Edinburgh Art Festival 2010

The Edinburgh Art Festival works in partnership with organisations and individuals committed to the presentation and communication of visual art of the highest quality to create a sum greater than all its parts, presenting the very best in Scottish, British and international art in Edinburgh during August.

Unveiling the 2010 programme recently, Director, Joanne Brown said:

'The seventh annual Art Festival showcases the strength and diversity of the visual arts in Edinburgh ensuring a platform during the summer Festival period for this vibrant part of the city’s cultural life. For the 2010 EAF we welcome 11 new galleries, many of them showcasing work by an emerging generation of artists.'

'We are particularly pleased this year to have been able to commission three artworks and a programme of interventions with support from the Scottish Government’s Expo Fund. Richard Wright’s new painting in the Dean Gallery of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and Kim Coleman & Jenny Hogarth’s installation in the City Observatory will be unveiled in the summer. Our the third commission, by 2001 Turner Prize winner Martin Creed, will be unveiled later in the year.'

Among the highlights of the wide-ranging programme this year are a number of projects commissioned by the Edinburgh Art Festival with Scottish Government Expo funding. Richard Wright (Turner Prize winner 2009), will create a new painting in one of the stairwells of the Dean Gallery, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. This work will be unveiled on 30th June 2010.

A second Expo artwork, Staged, sees Kim Coleman and Jenny Hogarth building on the success of their recent Frieze Art Fair commission. Produced by Collective Gallery, the multi-screen video work will be installed in the City Observatory on Calton Hill, once again allowing public access to the building.

Martin Creed's new permanent artwork in the Scotsman Steps will be unveiled later in the year, but visitors to the 2010 EAF will be able to see a major exhibition of his work, Down Over Up at the Fruitmarket Gallery.

Taking art outwith a gallery context, David Sherry will stage new manifestations of the Ill Fated Fete; Ross Christie will saddle up his bike and travel around the city in a mobile gallery of affordable art; Embassy will temporarily move out of their gallery space to create a viral publication available across the EAF venues, and the Confraternity of Neoflagellants (Norman Hogg and Neil Mulholland) continue their exploration of neomedievalism by staging Sergeant‐At‐Law (a late night procession and event with and for Edinburgh’s many costumed tour guides and workers). The event will be filmed and streamed on Central Station and on the EAF website.

National Galleries of Scotland

At the Dean Gallery, Another World: Dalí, Magritte, Miró and the Surrealists brings together masterpieces by Salvador Dalí, René Magritte, Pablo Picasso, Alberto Giacometti and Joan Miró. In the National Gallery Complex on The Mound, Impressionist Gardens, a major international exhibition of around 100 works including loans from collections around the world, will be the first ever to be devoted to this subject, and Christen Købke: Danish Master of Light presents the most exhaustive selection of paintings by one of the foremost talents of Denmark’s Golden Age, ever to be shown outside his native country. Meanwhile a Gilbert & George Artist Rooms display opens as part of What you see is where you’re at: Part 3 at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the collection.

Photography

The City Art Centre returns to EAF following its refurbishment with two major photographic exhibitions. William Wegman: Family Combinations is the first comprehensive show of William Wegman’s work in Scotland and the only UK opportunity to catch the exhibition which has been organised in collaboration with the artist’s studio in New York. In a further coup for the gallery, the City Art Centre also presents iconic American photographer Edward Weston's work: 115 vintage prints and previously unpublished masterpieces, interspersed with signature images.

Rosita McKenzie presents Edinburgh People in the Central Library. The exhibition features a diverse range of portraits, from a couple with their first born son to Edinburgh Makar, Ron Butlin, and the softer face of a local politician. At the Scottish Poetry Library, Plan B includes 28 perspectives on 10 poems, loosely gathered around the theme of life’s cock-ups, contingencies and conspiracies. The exhibition is the outcome of  a special collaboration between the Pulitzer prize-winning Irish poet Paul Muldoon and the highly acclaimed Scottish photographer Norman McBeath. At Inspace, New Media Scotland will combine technology with history in Life Turns. Alt-w, working in partnership with BAFTA award-winning Blipfoto, will make a 21^st century homage to the Victorian zoetrope for display in the gallery. Visitors and on-line participants are encouraged to contribute their own images to the project during the run of the exhibition.

Art and Music

Edinburgh Printmakers follow up their acclaimed exhibition of work by British father of pop art, Sir Peter Blake, with Prints of Darkness, 11 new works exploring record cover art. An associated recording by New People Like Us (aka multimedia artist, Vicki Bennett), complements the exhibition.

The Henderson Gallery showcases Nefertiti, new work by artist and Stone Roses guitarist John Squire inspired by the legendary Miles Davis. This is followed by Macpherson's Cave, new sculptural work by Robert Powell exploring the mythologising of history in general and Scottish history in particular.

Art, Architecture and Design

Dovecot Studios this year focus on art and design. Sitting and Looking, a cross-art form exhibition curated by furniture designers Jim Partridge and Liz Walmsley brings together furniture design, contemporary photography, ceramics, textiles and painting to create a juxtaposition of 21^st Century objects. In a second exhibition, Adam Paxon continues a curated conversation with four UK designers through film, photography and objects.

Oliver Chapman Architects this year address two of the hottest topics of conversation in Edinburgh and the Borders – the Edinburgh tram and the Borders rail link. Tram Spotting/Train Stopping takes a fresh look at how to shape our towns and cities showcasing a number of provocative proposals from a select group of international participants under the curatorial direction of Oliver Chapman and Mark Cousins. In the Matthew Gallery at the University of Edinburgh the fifth in a series of postgraduate Master of Architecture exhibitions takes Florence as its theme.

Beyond the City Centre

Jupiter Artland sees three new additions to the growing collection of contemporary art. Permanent, site-specific works by Nathan Coley, Jim Lambie and Cornelia Parker are complemented by a temporary piece for the 2010 season, Zopbop by Jim Lambie.

Sierra Metro this year offer a site-specific exhibition of work by Gemma Holt and Richard Healey at the Granton Lighthouse. At the same location, GallerA1 present Culture Crunch, an exhibition inspired by cultural proposals for the seafront at Granton. Big Things On The Beach return to the Edinburgh Art Festival with City Beach – the outcome of a year-long programme of public engagement in the development of a Public Art Plan for Portobello Beach, where three new large-scale public commissions will be unveiled. Meanwhile, the City Centre will be linked to the shore by 6 Times, a National Galleries of Scotland commission from Antony Gormley in which six life-size figures are positioned between the grounds of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and the sea.

Full details of the 2010 EAF  programme and all the talks, film screenings events and ART LATE can be found at www.edinburghartfestival.com