Edinburgh Art Festival 2024: an 'exceptionally rich and varied' show
This year's event is the biggest yet, showcasing the works of over 200 artists

Edinburgh Art Festival is back with its largest programme yet; 30 venues across the Scottish capital are showcasing the works of more than 200 artists from across the world.
Stepping out of a tranquil art gallery into the "feverish melee of tourists and street performers" that fill the city for the Fringe at this time of year is a "strange experience", said Samuel Reilly in The Telegraph.
But the festival has a character that "chimes with the ethos" of the Fringe; it is clear from paying a visit to the city's galleries and museums that the processes that go into making these works of art are "exceptionally rich and varied".
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The core theme for this year's show is a celebration of "persistence", spanning everything from personal histories to post-colonial landscapes and the global political stage. However, the best artists "touch on" such political questions as just one part of their complex works.
At Ingleby Gallery on Barony Street, Hayley Barker's "shimmering, brooding" paintings of the gardens surrounding her studio in LA throughout the seasons are a "revelation".
A short stroll away at the Royal Botanic Garden, a locally crafted table constructed from a diseased cedar tree becomes a "literal and conceptual space for discussion", said Giles Sutherland in The Times. Here, the Colombian cultural foundation Más Arte Más Acción is hosting a series of performances and readings to examine the interconnections between humans and plants in times of dramatic biodiversity loss.
And in the "great, dark quadrangle" at the University of Edinburgh, said Laura Cumming in The Guardian, you'll find one of the most "dramatic curtain-raisers in contemporary art" – Ghanaian artist El Anatsui has crafted a shimmering "masterpiece" from the flattened metal caps of liquor bottles that have been tied together with copper wire. Step through the door and climb the stairs to the Talbot Rice Gallery and there is plenty more of Anatsui's "stupendous" art to discover.
At this year's "particularly strong" edition of the festival, its director Kim McAleese has "somehow managed to persuade" the council to let her take over the City Art Centre right beside Waverley station. The "hitherto austere monument" has been transformed with colourful banners helping to inject the festival with "vital focus and direction". Young artists have been given a "proper stage here"; I especially liked Tamara MacArthur's glittering installations.
Not everything works, though. Sir John Lavery is "eventless froth": he goes to painstaking efforts over soldiers' wounds but "can't make a snake look scary or a woman look like more than a doll".
The most "urgent" show at this year's event is the exhibition of contemporary Ukrainian photography at Stills. From "semi-abstract images of charred landscapes" to "gravely beautiful" portraits of citizens in bunkers, "every work is a revelation of life right now, an art made with extraordinary urgency, as nowhere else in the festival".
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Irenie Forshaw is a features writer at The Week, covering arts, culture and travel. She began her career in journalism at Leeds University, where she wrote for the student newspaper, The Gryphon, before working at The Guardian and The New Statesman Group. Irenie then became a senior writer at Elite Traveler, where she oversaw The Experts column.
-
June 28 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Saturday's political cartoons include stupid wars, a critical media, and mask standards
-
Thai fish pie with crispy turmeric potatoes recipe
The Week Recommends Tasty twist on the Lancashire hot pot is given a golden glow
-
Palestine Action: protesters or terrorists?
Talking Point Damaging RAF equipment at Brize Norton blurs line between activism and sabotage, but proscription is a drastic step
-
Feel the groove with these music-centric getaways across the globe
Let the rhythm move you
-
5 high-concept animated science fiction shows for grown-ups
The Week Recommends How filmmakers are using a different medium to bring visionary science fiction to life
-
See the bright lights from these 7 big-city hotels
The Week Recommends Immerse yourself in culture, history and nightlife
-
8 recipes that require minimal effort for the best kind of summer eating
The Week Recommends It's the season of grilling and smart desserts
-
7 places across the country to experience the best of summer drinking
The Week Recommends Stops include a Basque-inspired spot and a bar where the menu overhauls twice a year
-
6 smart, surprising food books to drag you through the summer months
The Week Recommends BBQ and why we consume the way we do are just two of the tackled topics
-
Art review: Adrien Brody: Made in America
Feature Eden Gallery, New York City, through June 28
-
Hot for summer with these 10 tours from some of music's best artists
The Week Recommends Get ready for sing-along sunshine