EDINBURGH ART FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES 2017 EXHIBITION PROGRAMME

27 JULY – 27 AUGUST 2017

Edinburgh Art Festival (EAF), the largest annual festival of visual art in the UK, is delighted to announce details of its 14th edition, including partner exhibitions and pop-up events by contemporary and modern artists from the UK and beyond. This year, as Edinburgh celebrates its 70th anniversary as a Festival City, EAF and partners will present over 45 exhibitions across more than 35 venues, combining ambitious presentations of Scottish and international contemporary art with important survey shows, across the capital’s leading galleries and museums as well as site-specific pop-ups and artist-run spaces.

Highlights of the 2017 programme include:

·         Exhibitions of work by internationally recognised artists, including Jac Leirner at The Fruitmarket Gallery; Pablo Bronstein at Jupiter Artland; Ed Ruscha at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art; and Patrick Staff at Collective.

·         Solo presentations by some of Scotland’s leading artists, including Douglas Gordon and Graham Fagen at Scottish National Portrait Gallery; Stephen Sutcliffe at Talbot Rice Gallery; and winner of the 2016 Margaret Tait Prize, Kate Davis, at Stills.

·         Significant survey and historical shows including an overview of British Realist Painting at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art; a celebration of the great landscape painters John Constable and William McTaggart at the Scottish National Gallery; the largest exhibition in 70 years about the Jacobites at the National Museum of Scotland;  and works by Hanna Tuulikki and Fiona Mathison in an exhibition exploring the history and cultural identity of women expressed in their work in textile at Dovecot Gallery. Additionally, in the 70th anniversary of Edinburgh as The Festival City and the Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology, City Art Centre will celebrate Edinburgh’s history through an A-Z tour of their collection.

·         Key figures in the history of photography are explored at The Queen’s Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse, with a major exhibition of the work of Crimean war photographer Roger Fenton; plus an exploration of duo Hill & Adamson at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

·         Significant group exhibitions including the inaugural exhibition in the six-part series of NOW at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, with work by Mona Hatoum, Rivane Neuenschwander and Nathan Coley; pairings of artists at Ingleby to celebrate their 20th anniversary; and Edinburgh Printmakers’ New Edition, with work by Museums Press, Poster Club and Emer Tumilty.

·         Presentations of contemporary artists working in expanded contexts include new commissions from Laura Aldridge, Bobby Niven and Oliver Osborne alongside rarely seen archival material at Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh; Sue Jane Taylor at the National Museum of Scotland; Thought Collider at New Media Scotland; and a collaborative project centered around the work of Melbourne-based writer Jessica Yu, leading to the establishment of an in-gallery press at Rhubaba.

·         Emerging Scottish artists will also be showcased across the city, including Ross Little at Collective, Jacob Kerray at Talbot Rice Gallery, Marco Giordano and Pester & Rossi at Jupiter Artland; new work from Charlotte Barker at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop; MA degree show at Edinburgh College of Art; and a series of artists in residence at The Number Shop.