Edinburgh Art Festival

Tuesday, 19 August 2008

The burgeoning Edinburgh Art Festival opens in August under the directorship of Joanne Brown

"When I took up the position of director at the Edinburgh Art Festival just over a year ago, I imagined joining an established network of visual art galleries, artists and independent curators. I realise now, while many individuals are doing great things in the city, a cohesive network is under-developed and in an embryonic state.

What does this mean for the Edinburgh Art Festival? As we embark on our fifth year it’s clear that the foundations are in place – galleries and artists are producing work of international calibre and the city is home to many successful exhibition venues.

The idea for a festival of visual art in Edinburgh germinated in the minds of writer Iain Gale and artist Richard Demarco. Recognising that visual art was not to be prioritised as part of the world-renowned Edinburgh International Festival, the city’s flagship cultural event, their vision was for an independently organised mini-Venice in the Athens of the North; a commissioning Festival that would invite national organisations to exhibit international contemporary art throughout the city.

They quickly concluded that galleries were already commissioning contemporary art of international merit – in response the EAF set about the challenging task of enhancing the collective profile of these to create a celebration of visual art which would be greater than the individual galleries could achieve on their own. Any commission they agreed would be done in collaboration to enhance the network rather than compete with independent galleries.

Today, galleries, curators and artist’s collectives are enthusiastically using the EAF platform to develop ambitious visual art initiatives.
EAF 2008 marks the emergence of several important new spaces. Ingleby’s new premises make it the largest commercial contemporary art gallery outside London. A Victorian swimming baths has been transformed into the new Dovecot Studios. And the Gallery at Eskmills dares to take contemporary art out of the city.
Significantly, there are more exhibitions and events this year than ever, a sign that there is growth in the number of emerging collectives and independent curators using the city as gallery.

So there is a change of gear within Edinburgh’s contemporary art community. The budding collaborative spirit that crosses commercial, public, independent and institutional boundaries is creating an increasingly strong network, through which EAF can act as a facilitator for increasingly ambitious projects. With a number of unique events, this year’s EAF comes ever closer to becoming the mini-Venice dreamed of by its originators.”

Edinburgh Art Festival 31 July–31 August