Listings: Morning events, free events

Amazing Amber

Amber is beautiful as well as fascinating. It consists of fossilised tree resin, and since resin in liquid form is sticky, and amber is transparent, this means that insects, animals and plant material sometimes get trapped in it and are preserved intact, giving us a glimpse of life millions of years ago. The whole process…

From Death to Death and Other Small Tales: Masterpieces from the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and the D.Daskalopoulos Collection

From Death to Death and Other Small Tales brings together works from the D.Daskalopoulos Collection, one of the most important private collections of modern and contemporary art, with major works from the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. This innovative exhibition comprises approximately 130 works and creates a…

Staple Matter

The Patriothall building dates back to the beginning of the 20th century and was used as a co-operative bakery that provided food for Stockbridge and the wider area. Abandoned in the 1940s it was converted by artists into studios in the 1980s and today, housing WASPS artist-run studios, retains many architectural elements…

Game Changer

Bringing together works by Rachel Adams, Jacob Dahlgren, Nilbar Güres and Haroon Mirza, this exhibition considers materials, space, physicality and body image within the context of the sporting arena. The show is situated in Meadowbank Sports Centre, the main athletics venue for the 1970 and 1986 Commonwealth Games in…

Ilana Halperin: The Library

New work by New York-born artist Halperin, who is interested in the relationship between geological time and human experience. She's the first contemporary artist to receive an Artist's Fellowship at the NMS, and this exhibition features found objects, minerals, artworks created by natural processes and a 1.3-ton…

Paul Reid: New Paintings

The poetic narratives of Ovid have inspired painters since the Renaissance, but the paintings of Paul Reid uniquely focus on incidental details and precursory moments from these classical myths, creating curious, enigmatic and sometimes disquieting images. The technical skill and allusions to classicism in Reid’s…

21 Revolutions: Two Decades of Changing Minds at Glasgow Women's Library

Glasgow Women’s Library (GWL) is the sole resource of its kind in Scotland. Launched in 1991, the library has amassed a remarkable collection that charts women’s and equalities campaigns, showcasing and conserving the diversity of women’s history and creativity. To mark the library’s 21st birthday in 2012, GWL…

Alberto Morrocco: Drawing on Life

This exhibition of works by Alberto Morrocco OBE (1917 – 1998) spans the artist’s entire career, from early student drawings and sculptures to paintings and graphics produced in his final years. Many of the works included are being shown for the first time in public and the sheer range of pieces – from classical…

Ana Maria Pacheco: Memória Roubada

Translated literally, Ana Maria Pacheco's title Memória Roubada means 'stolen memories'. At the heart of this exhibition are two sculptural works characteristic of both Pacheco's practice and her personal and political concerns about the exercise of power. Displayed facing one another, each work is a wooden cupboard…

Ângela Ferreira: Political Cameras

For her first solo exhibition in a public gallery in the UK, Ângela Ferreira presents her renowned project Political Cameras (For Mozambique series) from 2011 alongside a new commission which will reference the legacy of David Livingstone's life and work, and the relationship between Africa and Europe from colonial days…

Bobby Niven: Palm of the Hand

This exhibition of new work by Bobby Niven brings together anthropomorphic sculptures with more solemn, abstract structures, finding humour in the tension between animate and inert forms. Made from mud, sprayed concrete and carved wood, Niven’s sculptures act as plinths for found objects and artifacts which they…

Collectors' Choice

This exhibition will examine the motivations, processes and benefits of collecting contemporary art through displaying works owned by a wide variety of participating collectors: from first-time buyers to corporates, and from family collections to those held by national institutions. The artists whose works are…

Dressed to Kill: Fashion, Costume and Dress in Scottish Art

Dressed to Kill showcases how Scottish artists have captured fashion, costume and dress over the years, from the late 17th century to the present day. The exhibition includes portrayals of a whole range of different types of costume, from mundane everyday working clothes to the most elaborate fashionable dress. There is…

Elizabeth Blackadder: Works on Paper

Displaying new works on paper, this is the first exhibition of Dame Elizabeth Blackadder’s work since the retrospective at The National Galleries of Scotland in 2010, and includes delicate studies of leaves, fruit and other organic objects.

Follow the Thread – Artist Rugs: Dovecot's Contemporary Rug Collection

Pioneers in tapestry and rug making for over a 100 years, Dovecot Studios presents an exhibition of hand-tufted rugs created in collaboration with well known contemporary artists. These graphic and vibrant works uniquely showcase the colour blending and design skills of Dovecot’s artist weavers and rug-tufters working…

Follow the Thread – Dazzle@Dovecot

Dazzle@Dovecot returns for a second consecutive year with an exhibition of over 50 contemporary jewellery designers and silversmiths, and – for the first time in Edinburgh – Dazzle will also be presenting work from a number of international printmakers including Emiko Aida from Japan. Included in the exhibition will be an…

Follow the Thread – Fleece to Fibre: The Making of the Large Tree Group Tapestry

Follow the Thread is a celebration of weaving and wool, presenting three distinct exhibitions which celebrate the diversity, skill and ingenuity of artists, designers and makers who choose to work with yarn and textiles. Victoria Crowe’s celebrated painting, Large Tree Group (1975), was chosen by Dovecot Studios in…

Gabriel Orozco

Major exhibition of work by the Mexican artist, taking his painting The Eye of Go as a starting point, and featuring a series of large works on acetate which have never before been exhibited. Orozco is concerned not so much with what art should be but why it exists at all, and his practice never stands still – he'll cite…

GARAGE

GARAGE presents new works and collaborations by artists created during a series of micro-residencies in this unique project space which comprises three garages and a garden. The artists exhibiting include Ailie Rutherford, Ary D Cahyono, Belinda Gilbert Scott, Bob Moyler, Christine Hilditch, David MacDiarmid, Emma…

Katri Walker: An Equilibrium Not of This World

Scottish artist Katri Walker is attracting increasing attention for her multi channel audio-visual installations which are equally at home in the worlds of contemporary art, portraiture and documentary film-making. North West, presented by Peacock Visual Arts at the 2011 Edinburgh Art Festival drew on the landscape of…

Lovely Sky (Participatory Imagineering)

For the duration of the festival, artist Lucy Pawlak will adopt the role of Producer for a narrative feature film. The resulting work will be designed and directed in collaboration with a writing team of imagineers and advisors made up of visitors to the gallery and invited experts. Through constant brainstorming, hot…