New Order, Other Spaces | Jo Longhurst
Co-Curated by Tiffany Boyle & Iliyana Nedkova,
as part of Festival 2018

Kelvin Hall Ballroom, 1445 Argyle Street Glasgow G3 8AW.
Preview Thu 2 August 6pm-9pm.
Opening Hours: 2 - 12 August: Open daily 10am – 5pm.
Threshold artspace, Perth Concert Hall and Perth Theatre, Mill Street, Perth PH1 5HZ.
Preview Saturday 4 August 2pm-4pm.
Opening Hours 2 August – 12 August: Mon – Sat 10am – 6pm; Sun 12noon – 6pm.
Opening Hours 13 August – 22 November: Open Mon – Sat 10am – 6pm, Closed Sun.

As part of Festival 2018 – the cultural programme accompanying the inaugural 2018 European Sports Championships in Glasgow – Horsecross Arts announces multi-site solo presentation New Order, Other Spaces by London-based artist Jo Longhurst. Co-curated by Tiffany Boyle and Iliyana Nedkova, the project explores the gymnastic body across photography, moving image and installation, presented simultaneously in Glasgow and Perth. New commissions produced in collaboration with gymnasts of all ages and responding to archival research take form in new moving image work, and responses to the life and work of dancer, choreographer and teacher Margaret Morris.

New Order, Other Spaces engages with ideas of perfection, gender, gesture, and inter-generational understandings of movement. Performative interventions will be staged as part of both the Kelvin Hall and Threshold artspace opening previews; further details of the events programme will be announced on www.horsecross.co.uk.

1. About the Artist: Jo Longhurst is internationally recognised for her explorations of cultural ideas of perfection through photography, video, performance and installation. She is drawn to human systems and structures, interested in attempts to create order from disorder, and the many ways in which we try to make sense of our place in the universe. She often returns to the question of how we as individuals learn to be in the world: how we are judged, shaped, or affected by our social and political environment, and how we are expected to ‘fit in’ or conform. Other Spaces (2008 – ongoing), a study of elite gymnasts in training and competition, explores what is required to produce a perfect performance, gently probing how ideas of perfection shape personal and national identities, as well as social and political systems. Jo Longhurst graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2008. Her work has been shown in numerous exhibitions and events, including Arche Noah. Über Tier und Mensch in der Kunst, Museum Ostwall in Dortmund; Sport, Sport, Sport, Transmission, Glasgow, & BIMI, London; Other Spaces, Mostyn, Wales; The Worldly House, Documenta (13), Kassel; On Perfection: an Artists’ Symposium, Whitechapel Gallery, London; Photography in Britain since 2000, Krakow Photomonth; Becoming Animal, Becoming Human, Neue Gesellschaft fur Bildende Kunst/ New Society for Visual Arts, Berlin; New Works: Pavilion Commissions, National Media Museum, Bradford; New Contemporaries 2008, Liverpool Biennial; and The Refusal, Museum Folkwang, Essen. In 2012 she was awarded the Art Gallery of Ontario’s prestigious Grange Prize (now the AIMIA/ AGO Photography Prize). Longhurst lives and works in London.

2. About the Curators: Tiffany Boyle is an independent curator, researcher and writer, based in Glasgow, primarily known for her curatorial work as part of the duo Mother Tongue. Her childhood experience of competitive gymnastics has been the springboard for a portfolio of curatorial and research projects, including artist talks and screenings in partnership with venues such as CCA Glasgow and Flat Time House, London. Between 2014-15, she curated ‘Sport, Sport, Sport,’ a screening programme of Soviet-era cinema and artist moving image, with Transmission Gallery, Glasgow Film Theatre and Birkbeck College. In June 2018, she presented a programme exploring gymnastics, dance and choreography with MAP magazine for Glasgow Film Festival, including the work of Maya Deren and Margaret Tait. She is a recent recipient of grants from the Paul Mellon Centre, Art Fund, and British Council.
Iliyana Nedkova is an independent curator of contemporary art with over 20 years of curatorial experience in the UK, Europe and USA. Presently she is the Creative Director of Contemporary Art at Horsecross Arts, Perth (since 2004) and a Research Scholar at Moray House School of Education, University of Edinburgh (since 2014). Iliyana’s recent Associate Curatorships were with the Soros Centre for the Arts, Sofia; Foundation for Art and Creative Technology, Liverpool; Video Data Bank, School of the Art Institute of Chicago; Wexner Centre for the Arts, Columbus; New Media Scotland, Edinburgh; Stills, Edinburgh; White & Givan Dance Duo, and Culture Perth and Kinross Trust. Iliyana holds an MPhil Curating Contemporary Art from Liverpool John Moores University, and often contributes critical writing to various publications and conferences.

3. Threshold artspace
Located at the heart and threshold of both Perth Concert Hall and Perth Theatre, Threshold artspace was established in 2005 under the pioneering management of Horsecross Arts and the founding creative directorship of Perth Pioneer Iliyana Nedkova. Free to visit, the artspace is experienced by over 100,000 visitors a year. An investment of over £500,000 from various public and private funders has been secured since 2005 to date to commission, produce, acquire, promote and exhibit over 200 works by over 150 visual artists from over 30 countries in individual or themed group exhibitions.

4. Events Programme: Please note that there will be an accompanying events programme running alongside New Order, Other Spaces – further details to be announced in July.

5. Festival 2018: The Glasgow 2018 European Championships, taking place between 2 and 12 August, will be the biggest sporting event in Scotland since the Commonwealth Games, but it’s not just about the sport: Festival 2018 is a fun-filled cultural programme running alongside the 11 days of sporting activities. Festival 2018 will deliver a programme of world-class arts and cultural activity that empowers Scotland’s cultural sector, with artists and organisations from across Scotland taking part. glasgow2018.com/festival-2018 #festival2018