound documentation.

It was a great day beginning with lots of thought provoking one-minute artist manifestos and followed by 4 great presentations.

Keep checking the AHM blog for photos, comments etc, and please do send AHM your thoughts and comments.

Tickets for State of Play Symposium 3

2011-09-29T08:53:00.000-07:00

Although tickets can be bought on the day at the DCA Box Office, we recommend booking them in advance to avoid disappointment.

Here is how to do so:

Tickets can be purchased in advance from the DCA Box Office either in person or by calling 01382 909900, Mon - Sat 10am - 8pm, Sun Midday - 8pm with a credit or debit card.

Tickets can also be purchased online at http://www.dca.org.uk/Whats-on/talks-and-events/state-of-play-art-and-culture-in-scotland-today.html

Book now in order to avoid disappointment!

Photos from the CentreSpace exhibition

2011-09-29T08:28:00.000-07:00

Lunch at Symposium 3

2011-09-29T07:53:00.000-07:00

For those of you coming to the Symposium on Saturday (good on you!), the lunch is scheduled for 12:45 - 2pm.

If you wish to eat at the Jute cafe/restaurant at DCA, you may be best to book as we expect it will be busy.

The phone number for Jute is: 01382 909 246

Alternatively, there are various places to eat near to DCA.

Changin Scotland : A weekend of politics, culture and ideas …. And fun!

2011-09-28T08:45:00.000-07:00

Friday November 4th-Sunday November 6th
The Ceilidh Place, Ullapool

Friday November 4th
8.15pm Welcome
Gerry Hassan and Jean Urquhart

The Future of Scotland: The Union and Independence
Elaine C. Smith, actress and campaigner and Alan Cochrane, Daily Telegraph

10.00pm Live Music in the Bar from Babelfish

Saturday November 5th
10.15-11.30am Why did the SNP win?
David Torrance, author, ‘Salmond: Against All Odds’ and Ewan Crawford, former SNP Adviser

11.45-1.00pm A Decade of the Scottish Parliament and its Future
Robert Brown, former Lib Dem MSP and minister

1.00-2.15pm Lunch

2.15-3.30pm Being Second Generation Irish in Modern Scotland
Phil Mac Giolla Bhain, journalist and campaigner, author of ‘A Rebel Journalist’

3.45-5.00pm After ‘The Scheme’ and ‘NEDS’: How Do We Portray Poverty?
Nick Higgins, filmmaker with Morag Gillespie, Glasgow Caledonian University and Peter Mackie Burns, filmmaker

8.30-10.00pm Classic Films of Modern Scotland
Allan Hunter, Co-director of Glasgow Film Festival introduces the second in his series of recent Scottish films

Sunday November 6th
10.30-11.30am The Rise and Fall of the Scottish Left: Life After Tommy Sheridan
Gregor Gall, author, ‘Tommy Sheridan: A Political Biography’

11.30-1.00pm The State of the Scottish Media
Douglas Fraser, BBC Scotland, Kirk Torrance, SNP social media adviser and Joyce Macmillan, freelance journalism

Places are limited! So book early to avoid disappointment!
A weekend ticket £60 Individual sessions £8

To book tickets please phone: The Ceilidh Place Reception 01854-612103
Accomodation available from £25 per person per nite

Coach Hire to Dundee

2011-09-22T08:43:00.000-07:00

Thanks to those who expressed interest in the coach travel option for the AHM symposium.

Unfortunately we have not received enough responses for this to be feasible.

We hope that you are able to find alternative travel arrangements (bus, train are options), and look forward to seeing you at the symposium.

Accompanying Exhibition in CentreSpace, DJCAD, Dundee is OPEN!

2011-09-21T08:51:00.000-07:00

After lots of hard work putting together all the material from the previous 2 symposia and delving into the AHM research material driving the symposia, the accompanying exhibition is now open!

The exhibition features documentation related to the AHM symposia.

Venue: Centrespace, Visual Research Centre, DJCAD (lower floors of DCA)
Dates: Wednesday 21 September and Sunday 2 October (open 12:00 – 16:30)

Photos from exhibition install

2011-09-21T03:20:00.000-07:00

David and Sam ponder where to begin!

The vinyl

The exhibition of documentation related to the AHM symposia is open between Wednesday 21 September and Sunday 2 October (open 12:00 – 16:30) in Centrespace, Visual Research Centre, DJCAD (lower floors of DCA)

Busy preparing DVDs for the CentreSpace exhibition

2011-09-17T08:43:00.000-07:00

Accompanying Exhibition in CentreSpace, DJCAD, Dundee

2011-09-10T08:49:00.000-07:00

Accompanying Exhibition

There will be an accompanying exhibition of documentation related to the AHM symposia in Centrespace, Visual Research Centre, DJCAD (lower floors of DCA) between Wednesday 21 September and Sunday 2 October (open 12:00 – 16:30)

Manifestos confirmed

2011-09-07T08:54:00.000-07:00

AHM are delighted that the following individuals/groups will be giving manifestos at the 3rd AHM State of Play Symposium in Dundee on Saturday 1st October:

AHM
Andrew McCallum
Ewan Morrison
Helen Shaddock
Jacob Kerray
Shauna Penn Florida
The Anthropo-scene Evolution Alliance
Chris Dooks
t s Beall
Yuk n Yum

Manifesto deadline Wednesday 24th August 2011

2011-08-23T15:22:00.001-07:00

Call for one-minute artist manifestos : AHM symposium 3 - DEADLINE END OF DAY TOMORROW - WEDNESDAY 24 AUGUST 2011

The third and final State of Play: Art and Culture in Scotland Today Symposium developed by AHM (Sam Ainsley, David Harding and Sandy Moffat) will take place on Saturday 01 October 2011 at Dundee Contemporary Arts, funded by The Hope Scott Trust. The keynote address will be delivered by Gerry Hassan, a leading writer and critic on culture and politics. Presentations will be given by Jenny Brownrigg Exhibition Director The Glasgow School of Art, artist Ross Sinclair and Jean Urquhart MSP.

Following its success at the first two symposia, a key element of the day will be the spoken delivery of one-minute artist manifestos. Artists will have the opportunity to give voice to their concerns and ambitions about where they feel visual art stands today and what the future might hold. Video examples of the previous artist manifestos are available at http://theahmblog.blogspot.com/

If you would like to participate please submit a text for a one-minute, spoken, personal manifesto or for further information please email: ahmglasgow@googlemail.com

Deadline: Wednesday, 24 August 2011

We very much look forward to hearing from you and to your participating in what has been a hugely successful part of the symposia, much appreciated and commented on by the audiences attending.

AHM

Charles Jencks on Front Row - Monday 22nd August

2011-08-22T15:11:00.000-07:00

On today's Front Row, Mark Lawson visits Northumberlandia, a vast sculpted landform in the shape of a reclining female figure which is being created from 1.5 million tonnes of soil on a mining site near Cramlington, south east Northumberland. Designed by artist Charles Jencks, when complete the earth works will be 34 metres high and 400 metres in length, forming the centrepiece to a new public park.

Certainly (another) a controversial artwork from Charles Jencks.

Call for one-minute artist manifestos - DEADLINE EXTENDED TO WEDNESDAY 24 AUGUST 2011

2011-08-17T04:31:00.000-07:00

Call for one-minute artist manifestos : AHM symposium 3 - DEADLINE EXTENDED TO WEDNESDAY 24 AUGUST 2011

The third and final State of Play: Art and Culture in Scotland Today Symposium developed by AHM (Sam Ainsley, David Harding and Sandy Moffat) will take place on Saturday 01 October 2011 at Dundee Contemporary Arts, funded by The Hope Scott Trust. The keynote address will be delivered by Gerry Hassan, a leading writer and critic on culture and politics. Presentations will be given by Jenny Brownrigg Exhibition Director The Glasgow School of Art, artist Ross Sinclair and Jean Urquhart MSP.

Following its success at the first two symposia, a key element of the day will be the spoken delivery of one-minute artist manifestos. Artists will have the opportunity to give voice to their concerns and ambitions about where they feel visual art stands today and what the future might hold. Video examples of the previous artist manifestos are available at http://theahmblog.blogspot.com/

If you would like to participate please submit a text for a one-minute, spoken, personal manifesto or for further information please email: ahmglasgow@googlemail.com

Deadline: Wednesday, 24 August 2011

We very much look forward to hearing from you and to your participating in what has been a hugely successful part of the symposia, much appreciated and commented on by the audiences attending.

AHM

GSA Video Archive

2011-08-16T04:37:00.000-07:00

The GSA Video Archive is now live and comprehensive and can be found using the link below.

All Friday Event lectures, Architecture lectures and other public events can be viewed at your leisure.

http://www.gsaevents.com/videoarchive

TRAUMATIKON at Summerhall in the Edinburgh Festival

2011-08-13T06:00:00.001-07:00

If you've heard of Tadeusz Kantor, the great Polish theatre director, then you'll want to see TRAUMATIKON at Summerhall (the old Dick Vet building) on the Fringe in Edinburgh. Counter-Active, a generously talented group out of the Rose Bruford College in London have been collaborating with two former members of Kantor's Cricot 2 theatre company who also direct. 'An extraordinary ensemble piece, full of Kantorian moments and gestures' says Noel Witts, and it certainly is. Get along there and experience one of the hits of the Festival. For those who have never heard of Kantor then you have a wonderful surprise in store.

David

Letter in response to AHM's opposition to Star of Caledonia

2011-08-13T05:59:00.000-07:00

David received the following letter through the post the other day in response to the article written in the Herald opposing the Star of Caledonia.

Bookings now being taken for AHM Symposium 3

2011-08-07T05:05:00.000-07:00

State of Play – Art and Culture in Scotland Today
Saturday 1st October 2011, 11am – 4pm (registration from 10:30am)
Cinema, DCA, Dundee
Tickets - £10 Concessions - £5

Tickets can be purchased in advance from the DCA Box Office either in person or by calling 01382 909900, Mon - Sat 10am - 8pm, Sun Midday - 8pm with a credit or debit card. Tickets can also be purchased online at http://www.dca.org.uk/Whats-on/talks-and-events/state-of-play-art-and-culture-in-scotland-today.html

Book now in order to avoid disappointment!

AHM announce symposium 3 - Saturday 1st October 2011, DCA, Dundee

2011-08-07T05:01:00.000-07:00

State of Play – Art and Culture in Scotland Today
Saturday 1st October 2011, 11am – 4pm (registration from 10:30am)
Cinema, DCA, Dundee
Tickets - £10 Concessions - £5

Symposium Themes

AHM’s third and final symposium will bring together the main themes of previous symposia in a debate about the role of art and culture in shaping Scotland’s future, while making reference to an earlier conference entitled “ What Kind of Scotland” organised by the magazine Scottish International in Edinburgh in1973. AHM regard that conference to be of particular relevance to the present debate about Scotland’s future as a nation and as a society.

The keynote address will be delivered by Gerry Hassan, a leading writer and critic on culture and politics. Presentations will be given by Jenny Brownrigg Exhibition Director The Glasgow School of Art, artist Ross Sinclair and Jean Urquhart MSP. Gerry Hassan, the main speaker, has consistently argued the case for cultural change and transformation “ It is time to start living dangerously and take risks. To think and act beyond tribes and labels. Instead, we need to develop new forms of engagement, discussion and debate, developing spaces, forums and places which aid this. This is time for humility, courage and listening, for trying a different kind of politics. It is time to start living, breathing and taking part in the new Scotland.”

David and Sandy at the Ednburgh Festival

2011-08-07T00:58:00.000-07:00

Sandy and went to Katri Walker's 'North West' exhibition opening, on Saturday 6th August, at the Old Ambulance Depot in Brunswick Street, Edinburgh - Aberdeen's Peacock Visual Arts presence at the Edinburgh Arts Festival. The exhibition includes two video installations - very much worth a visit. It was a great festive event - in the rain too.

Also went to actor and writer Mike Maran's one person show at Valvona and Croalla's, Venue 67, on Elm Row, Edinburgh. We are fans of Mike's work and we have seen several of his productions, ranging from Captain Corelli's Mandolin to a Life of Mahler. This time we saw his take on R D Laing - a two hour tour-de-force full of a deep understanding of Laing's life and work and very, very funny. Well worth the price of the ticket, bringing with it the opportunity to pass through one of the finest delicatessens anywhere, to get to the theatre space.

David

Spending on art needs a fresh eye

2011-08-06T06:38:00.000-07:00

Spending on art needs a fresh eye

Published on 6 Aug 2011 in The Herald in response to the letter written by AHM and published on 3rd August 2011

I agree with correspondents who take issue with the proposed erection of the Star of Caledonia sculpture to welcome visitors at our frontier with England (Letters, August 3 & 4).

If implemented, this will join the ranks of other monuments to money wasted, which include the thing that resembles a rack of lamb at the A82 roundabout in Balloch (at a cost of £750,000, I believe) and Arria, the monstrous multi-limbed silver mermaid at Cumbernauld.

Like many communities in Scotland, Cumbernauld suffers from many ills, none of which will be solved by the erection of costly conceits such as this. Likewise, Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park, with its splendid scenic backdrop, hardly needs the embellishment of a roundabout.

As a designer I am supportive of public artworks (the prefix art being of most significance). In these cost-cutting times it appears that spending priorities are skewed, to say nothing of the artistic preferences of those who commission such works.

Bob Murray,

6 Napier Avenue, Cardross.

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity

2011-08-06T04:43:00.000-07:00

AHM recommend the Ken Robinson Schools Kill Creativity talk on TED talks.

"Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity."

Some upcoming VAGA events

2011-08-06T04:39:00.000-07:00

Curator's feedback session: Venice Biennale 2011
The Fruitmarket Gallery: Thursday 25 August, 5.30pm-7.00pm

Continuing VAGA Scotland's series of curatorial discussions this informal event offers an opportunity to network and discuss the numerous shows from the 54th Venice Biennale. Come and join us to share your thoughts about the work you saw in Venice, over a glass of wine.

For VAGA members only.
FREE but please reserve your place if you wish to attend: ben@vaga.co.uk

The Clipperton Project: discussion event
Scottish Book Trust: Saturday 3 September, 11am-12.30pm

The Clipperton Project has invited a group of 16 artists and scientists from 6 different countries on the three-week journey to this completely isolated French atoll in November 2011. The scientists will undertake studies on Climate Change and the Biosphere whilst the artists produce work based on the history of the island and the voyage there. This event will explore the ideas behind The Clipperton Project and reveal what the participants hope to achieve from taking part. Speakers include: Gordon Liddle, Freelance Consultant (chair); Jonathan Bonfiglio, Project Director and Expedition Leader; and Charles Engebretsen, Sculptor. A discussion event of interest to: artists, scientists, gallery and museum curators, exhibition makers, project managers and arts professionals.

FREE but ticketed - BOOKING at: http://vaga-clipperton.eventbrite.com

an alternative view about the Star of Caledonia

2011-08-05T06:46:00.000-07:00

Star of Caledonia a bright and brave Border landmark

Published 05 July 2011 in the Scotsman

CONGRATULATIONS to structural designer Cecil Balmond in conjuring up, through the swirling mists of constitutional uncertainty and the bleak gloom of our financial circumstances, a giant, soaring, jewel-encrusted sculpture - the Star of Caledonia - to straddle the Border with England.
It is a fitting landmark at an iconic location and should inspire first time visitors and returning Scots alike - so long as the vandals don't get at it. Other shapes - a swirling claymore, a sparkling clump of heather, a permanently gurgling bottle of whisky - would have dragged us into banal cliché, triggering a torrent of caustic derision.

Mr Balmond has avoided the conventional symbols and the vainglorious posturing of the grandiose in favour of a design that is novel and inspirational in equal measure. How wise not to have opted for a giant bronze statue of Grandpa Broon, or a massive can of Irn Bru, or Jimmy Shand playing on a diamond-encrusted accordion, the music broadcast through tannoys cemented into the roadside to keep up travellers' morale. Mr Balmond has done well to dodge these images and celebrate instead the enduring contribution of Scottish civil engineering. As such, the Caledonian Star is a tribute to our past as well as a beacon to our future (toilets and services: two miles).

Star of Caledonia fails to shine

2011-08-05T06:44:00.000-07:00

Star of Caledonia fails to shine

Published on 5 Aug 2011 in the Herald in response to the letter written by AHM and published on 3rd August 2011

In common with a great many others I too think the proposed Star of Caledonia is a monstrosity that a few members of the “creative” industry wish to foist upon the road travelling public at Gretna (Letters, August 3).

It is claimed that it will be as memorable as the (awful) Angel of the North.

The words emperor’s new clothes seem to spring to mind. I would urge the Scottish Government to have nothing to do with this project.

Aileen Currie,

Rowanwood,

Lamington,

Near Invergordon.

Bin proposed Star of Caledonia for artistic, cultural and political reasons

2011-08-04T15:18:00.000-07:00

AHM, Ray Mackenzie and Ross Birrell have voiced their concerns about the 'massive piece of art dubbed the Star of Caledonia' by Cecil Balmond which has been selected by the Gretna Landmark Trust to welcome travellers to Scotland.

The letter was published in the Herald on Wednesday 3rd August 2011

Border sculpture faces opposition

2011-08-04T14:19:00.000-07:00

Jody Harrison writes in the Herald about the letter of disapproval written by AHM, Ray Mackenzie and Ross Birrell in relation to the Star of Caledonia.

Note to readers: Sam is not a former member of the Scottish Arts Council, Alexander Moffat is a painter rather than sculptor and David Harding is primarily an artist as opposed to a writer!

This article was published in the Herald on Wednesday 3rd August 2011

HICA: Grow Together: Concrete Poetry in Brazil and Scotland

2011-08-02T06:32:00.000-07:00

End of exhibition event - 7 August

To mark the end of the current exhibition, Grow Together: Concrete Poetry in Brazil and Scotland, Dr Nuno Sacramento, Director of the Scottish Sculpture Workshop, will give a talk on the work of Ferreira Gullar, poet and author of the Neo-Concrete Manifesto.

The talk is free. It will be in the gallery at HICA on Sunday 7 August, from 3pm.

The exhibition will be open for viewing before and after the talk, 2-5pm.

Grow Together: Concrete Poetry in Brazil and Scotland

3 July - 7 August

Augusto de Campos | Haroldo de Campos | Décio Pignatari

Edwin Morgan | Ian Hamilton Finlay | Geraldo de Barros

HICA, Dalcrombie, Loch Ruthven, Dores, Inverness-shire, IV2 6UA, UK

T: +44 (0)1808-521-306 info@h-i-c-a.org www.h-i-c-a.org

CALL FOR 'ONE MINUTE ARTIST MANIFESTOS - symposium 3

2011-07-27T14:08:00.000-07:00

Deadline for submissions Monday 15th August 2011

Following its success at the first two symposia, a key element of the third symposium will be the spoken delivery of ‘One Minute Artist Manifestos’. Artists will have the opportunity to give voice to their concerns and ambitions about where they feel visual art stands today and what the future might hold. Video examples of the previous artist manifestos are available at http://theahmblog.blogspot.com/

If you would like to participate please submit a text for a one-minute, spoken, personal manifesto or for further information please email: ahmglasgow@googlemail.com

REMEMBER DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS IS MONDAY 15TH AUGUST 2011. We very much look forward to hearing from you and to your participating in what has been a hugely successful part of the symposia, much appreciated and commented on by the audiences attending.

Save the Date: AHM State of Play Symposium 3 - Saturday 1st October 2011 at DCA, Dundee

Art in the 21st Century by Peter Hill

2011-07-26T17:21:00.000-07:00

Peter Hill's latest contribution to the Times Higher Education

Tony Cragg in Conversation

2011-07-26T16:11:00.000-07:00

AFTERNOON TALK

Saturday 30 July, 2-3pm. £5 (£4). Hawthornden Lecture Theatre, Scottish National Gallery.

Tony Cragg in Conversation
To open the first museum show in Britain for more than a decade - Tony Cragg: Sculptures and Drawings - we welcome the great sculptor himself, in conversation with Patrick Elliott, Senior Curator at the Gallery of Modern Art and curator of the exhibition. Not to be missed!

Booking:
Tickets available in advance and in person from the Information Desk in the Gardens Entrance of the Scottish National Gallery. Alternatively, you can call 0131 624 6560 with your debit/credit card details.

Tony Cragg: Sculptures and Drawings opens 30 July - 6 November 2011 at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art One. For more details, go to: www.nationalgalleries.org

Review of Live your questions now by Magdalen Chua

2011-07-26T15:48:00.000-07:00

By Magdalen Chua

Live your questions now is a survey exhibition of artists over 60 years old at the Mackintosh Museum of The Glasgow School of Art. The title is taken from a quote by Rainer Maria Rilke, on responding to the uncertainties of life by living out one’s questions, opening the possibility of living one’s way into the answer. Within the exhibition, several artists reflect on the intersections between art and life through the way the body, metaphorically and physically, is experienced and located in space.

Sam Ainsley, (Left) Untitled, 2011, dimensions variable; (Right top) The darkened splinterecho brainstream tide..., 2011, acrylic paint and print on canvas, 102 x 102 x 7cm; (Right bottom) Where there are hopes, there will always be fear, 2011, acrylic paint and print on canvas, 102 x 102 x 7cm; courtesy of Mackintosh Museum

Sam Ainsley’s (b. 1950, lives and works in Glasgow) works convey the relationship of the body to larger spatial contexts, in ways that express the psychological state. Against the corner of the gallery, Untitled comprises two outlines of Scotland with a successive sequence of word associations, such as “insecurity, knowing, disbelief, belief, love…” written around the perimeter. Viewed from a distance, the outlines appear as lungs of the body with the words as capillaries, making the emotions expressed by the words as the lifeline that courses through the country.

Lygia Pape, Tteia 1.A, 2011, gold thread, copper nails, 314cm x 321cm; courtesy of Mackintosh Museum

In the other corner of the gallery, the viewer’s body becomes the medium of experience between material and space in Tteia, or web, by Lygia Pape (Brazil, b.1927, d.2004). Assembled from a set of instructions, gold thread is strung to form a fluid and seamless structure that wraps, compresses yet also enlivens the spaces within and around. Pape was part of the Concrete movement and its reaction, Neo-Concretism, that sought to integrate a work within space as a reflection of how art functions in life, in way that opened the role for the viewer’s physical interaction and interpretation.

Helena Almeida, (Left) BAÑADA EN LÁGRIMAS #14, 2009, framed black and white photograph, 175 X 114.4 X 4.7 cm, (Centre) BAÑADA EN LÁGRIMAS #13, 2009, framed black and white photograph, 175 X 114.4 X 4.7 cm, (Right) Untitled, 2010, video, b&w, sound, 18', edition of 5; courtesy of Mackintosh Museum

This Neo-Concretist approach towards art-making influenced Helena Almeida (Portugal, b.1934), whose photography and video works have experimented with means to extend elements, from colour or the body, out of a confined space. Two photographs from the series BAÑADA EN LÁGRIMAS, or bathed in tears, are of Almeida encountering her reflection in a pool of water on the ground. The photographed action enlarges the space and view above Almeida, as a window to the world beyond the physical limits of the frame.

Against the backdrop of a rising number of survey shows of young contemporary artists, Live your questions now presents artists whose lives, as seen through their practice across decades, bear out philosophical challenges through persistent inquiry. The exhibition runs till 1 October 2011, and also includes works by Alasdair Gray, Joan Jonas, Ana Jotta, Michael Kidner and Běla Kolářová.

Ross Sinclair Artist Talk

2011-07-25T15:41:00.000-07:00

Ross Sinclair
Artist's Talk
Wednesday 27 July 2011

7.00pm

Empty Shop, Bogie Street, Huntly

Free Admission. All welcome.
Refreshments will be served.

Artist Talk

Huntly's artist in residence, Ross Sinclair, will be giving a talk about himself, his past work and his current project in Huntly, on Wednesday the 27 July 2011 at 7pm, the Empty Shop, Bogie Street, Huntly.

All welcome.

The Real Life Gordon’s in Huntly

Huntly is the ancestral home of the Clan Gordon and the ancient seat of Huntly Castle.

The incredible story of the appearance of the Gordon’s in Huntly at this dynamic period in Scottish history after the Battle of Bannockburn was only the beginning of 500 years of the most extreme drama. For hundreds of years the Earls and Dukes were some of the most powerful men in Scotland, second only to the Kings and their heirs. Their story illuminates power shifts, battles, intrigue, endless castle building and ransacking and (dis)loyalty to the Kings and Queens of the day, death, disinheritance and finally the lack of an heir leading to the passing of the titles with the death of the Last Duchess of Gordon in 1864. That is with the exception the title of Marquis, which remains nearby to this day with Granville Gordon, 13th Marquis of Huntly and Earl of Aboyne.

The history of the Gordon’s in Huntly is inexorably woven in and through the history of Scotland, from the gifting of the lands in the 14th C. by Robert the Bruce to the tragic story of Mary Queen of Scots where the Gordon’s Catholicism meets the Reformation head on. The raising of The Gordon Highlanders in 1794 by the Fourth Duke brought a new international dimension to the story and the Gordon Schools established some 40 years later by Elizabeth, Duchess of Gordon continue to flourish to this day.

Having made works before which reflect on the identity and mythology of the Scots and Scotland this is a fascinating opportunity for me to examine, at close quarters, how this flow of history played out on a local level, which in turn often had National consequences in the turbulent history of this small Nation. (Ross Sinclair)

Ross plan's to work his way into a project that aims to activate and illuminate this incredible story, of which many of the people of Huntly today are often unfamiliar. He is undertaking interviews, working in the studio, making works, meeting many learned folk who are experts in history, local, national and international in order to expand his and our horizons of Huntly and the Gordon’s.

Peter Hill on MONA panel session for ABC Radio National

2011-07-24T15:36:00.000-07:00

An adult Disneyland, a bold experiment in the way contemporary art is displayed, a temple to sex and death or one man's obsessive folly—David Walsh's Museum of Old and New Art in Hobart has become the most talked-about gallery in the country. It opened with the local art world's most lavish party in January and the visitors have just kept coming since then, more than 200,000 according to the gallery. So what is MONA's appeal and can it be sustained? Amanda Smith is in conversation with artistic director Juliana Engberg, philosopher John Armstrong and artist Peter Hill.

To listen to the radio programme please visit
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/artworks/

Debate about MONA, art, and value - Wheeler Centre, Melbourne

2011-07-10T14:05:00.000-07:00

David Walsh's Museum of Old and New Art in Hobart has become the most talked-about gallery in the country and is attracting thousands of visitors from all around the world. But is it any good?
Join philosopher John Armstrong; Artistic Director at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Juliana Engberg; and artist Dr Peter Hill in a debate about MONA, art, and value at the Wheeler Centre in Melbourne on Thursday July 14 at 6pm.
The discussion will be hosted by Amanda Smith, presenter of ABC Radio National's Artworks program, and will launch Island magazine's new MONA issue. It also contains Peter Hill's memoir, "One and Three Flashbacks" on the influence of Joseph Kosuth's conceptual practices on his own work, as well as their interview about Kosuth's recent installation at ACCA, based on Beckett's Waiting for Godot.

Dr Peter Hill is Adjunct Professor of Fine Art at RMIT University

Have your say about I Value the Arts and the National Campaign for the Arts

2011-07-09T14:14:00.000-07:00

Have your say about I Value the Arts and the National Campaign for the Arts

The National Campaign for the Arts (NCA) is the only independent organisation in the UK that is campaigning for all the arts. At this very important time for the arts, it continues to influence policy makers and funders, ensuring that the arts remain a valued part of our society and are accessible to everyone.

In the same way that the arts sector is at a critical point, so is the NCA. At a time of huge change in the sector, NCA are keen to hear from you about your involvement in I Value The Arts, and about how you think the NCA can be most effective for the arts, both locally and nationally.

NCA would be very grateful if you would complete a short survey they have put together, the results of which will feed into the development of plans for I Value the Arts and our broader strategic plan, due for completion this Autumn. Your feedback will directly inform what NCA do in the future. The survey should only take 10 minutes or so to complete. To access it please visit

http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/578253/27045201533f

If you do have any questions though, please contact info@artscampaign.org.uk.

Live your questions now

2011-07-04T14:29:00.000-07:00

Preview: Thursday 14 July, 6-8pm
15 July – 1 Oct 2011
Mackintosh Museum, The Glasgow School of Art

Sam Ainsley
Helena Almeida
Alasdair Gray
Joan Jonas
Ana Jotta
Michael Kidner
Běla Kolářová
Lygia Pape

With the focus of survey shows predominantly on emergent artists, what can we learn from a later generation of contemporary visual artists? ‘Live Your Questions Now’ is a survey exhibition of Scottish, UK and international contemporary artists over 60 years old.

The exhibition title is inspired by a quote from Rainer Maria Rilke’s ‘Letters to a young poet’ (1934):

“Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”

Mackintosh Museum
The Glasgow School of Art
167 Renfrew Street, Glasgow G3 6RQ

Opening hours: Mon–Fri 10.30am–4.30pm, Saturday 10am-2pm, Sunday closed
Free admission to gallery

www.gsaevents.com
www.gsa.ac.uk/exhibitions

Image credit: Helena Almeida, ‘Untitled’ (2010), video, b&w, sound, 18’, edition of 5. Courtesy the artist.

Review of AHM Symposium 2 @ National Galleries by Arcadia Now

2011-06-25T16:18:00.000-07:00

Better late than never, here's my review of AHM's second symposium in a series of three on the state of art and culture in Scotland today. It took place at National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, on 2 April 2011.

Any discussion staged now on the state of art and culture today is set against a backdrop of anxiety. And don’t we all know it. If it isn’t funding cuts, it’s the death of criticism, or the rocky relations of art and education. But even as we pencil another furrowed brow in the diary, it still seems important to have these discussions. Undoubtedly, artists need to voice their concerns. And it’s good to talk.

Through their Research Residency at Glasgow Sculpture Studios, AHM - Sam Ainsley, David Harding and Sandy Moffat -are staging a series of three symposia. Their aim is “to raise the profile of Scottish artists in the public domain whereby they can make a more significant contribution to the public life of Scotland, and to directly influence politicians and institutions of the vital importance of the arts to our society.”

After the first symposium addressed the situation on home turf, the second featured presentations by Scottish artists working internationally. Introducing the event as Chairperson, Sandy Moffat asked: “What is truly distinctive about Scottish art? Where is Scotland in the world order? Can this small state exist at the level of big ones?”

Departing from the broader question of art’s status in society, most of the speakers addressed this theme of Scottishness. Dean of CalArts Thomas Lawson spoke of artists as “essentially rootless” by profession: they relocate in search of a network that will sustain them and support their practice. As such, he sees their Scottishness as unimportant.

Artist Jim Mooney painted a vivid picture of his formative experiences at Edinburgh College of Art and then the Royal College of Arts. He had felt personally liberated by the College’s embrace of the avant-garde, and expounded the merits of an art school education. For Mooney, mergers between universities and art schools – such as the imminent one between ECA and Edinburgh University – are seriously detrimental to art education.

Following this talk, comments from the floor were concerned with the art world’s increasing academicisation. Sandy Moffat urged: “Let’s have more questions about art.” But when such questions were asked, they seemed to be met with little response. Sogol Mabadi suggested that artists should allow outsiders more opportunity to see artwork during the making process. By making art less exclusive, we might help to protect its future. Speaking from the panel, Peter Hill said briefly that this might be one way – but he didn’t advocate only one form of action. Of the others he would adopt, he made no mention.

Unfortunately, this rather strange exchange was typical of the symposium. Presentations were mostly interesting, and the discussion was engaging. But it was almost as though AHM had preconceived ideas about what they wanted from their audience, and we weren’t fulfilling them. In spite of their aims and paper handouts, their agenda for the symposium remained obscured.

Concluding the day, Moffat praised the value of having these discussions before adding sagely: ‘but we still have a long way to go’. While we would all acknowledge that art today faces problems, it’s an oversight to assume that we agree on what those problems are or what the desired situation would be. If artists wish us all to act in pursuit of a common goal, we must first be clear on what the problem is. As yet, there has been no census.

Jac Mantle

http://arcadianow.wordpress.com

Skulpturenpark Waldfrieden in Wuppertal

2011-06-23T08:19:00.000-07:00

Tony Cragg's first museum show in Britain for more than a decade opens at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art on July 30.

Last month Sandy Moffat visited the Skulpturenpark Waldfrieden in Wuppertal where Cragg has worked for the past 25 years.

The Park is situated in 16 hectacres of forest surrounding the Villa Waldfrieden, a house built on the principles of anthroposophic architecture, by the architect Franz Krause for the paint manufacturer Kurt Herberts in 1946.

The Cragg Foundation has renovated the villa and created an exhibition centre for exhibiting both outside and indoors.

Scotland in Europe: Europe in Scotland

2011-06-14T14:42:00.000-07:00

An exhibition entitled Scotland in Europe: Europe in Scotland celebrating both Richard Demarco's 80th birthday and marking his unique contribution to the understanding of Scottish and European culture opens in Scotland House, Brussels on June 14. For the past three months Sandy Moffat has been acting as curator for the exhibition, working in collaboration with Richard Demarco and his deputy, Terry Ann Newman.

Scotland House
Rond-Point Schumann 6
1040 Brussels
Scotland in Europe: Europe in Scotland

Event Photographs by Richard Demarco from the Demarco Collection and Archive

Richard Demarco is an artist, gallery director, educator, promoter of theatre and cultural commentator. He is also a Scot, a Scots-Italian, a European and an internationalist whose worth is recognised the world over. Born in Edinburgh in 1930, his life’s work has centered around the presentation of major European artists in Scotland and the promotion of Scottish artists in Europe. For the past fifty years Richard Demarco’s mission has been to unite the cultures, histories and arts of both western and eastern Europe with much of his pioneering work undertaken at the height of the Cold War. His extraordinary achievements were marked with the debate of a motion in the Scottish Parliament ‘ that the Parliament notes and celebrates the 80th birthday of Richard Demarco” in September 2010. In her concluding statement, Fiona Hyslop, The Minister for Culture and External Affairs said “ I have asked Scotland House, our office in Brussels, to mount an exhibition of items drawn from the Demarco Collection to demonstrate the significant role that Richard Demarco has played in cementing international friendships and promoting Scotland overseas through the powerful medium of the arts.”

The theme of the exhibition and of Richard Demarco’s life is connection. The aphorism “ Art begins in the meeting of friends “ with its implications both social and of constant new beginnings has often been associated with him. It may surprise some that a man who has so fully inhabited the often-febrile world of contemporary art is a man of deep religious conviction, and the sense of moral seriousness that has always marked his response to art and artists is rooted in this. The long term personal associations he has built up indicates that art and life are not separate. Art for him does not begin or end with an object.

Demarco’s approach means he has never sought to function as an exhibition curator as the term is commonly understood. It has neither been a matter of presenting a programme of exhibitions in which contemporaneousness or variety is conceived as sufficient raison d’etre in itself, nor of engaging lightly and moving on. On the contrary, running through his exhibitions, journeys, conferences and other events from the 1960’s onwards has been an unwavering purpose to change the terms of public discourse about art, society and politics, in both post-war and post-Cold War Europe.

The foundations of this ambitious project lie in his ethical and political commitments, but also in the relationships he has forged and sustained with individual artists, which clarified his commitment to ideas beyond aesthetics, to cultural pluralism, and the need to overcome the political and other forms of division that have so disfigured Europe during his lifetime. For that reason the idea of an endless flowing dialogue stands at the heart of this exhibition.

If we begin with his painted Map of Europe, a visual representation of the many journeys over land and sea Richard Demarco has made, we can gain an immediate understanding of his vision of Europe. “I am painting a picture of Europe which is beyond the politicians”. Italy and Scotland come together in the images of the great Italian artist MImmo Rotella and of the production of Towards MacBeth - A Prologue on the Island of Inchcolm by La Zattera di Babele in 1988 and 1989. Here the two Lady MacBeths (one Scottish and one Italian) speak the words of Shakespeare in a landscape shaped by Scottish Medieval history. The art worlds of Scotland and Italy again unite in the works of Arthur Watson and Kate Whiteford at the Venice Biennale in 1990, and of Portugal and Scotland with the paintings of Paula Rego sited in the Demarco Gallery in 1989 - a collaboration with the Gulbenkian Foundation.

The classical heritage of Ancient Greece assumes physical reality as Apollo in Ian Hamilton Finlay’s ‘ Gesamtkunstwerk ‘ at Little Sparta in Lanarkshire,
providing proof in the legend that every year Apollo feels obliged to leave his Grecian world in Delphi and travel north-westwards towards the land where the North Wind blows - the Hypoborean. That land can be found in the Hebridean world of Scotland and in Ireland’s Atlantean islands. The Celtic World is represented by an image of the architect-art patron Michael Scott holding the death mask of James Joyce. Scott helped to select the jury for the first ROSC exhibition which took place in Dublin in 1967. “ROSC” is the Old Irish word for “poetry of vision”. Richard Demarco maintains that no other language has such a word to describe the work of the visual artist.

In 1970 Richard Demarco travelled to West Germany to develop ideas for an exhibition of contemporary German art. The resulting exhibition named Strategy: Get Arts, opened at Edinburgh College of Art as part of the Edinburgh International Festival. A collaboration between the Demarco Gallery and the Kunsthalle Dusseldorf, it was a ground breaking event unlike any other Festival Exhibition. The emphasis was not on the installation of
paintings and sculptures within the accepted idea of an art gallery, but rather an exhibition ‘in progress’.

Thity-six artists contributed to the show, among them Gunther Uecker, Gerhard Richter, Sigmar Polke, Klaus Rinke, Konrad Klapheck, Dieter Rot, Blinky Palermo, Daniel Spoerri and Joseph Beuys. Demarco was to enjoy a special friendship with Joseph Beuys, who between 1970 and 1981 visited Scotland on eight separate occasions to further co-operate with him. In Strategy: Get Arts, Beuys exhibited Das Rudel (The Pack) and presented his Celtic (Kinloch Rannoch) Scottish Symphony, a performance with Henning Christiansen. Beuys remains a seminal influence on Demarco to this day.

For many years the Demarco Gallery actively promoted cultural links with Eastern Europe, both in terms of presenting artists such as Paul Neagu in 1969, Marina Abramovic in 1973, and organising exhibitions of contemporary Polish, Romanian and Yugoslav art. Atelier ‘72, Demarco’s Festival programme of contemporary Polish visual art, literature and film and theatre, included Josef Szjana’s installation Replique Auschwitz and Magdalena Abakanowicz’s Red Rope, two heavy hawsers, one of which emerged from the windows of the Demarco Gallery, the other being anchored above the back doorway of St Mary’s Cathedral in Palmerston Place. As each point was visible from the other, the connection between both, and the unity of the rope, was thus implied.

As part of Atelier ‘72 ,Tadeusz Kantor’s Cricot 2 Theatre company performed Stanislaw Witckiewicz’s play The Water Hen. They returned in 1973 staging Lovelies and Dowdies in the former Edinburgh Poorhouse. The production was remarkable in its almost intrusive participatory treatment of the audience who were forced to move about the action and made to integrate with parts of the set designed by Kantor as a piece of sculpture, including on separate occasions Sean Connery and Joseph Beuys, who were encouraged to dress as additional characters in the play.

The images of the journalist and author Neal Ascherson and of the artist Alexander Moffat allude to, in Ascherson’s case, the long history of relations between Scotland and Poland, while Moffat is seen sitting in front of his painting of the collapse of the Berlin Wall, holding a drawing based on a performance of MoonPlay/Tattoo by The Open Stage Obala from Sarajevo he witnessed in the Demarco Gallery in 1987/88.

The exhibition draws upon the vast collection of photographs taken over the past fifty years by Richard Demarco and now regarded as leading examples of Event Photography, a new genre of modern art. The artists involved in Event Photography all used the camera but they were identified, not as photographers, but as artists in meaningful collaboration with artists. For Richard Demarco these photographs are at the heart of his life’s work and this exhibition underlines the fact that the Demarco Collection and Archive is about the future as well as the past. As he himself says “it is a total work of art which has come into being over six decades as a result of the contributions made to it by generations of artists, all inspired by the physical reality of Scotland, its history and its cultural heritage. I am grateful that I can regard it as the latest development in an on-going, living work of art. “

Alexander Moffat May 2011

Scottish Art since 1960: Historical Reflections and Contemporary Overviews - Craig Richardson in conversation with Dominic Paterson

2011-05-22T15:27:00.000-07:00

Scottish Art since 1960: Historical Reflections and Contemporary Overviews provides us with an analysis of the art of this period through a new chronology. The book includes interviews with artists, curators and critics, and provides access to Richardson’s non-catalogued personal archives.

Richardson examines and proposes a sequence of 'exemplary' works that outline a self-conscious definition of the interrogative term 'Scottish art.' Among the artists whose work is discussed are John Latham, Simon Starling, Alan Johnston, Roderick Buchanan, Christine Borland, Joan Eardley, Alexander Moffat, Douglas Gordon, Graham Fagen, and many others.

'This is an important book. It reinvigorates old debates and sets up new ones. It is a well informed, energizing read.'

Murdo Macdonald, University of Dundee, UK

There was virtually a full house at Glasgow Sculpture Studios on Thursday evening 19th of May to hear Craig Richardson talk about his long-awaited book, ‘Scottish Art since 1960’. The sections of the book fall roughly into each of the decades leading up to 2003. In conversation with Dominic Paterson, Craig acknowledged a debt to Sandy Moffat for the extensive writing he had done, for catalogues and magazines, over the period covered in the book. These had offered him a wealth of information especially of the earlier period. He argued that as a history he had, where necessary, gone to great lengths to verify his facts and sources. The work of John Latham on the West Lothian shale bings is dealt with in the book which raised the issue of the title of the book. In the discussion it was suggested that ‘Art from Scotland’ would be a more accurate title but Craig would have none of it.

Getting funding to write and then publish the book had been difficult which meant going to an ‘academic’ publisher with the result that the book price is high - £65 – 00 (fifty if you order it on the web from the publisher ). As Craig said in the pub later it’s what you might ay for a pair of shoes.

Order the book online at www.ashgate.com/history and quote

HI IEMK25

War and Peace Artists by Peter Hill

2011-05-21T15:05:00.000-07:00

Peter Hill's most recent Times Higher Education article is about War and Peace Artists.

Save the date - Saturday 1st October - Symposium 3

2011-05-11T15:54:00.000-07:00

The third and final State of Play: Art and Culture in Scotland Today will take place on Sat 1st October at Cinema 1, DCA, Dundee.

The keynote speaker is already confirmed (which we are all very excited about!) and the event is shaping up to be radically different form 1 and 2 with a new format and more!

Keep checking the AHM blog for further updates

Chris Freemantle comments on AHM Symposium 2

2011-05-10T12:24:00.000-07:00

For Chris' comments on the AHM Symposium in Edinburgh, please visit his blog at http://chris.fremantle.org/ or see below:

Sometimes it takes a little while

or, How has Scotland changed?

AHM‘s second State of Play Symposium was a very different affair from the first. Held in Edinburgh in the Hawthornden Lecture Theatre of the National Galleries of Scotland, it was comfortable, elegant, sophisticated and at the heart of the establishment.

In November when we first met at the invitation of AHM to discuss the state of play, it was in the lecture theatre at Gilmorehill in the University of Glasgow. It felt edgy, not least because the technical staff had just been handed redundancy notices, but also because it was a week before Westminster’s “budget of cuts.” There was talk of organising. Philip Schlesinger outlined the cultural policy context for the formation of Creative Scotland, describing clearly the increasing economism that has resulted in the arts being transformed into the creative industries, with all the entailed lack of criticality. Peter McCaughey told everyone to join the Scottish Artists Union (and this still applies).

For the second event AHM had invited ex-pat Scots to speak.
The event started with a virtually broadcast quality presentation by Neal Ascherson on the history of the Scots overseas. He focused on the Scots in the Baltics, Poland in particular, and how that forms part of a wider European history, developing themes he explored in Stone Voices: The search for Scotland. Rather than list all the excellent speakers, and it was a powerhouse of a day in terms of the line-up of speakers (see AHM blog for videos), I want to reflect on why the question and answer sessions never seemed to get into a groove.

The underlying recurring story was of extremely talented, successful and interesting artists graduating from Scottish art schools in the 70s and high-tailing it out of Scotland as quickly as possible. I am sure that the word stultifying was used. The fact that it took until the early 80s for Scotland to decriminalise same-sex relationships was also mentioned. Whilst we might look back on the period as one of radical actions (Demarco, Beuys, Hamilton Finlay, APG), the reality for young artists was an oppressive environment where according to one speaker it took years to un-learn the house style of Edinburgh College of Art’s Painting Department. There was almost no contemporary art (apart from the Scottish Arts Council’s Gallery), and very few artist-led or run spaces (in Edinburgh there were The New 57 Gallery and the Printmakers).

And now? Artist-led spaces abound and contemporary art is everywhere. The major cultural institutions have bought into contemporary art big time: it’s projects in schools, strategies in healthcare, instrumental to regeneration projects. So contemporary visual arts are out there, visible and challenging.
Probably a quarter of the audience were from other parts of the world (myself included) choosing to live and work in Scotland because Scotland is now an interesting place to be, and whilst globalisation has made mobility something taken for granted and artists are always coming and going, it is still a decision, sometimes made for love rather than professional returns, to be in Scotland rather than London, LA, Sydney, New York, Berlin or anywhere else.
So the audience for the AHM event, who are choosing to live and work in Scotland now, were faced with people who all left ages ago and made their lives (very successfully) elsewhere: difficult to have that conversation.
But as a way to focus the ‘state of play’, to make it clear that ‘now’ is not the same as ‘before’, and to prepare us to think about the future when we meet again in September in Dundee for the third and final event, AHM placed this symposium right on the mark. Verdict: troubling and requiring thought.

The questions that should have been asked are:
To the speakers: “If you were young again and here now would you still leave and if not, why not?”
To the audience: “How do we work out what’s really important and how do we fight for it?”

If the visual arts in Scotland are vital, alive, vibrant, then what makes them vital and how do we tell that story? Perhaps the story starts,
“In the 70s the best and brightest talent felt compelled to leave Scotland for other parts of the world. It’s striking the extent to which that situation has changed. Now people from other parts of the world choose to make Scotland the base for their practices. The most talented Scottish artists stay in Scotland and work internationally. We need to build on this transformation."

AHM remind us to “Work as if you live in the early days of a better society.” It seems to me that at this Symposium they demonstrated one of the ways in which we do live in the early days of a better society.

Margaret Hunter Keynote Presentation

2011-05-05T13:53:00.000-07:00

Keynote presentation by Margaret Hunter at the 2nd AHM State of Play Symposium at The Hawthornden Lecture Theatre, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh on Saturday 2nd April 2011.

Peter Hill Keynote Presentation

2011-05-05T08:47:00.000-07:00

Keynote presentation by Peter Hill at the 2nd AHM State of Play Symposium at The Hawthornden Lecture Theatre, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh on Saturday 2nd April 2011.

Liz Ann MacGregor Video Presentation

2011-05-05T08:45:00.000-07:00

Video presentation by Liz Ann MacGregor at the 2nd AHM State of Play Symposium at The Hawthornden Lecture Theatre, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh on Saturday 2nd April 2011.

Jim Mooney Keynote Presentation

2011-05-05T08:41:00.001-07:00

Keynote presentation by Jim Mooney at the 2nd AHM State of Play Symposium at The Hawthornden Lecture Theatre, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh on Saturday 2nd April 2011.

Thomas Lawson Keynote Presentation

2011-05-04T14:43:00.000-07:00

Keynote presentation by Thomas Lawson at the 2nd AHM State of Play Symposium at The Hawthornden Lecture Theatre, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh on Saturday 2nd April 2011.

Douglas Gordon Keynote Presentation

2011-05-04T13:51:00.000-07:00

Keynote presentation by Douglas Gordon at the 2nd AHM State of Play Symposium at The Hawthornden Lecture Theatre, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh on Saturday 2nd April 2011.

AHM Symposium 2 - Introduction

2011-05-03T15:53:00.000-07:00

Sandy Moffat, Chair, introduces AHM's 2nd State of Play - Art and Culture in Scotland Today Symposium at The Hawthorden Lecture Theatre, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh

Closing event of the exhibition ¡Patria o Libertad!

2011-04-29T06:43:00.000-07:00

Press Release
11.04 2011

Closing event of the exhibition
¡Patria o Libertad!

‘Guantanamera’
Screening and Artist talk with Ross Birrell, Paco Barragán and Roos Gortzak

Sunday, 8 May 2011 - 14.00 - 17.00 hrs
Entrance includes exhibition visit and a drink (see www.cobra-museum.nl for entrance fees. )

As a closing event to the well received international group exhibition ¡Patria o Libertad! (19.02 – 08.05 2011) in the framework of the Cobra Contemporary programme, the Cobra Museum will screen a recent work by participating artist Ross Birrell (Glasgow, 1969), followed by an artist talk with the Dutch curator Roos Gortzak (Kunsthalle Basel) and Paco Barragán, guest curator of the exhibition.

Guantanamera (2009) is a two-part film by Ross Birrell and David Harding, produced by Douglas Gordon. The work was shot in Cuba and Miami in the period immediately after the resignation of Fidel Castro and follows the recording and broadcasting of the most famous of Cuban songs, Guantanamera, by two singers from across the political divide of contemporary Cuban identity. The original lyrics to the song are derived from the Versos Sencillos of the Cuban national poet, revolutionary and martyr, José Martí who is claimed by both pro-Castro and anti-Castro Cubans alike. The Guantanamera films follow the recording and broadcast of separate versions of the song in Cuba and Miami.

Part 1, edited in poetic visual stanzas, traces a journey through the length and breadth of contemporary Cuba from Guantanamo to Havana. In Part 2 we encounter the annual José Martí parade and the inauguration of Barack Obama.

After the screening Ross Birrell, Roos Gortzak and Paco Barragan will speak in relation to Birrell’s work Envoy (NYC) (which is part of the exhibition ¡Patria o Libertad!) and Guantanamera. They will approach the themes of Patriotism and Freedom with reference to both José Martí and Alain Badiou on Art, Politics and Love, and the potential contradiction between fidelity to the truth of patriotism on the one hand and fidelity to freedom on the other.

Programme (English spoken)

14.00 introduction
14.15-15.00 screening of part 1 – film ‘Guantanamera’
15.00-15.15 break
15.15-16.00 screening part 2 – film ‘Guantanamera’
16.00-16.45 artist talk with Ross Birrell, Paco Barragán and Roos Gortzak

Ross Birrell (Glasgow, 1969) is an artist, writer and lecturer (Glasgow School of Arts). In 2007 Birrell was awarded an SAC Artist’s Film & Video Award to make a collaborative film with David Harding in Cuba and Miami. Previous films with Harding include Port Bou: 18 Fragments for Walter Benjamin (2006) and Cuernavaca: A Journey in Search of Malcolm Lowry (2006) commissioned by Kunsthalle Basel. Solo exhibitions include Envoy, Büro Friedrich, Berlin (2003) and the Fries Museum, Leeuwarden (2005). He recently took part in Living Today, Mackintosh Museum, Glasgow School of Art (2011), Strange Comfort (Afforded by the Profession), Swiss Institute Rome/Kunsthalle Basel (2010), Under the Volcano, Bluecoat Gallery (2009), Romantic Conceptualism, Kunsthalle Nürnberg and BAWAG Foundation Vienna (2007), Das Gelände, Kunsthalle Nürnberg (2008) and TIMECODE, Dundee Contemporary Arts (2009). Publications include ‘The Gift of Terror: Suicide Bombing as Potlatch’, Art in the Age of Terror (London: Paul Holberton Press, 2005), reprinted in Concerning War: A Critical Reader (BAK: Utrecht, 2006) and translated in Leituras Da Morte (Annablume: Sao Paulo, 2007) and in brumaria (Madrid, 2008). Guantanamera launched at Glasgow International 2010 and has subsequently been exhibited and screened in Swiss Institute in Rome, Kunsthalle Basel and Galleri Rotor 1, Gothenburg and will be part of a fothcoming exhibition at the Americas Society, New York in May. Ross Birrell is represented by Ellen de Bruijne Projects, Amsterdam.

Paco Barragán (Oviedo, Spain) is independent curator and arts writer based in Madrid and Miami. He is Associate Editor of Artpulse magazine (Miami) and curatorial advisor of the Artist Pension Trust (APT), New York. He served as co-curator for the International Biennale of Contemporary Art (IBCA) at the National Gallery in Prague in 2005; and the Bienal de Lanzarote in 2009.
His exhibitions include: The End of History…and The Return of History Painting, Museum for Modern Art (MMKA) in Arnhem, 2011; ¡Patria o Libertad! The Rethorics of Patriotism, Miami Dade College, Miami, 2010; Cinema X: I Like to Watch, MoCCA, Toronto, 2010; When a Painting Moves… Something Must Be Rotten, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico (MAPR), Puerto Rico, 2009 and the Stenenser Museum, Oslo, 2011; The Non-Age. The Rebel of Age, Kunsthalle Winterthur, Wintherthur, Switzerland, and MMKA, Arnhem, The Netherlands, 2012. He is author of The Art to come/El arte que viene, 2002, Subastas Siglo XXI, and the The Art Fair Age released by CHARTA in June 2008; and editor of Don’t Call it Performance (Salamanca Ciudad de Cultura), 2004, with essays by Javier Panera, RoseLee Goldberg, and Coco Fusco, and Sustainibilities (CHARTA), 2008, with essays by Slavoj Zizek, Gianni Vattimo, Simon Critchley, Gilles Lipovetsky, Rirkrit Tiravanija, and Christiane Paul.

Roos Gortzak is currently exhibitions and project manager at the Kunsthalle Basel. She has worked as curator (The Vincent 2006, Stedelijk Museum; Tropical Abstraction, Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam, 2005; Relay, Biennial Puerto Rica, 2004; The Bakery, Annet Gelink Gallery, 2003-2004); art critic (de Volkskrant, Metropolis M, Artreview); chief editor (Stedelijk Museum Bulletin, 2005-2007); coordinator (Curatorial Training Programme de Appel, 2006-2007); project manager (Casco, 2002-2003) and programmer (Kunstkanaal, 1998-2000). As co-curator of the group exhibition Strange Comfort Afforded by the Profession in de Kunsthalle Basel she worked together with Ross Birrell and David Harding.

This event is supported by the The Glasgow School of Art

For Rent: Consuelo Castañeda Exhibition Opening

2011-04-29T06:40:00.000-07:00

For Rent: Consuelo Castañeda Exhibition Opening
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
7:00 p.m.
Americas Society
680 Park Avenue
New York, NY

Curated by Yasmeen Siddiqui and Gabriela Rangel.

This exhibition will run from May 17 through July 30. Access gallery hours, holiday closures, and directions.

The first in Americas Society’s "For Rent" exhibition series, Cuba-born, Miami-based artist Consuelo Castañeda creates participatory social-spaces assuming the form of an open and public lounge. The exhibition’s central hall features simultaneous projections of film footage from science fiction, documentary, and drama, as well as animation, forming a commentary on the influences of Russian cinematography in Cuba after the Revolution. She interprets Gego’s Retícularea, an art historically pivotal modernist sculpture taken from the Americas Society’s institutional archive. In addition, Castañeda represents her body of work in the form of wallpaper that reunites objects and artifacts from her practice spanning painting, sculpture, installation, video, and photography. In an effort to activate the lounge, the public will be invited to a series of events, which will include film screenings, discussions, and a literary reading.

Americas Society is part of ¡Sí Cuba! Festival, a New York celebration of Cuban arts & culture. For the complete line-up of ¡Sí Cuba! Festival events around the city, please visit SiCuba.org.

Doug Wright - Manifesto

2011-04-29T06:38:00.001-07:00

Documentation of Doug Wright's manifesto presentation at State of Play - Art and Culture in Scotland Today symposium at the National Galleries,Edinburgh in April 2011

Ginny Hutchison - Manifesto

2011-04-29T06:37:00.001-07:00

Documentation of Ginny Hutchison's manifesto presentation at State of Play - Art and Culture in Scotland Today symposium at the National Galleries,Edinburgh in April 2011

Ice Cream Architecture - Manifesto

2011-04-28T08:37:00.000-07:00

Documentation of the Ice Cream Architecture manifesto presentation at State of Play - Art and Culture in Scotland Today symposium at the National Galleries,Edinburgh in April 2011

Sarah Hardie - Manifesto

2011-04-28T08:35:00.000-07:00

Documentation of Sarah Hardie's manifesto presentation at State of Play - Art and Culture in Scotland Today symposium at the National Galleries, Edinburgh in April 2011

Sogol Mabadi Manifesto

2011-04-26T14:40:00.000-07:00

Documentation of Sogol Mabadi's manifesto presentation at State of Play - Art and Culture in Scotland Today symposium at the National Galleries,Edinburgh in April 2011

John Kellock Manifesto

2011-04-26T14:38:00.000-07:00

Documentation of John Kellock's manifesto presentation at State of Play - Art and Culture in Scotland Today symposium at the National Galleries,Edinburgh in April 2011

Stephen Hurrel Manifesto

2011-04-26T14:37:00.000-07:00

Documentation of Stephen Hurrel's manifesto presentation at State of Play - Art and Culture in Scotland Today symposium at the National Galleries,Edinburgh in April 2011

Pleasants and Levine Manifesto

2011-04-25T04:35:00.000-07:00

Documentation of Pleasant and Levine's manifesto presentation at State of Play - Art and Culture in Scotland Today symposium at the National Galleries,Edinburgh in April 2011

August Sander conference at the National Galleries

2011-04-25T04:33:00.001-07:00

BLOG UPDATES - Video Documentation from AHM Symposium 2

2011-04-25T04:27:00.001-07:00

After hours of editing, the video files from the last AHM Symposium in Edinburgh earlier this month are ready to be uploaded to the blog. Over the next few days you will be able to view video footage from the symposium here on the AHM blog.

Please keep checking the blog and feel free to leave comments about the material - we want to extend the debate started at the symposium.

Enjoy!

AHM Manifesto

2011-04-25T04:14:00.000-07:00

Documentation of the AHM manifesto presentation at State of Play - Art and Culture in Scotland Today symposium at the National Galleries, Edinburgh in April 2011

Art review: Sam Ainsley & Roger Wilson by Susan Manfield - Scotsman

2011-04-15T15:09:00.000-07:00

At Glasgow Print Studio, two artists delve into the scientific past referencing a biology text from nearly 100 years ago. Sam Ainsley, a co-founder of Glasgow School of Art's visionary MFA course, and Roger Wilson, current head of the School of Fine Art, relate their work to On Growth and Form, by Scottish biologist and mathematician D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson.

Thompson's book, published in 1917, was crucial in pioneering understanding that natural growth followed mathematical principles. A new edition in the 1940s featured in the writings of art critic Herbert Read, which alerted many artists to its importance, including Henry Moore, Le Corbusier and Wilhemina Barns-Graham. It provided a valuable link between abstraction and the figurative world.

Ainsley and Wilson don't tell us what its importance is for them. They offer no preface or introduction to their show, indeed the labels don't even tell us whose work is whose (though it isn't hard to separate the two styles). Anyone who wants to know what the title means will have to discover D'Arcy Thompson on Wikipedia.

That aside, there are striking works here. Ainsley's large paintings, which combine acrylic with elements of print, are vivid and beautifully coloured. I couldn't shake the feeling that I was looking at microscopic images writ large, the secret geometry inside a leaf, the fantastical landscapes inside the human body, or the sub-microscopic maps and patterns of DNA. The poetic titles - Making a Heart Like Stone, Out of Redness Comes Kindness, The Beauty and Density of Life - suggest metaphors at work.

Her smaller collages feel more raw and personal. "I am scared" says the small silver handwriting in a piece called Ashes to Ashes. In The Crying Woman, the figure crouches, sobbing, under a vein-pattern of grey tree branches. A skull grimaces at us in Death Becomes Her.

I was left with feelings of vulnerability, sadness, resilience, as though a personal journey lurked not too far below the surface.

In Wilson's work, any such journey is much harder to trace. There are shapes and occasionally patterns here - often his canvases are oval, with interlinking ovals or circles - but whether they draw on elements of pattern in the natural world, we aren't shown. There is the abstractionist's refusal to yield to metaphor, stripping back to pure colour and form.

Two large works, Streaming and Arboretun, combine gesso and acrylic on board, layering up colours to create marble effects. They balance a sense of spontaneity and a sense of structure, as if the artist is striving for the freedom of the random, but finds that he brings his own structure to it, balancing one colour with its opposite.

These are mature, accomplished works, but a little background information wouldn't hurt. The artists are determined not to interfere in the relationship between the viewer and the work, but as a result there is nothing to introduce one to the other either. As viewers, we look for connections, patterns, narratives. D'Arcy Thompson would probably have said as much himself.

•Sam Ainsley & Roger Wilson until 15 May

Peter Hill to talk at Glasgow Sculpture Studios

2011-04-12T13:43:00.000-07:00

On Friday 6th May 2011 Peter Hill will be giving a talk at Glasgow Sculpture Studios as part of their Thursday lunchtime lecture series.

Keep an eye out on the AHM blog for further details.

New Ground Exhibition at the Steeple

2011-04-10T17:00:00.000-07:00

Doug Wright and Anne Saunders (artists based in Australia and good friends of AHM) have been on a two month residency at the Steeple, Newburgh, Fife.

Their exhibition 'New Ground' opens on Saturday 23rd April from 2-5pm.

The body of works represent Anne and Doug’s observations of
the area surrounding Newburgh and Fife.

Video footage - coming soon...

2011-04-08T16:30:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who has emailed with their feedback and comments following the AHM symposium last weekend.

The symposium was videoed and sound recordings were taken of the full day.

Please be patient whilst the vast amount of footage is captured and edited.

Keep your comments coming!

Afternoon discussion

2011-04-07T09:37:00.000-07:00

Discussions following the afternoon presentations at the AHM Symposium 2, National Galleries, Edinburgh

Margaret Hunter at AHM Symposium 2

2011-04-07T09:32:00.000-07:00

Margaret Hunter speaking at the AHM Symposium 2, National Galleries, Edinburgh

Liz Ann MacGregor Video Presentation

2011-04-07T09:28:00.000-07:00

Liz Ann MacGregor making a video presentation at the AHM Symposium

Morning discussion

2011-04-07T09:24:00.000-07:00

Discussions following morning presentations

Jim Mooney at AHM Symposium 2

2011-04-07T09:10:00.000-07:00

Jim Mooney speaking at AHM State of Play Symposium 2 at the National Galleries in Edinburgh, April 2011

Thomas Lawson at AHM Symposium 2

2011-04-07T09:00:00.000-07:00

Thomas Lawson speaking at the AHM Symposium 2 at the Hawthornden Lecture Theatre, Edinburgh

Douglas Gordon at the AHM Symposium

2011-04-07T08:56:00.000-07:00

Douglas Gordon speaking at the AHM State of Play Symposium at the National Galleries, Edinburgh.

Manifesto artist photos from the State of Play 2 Symposium

2011-04-06T16:09:00.000-07:00

Rachel Levine and Todd Pleasants

Stephen Hurrel

Ginny Hutchison

Ice Cream Architecture

John Kellock

Sogol Mabadi

Tess Vaughan

Sarah Hardie

Doug Wright

AHM

The manifesto crew!

Aesthetica Magazine Blog: Contemporary Scottish Culture: AHM Symposium

2011-04-04T15:22:00.000-07:00

Aesthetica Magazine Blog: Contemporary Scottish Culture: AHM Symposium: "With the recent announcement of the Arts Council England (ACE) cuts and funding decisions, the disbandment of the UK Film Council into thr..."