FESTIVAL VISUAL ART LISTINGS
■ SLEEPER Reiach and Hall Architects, 6 Darnaway Street, 225 8444. Mon–Fri 2–5pm FREE Martina Klein and Walter Janßen Until Fri 21 Sep. Klein is a German artist known for monochrome paintings. ■ SOUTHSIDE PROPERTY MANAGEMENT 20 Nicolson Street, 510 0051. Mon– Sat 9am–6pm. FREE Combin(e)d 3: A Scottish Sequel Until Fri 31 Aug. Prints, paintings and textile art by part-time students of the ECA.
■ ST ANDREW SQUARE see edinburghartfestival.com for more information FREE ~ in the fields: Yen to See Different Places Until Sun 2 Sep, daily 10am–6pm. A new commission playing with tourists’ views of idealised landscapes. EAF.
■ ST JOHN’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH Princes Street, 221 2273. Daily 10am–6pm. FREE Festival of Spirituality and Peace: Various exhibitions Until Mon 27 Aug. An exhibition of imagery inspired by St Andrew of Scotland and The Black Madonna of Poland, the famous St John’s Mural, and site- specific work by Tommy Barr. ■ ST TRIDUANA’S CHAPEL Restalrig Village, 27 Restalrig Road South, 554 7400. FREE Pilgrimage: Inch Kenneth to St Triduana’s Chapel Until Sun 26 Aug. Thu–Sun 11.30am–4.30pm. Exhibition about multiple histories by art collective 6°WEST. EAF.
■ STICK FACTORY 69c Mayfield Rd, 629 5171. Tue–Sat 10am–5.30pm. FREE The Dancer, The Monkey, and the Seven Deadly Sins Until Thu 16 Aug. Figure-based work by Ross Blair, Laura Gill, Malcolm Sutherland and Nik Walls. ■ STILLS 23 Cockburn Street, 622 6200. Daily 11am–6pm. FREE James Casebere: Home and Other Fictions Until Sun 28 Oct. First solo exhibition of Casebere’s architecture and sculptural installations in Scotland. Part of EAF.
■ SUMMERHALL 1 Summerhall, 0845 874 3001. Daily 11am–7pm, some exhibitions open later. Summerhall has over 30 exhibitions during August, selected highlights below. FREE Art & Language Until Thu 27 Sep. Retrospective show of the conceptual art group’s output See review, right. EAF.
✽ FREE Carolee Schneemann ●●●●● Until Thu 27 Sep. New
and archive work from (genuinely) iconic US performance and video artist. See review, page 83. EAF. FREE David Michalek: Figure Studies Until Thu 27 Sep. Video work of bodies in motion, honouring Eadweard Muybridge. EAF.
✽ FREE Jean-Pierre Muller: 7 x 7th Street ●●●●● Until Thu
27 Sep. Seven sound sculptures with specially commissioned music. EAF. FREE Phenotype Genotype (PhG) Until Thu 27 Sep. Four hundred avant-garde works from 1900 to the present. EAF. FREE Robert Kusmirowski: Pain Thing Fri 3–Sun 26 Aug. Site-specific installation inspired by the former vet school setting. EAF.
84 THE LIST 16–23 Aug 2012
ART & LANGUAGE Intriguing but ultimately impenetrable overview of conceptual movement ●●●●●
Doing little to counteract the idea that conceptual art is a tough sell at the best of times, this sample display of pieces from the collective body behind the Art & Language movement – conceptual art cause célèbres of the 1960s and 70s whose work and influence persists to this day – is hard to break into. In the delightfully retro surroundings of the Summerhall building’s old Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, however, it’s worth noting that it’s in the perfect location, a 1970s lab or classroom of the kind Lindsay Anderson might have filmed.
The sculptural and conceptual displays in the first room are the most easily accessible, David Rushton’s 1973 piece, ‘One and four/ five chairs’ itself being an impudent and explorative step on from Joseph Kostuth’s (himself an adherent of Art & Language) ‘One and three chairs’, in which a chair, a photograph of a chair and the dictionary definition of the word chair are displayed next to one another according to Kostuth’s installation instructions. It wasn’t the sculpture that was necessarily the artwork in Kostuth’s case, but the fact of its transportability and the unconscious input of the person installing it.
In Rushton’s piece, he wrests the idea from Kostuth (‘quotes’
it) and adds his own flourish, a small model of a chair on the reverse of the display board, thus in a sense interfering with the signal of Kostuth’s own ‘One and three chairs’. Such ideas of reappropriative testing are explored further with Rushton’s ‘Model’ (1975), which tweaks established Art & Language installations ‘Air Conditioning Show’ and ‘Soft Tape’, while his ‘Noisy Channel’ diptych ‘Chair I’ and ‘Chair II’ – another chair, this time printed with its own photographic shadow – subtly calls into question ideas of representation. Yet the journals and items from the group’s ‘Index’ works that follow are not displayed in such a way that any more than the faintest biographical information is recorded, lending the show an air of closed-off academic exclusivity. (David Pollock) ■ Summerhall, 560 1590, until 27 Sep, free.
FREE Robin Gillanders: The Philosopher’s Garden Redux Until Thu 27 Sep. Photographs of a park beloved by Rousseau. EAF. FREE Venus with Severed Leg Until Thu 27 Sep. William English’s legendary 1975 photoshoot of Vivienne Westwood. EAF. FREE Wolf Vostell Until Thu 27 Sep. Retrospective of the puckish German avant-gardist. EAF. FREE Edinburgh International Fashion Festival Exhibitions Until Thu 27 Sep. Three exhibitions as part of this inaugural festival, featuring collaborations between designers, parfumiers and smell researchers, video by Hussein Chalayan and photography by Rankin.
■ SUPERCLUB GALLERY AND STUDIOS 11a Gayfield Square, superclubstudios. com Thu–Sun 1–6pm. FREE John Brown: Thingsplace Until Sun 2 Sep. Work exploring consumer culture and the nature of mass production. EAF. ■ TALBOT RICE GALLERY University of Edinburgh, South Bridge, 650 2210. Mon–Sat 10am–5pm; Sun noon–5pm. FREE Tim Rollins & KOS: The Black Spot ●●●●● Until Sat 20 Oct. Group show by renowned NYC art collective. See review, page 79. EAF. FREE Working Papers: Donald Judd Drawings 1963–93 Until Sat 20 Oct. The instructional drawings of US sculptor. EAF.
■ TENT GALLERY Evolution House, 78 West Port, 221 6091. Mon–Fri 10am–4pm; Sat & Sun noon–4pm. FREE More Than Bird Until Mon 20 Aug. Exhibition of work by possibly fictional cultural movement. EAF. ■ TORRANCE GALLERY 36 Dundas Street, 556 6366. Mon–Fri 11am–6pm; Sat 10.30am–4pm. FREE Edinburgh Festival Exhibition Until Sat 25 Aug. Paintings by Jack Firth, Jolomo, Dugald Findlay, Ronnie Ford and Tom Watt. FREE Moved by Metal Until Sat 8 Sep. Contemporary jewellery by Sheana M Stephen.
■ UNION GALLERY 45 Broughton Street, 556 7707. Mon–Sat 10.30am–6pm; Sun noon–6pm. FREE MOB (Mark of Beauty) Until Mon 3 Sep. A showcase of the best in contemporary Scottish abstract painting selected by Bill Hare, and featuring work by John McLean, Fred Pollock, Iain Robertson and more. ■ VARIOUS VENUES see edinburghartfestival.com for info.
✽ FREE Susan Philipsz: Timeline ●●●●● Until Sun 2 Sep. Daily
1pm. Sound installations across the city, inspired by the One O’Clock Gun. See review, page 79. EAF.
■ THE VINE TRUST BARGE Prince of Wales Dock, off Ocean Drive, 555 5598. Mon–Sat 10am–4pm. FREE Exhibition of Contemporary Scottish Painting Until Sat 25 Aug. Paintings by the likes of Peter Howson and John Bellany. ■ WHITE STUFF 89 George Street, 300 0330. Mon–Wed 9.30am–6pm; Thu 9.30am–7pm; Fri–Sat 9.30am–6pm; Sun 11am–5pm. FREE Harry Hill: My Hobby Until Sun 2 Sep. Naive, sometimes funny and sometimes eerie art by the TV comedian. EAF.
OUTSIDE THE CITIES
■ JUPITER ARTLAND Bonnington House Steadings, Wilkieston, 01506 889900. Thu–Sun 10am–5pm. Also Mon 27 Aug 2012 10am–5pm. Jupiter Artland Until Sun 16 Sep. £8.50 (seniors £5 on Thu & Fri only; students & under 17s £4.50; under 6s & disabled badge holders free; family £23.50–£31.50). The celebrated outdoor sculpture park hosts its third summer season with new works on show by Anya Gallacio, Andy Goldsworthy and Henry Castle, plus existing sculptures by the likes of Antony Gormley, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Charles Jencks, Anish Kapoor, Cornelia Parker and others. There’s also a new installation by British sculptor Tania Kovats.