{"id":50635,"date":"2024-07-11T12:23:46","date_gmt":"2024-07-11T11:23:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artmag.co.uk\/?p=50635"},"modified":"2024-07-11T12:26:00","modified_gmt":"2024-07-11T11:26:00","slug":"a-window-on-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artmag.co.uk\/a-window-on-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"A window on the world"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

EVERY art festival has its own specific character, and Glasgow International has always reflected the city\u2019s grassroots art scene. Launched in 2005 and billed as \u201cScotland\u2019s contemporary art biennial\u201d, it is at heart a Glasgow festival, woven into the fabric of the city. Art pops up in disused buildings, empty shops, people\u2019s flats and – for the 2024 festival – a car, broadcasting sound works on short-wave radio in a project led by Turner Prize-winning artist Susan Philipsz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back after a three-year hiatus, under new director Richard Birkett, GI continues to combine international and home-grown contemporary art. This year, the programme is somewhat slimmer, with a rigorous selection process for the \u201copen\u201d programme, however, the festival remains fiercely egalitarian: international prizewinners and recent graduates get equal billing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But all festivals need headliners, and the good news is that many of the larger exhibitions which opened for GI will run for the rest of the summer, offering art fans plenty of time to catch up on anything they missed. And if there are fewer artists of international standing in this GI than in some previous years, the festival is still bursting with international voices and perspectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the biggest names in this year\u2019s festival is Delaine Le Bas, who is shortlisted for this year\u2019s Turner Prize. In \u2018Delainia 17071965 Unfolding\u2019 (the number is her date of birth), the British-Romani artist has filled the hangar-like space of Tramway 2 with textiles, embroidery, installations, sculptures and sound in a show which pulsates with energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her work is unashamedly polemical. Almost every surface is covered with writing calling for justice for travellers, women, the environment. It is angry and celebratory at the same time. Le Bas works equally strongly on large and small scales, from her towering goddess sculpture with a snake in each hand to small, exquisite embroideries; the only danger is that of overwhelming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the key themes of the festival – huge in contemporary art at the moment – is the platforming of voices from outside the mainstream, be they travellers, LGBTQ+ artists or simply those from non-Western countries. At Glasgow\u2019s Gallery of Modern Art, the main ground floor space is given over to an important story from the Philippines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Offerings for Escalante, by collaborative duo Enzo Camacho and Amy Lien, centres on an hour-long film telling the story of the Escalante massacre in 1985 when government forces opened fire on protesting farm workers. Set amongst a group of sculptural reliefs, the film, Langit Lupa<\/em> (Heaven and Earth) explains the post-colonial background, presents eye-witness accounts of the event and follows a group of contemporary Filipino schoolchildren making their own commemoration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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