Glasgow International Festival of Contemporary Art

Milngavie Columbo

Colour photography of a man standing across from the George Square construction site, facing the camera. In the background, a pink banner reads "City of Culture."
Milngavie Columbo, 2026, courtesy of the artists

Colour photograph of a man walking away from the camera, towards the George Sqaure construction site. In the background, a pink banner reads "City of Culture."
Milngavie Columbo, 2026, courtesy of the artists

Colour photograph of a man with his back to the camera gesutring toward the George Sqaure construction site. In the background, a pink banner reads "City of Culture," and he holds an orange traffic barrier.
Milngavie Columbo, 2026, courtesy of the artists

Dates and Opening times
Thu - Sun
12pm - 6pm, 5 - 21 Jun
Venue

Govan Project Space, Unit 1, 249 Govan Road, G51 1HJ

Participants
Hussein Mitha Jamie Bolland Nadia Rossi Bex Šik Joey Simons
Presented by

Jamie Bolland, Hussein Mitha, Nadia Rossi, Bex Šik, Joey Simons

Supported by

Govan Project Space

Accessiblity

Level Access, Step Free: The Venue has ramped or level access and/or lifts to upper floors

 

Accessible Toilets: The venue has a wheelchair accessible toilet

 

Gender Neutral Toilets: The venue has toilets not separated by gender or sex

 

Baby change: The venue has baby changing facilities

 

Bike rack: There is cycle parking at the venue

DALE KINGSTON

Lieutenant Columbo, unlike my uncle, I am NOT independently wealthy. I have to work for a living. Magazines pay me to review art. Unfortunately, they pay me best when I write hostile reviews about hacks like Sam Franklin.

LT. COLUMBO

Oh, well, I tell ya, I'd sure hate to see his review when you write it.

Columbo, ‘Suitable for Framing’, 1971

Imbued with the spirit of class warfare from the original 1970s detective show, Milngavie Columbo is an experimental installation drawing together fragments of scripts, storyboards, soundtracks, audition tapes, and architectural models to create a satire of the villainous artworld bourgeoisie.

Forty years on from Glasgow’s tenure as the European City of Culture, the well-heeled suburb of Milngavie has won the bid for Britain’s first Guggenheim Museum. A turf war ensues as developers, architects, and art directors tear each other apart to secure lucrative posts and contracts.

When a body turns up draped across Milngavie town square’s famous clock, Columbo is brought in to solve the case, only to uncover backstabbing and skulduggery among those charged with delivering cultural salvation to the city. The interlocking structures of class, culture, and power are revealed as he closes in on the suspects.