The Venice Biennale is held every two years and is the world's largest and most prestigious international showcase for contemporary visual arts. More than 65 countries participate in the five-month event, with each country hosting an exhibition or pavilion dedicated solely to the work of its best artists.
Scottish artists have exhibited work in Venice since 1897 (the 2nd Biennale), when works by the Glasgow Boys and others were shown. Since then artists such as Richard Demarco and, more recently, Mark Boyle, Christine Borland, Douglas Gordon and Roderick Buchanan have also participated in exhibitions.
In 1990, to celebrate Glasgow's position as European City of Culture, the Scottish Sculpture Workshop were invited to exhibit in a spectacular site at the heart of the Giardini and curators, Clare Henry and Angela Wrapson, put together a show featuring work of David Mach, Arthur Watson and Kate Whiteford.
The Zenomap exhibition of 2003 and, indeed, this year's Selective Memory exhibition are the result of a strategic partnership of organisations with national and international remits, which aim to continue the legacy of Scottish artists who have gone before and who have paved the way for artists of today.
The curators of the 2003 presentation, Kay Pallister and Francis McKee, felt that the range and depth of art being produced in Scotland would be difficult to represent within the confines of a solo presentation, and so opted to have a comprehensive exhibition featuring artists that would represent the diversity of work being produced across the country.
The central exhibition was held at the impressive Palazzo Giustinian-Lolin on the Grand Canal and featured specially-commissioned work from three Scottish-based artists with strong international reputations: Claire Barclay, Jim Lambie and Simon Starling. A further 24 artists exhibited work at a nearby venue, including screenings and web-based work. Launched by a terrific party, the Scottish presence in Venice rapidly became one of the most talked-about exhibitions in the city.
