GLASGOW,SCOTLAND.-From Saturday 10 until Sunday 18 April 2004, eighteen of Glasgow’s contemporary visual arts organizations will throw open their doors to offer the public a nine day extravaganza of twenty six exhibitions complimented by workshops, conversations with artists and art practitioners, gallery tours, gallery and studio open days, live music, official RAW Club nights as well as FREE RAW guided bus tours.

The Glasgow Art Fair is Scotland’s National art fair. Now in its ninth consecutive year, this popular four-day event will once again take up residence in George Square in the heart of Glasgow’s city centre. The event has firmly established itself as the place to buy, sell, view and discover art in Scotland. The Glasgow Art Fair has grown to become the largest contemporary art fair in the UK outside London and is a landmark event in Scotland’s cultural calendar. This year the fair will bring together a record 53 selected galleries reflecting the quality and diversity of work available to buy in Scotland, as well as attracting galleries from throughout the UK.

Building on the success of last year’s E X T E N S I O N space, the contemporary pavilion is back and extended for 2004. More organizations are taking part this year, including The Embassy, EmergeD, Limousine Bull, Market Gallery and Volume; and we welcome the return of Collective Gallery, Glasgow Sculpture Studios, Lapland and Switchspace to showcase cutting-edge work currently being made by Scottish-based artists. Join Spin at this year’s Glasgow Art Fair to chat about the work on display, get information about exhibitions and projects all over Scotland, and browse through the Spin library.

Spin is a membership scheme dedicated to the enjoyment of contemporary art through informal discussions and visits to galleries, studios and unusual spaces. It is a joint initiative by the National Galleries of Scotland and the Contemporary Art Society. Last year’s event attracted 16,000 people, but there are even more reasons to visit Glasgow. The Glasgow Art Fair is part of RAW: Real Art Week, ten days of exhibitions, events and openings at key visual arts venues across Glasgow, from 10th - 18th April. See the RAW page for further details.

Originally conceived in 2002 as a means of developing and sustaining audiences for the visual arts in Glasgow and to help promote the exciting and wide range of contemporary art being produced in Scotland today, RAW: Real Art Weekend has steadily grown in popularity amongst galleries and the public. In response to this, the weekend has been extended to a packed full week of events and activities which will now be known as RAW: Real Art Week.

From flagship and well established organizations to brand new and emerging galleries, participating venues include the Arches, CCA, Cossachok, EmergeD, Glasgow Art Fair, Glasgow Independent Studio, Glasgow Print Studio, Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow Sculpture Studios, Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art, Market Gallery, Project Ability, Sharmanka, Sorcha Dallas, Street Level, Switchspace, Tramway and Volume.

Highlights include the opening of the Sorcha Dallas gallery on St Margaret’s Place featuring it’s debut exhibition of Alex Frost’s sculptures and photo-realist drawings; Glasgow based artist, Beverley Hood’s first solo show Dopplegangers at Street Level; the launch of Glasgow Sculpture Studios’ first ever exhibitions program with Sophie McPherson and Daria Martin’s first joint show; Becks award winner Rosalind Nashashibi’s first major solo show at CCA, Snæbjörnsdóttir/Wilson: Big Mouth (badmouth) installation work at Tramway and Glasgow Print Studio’s Cool Britannia exhibition featuring contemporary British printmaking by Damien Hurst, Christine Borland, Julian Opie and Louise Hopkins.

As well as exhibitions, the Glasgow Sculpture Studios and Project Ability will offer gallery open days, enabling visitors the chance to view work in progress. Artists’ talks will take place at Street Level and Switchspace and the Glasgow Art Fair will host a series of talks and lectures. Visitors to Street Level and Glasgow Print Studio can take part in workshops before catching some live music by the James Orr Complex at Glasgow Independent Studio and then moving onto the Arches to sample an enticing mix of global sounds at the official RAW Club nights which will run from Wednesday 14 until to Saturday 17 April.

In order to make it as easy as possible for visitors to navigate themselves around RAW events and to take advantage of special offers and discounts (see Glasgow Sculpture Studios and Glasgow Print Studio), visitors can catch the FREE RAW bus which will run daily from Thursday 15 until Sunday 18 April. Departing from Glasgow Art Fair at 2pm and returning to George Square at 4.15pm, visitors will be treated to guided bus tours hosted by curators and artists courtesy of Spin*. *Please refer to Notes to Editors for more information on Spin and for FREE RAW bus timetable details.

Peter Irvine, for UZ Events, co-ordinators of RAW: Real Art Week said: ‘As a means of developing and sustaining audiences for the visual arts I’m very encouraged that due to RAW’s growing popularity amongst arts organizations and public alike, that a record eighteen of the city’s contemporary arts organizations are this year able to offer a whole nine days of exhibitions, workshops and conversations with artists and art practitioners which will offer valuable insights into some of the most exciting contemporary art happening in Scotland today’