Spin Events
Rob Kennedy
Transmission Gallery, Glasgow
21 February 2007, 6.30pm
For the next SPIN:Glasgow event we will visit one of the most important visual art organisations in the city, Transmission Gallery and their current exhibition with artist Rob Kennedy, Something is wrong here, something should be done about it’ (13 – 24 Feb).
Transmission was set up in 1983 by graduates from Glasgow School of Art who were dissatisfied with the lack of exhibition spaces and opportunities for young artists in Glasgow. Through sponsorship and support from the Scottish Arts Council, they managed and maintained a space in which to exhibit their work. They also began to invite artists who had influenced them, to show in the gallery and become part of this dialogue. The range of contacts grew through projects with similar organisations such as City Racing in London and Artemisia in Chicago. This exchange of ideas has continued with Transmission providing a model for other artist collectives like Catalyst in Belfast and Generator in Dundee. Many of Glasgow’s well known contemporary artists served on the voluntary committee at one point or another since the gallery started and today, it still holds an important place in the visual arts network in Glasgow.
We will look at the work of Rob Kennedy, an artist based in Glasgow, whose work shifts between sculpture, video and live video manipulation.
Recent exhibitions and screenings include: Making up for lost time, part of Purescreen at Castlefield Gallery, Manchester; the group show Art Today at the Goethe Institute, Sofia, Bulgaria in 2006, a collaborative project with Torsten Lauschmann and Transmission Gallery for Radiance Festival, Glasgow; and a group show, In between times, at Tramway, Glasgow in 2005.
In 2004, Kennedy’s the video entitled You’re not blank, created in collaboration with Diskono, was exhibited at Tate Britain as part of Art Now Lightbox. This year he is a recipient of the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen’s film and video award which will enable him to produce a series of collaborative live video projects.