Edinburgh Art Festival, founded in 2004, is Scotland’s largest annual festival of visual art. An international showcase, it takes over the city each August with a month-long programme of exhibitions, special events and tours, featuring internationally renowned artists alongside emerging talent and a special programme of new commissions. EAF sees national institutions join with artist studios and pop-up venues to share the best that visual art has to offer. Edinburgh Art Festival is a charitable organisation supported by Creative Scotland and the City of Edinburgh Council.

FESTIVAL DATES:
2 AUGUST – 2 SEPTEMBER 2012

>Major exhibitions by leading international artists including Dieter Roth at The Fruitmarket Gallery, Hermann Nitsch at Summerhall, Tim Rollins & K.O.S and Donald Judd at Talbot Rice Gallery, Melvin Moti at National Museum of Scotland, Rachel Mayeri at Edinburgh College of Art and Philip Guston at Inverleith House

 

  • New commissions by Susan Philipsz, Andrew Miller, Kevin Harman and Anthony Schrag as part of a ‘Promenade Programme’ of publicly-sited works across Edinburgh city
  • Summer blockbusters at Edinburgh’s leading visual art venues including ‘Picasso and Modern British Art’ at Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, ‘Van Gogh to Kandinsky: Symbolist Landscapes in Europe 1880-1910’ at Scottish National Gallery and ‘Catherine the Great: An Enlightened Empress’ at National Museum of Scotland
  • Solo retrospectives of critically acclaimed UK and Scottish artists including Ian Hamilton Finlay at Ingleby Gallery, Leslie Hunter at City Art Centre and John Bellany at Open Eye Gallery
  • A major exhibition of rarely-seen tapestries charting the history of Dovecot Studios in their centenary year, including works by David Hockney, Paul Gauguin, Eduardo Paolozzi and Claire Barclay
  • The best early career artists including artist collective ~ in the fields at New Media Scotland and group exhibitions at Rhubaba Gallery and Studios, GARAGE, Superclub and Contemporary Art ExchangeEdinburgh Art Festival (EAF), the UK’s largest annual festival dedicated to visual art, today announced its programme for its 9th edition. Taking place in more than 30 of the city’s museums, not- for-profit and commercial galleries, EAF will feature over 45 exhibitions from the biggest blockbuster names to the most exciting emerging talent, with further pop-up shows taking place in artist-run spaces and outdoor venues across Scotland’s capital. EAF 2012 will run from 2 August – 2 September 2012The 2012 Festival’s programme will feature major solo exhibitions by internationally-renowned artists, group shows and exhibitions by some of the UK’s most exciting early career artists. Newly- commissioned work by artists and collectives will emerge around Edinburgh’s historic monuments and public spaces as part of the EAF ‘Promenade Programme’, bringing visual art to the heart of the city’s Festival experience. Highlights will include a new sound installation by 2010 Turner Prize winner Susan Philipsz, responding to Edinburgh’s famous One O’clock Gun.The Festival will be supported by an innovative and wide-ranging events programme throughout August, including artists’ talks, dedicated workshops, family days and late night events, including the return of Art Late on Thursday 23 August.

 

Sorcha Carey, Director, Edinburgh Art Festival, said:

“The 2012 Edinburgh Art Festival programme continues to make visual art central to the Edinburgh summer festival experience, with an unparalleled offering of major solo exhibitions by leading international artists and the opportunity to see some of the city’s most exciting new spaces dedicated to emerging talent. This year’s commissions programme – our most ambitious to date – brings new work by the very best Scottish artists, from internationally established names to recent graduates, into public spaces across the city, in an extended ‘Promenade Programme’ that will invite visitors to look anew at Edinburgh’s world famous heritage site.”

Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs, said:

“The focus that Edinburgh Art Festival places on visual art is integral to the success of Edinburgh’s wider festival programme. In 2012 – the Year of Creative Scotland – the Art Festival yet again promises to enthrall and delight audiences with an exciting, diverse and vibrant programme. Its innovative Promenade Programme – supported through the Scottish Government’s Expo fund and headlined by Scottish-born Turner Prize winner Susan Philipsz, will showcase and celebrate brilliant artworks, Scotland’s fantastic culture, exceptional talent and our reputation as a creative nation to audiences from around the globe.”

Andrew Dixon, Chief Executive, Creative Scotland, said:

“The Edinburgh Art Festival reaches out across the city, showing amazing contemporary art to Edinburgh’s August festival-goers. Taking place in 2012 the Year of Creative Scotland this year’s programme offers up the very best in international visual art alongside talent based here. Scotland is increasingly recognised as a centre of excellence for the visual arts, the inclusion of Turner Prize winner Susan Philipsz is testament to this and we look forward to seeing her work in the Expo funded ‘Promenade Programme’”

Paul Bush OBE, Chief Operating Officer, EventScotland, said:

“Scotland is the perfect stage for cultural events, and the 2012 Edinburgh Art Festival certainly has a programme worthy of international interest. The new activity in Edinburgh’s New Town will help to increase the visibility of the festival in the Year of Creative Scotland, and it will certainly bring an artistic twist to the city centre.”

PROMENADE PROGRAMME

In 2012 EAF will deliver a major programme of newly commissioned, publicly sited artworks which will take visitors on a tour of Edinburgh’s New Town. The programme, supported by the Scottish Government’s Edinburgh Festivals Expo Fund, will feature new work by both established and early career artists, taking the city as stage to celebrate Edinburgh’s rich architectural heritage in a series of interventions around the Scottish capital’s historic monuments and public spaces.

Commissioned artists include Scottish-born Turner Prize winner Susan Philipsz, who will unveil a new work entitled Timeline. Retracing an historic, but now invisible line through Edinburgh’s city centre, Timeline will be inspired by Edinburgh’s famous One O’clock Gun and will plot a series of short sound installations across the city, exploring themes of sound and distance. The Promenade programme will also feature Glasgow-based artist Andrew Miller’s Festival pavilion in St Andrew Square, constructed from salvaged materials and the Festival’s central hub throughout August. Rose Street will host a series of projects by early career artists including recent Edinburgh College of Art graduate and Honda Dream Factory participant Kevin Harman, who has come to critical attention for his simple interventions with skips: transforming heaps of rubble and debris into beautiful sculptural assemblages. Anthony Schrag, EAF 2012’s ‘Tourist in Residence’, will deliver a regular series of performative Promenade tours around Edinburgh, revealing alternative views and experiences of the world heritage city.

MAJOR EXHIBITIONS BY LEADING INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS

This year’s Edinburgh Art Festival will include major exhibitions by some of the world’s most critically acclaimed artists. Highlights will include the first museum exhibition of late paintings (1969-1978) to be staged in Scotland by the great American artist Philip Guston at Inverleith House; and major exhibitions by some of the U.S.A’s finest artists including the first solo exhibition in Scotland by Tim Rollins & K.O.S opening in tandem with Donald Judd at Talbot Rice Gallery, reflecting the complex crucible of the New York art scene at very different points in its history. LA-born artist Rachel Mayeri’s ‘Primate Cinema: Apes as Family’, a mesmerising video installation compiling footage from Edinburgh Zoo, commissioned by The Arts Catalyst, will be on show at Edinburgh College of Art.

A solo exhibition by the late Swiss/German/Icelandic artist Dieter Roth at The Fruitmarket Gallery will present Roth’s private diaries to the public for the first time. The exhibition will trace the importance of diary-keeping as a theme in Roth’s work, culminating in his final masterpiece, the multi-screen video diary Solo Scenes. New Edinburgh arts hub Summerhall will present an extensive programme of exhibitions and events including a major installation by Polish artist Robert Kuśmirowski alongside exhibitions by 1960s conceptual art grouping Art & Language and seminal performance artist Hermann Nitsch. The recently refurbished National Museum of Scotland will present the first UK solo show by Dutch artist Melvin Moti, including installations and new video work displayed alongside the artist’s selection of objects from the Museum’s unique collection.

SUMMER BLOCKBUSTERS

Edinburgh will this summer play host to major international blockbuster exhibitions across the city’s leading visual art venues. Highlights will include Picasso and Modern British Art at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, the first exhibition to explore Picasso’s lifelong connections with Britain and showcasing more than 150 modern art masterpieces from Francis Bacon to David Hockney and Ben Nicholson to Henry Moore. Also on show at SNGMA, an exhibition of work by the Norwegian artist and the preeminent Expressionist artist Edvard Munch will include rarely seen prints of the famous ‘The Scream’, whilst at Scottish National Gallery Van Gogh to Kandinsky: Symbolist Landscapes in Europe 1880-1910 will be a feast for the senses, with imaginative landscape paintings encompassing Impressionism, Expressionism and Abstract Art, developed with the Van Gogh Museum and the Finnish National Gallery.

Further highlights will include ‘Catherine the Great: An Enlightened Empress’ at National Museum of Scotland, telling the story of Catherine’s legacy as one of the greatest art collectors of all time and including works by illustrious European and Russian artists of the 18th century, many of which have never been seen outside of Russia. ‘Treasures from the Queen’s Palaces’ will continue at The Queen’s Gallery as part of the Diamond Jubilee year, showcasing the breadth of the Royal Collection developed over five centuries of royal collecting and including masterpieces by artists from Rembrandt and Van Dyck to Paul Nash, Peter Blake and Lucian Freud. The first exhibition devoted to the landscapes by the 18th century artist Giovanni Battista Luiseri, also opens during the Festival at SNG.

Dovecot Studios will be celebrating its centenary with an exhibition charting the Studio’s remarkable history. The exhibition will present over 60 tapestries, rugs and rarely seen works on loan from major museums and private collections, including work by David Hockney, Paul Gauguin, Elizabeth Blackadder, Sir Peter Blake, Edward Wadsworth, Cecil Beaton, Graham Sutherland, Edward Paolozzi, Jankel Adler and Claire Barclay.

THE BEST UK ARTISTS AND HOMEGROWN TALENT

Solo exhibitions by some of the UK’s best-loved artists feature on EAF’s line-up this summer. An exhibition of sculpture and audio visual installation by one of Scotland’s most important 20th century artists, Ian Hamilton Finlay, will open at Ingleby Gallery, celebrating the artist’s work across diverse media and including his recently re-discovered 1977 film Carrier Strike! Demarco Foundation Gallery at Summerhall will also showcase the artist, exploring his little-known fascination with the French Revolution. Open Eye Gallery will present a major career retrospective of painting by influential Scottish painter John Bellany as he celebrates his 70th birthday this year. Further highlights include an exhibition of work by Scottish Colourist Leslie Hunter at City Art Centre, the first major exhibition of Hunter’s work for over fifty years. Glasgow-based Mick Peter will create a new sculptural installation at Collective in response to the late experimental novelist and film-maker B.S Johnson.

Jupiter Artland’s latest commission will present a new work by British sculptor Tania Kovats entitled Rivers. Opening up a previously neglected plot in Jupiter Artland’s extensive grounds at Bonnington House, Rivers will include a hundred specimens of water from one hundred rivers, collected from all over the British Isles. At Edinburgh Printmakers ‘Cheer Up! It’s not the end of the world…’ will be on show throughout August, showcasing original prints by leading artists including controversial art duo Jake and Dinos Chapman, Gordon Cheung, Damien Hirst and Andy Warhol.

THE BEST EARLY CAREER ARTISTS

Central to EAF is its commitment to supporting the best in contemporary art practice, showcasing the best artists at all stages in their careers. Highlights this August will include Edinburgh-based collective ~ in the fields at New Media Scotland, with new work as part of a six-month residency including a publicly-sited networked telescope, co-commissioned with EAF, which will reveal idealised landscapes as they are composed by visitors in the gallery space. A solo exhibition and shop space by Edinburgh based artist John Brown will merge the experience of shopping with the gallery space at Superclub. A group show at Rhubaba Gallery and Studios will centre on the photographic series U.F.O-naut by Slovakian artist Julius Koller whilst this year’s final degree show from the Edinburgh College of Art MA Art & Design graduates will show at Edinburgh College of Art.

Further exhibitions will take place at 6 West, Bourne Fine Art, Contemporary Art Exchange, Devron Arts, GARAGE, Scottish Gallery, Scottish Poetry Library, Scotland-Russia Institute, Royal Scottish Academy, Travelling Gallery, and Summerhall.

 

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Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.