MIXED SHOW TRANSMISSION MEMBERS’ SHOW
Transmission, Glasgow, until Sun 3 Jul .0.
The annual Transmission Members Show serves as a showcase for work by the gallery's members. all of whom are able to submit a piece for exhibition. This means 100 works. give or take. in Transmissions two spaces.
The show reflects the gallery's broad membership, With established aitists — Toby Paterson is showing a painting. 'After the Rain' — nestled alongside the hotly tipped — Henry Coombes presents ‘Usher‘. an essay in dense black, with the singer peeping out from the gloom. The standard is high. Michael Wilkinson scores a hit with his 'Doubt Over Ironic Scottish Painting'. the titular text in the form of an advertisement for The Herald newspaper. There's no shortage of text. In fact. Jane Toppings untitled painting bears the legend ‘The unexpected smell of menthol'. while Alberta Whittle teases an enigma out of the elided phrase ‘Hottentotontop'.
Becky Bolton. meanwhile. goes strictly Visual. With a dainty little frame bordering porno Cutouts that regiiire a second glance. as suggested by the title. 'Have You Guessed What it is Yet?'. Similarly Visceral. 'Clod‘ by Simon Donald is a rather horrid lump of muck, growing tendrils that grasp a pencil. Downstairs. Cherer Field's ‘Vesch No 1'. a tiny art-machine that repeatedly draws an arc in graphite on paper. is mesmerising. as is Janie Nicholl's nasty ‘Glass'. a vessel that would eViscerate anyone drinking from it. There is. of c0urse. much more besides. making sure the show is a handy snapshot of current actiVity centered around Transmission. a space that remains at the heart of the Glasgow scene. (Jack Mottram)
iNttzriNAi ioNAi ART BlENNAL L VENICE BIENNALE 2005
Venues around Venice, until Sun 6 Nov 0000
Sadly, much of the work failed to live up to the space, and was undermined by the inclusion of non-art projects such as Rem Koolhaas’s display about the rise
and rise of the global art market. Art ain’t going to start
If art has become the free market’s latest big money battlefield, the British Pavilion in the 2005 Venice Biennale was flying a white flag. How else could its organisers explain an exhibition of new works by Gilbert and George (pictured) which neither advanced their practice meaningfully, nor engaged with the space?
Staging a gentle resistance against commercialism, the main exhibitions - staged in the vast Arsenale building and in the Italian Pavilion - were curated for the first time ever by two women. They opened with a feminist flourish in the form of an agitprop Guerilla Girls installation and exhibited a creditable number of women. Maria de Corral’s beautifully paced show in the Italian pavilion employed plenty of familiar names, with strong work by Rachel Whiteread, William Kentridge and Tacita Dean among them. By contrast, Rosa Martinez’s show in the Arsenale felt more
speculative. (Nick Barley)
the next revolution, Martinez seemed to be admitting, but it might provide some pretty things for the bourgeoisie to barricade their doors with.
Against this big money backdrop, the Scottish pavilion was modest but impressive. The show was sited outside the Giardini di Castello (where the established pavilions are located), in grand rooms with terrazzo floors. Cathy Wilkes’ installation ‘She’s Pregnant Again’ fared best in this dramatic context, despite being so far from its narrative roots in Glasgow.
Overall, there were intriguing signs for the future, such as a move away from documentary-style observational video towards fictional dramatisations. Stan Douglas’ labyrinthine whodunnit, Eija-Liisa Ahtila’s story of the death of her dog, and Jeroen de Rijke and Willem de Rooij’s baffling look at how awful human relations can be demonstrated that film-based art refuses to bow to the expectations of the marketplace.
CllY lNS'lAi lA’ilDN OUR SURROUNDINGS DCA and Dundee city centre, until Sun 17 Jul 0000
Cites change faster than people do.' said the iate Aran Woods. and With Dundee as the backdrop for this g'oiip Slt:)‘.‘.’. soaen aitists ll()ll‘ around the wond reflect on the dinersit', of this past. present and fut-.iie change of the city.
The notion of public art here is taken both St:f'l().it)i‘,’ and .ll‘tlgj‘llitt".t}l',. At ttiin the an‘b:tio..'s large-scae pro, 3(:'. encourages ‘. isitois to take notice of the city and .Is heritage. aid displays are i‘ot ,ist iin‘ited to the ga'ieiy but spiead on around the city. With otitdcoi sites ~ " b . featuring a aterfafi. nghorn and giass house. 7 . "'~ g I i - q
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Despite its cOnten‘ooianeity. tf).'.‘(}‘.(;‘.". there is son‘ething .-.'on:leift. it. kitsch about the i.-.'hoie project. Endeai‘ed t); ti'i‘es that see'i‘ noie naive and (LtltithiS than our present. da. cyncisfi‘. the a'tists have created ‘.‘.'OlKE$ that (Ell(;()'l‘l)LlSS Dundee-'2; diaersity. llt)ll‘ Matt Stokes' docun‘en'. o‘ (503; northein soiii i;l‘.'..'l'(i". gatherii‘igs. to Mark Dons instaiiation featuring a life-size ai'tficiai bear. as net. as a fascination ‘.'.!'.?l space exploration that seems dated :;i'l‘()l‘, by its optintisn‘. wniie Apoonija StisteiSic's Bonnie Dundee botanical giass house dotibies bctt‘. as a coniiixunal garden and a .a'itt‘, iejoiiider about the “(HUME o‘ art that is Listiail, seaied off lltfllll‘il{1'4188(llfiplétyCithtES.
A'tho..gn t>()lll(}’.lfllt25 struggling to sustain its appeal ttll‘()f‘.t)53'. surth .varied works. \.'.'hat is most striking about the silos; 1:; that it atkhoi‘Jedges the zii‘poitai‘ice o‘ wt to connect Jill". its t:<;ii‘.ii‘..riit.. Usha l. the :;i‘.ic iespons trail; of ga :eies seenw; like a giddgl‘ig aftertrioigtzt rather than t'tti goal of ex" li'tittis. but hen; the ow- is The (:eiit'e aiod'11l ch e
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Waterfall by Olafur Eliasson
THE LIST 97