The eighth edition of the quinquennial British Art Show (BAS8) has landed in Edinburgh, revealing a bigger and bolder programme following its debut at Leeds Art Gallery in October last year.
The latest outing of the touring exhibition is being staged across three historic venues including Inverleith House in the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh; Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art; and Talbot Rice Gallery at the University of Edinburgh. Curators Anna Colin and Lydia Yee have envisioned the trio of exhibits as self-contained shows that form a relationship with one another.
Ryan Gander’s installation Fieldwork (2015) – a new addition to the touring exhibition – takes pride of place at Talbot Rice Gallery, where his personal objects revolve endlessly on a conveyor belt, visible only through a compact viewing window. Nearby in the same venue, Benedict Drew has moved into the lofty Georgian Gallery with a newly expanded video installation.
Elsewhere, artist duo Broomberg & Chanarin bring a breath of fresh air to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art with a full-scale airplane propeller, in the installation Dodo (2014). It’s the first time the work – which is based on the Hollywood version of Joseph Heller’s satirical WWII novel Catch-22 – is being shown in the UK. Laure Prouvoust’s audio work is also bolstered here, inhabiting an entire gallery in the venue.
Over at Inverleith House, Jesse Wine has unveiled a freshly commissioned series of ceramic sculptures, hung from the ceiling in the Victorian Palm House at the Royal Botanic Garden; while Pablo Bronstein takes cues from the Industrial Revolution with a wall work featuring images of machinery.
BAS8’s next pit stop will be Norwich at the end of June, before its final leg in Southhampton in October.
Drew has moved into the venue's neoclassical Georgian Gallery, expanding his original video installation.
Ryan Gander’s installation Fieldwork, 2015, is a new addition to the touring exhibition.
Gander's personal objects revolve endlessly on a conveyor belt, visible only through a compact viewing window in the gallery's walls.
Lawrence Abu Hamdan's A Convention of Tiny Movements, 2015, is also on view at Talbot Rice Gallery.
Auditory Learning, by Eileen Simpson and Ben White, 2015, at Talbot Rice Gallery
For BAS8, Hayley Tompkins presents found or ready-made objects – a stick, a shirtsleeve, a series of stock photographs purchased online – which have been altered by the application of paint. Each Digital Light Pool is made by pouring acrylic paint directly into shallow plastic trays.
Graphic design collective Åbäke has crafted a delicated humanoid sculpture, dubbed Fatima, 2015, from ex-voto body parts collected in the Portuguese town of the same name.
Elsewhere, artist duo Broomberg & Chanarin's Dodo installation brings a breath of fresh air to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art with a full-scale airplane propeller, pictured here in its previous set-up at Fundación Jumex Arte Contemporáneo in Mexico.
Installation view of Dodo, by Broomberg & Chanarin, 2014, at Fundación Jumex Arte Contemporáne.
Over at Inverleith House, Jesse Wine has unveiled a freshly commissioned series of ceramic sculptures, Gossip I – IV, hung from the ceiling in the Victorian Palm House at the Royal Botanic Garden. Courtesy of the artist, Limoncello Gallery and Mary Mary, Glasgow.
INFORMATION
BAS8 runs until 8 May in Edinburgh. For more information and touring dates, visit the British Art Show website
-
From counter-culture to Northern Soul, these photos chart an intimate history of working-class Britain‘After the End of History: British Working Class Photography 1989 – 2024’ is at Edinburgh gallery Stills
-
Surrealism as feminist resistance: artists against fascism in Leeds‘The Traumatic Surreal’ at the Henry Moore Institute, unpacks the generational trauma left by Nazism for postwar women
-
From activism and capitalism to club culture and subculture, a new exhibition offers a snapshot of 1980s BritainThe turbulence of a colourful decade, as seen through the lens of a diverse community of photographers, collectives and publications, is on show at Tate Britain until May 2025
-
Jasleen Kaur wins the Turner Prize 2024Jasleen Kaur has won the Turner Prize 2024, recognised for her work which reflects upon everyday objects
-
Peggy Guggenheim: ‘My motto was “Buy a picture a day” and I lived up to it’Five years spent at her Sussex country retreat inspired Peggy Guggenheim to reframe her future, kickstarting one of the most thrilling modern-art collections in history
-
Please do touch the art: enter R.I.P. Germain’s underground world in LiverpoolR.I.P. Germain’s ‘After GOD, Dudus Comes Next!’ is an immersive installation at FACT Liverpool
-
‘Regeneration and repair is a really important part of how I work’: Bharti Kher at Yorkshire Sculpture ParkBharti Kher unveils the largest UK museum exhibition of her career at Yorkshire Sculpture Park
-
‘Mental health, motherhood and class’: Hannah Perry’s dynamic installation at BalticHannah Perry's exhibition ’Manual Labour’ is on show at Baltic in Gateshead, UK, a five-part installation drawing parallels between motherhood and factory work
