A city-wide celebration of the very best in visual art, Edinburgh Art Festival brings together the capital’s leading galleries, museums and established spaces. From photography documenting Frida Kahlo’s wardrobe to carnival-inspired performance art, the programme features international artists alongside exciting new voices from Scotland, the rest of the UK and beyond.
Kim McAleese, the new Director of Edinburgh Art Festival on the opening of the 18th edition:
This year is a year of anniversaries for the city. As Edinburgh Art Festival turns 18, we also want to congratulate the founding festivals – Edinburgh International Festival, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and Edinburgh International Film Festival – who all turn seventy-five. We are approaching adulthood, but we are still the baby of the bunch.
So 2022 is 18 years of Edinburgh Art Festival, 30 years of WHALE Arts, 40 years of Open Eye Gallery, 75 years of the festival city, 180 years of the Scottish Gallery, and 200 years of the Union Canal. Celebrating 200 years, our commissions programme for this year, titled – The Wave of translation – broadcasts a stream of new artwork from West to East along the canal, now an important green lung for the city, as we continue to breathe and survive against all odds through challenging times.
At its core, our programme remains free at point of access to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to experience visual art. This is conscious and very deliberate, to try and include as many people as possible with the rising cost of living.
In this year of anniversaries and celebrations, and after such a long time not being with one another, I hope you find some joy and beautiful moments within our programme and a chance to reconnect with this city that is built on people gathering and finding solace in one another.
The festival’s Commissions programme including their Associate Artist programme supports renowned artists to create ambitious new work. Marking the 200th anniversary of the Union Canal, the programme takes inspiration from ‘The Wave of Translation’ – a scientific phenomenon discovered in Edinburgh.
Edinburgh Art Festival 2022
18th edition
28 July – 28 August