Thursday 31st July 2014
The Herald
By Phil Miller
A confetti cannon that would fire in the event of a Yes vote in the independence referendum is part of a series of exhibitions which open in Edinburgh today as the Edinburgh Art Festival gets underway.
The month long festival features more than 40 exhibitions and events in 30 of the city's museums and galleries, as well as temporary and pop-up spaces.
At the Talbot Rice Gallery at the University of Edinburgh, Ellie Harrison has created a work called After The Revolution, Who Will Clean Up The Mess? a series of indoor confetti cannons that she will only fire if the September 18 vote signals Scottish independence.
Her show appears alongside works by Ross Birell, Alec Finlay and others in the Counterpoint group show.
The 2014 programme also sees the presentation of a major international group exhibition 'Where do I end and you begin' at the City Art Centre.
Dalziel and Scullion also open a new show at Dovcote Studios which features a new range of clothing for wearing to increase an apprecation of nature, as well as billion-year-old rocks.
Sorcha Carey, director of Edinburgh Art Festival, said: "As the only major annual festival dedicated to the visual arts within the UK, Edinburgh Art Festival occupies a uniquely important place in the cultural calendar.
"Our 2014 programme continues to provide audiences with an unrivalled opportunity to immerse themselves in the very best historic and contemporary art, with an extraordinarily rich series of solo and group presentations of Scottish contemporary artists alongside exhibitions of leading international artists, many showing in the UK for the very first time."
Indian artists Amar Kanwar and Shilpa Gupta have also installed work in the historic Old Royal High School on Calton Hill.
The festival also encompasses shows at the National Galleries of Scotland, including the new American Impressionism show featuring works by Degas, Monet, Cassatt, Sargent and Whistler; the presentation of drawn and painted work by renowned art critic and artist John Ruskin and the only UK showing of Chinese treasures from Ming: The Golden Empire at the National Museum of Scotland.
Tomorrow, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe starts officially and is launched by a lecture from director and writer duo Rachel Chavkin and Chris Thorpe.
