Glasgow International 2026: First Details
Glasgow International announces first details of 2026 festival
Glasgow International, 11th Edition
Friday 5 - Sunday 21 June 2026
Press & Industry previews:
Thursday 4 June 2026
Glasgow International (GI), Scotland’s biennial festival of contemporary art, announces first details of its 11th edition, taking place between Friday 5 June and Sunday 21 June 2026. Over the course of the festival’s 18-day run, Glasgow International celebrates the city’s identity as a vibrant and distinctive centre for artistic production and cultural organising, and for experiencing contemporary art.
Free, accessible and open to all, Glasgow International 2026 includes exhibitions and projects, performances and discursive events at more than 20 spaces across the city. Featuring work by over 50 artists, the 2026 festival holds space for Glasgow’s contemporary art scene to congregate and be in discussion with global practices.
This 11th edition has been developed with a spirit of collectivity and collaboration by the festival’s curatorial team and new Director Helen Nisbet. Under Nisbet’s direction, Glasgow International 2026 continues as a site for artistic experimentation, critical discourse, congregation and discussion. Remaining true to Glasgow’s radical political history, the 2026 festival – as in 2024, under the direction of Richard Birkett – centres the dynamism of independent artistic and organisational practices in Glasgow through a diverse and responsive programme which also presents the work of international artists whose practices reflect shared concerns and affinities.
A collective endeavour rooted in Glasgow’s year-round visual art ecology, the festival – which is presented in various locations across the city – brings together newly commissioned projects from established art organisations and museums, artist-run spaces and initiatives, independent curators and individual artists, cementing its focus on the changing conditions for artists, arts organisations and independent cultural workers in the city. Newly commissioned projects and exhibitions from international artists are interwoven with an open submission model for Glasgow-based artists, collectives and curators, presenting a collaborative and collective vision that equally platforms projects initiated by the Glasgow International curatorial team and those which are conceived, developed and delivered by individuals and organisations across the city.
Participants in Glasgow International 2026 include:
Aqsa Arif
Amelia Barratt
Bettina
Jamie Bolland
Alice Brooke
Renèe Helèna Browne
The Camelia Committee (Mira Adoumier, Carine Doumit, Nour Ouayda)
Lygia Clark
Kate Cooper
Andrew Cranston
Jamie Crewe
Irineu Destourelles
Katy Dove
Tami Elkilani
Gianni Esporas
Olivia Priya Foster
Luke Fowler
Michelle Williams Gamaker
Inès Heddar
Adam Lewis Jacob
Ayesha Jones
Hannan Jones
Sooun Kim
Amy Lawrence
Rowan Markson
Jericho Mars
Helen McCrorie
Mandy McIntosh
Keira McLean
Adam McNeil
Hussein Mitha
Naeem Mohaiemen
Lisette May Monroe
Victoria Morton
Jonathan Owen
Anya Paintsil
Anna Paterson
Joanna Piotrowska
Lorna Robertson
Nadia Rossi
Natasha Thembiso Ruwona
Rumpus Room's Children & Young People
Tanoa Sasraku
Bex Šik
Joey Simons
Tahliah Simumba
Rae-Yen Song
Sweatmother
Mana Tashakorinia
Jasmine Togo-Brisby
Iris Touliatou
Zoë Zo, Zoë Tumika & Zoë Guthrie
Myles Westman
Jill Westwood
Matthew Arthur Williams & Maeve Redmond
Cathy Wilkes
David Wojnarowicz
Annabel Wright
Rehana Zaman
Organisations and groups organising festival projects include:
16 Collective
Cento
Chorus & The Katy Dove Archive
David Dale Gallery
Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA)
Glasgow Print Studio
Glasgow Women's Library
Govan Project Space
Ingleby Gallery
Listen Gallery
LUX Scotland and The University of Edinburgh Art Collection
Market Gallery
Maryhill Integration Network
National Trust Scotland
Offline
Outer Spaces
Patricia Fleming Gallery
Platform
Project Ability Gallery
Rumpus Room
Street Level Photoworks
The Common Guild
The Glasgow School of Art
The Hunterian
The Modern Institute
Tramway
Co-commissioners for Glasgow International 2026 include:
Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff
Project Arts Centre, Dublin
Site Gallery, Sheffield
New Festival Director Helen Nisbet:
“It has been a pleasure to step into the role of Director at Glasgow International. The 2026 festival is a labour of love, developed and curated by the team and with our previous colleagues Richard Birkett and Siobhan Carroll. Glasgow International is a critical site for discourse and kinship in the city, an opportunity to platform some of Glasgow’s beautiful and dedicated artist-led work, alongside developing and presenting projects with international artists for local and international audiences”
Festival Projects
The 2026 Glasgow International programme presents works with a broad range of perspectives, activating civic, municipal, off-site and cultural venues across the city.
The programme supports experimentation, critical discourse, congregation and discussion. Projects and ideas are developed with tenderness, care and empathy exploring personal and ancestral memory, impermanence, solidarity, kinship, loss, poetry and joy.
Alongside the festival projects, Glasgow International will host the second iteration of Gatherings, a series of free events that take inspiration from programmatic ideas. Gatherings piloted in 2024 is a public programme of artists, artworks, research, discussion and congregation. Acting as the “brain” of the festival, Gatherings 2026 will provide a platform for collating and discussing ideas and strands from the programme, and from a network of local and international collaborators.
The visual identity for Glasgow International 2026 is a continuation of the collaborative work between artist Matthew Arthur Williams and designer Maeve Redmond. It is developed through a series of examinations, observing the artefact as object. Using material that is tethered to the social and material histories of Glasgow’s environment and architecture, the two have produced a still life tableau of the city, which again reflects the works in progress currently being created for the festival itself.
Emma Nicolson, Head of Visual Arts at Creative Scotland said: “Glasgow International stands as a vital moment in Scotland’s visual arts calendar, a celebration of artistic independence, experimentation, and community. This edition’s rich and responsive programme speaks to the strength of Glasgow’s creative voice, and to the power of art to foster empathy, exchange, and solidarity across borders. Creative Scotland is proud to support a festival that brings together bold ideas, new voices, and enduring commitments to collective practice.”
Glasgow International encourages our audience to take note of the dates for the next Edinburgh Art Festival, 14 – 30 August 2026. More information is available at the EAF website:
The Glasgow International 2026 festival team is Robyn Haddon (Open Programme Convenor), Poi Marr (Curator), Helen Nisbet (Festival Director), Pelumi Odubanjo (Curator), Martel Ollerenshaw (Festival Manager) and Abie Soroño (Festival Officer). The festival
Press Officer is Sam Talbot Ltd The external members of the selection panel for the Glasgow International 2026 open-call were Glasgow-based artists Tako Taal, Mason Leaver-Yap, former Glasgow International Festival Director Richard Birkett and Billy Tang, artistic director at Yan Du Project, London.
Glasgow International 2026 has been made possible through the generous support of
Creative Scotland, Glasgow Life, Glasgow City Council via the Glasgow Event Board, and the Scottish Government’s Festival Expo Fund. With additional support from British Council, Henry Moore Foundation, Art Fund, the Embassy of the Netherlands, SWG3, Urban Office, and a new partnership with Wasps. Glasgow International is also grateful to the individual donors whose contributions make the festival programme possible.
Glasgow International Festival of Contemporary Art is part of and managed by Glasgow Life, a registered charity that delivers culture and sport on behalf of Glasgow City Council.
Glasgow International is Scotland’s world-renowned biennial festival of contemporary art, presenting the best of local and international art for wide-ranging audiences. The festival showcases Glasgow as a unique major centre for the production and display of contemporary visual art. Taking place in various venues and locations across the city, including Glasgow’s major art spaces and cultural institutions, the festival is comprised of an ambitious programme which includes exhibitions, events, talks, performances and projects by international and Glasgow-based artists. www.glasgowinternational.org
Glasgow Life is a charity working for the benefit of the people of Glasgow. We believe everyone deserves a great Glasgow life and we find innovative ways to make this happen across the city’s diverse communities. Our programmes, experiences and events range from grassroots community activities to large-scale cultural, artistic and sporting events which present Glasgow on an international stage. Our work is designed to promote inclusion, happiness and health, as well as support the city’s visitor economy, in order to enhance Glasgow’s mental, physical and economic well-being. www.glasgowlife.org.uk
Creative Scotland is the public body that supports culture and creativity across all parts of Scotland, distributing funding provided by the Scottish Government and The National Lottery. Further information at creativescotland.com. Follow Creative Scotland on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.