Jimmie Durham

Seminal American sculptor, essayist and poet Jimmie Durham is currently undertaking our next Glasgow Sculpture Studios Production Residency, supported by The Henry Moore Foundation, The Glenfiddich Distillery and Cove Park. The residency will lead to a large-scale sculptural installation, co-commissioned by, and exclusively for, the 2010 Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art presented within the gallery at Glasgow Sculpture Studios.

Jimmie Durham’s 47-year career has seen him create, perform and exhibit work across the globe. His first solo exhibition at the University of Texas, Austin in 1965 occurred during a period when the cultural and political uses of material, objects and space were central to his practice. Since that time his substantial career has deftly bridged the space between art and activism. From 1969 he was based in Europe (studying at the Ecole de Beaux Art, Geneva) returning to the USA in 1973; from 1987 -1994 he lived and worked in Mexico returning to Europe in the mid 90s where he is currently based. Although his work is primarily sculptural, Durham’s oeuvre has also embraced theatre, performance, literature and poetry and is often embedded and affected by the location in which it is produced.

This will be the first residency Durham has undertaken in Scotland, and his first solo exhibition of new work in the country, bringing Durham together with over fifty studio holders and members, offering a rare opportunity for dialogue and cultural exchange between Durham and a generation of artists whose practices may have been influenced by his practice.

Taking place in the city every other year, the Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art Festival has already become a unique event in the cultural calendar with one of the most groundbreaking and dynamic presentations in contemporary visual arts practice. The Festival will also provide an opportunity for both reflection and future gazing, coinciding as it does with the 20th anniversary of Glasgow’s reign as European Capital of Culture in 1990.

Jimmie Durham