As part of the Gi2020 opening events at SWG3, Glasgow not-for-profit gallery Civic Room presents Hubris, a programme of performances exploring the human and the nonhuman, featuring new work by Christian Noelle Charles, Liv Fontaine, William Joys, and Wassili Widmer.
In ancient Greece, hubris signified an overreaching arrogance that angered the gods and led to the offender’s downfall. Here, hubris can be an act of transgression, one that challenges social norms in a way that may be inhumane or all too human. Fontaine challenges patriarchal pride and the idea of hysteria with musical accompaniment by Edwin Stevens; Joys – as a statue – is focused upon his own instability amidst social disruption; Widmer reflects on the promise of transhumanism and the limits of representation and desire; and Charles invites audiences on a fantastical joyride, offering an alternative route before arriving at SWG3 in time for the launch event.
Curated by Civic Room
Ticketed event, advance booking is required.
This event takes place alongside the Glasgow International x David Roberts Art Foundation (DRAF) Opening Party with artists Nina Beier, Lina Lapelytė and Paul Maheke.
For Dawn Mellor’s first exhibition in Scotland, the artist is showing new paintings as part of a long-term project focusing on invented groups of people, predominantly women, in uniform. The project began in 2013 with fictional art collective ‘The Austerians’ and has also included ‘The Doomsbury Group’ and ‘Sirens’.
Mellor’s new series depicts actors such as Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Daniela Nardini and Julie Walters alongside Mellor’s self-portrait on stage in the mid-1990s. In the portraits, drawn mostly from television dramas, these recognisable subjects are cast as members of a judicial system, but depicted in various states of pleasure. Mellor has also added images of real and imagined sea life, in reference to the phrase, ‘bottom feeders’, meaning not only ocean-floor scavengers but also people who benefit from the misfortune of others.
Curated by Young Team
Supported by Glasgow International
With kind assistance from Create London and Studio Voltaire