This 11th edition has been developed with a spirit of collectivity and collaboration by the festival’s curatorial team and new Director Helen Nisbet. Under Nisbet’s direction, Glasgow International 2026 continues as a site for artistic experimentation, critical discourse, congregation and discussion. Remaining true to Glasgow’s radical political history, the 2026 festival – as in 2024, under the direction of Richard Birkett – centres the dynamism of independent artistic and organisational practices in Glasgow through a diverse and responsive programme which also presents the work of international artists whose practices reflect shared concerns and affinities. 

A collective endeavour rooted in Glasgow’s year-round visual art ecology, the festival – which is presented in various locations across the city – brings together newly commissioned projects from established art organisations and museums, artist-run spaces and initiatives, independent curators and individual artists, cementing its focus on the changing conditions for artists, arts organisations and independent cultural workers in the city. Newly commissioned projects and exhibitions from international artists are interwoven with an open submission model for Glasgow-based artists, collectives and curators, presenting a collaborative and collective vision that equal platforms projects initiated by the Glasgow International curatorial team and those which are conceived, developed and delivered by individuals and organisations across the city.

Co-commissioners for Glasgow International 2026 include:

Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff

Project Arts Centre, Dublin

Site Gallery, Sheffield

New Festival Director Helen Nisbet has said: “It has been a pleasure to step into the role of Director at Glasgow International. The 2026 festival is a labour of love, developed and curated by the team and with our previous colleagues Richard Birkett and Siobhan Carroll. Glasgow International is a critical site for discourse and kinship in the city, an opportunity to platform some of Glasgow’s beautiful and dedicated artist-led work, alongside developing and presenting projects with international artists for local and international audiences”

Festival Projects

The 2026 Glasgow International programme presents works with a broad range of perspectives, activating civic, municipal, off-site and cultural venues across the city.

The programme supports experimentation, critical discourse, congregation and discussion. Projects and ideas are developed with tenderness, care and empathy exploring personal and ancestral memory, impermanence, solidarity, kinship, loss, poetry and joy.

Alongside the festival projects, Glasgow International will host the second iteration of Gatherings, a series of free events that take inspiration from programmatic ideas. Gatherings piloted in 2024 is a public programme of artists, artworks, research, discussion and congregation.  Acting as the “brain” of the festival, Gatherings 2026 will provide a platform for collating and discussing ideas and strands from the programme, and from a network of local and international collaborators.

The visual identity for Glasgow International 2026 is a continuation of the collaborative work between artist Matthew Arthur Williams and designer Maeve Redmond. It is developed through a series of examinations, observing the artefact as object. Using material that is tethered to the social and material histories of Glasgow’s environment and architecture, the two have produced a still life tableau of the city, which again reflects the works in progress currently being created for the festival itself. 

Emma Nicolson, Head of Visual Arts at Creative Scotland said: “Glasgow International stands as a vital moment in Scotland’s visual arts calendar, a celebration of artistic independence, experimentation, and community. This edition’s rich and responsive programme speaks to the strength of Glasgow’s creative voice, and to the power of art to foster empathy, exchange, and solidarity across borders. Creative Scotland is proud to support a festival that brings together bold ideas, new voices, and enduring commitments to collective practice.”