Category Archives: Festivals

Festivals across Glasgow

Glasgow International – festival for the visual arts

Anthea Hamilton & Nicholas Byrne

Glasgow International, one of the UK’s largest and most influential festivals for the visual arts launches its 6th edition tomorrow; the first of three festivals to be curated by new Director Sarah McCrory.

Featuring the work of over 150 artists from 24 countries, GI2014 takes over Glasgow’s best loved art galleries and museums, including Kelvingrove Gallery and Museum, Tramway and the Gallery of Modern Art, presenting 50
exhibitions and 90 events across the city.

In order to complement the institutional shows and celebrate the Year of Homecoming, this year’s programme transforms and regenerates unusual or rundown sites and opens up usually closed spaces to the public, including Govanhill Baths swimming pool, an underground car park, a shopping centre, and the McLellan Galleries – the oldest art space in the city.

More than 90% of the work is new or previously unseen in the UK with major new site-specific commissions covering a wide range of media and disciplines including installation, sculpture, performance, film, stand-up comedy, collage, ceramics, photography and painting.

A series of workshops, talks, performances, films, and tours designed for all ages have been planned throughout the festival. A new media partnership with BBC Arts will present three one-off events at BBC Scotland Pacific Quay and the launch of ‘Art Screen’; a four day celebration of some of the finest arts documentaries from across the globe, taking place at the Glasgow Film Theatre and Centre for Contemporary Arts.

Glasgow International has a legacy of producing some of the most exciting new contemporary art commissions, recognising emerging talent and tracing the careers of artists over multiple editions. Using the backdrop of the city, the Festival aims to highlight artists whose practices engage in essential and critical contemporary art discourse.

This year’s event will further showcase Glasgow as one of the world’s most important centres for the production and display of contemporary visual art.

Sarah McCrory, Director, said: “I’m excited to welcome visitors to the sixth edition, and my first, Glasgow International festival. With this year’s programme I aimed to build on the festival’s reputation for showcasing the city’s influential art scene, while also bringing a strong presentation of international, leading and emerging contemporary artists to Glasgow for the first time. As well as taking over some of Glasgow’s well-loved galleries and museums, the festival opens up and transforms unusual spaces with new commissions, exhibitions and events.  Designed to encourage a sense of exploration and discovery through contemporary art, the programme also celebrates the city itself.”

 

GFF 2014 – The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared (Felix Herngren, 2013)

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For the most part, we’ve left mainstream comedy films to the Yanks. Veering towards grandiose affairs of humourless slapstick, or a smartly written, well acted features, they rarely meet anywhere in the middle. The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window and Disappeared is an example of a film doing just that.

On his one hundredth birthday, Allan climbs out of his window in a care home he reluctantly lives in. Intent on escaping to somewhere new and alone, he takes the bus to a small, almost non existent town, meeting people along the way. As the police start to track down his whereabouts, he leads a life of inadvertent crime, innately telling stories of his past on the way.

Although it lends a lot to the likes of Forrest Gump, The 100-Year-Old Man is simply a warm, well intended film to watch. It doesn’t try to involve needless backstories (apart from his past, obviously, which isn’t necessary but a beautiful anecdote that runs through it), but sets forward on this story that shows comedy holds no language.

It may stretch out a little, at nearly two hours long, but The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared is a joyously comic film that has its heart in exactly the right place.

Ashton Lane Hogmanay Street Party

Ashton Lane Hogmanay (1) (2) Ashton Lane Hogmanay (2) (2)Ashton Lane Glasgow[/googleMap]This event starts at 7:00pm and goes on till late. Tickets are available from venues within Ashton Lane and on Ticketmaster.

Ashton Lane is a flurry of festive lights, live entertainment and fantastic food and drink this New Year.

The Lane’s Hogmanay Street Party is one of the liveliest spots in Glasgow to welcome the bells. Entry costs £25 and you can spend the night hopping around your favourite bars and restaurants while enjoying live entertainment in the Lane from a host of great acts including Them Beatles, Snafu, George Donaldson (Celtic Thunder) and lots of other great street performers before a spectacular firework display to bring in the New Year.

Great dining packages will also be available from Ashton Lane’s eclectic range of bars and restaurants including The Ubiquitous Chip, Ketchup, Brel, The Grosvenor Café, Ashoka and Jinty McGinty’s.

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