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.
-
How will the new tax deductions on auto loans work?
the explainer Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act introduced a tax deduction on auto loan interest — but eligibility for the tax break is limited
-
Is Trump actually going to prosecute Obama for 'treason'?
Today's Big Question Or is this just a distraction from the Jeffrey Epstein scandal?
-
5 best movie sequels of all time
The Week Recommends The second time is only sometimes as good as the first
-
5 best movie sequels of all time
The Week Recommends The second time is only sometimes as good as the first
-
Food trails are the best trails. Eat your way across the US with these 7 regional food journeys.
The Week Recommends Take a bite out of the United States
-
Keep the fun going with these 7 subscription gift boxes
The Week Recommends Bring the party to their mailbox
-
Art Review: Hilma af Klint's What Stands Behind the Flowers
Feature Museum of Modern Art, New York City, through Sept. 27
-
Salt Lake City is coolest in summer not winter
The Week Recommends Hang out in the Maven District and bike your way around town
-
Yes, you can be outside this summer and avoid ticks. These are the tips to know.
The Week Recommends Don't get ticked off
-
Pals and loved ones always on the move? These are the gifts to give the constant travelers in your life.
The Week Recommends The best trip is the one that lives on and on
-
The best TV shows based on movies
The Week Recommends A handful of shows avoid derivative storytelling and craft bold narrative expansions