Subject: Matters issue 17 - out now Date: Thu, 5 Jun 03 11:24:25 +0100 From: Malcolm Dickson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
New issue of Matters magazine out now:
Contents include:
Neil Mulholland 'Leaving Glasvegas';
Interviews with Venice Biennale artists Simon Starling by Rob Tuffnell, Claire Barclay by Moira Jeffrey, Jim Lambie by Rebecca Gordon Nesbitt;
David Bellingham interviewing Pavel Buchler on the Manchester Pavillion;
Iliyana Nedkova on artists-run electronic networks;
Artists opinions on new media resourcing (Gair Dunlop, Mike Stubbs, Bev Hood, Lindsay Perth, Gina Czarnecki, Adinda van't Klooster, Simon Fildes/Katrina MacPherson, Stephen Hurrel, Colin Andrews;
Su Greirson on a Scottish/Japanese exchange;
Sara Selwood on audiences for contemporary art;
Comment on social inclusion;
Artists Pages by Chad McCail
Profiles of Janice McNab and Salla Tykka;
reviews of Dalziel in Scullion, Michael Maziere, Christopher Wool, Toby Paterson, The Haunted Swing, Sanctuary, FACTORS publications series, Mathew Barney, Louise Hopkins, Four Plus, Beagles and Ramsey, UK/Canadian Video Exchange;
plus news and opportunities.
If you have difficulties locating the magazine please let us know: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
You can order a copy by sending an A4 SAE for 69p plus �3.50 cover price to Matters: Scottish Sculpture Trust, 6 Darnaway Street, Edinburgh EH3 6BG
Editorial
Earlier this year The Guardian announced that 'The leaky timbers of HMS Great Britain were dealt another buckling broadside yesterday when the Scots and Welsh announced their intention to artistically jump ship. Both countries are pulling out of the British pavilion at this year's Venice Biennale - the world's most important art exhibition - to set up their own shows.' In fact Scotland is not listed as one of the fifty or more countries with an official pavilion but is instead participating 'independently' as part of the 'Extra 50' group of exhibitions.
This issue of Matters marks Scotland's presence at this year's Venice Biennale and features in-depth interviews with the three artists from Scotland who are exhibiting as well as listing the artists participating in the programme of accompanying events. The ambiguity of the status of Scotland's representation in Venice provides a platform for the magazine to look at questions such as: is there something distinct about art produced in Scotland? What strategies are employed by artists here to negotiate an international presence? How relevant is it to think in terms of nationalism and national identity given the diversity of origins of artists working here and their ability to operate trans-nationally and is that a different political agenda of concern only to official bodies?
Some of these issues are raised in David Bellingham's interview with Pavel B�chler about the Manchester Pavilion - back by popular demand this year, this tongue-in-cheek alternative to the national pavilions will be opening its doors to provide a late night bar rather than exhibiting any art.
In 'Leaving Glasvegas' Neil Mullholland looks back at art in Scotland of the 90s in a period when an influential shift occurred in the Scottish art scene (arguably inaugurated with the New Glasgow Boys in the mid-Eighties) which saw more artists staying in the country than leaving when it became apparent that an international presence was possible from a base within this country. These issues are relevant to a larger debate about national consciousness and cultural coherence that has haunted the Scottish political psyche of 'who or what is a Scot', a question which has been further confused rather than clarified since the foundation of the Scottish Parliament in 1999. Mulholland speculates on the currency and communicability of much contemporary art made in Scotland (is it acccessible only to those involved in its production and dissemination) and explores some of its nuances and the distinct contexts in which it has been cultivated. The article suggests a shift from a 'critical regionalism' of conceptual work to one which is - deliberately or by accident - much less cohesive, one where 'a growing number of artists� flutter between media, producing personal, collaborative and uncompromisingly innate works' which he claims has witnessed a return to a grass roots infrastructure of support, a move from the 'gallery back into the tenement.' Does this signal a rupture with past convention, or is it simply part of a continuum of large self-initiated and site-specific shows in derelict warehouses, offices and public space? Are we not simply seeing a further expansion of the sector, with another recurring wave of practitioners, or are the loci from where curators 'locate the new' becoming more concentrated in smaller coteries? Is it not just the case that we view the old in new ways?
The notion of place being a cultural crossroads for the international art community, wherever you happen to be, is echoed in profiles of Scottish artist based in Amsterdam, Janice McNab, and Finnish artist Salla Tykk� who recently exhibited in Glasgow; the notion of connecting voices and transcending borders through the internet is surveyed in Iliyana Nedkova's article on artists-run electronic networks and Su Grierson reports on a unique artist initiated exchange which has lead to a number of tangible opportunities in Japan and Scotland; English curator and writer domiciled in California, Simon Herbert, reports from LA on attitudes towards graffiti art; nine artists comment on seminal projects they have seen or been involved both in the UK and abroad, and also give their views on the potential resourcing of new media in Scotland and Chad McCail provides us with artists pages from work developed during a recent residency at Baltic in Tyneside.
The increased media interest in current art and artists is not in question, but recent claims that contemporary art is more popular than football are examined by Sara Selwood who questions the evidence and finds out who is visiting exhibitions, what people like and what they buy. Stephen Dawber's polemic responds to Francois Matarasso's article on social inclusion in the last issue of the magazine, claiming that enforced social inclusion strategies are part of a system that fails those very people it's structures are intended to benefit. Also in this issue we include a substantial number of reviews of exhibitions from as far afield as Glasgow, Edinburgh, North Uist, Gateshead, London and New York.
This issue of Matters is the second of two which have been specially guest edited to explore the potential for a magazine which addresses the cultural gap in the visual arts sector in Scotland by being rooted in the place, but non-parochial - to be both local and international. These two issues have attempted to be pluralistic and to shed some critical light on a disparate number of artists' and the multiple manifestations of their work. It is hoped that these issues have demonstrated the potential and value of that.
Malcolm Dickson and Kate Tregaskis
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