Getting the Hang of It Fifty Years After Its Foundation, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art has Been Re-Hung in Its Entirety. Phil Miller Visits a Collection That Dives Head First Into the 21st Century

Summary

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THERE is a new work on the ground floor of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art which will cause quite a mess. It features a light bulb in a block of ice: as the heat of the bulb slowly melts the ice, liquid will spread all over the flagstone floor. Even messier, this is not iced water, but iced ink, so the dark ooze will eventually expand like a shadowy stain. It's an Untitled work by the young German artist Kitty Kraus, one of several new pieces being installed in the gallery as part of its thorough and long-awaited re- hang - the first time in 25 years that the permanent collections has been so reordered at the venerable old school building in Edinburgh's west end.

Kraus's work is interesting in itself - a piece about decay and pollution, perhaps, or the propulsive energies that make artistic inspiration flow (in particular writing, hence the ink) - but is also a symbol of what Simon Groom, the National Galleries' director of modern and contemporary art, is trying to do with this re-hang. It is new, it is fresh, it constantly changes, and it is a little messy around the edges.

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Getting the Hang of It Fifty Years After Its Foundation, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art has Been Re-Hung in Its Entirety. Phil Miller Visits a Collection That Dives Head First Into the 21st Century

New? Because a large part of the re-hang, which is to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (SNGMA), is new art: a mammoth piece of installed sculpture by Martin Boyce, a new neon sign across the portico of the building by Martin Creed. Fresh? Well, because the gallery was in need of freshening up...

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