The UK's largest annual visual arts festival returns for its 19th edition from 11 to 27 August 2023. Kim McAleese has been the director of the Edinburgh Art Festival since last year. Founded in 2004, the festival is the visual arts platform at the heart of the Edinburgh International Festival, which has been held in the city since 1947. The initiators saw it as a post-war effort to "create a platform for the flourishing of the human soul". Basically, numerous cultural, art, music and comedy festivals take place in parallel with an average of around two million visitors. Add to that over 100 million television viewers worldwide for the Edinburgh Military Tattoo alone.

Kim McAleese's arts festival focuses on Edinburgh's complex relationship with the United Kingdom, the history of empire and colonial projects. She wants to prioritise questioning the city's relationship to the transatlantic slave trade. Artists include major names such as Margaret Tait Award winner Alberta Whittle, who will present a new performance piece on the background of Edinburgh's colonial history. There will also be the premiere of "History of the Present" by writer and University of Dundee professor Maria Fusco and film director Margaret Salmon. Another highlight is Sean Burns' "Dorothy Towers" project, which looks at the history of the queer movement in Birmingham. Kim McAleese was initially based in Birmingham with the Grand Union organisation. She is firmly established as a curator, serving on the jury for the Turner Prize 2021 and as a juror and selector for the Margaret Tait Award 2021. She is Vice Chair of Outburst Queer Arts in Belfast and was an advisory board member of the SHOUT Festival of Queer Arts and Culture in Birmingham until 2020. She is currently a member of the advisory board of New Art West Midlands and was a member of the board of Visual Artists Ireland from 2013 to 2016.

3 June 2023

Interview Directory 

ART

Name: Kim McAleese

Occupation: Director Edinburgh Art Festival

Education: Queens University Belfast, Konstfack

"Edinburgh, Scotland and the UK arguably have a complex relationship with the history of Empire and colonial projects, so I want the festival to question that – what is our relationship to the transatlantic slave trade, why is the city so wealthy and what was it built on?"

Tell us more about your vision and direction for the festival?

August is a month with a huge amount of incoming visitors and festivals in the city of Edinburgh, which is very exciting for both those visiting and for us who are lucky to be able to programme cultural activity. I want EAF to have something that feels really rooted in the city, thinking about the people of the city and those intricate histories – but that has an international dialogue and resonance. I want to interrogate the discomfort of being located in a place. Edinburgh, Scotland and the UK arguably have a complex relationship with the history of Empire and colonial projects, so I want the festival to question that – what is our relationship to the transatlantic slave trade, why is the city so wealthy and what was it built on? I want it to feel bold, and that it can challenge these ideas, whilst also creating a space where people can learn, congregate and talk in an intimate way. There are a lot of political subjects but I can’t imagine programming a festival that didn’t at least ask these questions. Art is never really neutral and there’s a real power in what you can platform.

"This relationship to the queer histories of the city is something I want to build up over a period of time..."

What should people look forward to this year?

We are co-commissioning a brand new performance piece with Alberta Whittle and she is looking at colonial histories and historic links to slavery. Also our live launch event is on August 11 for History of the Present by Maria Fusco and Margaret Salmon in The Queen’s Hall. This is a piece made by these women along the Peacelines in Northern Ireland, combining sound, moving image and social history. Another main commission for us is Sean Burns’s Dorothy Towers project, looking at queer histories in Birmingham originally, and their resonance with Edinburgh. This relationship to the queer histories of the city is something I want to build up over a period of time, it’s the beginning of a relationship that will last for years and the artists’ projects will form around. For this, we are working with Waverley Care – Scotland's HIV charity – and Lavender Menace Queer Books Archive, the city's first LGBT bookshop that formed in 1982. We are also organising a series of salons between the International Book, Film and Art festivals, and will have a collective from Beirut visiting and connecting with local communities here called Haven for Artists. Another highlight will be a collaboration with the amazing team at Jupiter Artland, on a celebratory event which will flow into the evening and will feature live music and performance by the queer workers group Bonjour and Jupiter's summer exhibiting artist Lindsey Mendick. It’s a mix of local grassroots and international.

Meanwhile, there are some brilliant partner programme exhibitions across the city. Don't miss Berlin based Leonor Antunes’ new exhibition of sculptural works at Fruitmarket; a fantastic first ever showing in Scotland of works by Hungarian born photographer Markéta Luskačová at Edinburgh's photography gallery, Stills; a series of beautiful new paintings by Andrew Cranston at Ingleby gallery in the New Town and much more. Over at the National Galleries of Scotland there will be the biggest exhibition to date of works by Grayson Perry which is sure to be excellent. I am also excited to share the work of our Platform artists - a series of early career artists based in Scotland - the names of whom will be revealed soon! 

Alberta Whittle ©Matthew A Williams

What is the art scene like in Edinburgh? When did you arrive, what drew you to the city?

Previous to working at EAF I was based in Birmingham in the Midlands at a wonderful organisation called Grand Union. We had a gallery programme, artist studios and a collaborative programme across the city so, for me, coming to Edinburgh for the art festival, I could see a lot of synergy in how I wanted to approach working with the fabric of the city. It’s important that the artists are properly supported in our festival. For audiences, accessibility is important, and how people are greeted. Those are small, very informal touches that are very much in line with how I want to treat people. A lot of that has come from my learning at Grand Union. There will be a festival welcome space for people to have some quiet time and learn a bit more about the programme. I really want people to feel that they can come in to the work, whether they are coming to Edinburgh for the first time, or as a festival fan for the summer period, or if they live here year round.

What drew me to Edinburgh was the opportunity to work with a wide range of communities, and audiences, and bring artists to the Edinburgh festivals context - to collaborate with others, to challenge us, and to share their work with so many different people who come here in the summer or or who live here.

"I want to ensure artists are at the core of the festival and that they are taken care of and assisted to be able to share their work with as many people as possible."

What funding is available for artists here? How does this reflect in the programme?

Funding is hard for artists and artists organisations, as it is across the UK, and beyond. I want to ensure artists are at the core of the festival and that they are taken care of and assisted to be able to share their work with as many people as possible. One thing we have looked at for 2023, is making the festival shorter, and to tie our dates more closely with the other Edinburgh festivals. This has allowed us to better support artists, and our own teams and to punctate a buzzy two-week period with special weekends of unique live events. It also means we can work with our friends at the Book, Film and International festivals whose festival dates closely align. 

What is Edinburgh's status as an “art city“ in Uk or even internationally?

Edinburgh is a wonderful city which comes alive in August with art of all types. Coming during the summer is a chance to see talks, events, exhibitions, performances and just meander through the atmosphere. Our festival is also the largest visual arts festival in the UK. However Edinburgh is also worth visiting at any time of year! Our partner galleries have projects opening every month, not just August, and I’d encourage you to come and stand on Calton Hill on a Spring day and enjoy Collective’s amazing gallery programme, or enjoy the majestic architecture of Talbot Rice gallery at the University of Edinburgh in the winter light. 

"Set things up for yourself when you can, organise with friends and peers, make connections. Self-organise, self-initiate, and just try to get stuck in if you feel you can."

What advice can you give to aspiring artists?

Set things up for yourself when you can, organise with friends and peers, make connections. Self-organise, self-initiate, and just try to get stuck in if you feel you can. Challenge people - I’m really inspired and feel refreshed when artists do this. Ask questions, try to find support structures, build something new.

Why did you go into the world of art?

I was studying Spanish at Queen’s University in Belfast not art history and certain modules of my degree led me to develop an interest, knowledge and passion for art history and visual culture. I then studied in Sweden, on a curatorial course and travelled in Latin America before working on artist-led projects in Northern Ireland.  What took me into the art world is the idea of working in a place where we can collaborate, creatively, to encourage people to think differently about the world around us and what connects us.

Copy of NGS Taylor Wessing-Vogue House by Frederic Aranda ©Frederic Arand