Sorcha Dallas

Glasgow School of Art’s international reputation has been secured in recent years by a prestigious roll-call of graduates that includes Clare Barclay, Christine Borland, Douglas Gordon, Ross Sinclair, Simon Starling and Richard Wright. In comparison, the school’s own exhibition programme has, at times, seemed rather overlloked.

Based across four galleries on campus, including one within the main Charles Rennie Mackintosh building, the exhibition programme is organised by Cathy Chambers and the newly appointed Grainne Rice. Its remit embraces historical and contemporary international exhibitions, with an inevitable emphasis on the work of its students and staff. However, the current exhibition ‘Unrealised Dreams’ by Beagles and Ramsay, will further situate GSA as a valuable exhibition space for contemporary visual art within Glasgow. Since their first solo show in 1997, John Beagles and Graham Ramsay’s work has focused upon the themes of food, morality and grotesque self-representation. This exhibition presents a series of new drawings, related maquettes and prototypes of plans, proposals and projections for future artworks, ranging from public sculpture to theatrical productions.

‘Unrealised Dreams’ originated as a poster, featuring a range of projects drawn in the style of Leonardo da Vinci, commissioned as part of ‘Zenomap’, Scotland’s first presentation at the Venice Biennale in 2003. The curators of Scotland’s second presentation were finally announced by the Scottish Arts Council and the British Council at the end of October this year. The 2005 exhibition for Venice and, subsequently, the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh, will be curated by Jason E. Bowman and Rachel Bradley. That this announcement was eagerly anticipated in Glasgow comes as no surprise. In 2003, Francis McKee and Kay Pallister conceived what was widely regarded as one of the Biennale’s most successful projects. The cornerstone of a series of commissioned projects brought together by McKee and Pallister under the ‘Zenomap’ title, was an exhibition of new work by Clare Barclay, Jim Lambie and Simon Starling, all of whom studied at GSA. Although artists from all regions in Scotland were shown, the high number associated with Glasgow is a testament to the city’s prominence in terms of contemporary visual art.

‘Zenomap’ is a hard act to follow and Scotland’s presence at the Biennale is vital: not only should it highlight to an international audience the quality of the work currently being produced, but its success is crucial as a means of articulating the importance of contemporary visual art to those shaping Scottish cultural policy. Bowman and Bradley have stated that their concept ‘seeks to examine the behavioural qualities inherent to artistic practice’. The artists will be announced this month.

The Modern Institute. Chris Johanson. Until 10 December www.moderninstitute.org The first solo show in Scotland for the San Francisco-based artist.

Sorcha Dallas. Kate Davis. Until 22 January www.sorchadallas.com A solo exhibition for Glasgow-based artist Kate Davis in one of Glasgow’s most interesting exhibition spaces.

Glasgow School of Art. Beagles and Ramsay. Unrealised Dreams. Until 12 February www.gsa.ac.uk, www.beaglesramsay.co.uk A continuation of the project launched at the 2003 Venice Biennale.