[spectre] Matters art magazine, Scotland

[Malcolm Dickson]

Matters is the only magazine published in Scotland that celebrates
and critiques the contemporary visual arts scene across all media on
an international level.  Published 3 times annually, it comprises 56
pages of expanded exhibition reviews and previews, original art
works, a new media section, plus book and event reviews.

New issue out now, contents include:

Neil Mulholland 'Leaving Glasvegas';

Interviews with Venice Biennale artists Simon Starling by Rob
Tuffnell, Claire Barclay by Moira Jeffrey, Jim Lambie by Rebecca
Gordon Nesbitt;

David Bellingham interviewing Pavel Buchler on the Manchester Pavillion;

Iliyana Nedkova on artists-run electronic networks;

Artists opinions on new media resourcing (Gair Dunlop, Mike Stubbs,
Bev Hood, Lindsay Perth, Gina Czarnecki, Adinda van't Klooster, Simon
Fildes/Katrina MacPherson, Stephen Hurrel, Colin Andrews;

Su Greirson on a Scottish/Japanese exchange;

Sara Selwood on audiences for contemporary art;

Comment on social inclusion;

Artists Pages by Chad McCail;

Profiles of Janice McNab and Salla Tykka;

reviews of Dalziel in Scullion, Michael Maziere, Christopher Wool,
Toby Paterson, The Haunted Swing, Sanctuary, FACTORS publications
series, Mathew Barney, Louise Hopkins, Four Plus, Beagles and Ramsey,
UK/Canadian Video Exchange;
plus news and opportunities.

If you have difficulties locating the magazine please let us know:
editmatters at hotmail.com



Editorial - issue 17

Earlier this year The Guardian announced that 'The leaky timbers of
HMS Great Britain were dealt another buckling broadside yesterday
when the Scots and Welsh announced their intention to artistically
jump ship. Both countries are pulling out of the British pavilion at
this year's Venice Biennale - the world's most important art
exhibition - to set up their own shows.' In fact Scotland is not
listed as one of the fifty or more countries with an official
pavilion but is instead participating 'independently' as part of the
'Extra 50' group of exhibitions.

This issue of Matters marks Scotland's presence at this year's Venice
Biennale and features in-depth interviews with the three artists from
Scotland who are exhibiting as well as listing the artists
participating in the programme of accompanying events. The ambiguity
of the status of Scotland's representation in Venice provides a
platform for the magazine to look at questions such as: is there
something distinct about art produced in Scotland? What strategies
are employed by artists here to negotiate an international presence?
How relevant is it to think in terms of nationalism and national
identity given the diversity of origins of artists working here and
their ability to operate trans-nationally and is that a different
political agenda of concern only to official bodies?

Some of these issues are raised in David Bellingham's interview with
Pavel Büchler about the Manchester Pavilion - back by popular demand
this year, this tongue-in-cheek alternative to the national pavilions
will be opening its doors to provide a late night bar rather than
exhibiting any art.

In 'Leaving Glasvegas' Neil Mullholland looks back at art in Scotland
of the 90s in a period when an influential shift occurred in the
Scottish art scene (arguably inaugurated with the New Glasgow Boys in
the mid-Eighties) which saw more artists staying in the country than
leaving when it became apparent that an international presence was
possible from a base within this country. These issues are relevant
to a larger debate about national consciousness and cultural
coherence that has haunted the Scottish political psyche of 'who or
what is a Scot', a question which has been further confused rather
than clarified since the foundation of the Scottish Parliament in
1999. Mulholland speculates on the currency and communicability of
much contemporary art made in Scotland (is it acccessible only to
those involved in its production and dissemination) and explores some
of its nuances and the distinct contexts in which it has been
cultivated. The article suggests a shift from a 'critical
regionalism' of conceptual work to one which is - deliberately or by
accident - much less cohesive, one where 'a growing number of
artistsŠ flutter between media, producing personal, collaborative and
uncompromisingly innate works' which he claims has witnessed a return
to a grass roots infrastructure of support, a move from the 'gallery
back into the tenement.' Does this signal a rupture with past
convention, or is it simply part of a continuum of large
self-initiated and site-specific shows in derelict warehouses,
offices and public space? Are we not simply seeing a further
expansion of the sector, with another recurring wave of
practitioners, or are the loci from where curators 'locate the new'
becoming more concentrated in smaller coteries? Is it not just the
case that we view the old in new ways?

The notion of place being a cultural crossroads for the international
art community, wherever you happen to be, is echoed in profiles of
Scottish artist based in Amsterdam, Janice McNab, and Finnish artist
Salla Tykkä who recently exhibited in Glasgow; the notion of
connecting voices and transcending borders through the internet is
surveyed in Iliyana Nedkova's article on artists-run electronic
networks and Su Grierson reports on a unique artist initiated
exchange which has lead to a number of tangible opportunities in
Japan and Scotland; English curator and writer domiciled in
California, Simon Herbert, reports from LA on attitudes towards
graffiti art; nine artists comment on seminal projects they have seen
or been involved both in the UK and abroad, and also give their views
on the potential resourcing of new media in Scotland and Chad McCail
provides us with artists pages from work developed during a recent
residency at Baltic in Tyneside.

The increased media interest in current art and artists is not in
question, but recent claims that contemporary art is more popular
than football are examined by Sara Selwood who questions the evidence
and finds out who is visiting exhibitions, what people like and what
they buy. Stephen Dawber's polemic responds to Francois Matarasso's
article on social inclusion in the last issue of the magazine,
claiming that enforced social inclusion strategies are part of a
system that fails those very people it's structures are intended to
benefit.  Also in this issue we include a substantial number of
reviews of exhibitions from as far afield as Glasgow, Edinburgh,
North Uist, Gateshead, London and New York.

This issue of Matters is the second of two which have been specially
guest edited to explore the potential for a magazine which addresses
the cultural gap in the visual arts sector in Scotland by being
rooted in the place, but non-parochial - to be both local and
international. These two issues have attempted to be pluralistic and
to shed some critical light on a disparate number of artists' and the
multiple manifestations of their work. It is hoped that these issues
have demonstrated the potential and value of that.

Malcolm Dickson and Kate Tregaskis