Curatorial Statement

Curatorial Statement

The GI Festival programme is a unique combination: in part, directly curated exhibitions and – in much larger part – projects, events, exhibitions, screenings and performances conceived and produced by many of the visual arts organisations and groups based in the city.

The 2010 programme is permeated with ideas of ‘past, present, future’, a theme suggested as much by recent trends in contemporary art as by the fact that 2010 marks the 20th anniversary of Glasgow’s reign as European Capital of Culture in 1990. This theme is perhaps most evident in some of the major exhibitions – including David Maljkovic’s ‘Images with their own Shadows’ and Gerard Byrne’s new work, both shown at the GI Festival hub on Miller Street, as well as Douglas Gordon’s ’24 Hour Psycho Back and Forth and To and Fro’ at Tramway and Fiona Tan’s ‘Tomorrow’ at the city’s Gallery of Modern Art – but it is picked up in exhibitions at CCA and Street Level, among others, and in the ‘White Bikes’ project by NVA.

In making this year’s programme, we have worked particularly closely with Tramway and with a range of distinctive locations and venues across the city to create some very specific projects and opportunities for discovery or re-discovery: David Shrigley’s specially commissioned collection of objects in the Study Centre at Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum; a selection of works by Joseph Beuys from the Artist Rooms collection at the Hunterian Art Gallery, where Beuys can be seen alongside and in connection with the work and collections of William Hunter; and Susan Philipsz’ evocative connection to place through sound in her ‘Lowlands’ installation by the River Clyde. While the Festival’s new ‘Open Glasgow’ initiative has resulted in three projects, each led by artists and taking us to yet more interesting places around the city, including the Mitchell Library and Sloans ballroom.

Katrina Brown
Director