IMPOSSIBLE NATION, a partnership project between the Travelling Gallery and the Scottish National Portrait Gallery's Portrait of the Nation: Live, presents a thought-provoking visual portrait of how Scotland appears to its younger generations.
The Travelling Gallery and the National Galleries of Scotland Outreach Team have joined forces to create a follow-up exhibition to the Rough Cut Nation exhibition at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in August 2009 - one of the highlights of last year's Edinburgh Art Festival.
The installation is a collaborative artwork by several of the artists involved in the Rough Cut Nation exhibition, making graphic art on the theme of what the nation means to young Scots today.
The interior of the Travelling Gallery has been completely transformed by the artists, using every available surface and combining a range of media including drawing, painting, spray painting, sculpture, paste-ups and projections to explore themes of identity, landscape, portraiture and culture. The images reveal a contemporary narrative of the Scottish nation, reconfiguring key figures and events, to form an alternative and inclusive re-description of the nation's story.
James Holloway, Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, said: "IMPOSSIBLE NATION allows hundreds of young people across Scotland to stamp their own identity on the nation. This exciting exhibition is a follow-up to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery’s highly successful Rough Cut Nation project of 2009 and is the result of a creative partnership with the Travelling Gallery which is enabling us to explore similar issues more widely throughout Scotland. For us it is the first part of a larger Outreach project: we will be back out again next year to deliver part two."
The artists involved in IMPOSSIBLE NATION are: Fraser Gray, Martin McGuinness, Richard Riach, Rabiya Choudhry, Andy MacVicar, Mike Inglis, Pete Martin and Kirsty Whiten.
Following today's showing of the Travelling Gallery to the public, outside the City Art Centre, it will head to Angus, the first stop on its nationwide tour. The Travelling Gallery tours IMPOSSIBLE NATION to the following areas throughout Scotland:
Mon 23 – Fri 27 August: Angus
Mon 30 Aug – Fri 3 September: South Ayrshire
Mon 6 – Fri 10 Sept: Highland
Wed 22 – Thu 23 Sept: Scottish Learning Festival, SECCC, Glasgow
Mon 27 Sept – Fri 1 October: Falkirk
Mon 18 – Fri 22 Oct: South Lanarkshire
Mon 25 – Fri 29 Oct: Aberdeenshire
Mon 1 – Fri 5 November: Midlothian
Mon 8 – Fri 12 Nov: East Ayrshire
Mon 15 – Fri 19 Nov: Stirling
Mon 22 – Fri 26 Nov: Perth and Kinross
Mon 29 Nov – Fri 3 December: Scottish Borders
Mon 6 – Fri 10 Dec: Edinburgh schools
As with all Travelling Gallery exhibitions, the TG team will be giving talks on the installation to groups to encourage a lively engagement and a comprehensive Education Pack will be produced and sent out in advance of our visits to inform teachers and group leaders. A number of artist-led workshops during the tour will also be available