What you see is where you’re at
28 November, 2009–28 February, 2010
Press view: 27 November 2009, 11.30am–1pm
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
75 Belford Road
Edinburgh, EH4 3DR
Admission free
For the first time in twenty-five years the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art will be re-hung in its entirety to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its founding. Opening during the Homecoming Scotland Finale Celebrations, the display will reveal the richness and range of the collection in a series of rooms which aim to delight and surprise.
Since its opening in Inverleith House in 1960, in Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Gardens, its move to a larger building on Belford Road in 1984 and the expansion into the Dean Gallery in 1999, the collection has grown to more than 5000 works and is now considered one of the best in Europe.
Thematic displays will bring together iconic works, forgotten pieces and new acquisitions in innovative and often unexpected combinations and contexts: a room focusing on still-life will include work by Chardin, Morandi and Peploe; collage will bring together work by Picasso, Paolozzi, Agar and Burra; two successive rooms will contrast the use of colour internationally around 1910 with the use of colour in Pop and Op art from the 1960s; a further room is devoted to an exploration of white.
Interspersed among these thematic displays, other spaces will focus on a single artist, or work. The centrepiece of the re-hang will consist of an extraordinary, large-scale installation by Martin Boyce, who represented Scotland at this year’s Venice Biennale. This specially commissioned work is a recent acquisition to the collection and is being shown for the first time. Supported by Homecoming Scotland, and entitled Electric Trees and Telephone Booth Conversations, the installation makes full use of the height and dramatic scale of the largest room in the Gallery.
Other rooms devoted to solo artists include a spectacular installation of works by Douglas Gordon, whilst the artist Callum Innes has been given total freedom to curate a two-room display with works from the collection and selected loans. American artist David Schutter, alumni of the Randolph Cliff artist-in-residence programme which is supported by Edinburgh Collage of Art and the National Galleries of Scotland, will be marking his first showing in the UK with a room of new works. There will also be new work by the young German artist Kitty Kraus, who is shortly to show at the Guggenheim, New York. The re-hang will also include displays from ARTIST ROOMS, a new collection of modern and contemporary art held by Tate and National Galleries of Scotland for the nation. Outside, a major work by Nathan Coley, There Will Be No Miracles Here, will be installed in the grounds of the Dean Gallery, the installation of this work has been supported by the Patrons of the National Galleries of Scotland. Whilst a new work by Martin Creed, Work No. 975 EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE ALRIGHT, will illuminate the facade of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.
Throughout our anniversary year the displays will change on a rotating basis. As well as showcasing new displays from the collection, this dynamic programme will also consist of new commissions from many leading Scottish and international artists. Details of which will be announced throughout the year.
For further information and images please contact the National Galleries of Scotland’s press office on 0131 624 6325/6247/6314/6332 or pressinfo@nationalgalleries.org.
Drawings made in relation to the paintings by David Schutter will be on show at sleeper, 6 Darnaway Street, Edinburgh, EH3 6BG, www.sleeper1.com, 0131 225 8444, 30 November – 18 December 2009, admission free
For further information on Martin Boyce’s exhibition at the Venice Biennale 09, please visit the Scotland and Venice website at www.scotlandandvenice.com
Martin Boyce’s Electric Trees and Telephone Booth Conversations is part of the Homecoming Scotland Finale Celebrations: Scotland’s Biggest Ever St Andrew’s Do. Running from 26th – 30th November, with more than 40 events and opportunities to visit some of Scotland’s major attractions for free across Scotland, a full programme of activity is available at www.homecomingscotland2009.com
