Click on the links below the individual articles to download / view as either a PDF or text file.
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Crowd Control - Chris Byrne
A review of Andrews Stones' video and installation work at Streetlevel, Glasgow. Byrne brings out the political aspects of the work and follows the artists intellectual and technical rigour.
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Virtue and Vice - Michelle McGuire
A well crafted and penetrating look at derivations of allegory in contemporary photography. McGuire offers an extended review of the 'Virtue and Vice' exhibition at the Site gallery in Sheffield. Amongst the artists reviewed are Helen Chadwick.
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Open War - David Burrows
In a semi-fictional account (the security guards take on the aggressiveness of the SAS) Burrows reviews Material Culture at the Hayward Gallery, London. The show's curators were to meet criticism from many sources.
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Liverpool East European Electronic Arts Forum - Sean Cubitt
An engaging and stimulating look at the LEAF conference. Cubitt elegantly balances quite complex ramifications of the new electronic culture. A particularly informative overview of east European work highlights pre-conceived British notions.
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Surplus Bodies - Roberta McGrath
An in depth look at the disturbing work of Joel-Peter Witkin. The article blends philosophical aspects of Virtual Reality with Witken's photographic work on the human body.
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Art, Science, Economics and Nuthatches - Gavin Jones
Jones aims to de-mystify and elaborate certain aspects of 'scientific thinking'. The essay grew out of his research for the Edinburgh International Science Festival.
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The Clandestine Caucus - William Clark
The article is a review of Robin Ramsay's special edition of Lobster magazine which dealt with investigations of anti-socialist campaigns and operations in the British Labour movement since WWII.
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The Culture of the Copy - Francis McKee
McKee enthuses about Hillel Schwartz's enigmatic book on likenesses and facsimiles - something of a reference tool for the phenomenology of 'the copy'.
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Hal Foster Interview - William Clark, Leigh French, Peter Suchin
Foster suggested a more informal approach to the interview. The magazine had made arrangements (in collaboration with Glasgow School of art) to bring him up to Glasgow. The interview sees him outline some of the threads of the 'Return of the Real', his latest book.
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Women on Art Symposium - Lorna J Waite
A balanced and insightful review of the CCA, Glasgow's conference. Waite casts an inquisitive glance over the breadth of issues raised. Her very pertinent criticisms of the exorbitant entrance fees led to a pathetic response from the CCA's ex-director (who left shortly afterwards) which unwittingly revealed even worse aspects of the conference.
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Tales of the Great Unwashed - Ian Brotherhood
One of the funniest Tales of the Great Unwashed using masterful satire of the City Council's socially repressive initiatives.
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Party Swings and Roundabouts - Leigh French
French meticulously follows developments in Arts funding as the personalities changed. What is ostensibly a consultative process is revealed as unwilling to support innovation or challenging art forms.
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Freedom for Freedom of Expression Rally - James Kelman
Probably one of the most powerful pieces ever written for Variant, Kelman begins to outline the situation in Turkey with the military regime's racist and genocidal attacks on the Kurdish people living in South east Turkey. The article provided a historical background, showed British complicity and reported on the rally itself together with the plight of Ismail Besikci.
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Your Place or Mine - John Beagles, Martin Vincent, Andrew Brook, Janie Nichol, David Wilkinson
A round table discussion between artists who, to varying degrees have organised exhibitions in their homes or in houses. The panel came from a wide geographic spread across the UK.
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The Scum Also Rises - William Clark, Robert Doohihan
An analysis of the events surrounding the collapse of the leadership of Glasgow City Council amidst allegations of corruption and the plight of the public sector employees. The article is an informative and engaging insight, lifting the lid on local politics and outlining their wider social implications.
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When we were two little boys - Oliver Sumner
Sumner contrasts art duo Gilbert & George with Flaubert's fictional couple Bouvard and Pecuchet drawing unusual parallels and contrasting other artistic couples - such as Fischli & Weiss.
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Gimme two sounds and I'll make you a universe - Robert H King
Contact addresses and information back up King's round up of the experimental music scene.
text pdf Duane Hanson (1925 - 96) - Mathew Lewis
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