Co-curator: Deborah Jackson

This exhibition extends the parameters of the exhibition form to incorporate more discursive, conversational and geo-political discussion, centred within the domain of the exhibition.
As a non-thematic exhibition, the artists’ enquiries into the contemporary world presented distinct voices that cross, divide or collude in philosophical refrains, poetry, science fiction and the aesthetics of everyday life. The installations in Counterpoint, including confetti cannons, a bowling alley and full-size street lamps, alluded to performance and participation, and invited an active political engagement with debates about technology, utopia and the Scottish Referendum.The active aspects of Counterpoint were extended by a programme of events including performances by Jeans & MacDonald, Ortonandon and Alexa Hare. As part of GENERATION and Edinburgh Art Festival, Counterpoint was a generative survey of artists emerging at different points during this period and a celebration of the transformative and re-interpretative nature of creative practice.GENERATION is delivered as a partnership between the National Galleries of Scotland, Glasgow Life and Creative Scotland and is part of Culture 2014, the Glasgow 2014 Cultural Programme. The programme traces the developments of art in Scotland since 1989. It shows the generation of ideas, of experiences, and of world-class art on an unparalleled scale by over 100 artists in more than 60 venues. The artists within GENERATION came to attention whilst working in Scotland, helping to create the vibrant and internationally recognised contemporary art scene that exists here today.The work of Michelle Hannah, Ellie Harrison, Shona Macnaughton and the Counterpoint Performance artists have been co-commissioned with Edinburgh Art Festival, supported through the Government’s Edinburgh Festivals Expo fund.