25 July – 25 August
Our sixteenth edition brought together the work of over 300 artists, presented in 50 exhibitions across more than 35 venues throughout the city. Curated by Edinburgh’s leading galleries, museums and artist-run spaces, featuring major historic surveys alongside leading Scottish, UK and international contemporary artists and 10 projects from across Scotland selected for our Pop Up Exhibitions and Events feature, alongside over 140 events throughout the month.
View the Festival Guide:
View the Festival Map & Events Leaflet:
Commissions Programme
Stories for an Uncertain World
In 2019, as we witnessed major geo-political and societal shifts, our Commissions Programme brought together 5 artists with new projects which reflected the uncertain times we found ourselves in, poised between the disintegration of an old world order, and taking the initial faltering steps towards an unknown future.
Encompassing a wide range of media, from light installation through to performance and film, the projects were united by a shared interest in narrative and storytelling as one of the fundamental ways in which we make sense of the world and imagine possible new futures.
Drawing on historical as well as futuristic narratives as a means to reflect on our current condition, the projects also explored ideas of resilience, and how collectively we process difficulties and face the future.
View Stories for an Uncertain World – Commissions Programme Booklet:
Participating Artists:
Nathan Coley, The Future is Inside Us, It’s not Somewhere Else, 2019. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Keith Hunter. 
Alfredo Jaar. West College Street, Edinburgh. 
Rosalind Nashashibi 
Sriwhana Spong, castle-crystal, 2019. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Sally Jubb Photography. 
Corin Sworn, Habits of Assembly, 2019. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Keith Hunter.
Nathan Coley, The Future is Inside Us, It’s not Somewhere Else
Alfredo Jaar, I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On
Rosalind Nashashibi
Sriwhana Spong, castle-crystal
Corin Sworn, Habits of Assembly
Platform: 2019
The 2019 edition of our dedicated showcase for artists at the beginning of their careers based in Scotland was selected by artists Monster Chetwynd and Toby Paterson, and brought together new work by:
Anna Danielewicz
Joanne Dawson
Harry Maberly
Suds McKenna
Platform: 2019. Courtesy of the artists. Photo: Sally Jubb Photography.
View the Platform: 2019 Booklet:
Partner Exhibitions
All That the Rain Promises and More... at Arusha Gallery
Victoria Crowe: 50 Years of Painting at City Art Centre
If play is neither inside nor outside, where is it? and Migratory Motor Complex at Collective
Grayson Perry: Julie Cope’s Grand Tour at Dovecot Studios
Summer at ECA: ECA Festival Exhibition, Double Disaster (Closing Down), Sonikebana, Fully Awake 4.6 and Grey to Blue: Ecological Entanglements at Edinburgh College of Art
A Machine for Making Authenticity and Hanna Tuulikki: Deer Dancer at Edinburgh Printmakers
Caroline Achaintre: Encounter L., Lucy Wayman: Clovehitch and Adam Benmakhlouf: The Noise of Making Spills Over at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop
Intimate: a portrait and Nicole Farhi: Writing Heads at The Fine Art Society
Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller: Night Walk for Edinburgh from The Fruitmarket Gallery
My Own Private Bauhaus at Ingleby
Joana Vasconcelos: Gateway and Trisha Brown: Time, Space, Gravity at Jupiter Artland
Bridget Riley, Cut and Paste: 400 Years of Collage, NOW: Anya Gallaccio, Charles Avery, Aurélien Froment, Roger Hiorns, Peles Empire, Zineb Sedira, The Long Look: The Making of a Portrait and ARTIST ROOMS Self Evidence: Photographs by Woodman, Arbus and Mapplethorpe from National Galleries of Scotland
Wild and Majestic: Romantic Visions of Scotland at National Museum of Scotland
John Busby: Silent Landscape and John Busby Remembered at Open Eye Gallery
Russia: Royalty & the Romanovs at The Queen’s Gallery
Ever After and Kiln Gods at The Scottish Gallery
Cindy Sherman: Early Works, 1975—80 at Stills: Centre for Photography
Samson Young: Real Music at Talbot Rice Gallery
Victoria Crowe, Sheep, Shepherdess and Harbour Craig, 1975. Private collection © Victoria Crowe. 
Adam Benmakhlouf, drawing produced during 78 Paintings, tarot workshops, 2018. Courtesy of the artist. 
Hanna Tuulikki, Deer Dancer, 2019. Courtesy of the artist. 
Caroline Achaintre, Lord Lard, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, 2016. Courtesy of the artist, Arcade, London and Art: Concept, Paris. 
Joana Vasconcelos: Gateway, 2019. Courtesy of the artist and Jupiter Artland. Photo: Owen Humphreys.
Pop Up Exhibitions and Events
Restoring the Space at The Parish Church of St Cuthbert
Alec Finlay: Day of Access at Travelling Gallery
Quality Sleep,Harmony Life! Vol. 1 publication
UNKENNY from place+platform
Movement of Freedom from Deveron Projects and Many Studios
An Observation from Amanda Baron
Sixth from PYRUS
Vanishing Point: Where Species Meet from Snæbjörnsdóttir/Wilson
Snæbjörnsdóttir/Wilson, Vanishing Point (film still). Courtesy of the artists. 
Alec Finlay, Counterpane (blanket landscape), 2016. Photo: Hannah Devereux. 
PYRUS, The House. Courtesy of the artists. Photo: Caro Weiss.
