Scotland’s Most Sizable

Edin­burgh Art Festival

Now in its 7th year, Edin­burgh Art Fes­ti­val offers a huge choice of visual arts exhi­bi­tions and events each sum­mer. Cre­ated as a plat­form to show­case Edinburgh¹s many gal­leries and artists the Fes­ti­val has grown to become one of the major sum­mer attrac­tions in Scotland’s cap­i­tal city.

Amongst the many treats on offer are exhi­bi­tions rang­ing from Impres­sion­ist Gar­dens at the National Gallery of Scot­land, a major inter­na­tional exhi­bi­tion of around 90 works includ­ing loans from col­lec­tions around the world, which is the first ever to be devoted to this sub­ject, to show­cases of work by lead­ing liv­ing artists includ­ing 2001 Turner Prize win­ner, Mar­tin Creed, at The Fruit­mar­ket Gallery, Julie Roberts at the Tal­bot Rice Gallery, Bar­bara Rae at Open Eye Gallery, and, mak­ing his first UK show, Iran do Espir­ito Santo at Ingleby Gallery. The Tal­bot Rice will also present a sur­vey of the work of the lead­ing Scot­tish painter Craigie Aitchi­son, who died last year, and Inver­leith House offers the first U.K. solo museum exhi­bi­tion by the great Amer­i­can abstract expres­sion­ist painter Joan Mitchell.

2010 also sees the unveil­ing of new works spe­cially com­mis­sioned by the Edin­burgh Art Fes­ti­val with sup­port from the Scot­tish Government¹s Expo Fund. 2009 Turner Prize win­ner, Richard Wright, will make a paint­ing in the tow­ers of the Dean Gallery (Scot­tish Gallery of Mod­ern Art). While two of the ris­ing stars of British con­tem­po­rary art, Kim Cole­man and Jenny Hog­a­rth, will cre­ate a multi-channel video instal­la­tion that trans­forms the Edin­burgh Fes­ti­val into a set and the vis­i­tors, tourists, and locals into players.

As ever there will be exhi­bi­tions staged in a range in unusual, found, and tem­po­rary spaces, as well as in estab­lished gal­leries such as Attic­salt, Bourne Fine Art, Col­lec­tive, Corn­hill, Dove­cot, ECA, Print­mak­ers, Stills, and more. The City Art Cen­tre will also re-open its doors this sum­mer after a major ren­o­va­tion project.

Com­ple­ment­ing the exhi­bi­tions will be a wide-ranging pro­gram of artist talks, events for chil­dren and young peo­ple, ani­mated tours of the Art Fes­ti­val, and the ever-popular ART LATE, which includes a vast selec­tion of events, walks, talks, and tours in and of itself.

edinburghartfestival.com