Zadie Xa: Child of Magohalmi and the Echoes of Creation, 2019

CLOSED Mondays
Tue - Fri 12 - 5pm
Sat/Sun 12 - 6pm
A solo exhibition from Korean-Canadian artist Zadie Xa.
Showcasing a major new multimedia project, Xa creates a sub-aquatic marine environment, inviting audiences to enter into an immersive world by way of atmospheric lighting, surround-sound, large-scale video projections, sculptures and costumes.
In 'Child of......', Xa brings together imagined and learned Korean folklore, and within her immersive world, presents an origin story inspired by Korean creation myths, centered on the giant goddess Grandmother Mago (Magohalmi). Exploring the passing down of ancestral knowledge through matrilineal social structures - based on the separation of responsibilities between male and female deities in the creation of the universe - the work confronts the shift in status of Korean goddesses towards marginal deities.
This work is a co-commission with Art Night, London, YARAT Contemporary Art Space Baku, Azerbaijan and De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill.
Performance
Over the opening weekend the exhibition is activated by a new performance by Zadie Xa as part of Dance International Glasgow. The work, which has the same title, has been developed in collaboration with Benito Mayor Vallejo and will be performed by Iris Chan, Jia-Yu Corti, Mary Feliciano and Yumino Seki.
About the Artist
Throughout her practice, Xa uses water and marine ecologies as metaphors for exploring the unknown, whilst also alluding to abstract notions of homeland, having grown up on the west coast of Canada. Often creating fantastical underwater realms, the exhibition features a large-scale, surround-sound video projection of the ocean and a pod of orcas - a theme which is then revisited in a series of sculptures. The final element of the exhibition comprises of costumes and masks originally used by the artist during performances at ArtNight and the Venice Biennale, now presented as sculptures at Tramway.
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This exhibition is curated in partnership with Helen Nisbet, Artistic Director, Art Night and Art Night Associate Curator Amy Budd.
IMAGE : Zadie Xa, Child of Magohalmi and the Echos of Creation, 2019, HD video, film still, courtesy the artist
A Citizens Theatre production: Pinocchio

TICKETS FROM CITIZENS THEATRE>
A Citizens Theatre production in association with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
From the original story by Carlo Collodi
Adapted for the stage by Lu Kemp and Robert Alan Evans
Written by Robert Alan Evans
Follow the mischievous Pinocchio on his journey from wooden puppet to real boy.
On his action-packed quest, Pinocchio travels from the cobbled streets of his hometown to the tempting lights of Playland, via the dangers of the dark woods and the belly of a giant whale! Along the way he meets a host of colourful characters and with the help of wise Cricket and kind Geppetto Pinocchio learns the importance of telling the truth and discovers what it means to be truly human.
Full of magic and adventure, this production embraces the vivid inventiveness of the original tale and will enchant the whole family this Christmas.
Recommended for 6+
Pinocchio is sponsored by Urban Union
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Previews: Saturday 7 & Monday 9 December, 7pm
Relaxed performance: Monday 16 December, 7pm
Aimed at audience members who would benefit from a more relaxed theatre environment, including people with an autistic spectrum disorder or sensory or communication disorder and their families.
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Schools
We have a special schools group rate of £9 plus 1 additional ticket free with every 10 booked.
Full schedule and ticket options available from the Citizens Theatre website
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From the same Creative Team that brought you ‘A Christmas Carol’ and ‘Hansel and Gretel’:
Director - Dominic Hill
Designer - Rachael Canning
Lighting - Lizzie Powell
Composer - Nikola Kodjabashia
Movement - Benedicte Seierup and Lucien Lindsay-MacDougall
Citizens Theatre presents The Lost Elves

Festive fun from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland for 3 - 6 year olds and their families
13 - 29 December
BOOK through Citizens Theatre>
It’s almost Christmas but the elves have crash landed…in Glasgow!
With presents still to make and a sleigh to prepare, they need to get back to the North Pole in time to help Santa or there will be no Christmas. Can they get home? Who will help them? And what are these peculiar creatures called ‘humans’?
An original and fun-filled festive show for wee ones in the cosy setting of Tramway 4. Specially created by Director Jack Nurse (co-founder of Glasgow based theatre company Wonder Fools) for 3-6 year olds, this interactive show will capture children’s imagination and have them laughing, singing and dancing their way into Christmas.
'memorably jolly, magical and anarchic Christmas show'
(The Scotsman on One More Sleep ‘til Christmas 2017)
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Sprog Rock featuring Bigg Taj: Sprogmanay

Please note - the family discount of £10 for 2 adults and 2 children will be applied automatically at point of booking when these options are selected
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Sprog Rock are going back to their roots at Tramway with a sparkling live music gig for under 5s and their families, with beatboxer Bigg Taj joining them to create a celebratory, interactive and playful set to start off the New Year.
A live music experience for Early Years-aged children, Sprog Rock was originally developed as part of Katy Wilson’s Starcatchers residency at Tramway in 2010. It's fitting that the first gig of their 10th anniversary year should take place here! Always experimenting with what music children really like, and what music children and adults might enjoy together, the band will be playing some tunes you might know and can sing and dance along to, and some they have created with children in nurseries around Scotland.
For this special event, they are joined by the original Indian Beatboxer, Bigg Taj. At the forefront of the Asian hip hop movement, a decade of on-stage experience has seen him support a who's who of hip hop – from Jurassic 5, GZA, Methodman & Redman - to legends like EPMD and Grandmaster Flash. He is also increasingly in demand for theatre productions by leading Scottish writer/directors like Cora Bisset and Davey Anderson.
Join their Sprogmanay party to relax, be yourself and do what makes you feel good!
Sprog Rock featuring Bigg Taj: Sprogmanay
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Please note - the family discount of £10 for 2 adults and 2 children will be applied automatically at point of booking when these options are selected
___________________
Sprog Rock are going back to their roots at Tramway with a sparkling live music gig for under 5s and their families, with beatboxer Bigg Taj joining them to create a celebratory, interactive and playful set to start off the New Year.
A live music experience for Early Years-aged children, Sprog Rock was originally developed as part of Katy Wilson’s Starcatchers residency at Tramway in 2010. It's fitting that the first gig of their 10th anniversary year should take place here! Always experimenting with what music children really like, and what music children and adults might enjoy together, the band will be playing some tunes you might know and can sing and dance along to, and some they have created with children in nurseries around Scotland.
For this special event, they are joined by the original Indian Beatboxer, Bigg Taj. At the forefront of the Asian hip hop movement, a decade of on-stage experience has seen him support a who's who of hip hop – from Jurassic 5, GZA, Methodman & Redman - to legends like EPMD and Grandmaster Flash. He is also increasingly in demand for theatre productions by leading Scottish writer/directors like Cora Bisset and Davey Anderson.
Join their Sprogmanay party to relax, be yourself and do what makes you feel good!
France-Lise McGurn: In Emotia

France-Lise McGurn (born 1983) is a Glasgow-based artist who predominantly works with painting to create layered installations that incorporate the gallery walls, floors and ceilings.
'In Emotia' is a derivative term which suggests a state of being, simultaneously emotional and in motion. Mcgurn’s figurative painting and wall drawings evoke bodies and limbs overlapping and interacting in ambivalent spaces, at parties, in night clubs, on streets or lying in bed either side of paper thin walls. Cities and bodies, are constantly moving and shaping each other, a sentiment which McGurn evokes through the shifting forms and gestures of her metropolitan figures. Often the works themselves overlap from canvas to wall to floor, creating energetic compositions which suggest intimacy, ecstasy, sexuality, violence and loss.
Working intuitively rather than through direct appropriation, McGurn uses swift brushstrokes and repeated marks to create loose associations about place and relationships, inviting viewers to conjure their own narratives. For Tramway, McGurn takes this process one step further, translating the fluid lines of her paintings into sculptural forms fabricated from neon. A series of new mobile sculptures will shimmer and turn in the space, constantly rearranging themselves to create new narratives and configurations.
Her work has been featured in Art Now at Tate Britain, Extensa Suite, Hospitalfield, Arbroath, 2018, Virginia Woolf, an exhibition inspired by her writings 2017–18, Tate St Ives, Pallant House, Chichester, and the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. France-Lise McGurn is represented by Simon lee gallery.
This exhibition is generously supported Simon Lee Gallery
Image: In Emotia, France-Lise McGurn (crop)
Courtesy of Simon Lee Gallery
Hardeep Pandhal | Confessions of a Thug: Pakiveli

Tue - Fri 12 - 5pm
Sat & Sun 12 - 6pm
CLOSED Mondays
Confessions of a Thug: Pakiveli is a multimedia exhibition whose title takes its name from the pulp fiction of 1839 ‘Confessions of a Thug’ by the Orientalist writer Phillip Meadows Taylor. The exhibition’s subtitle ‘Pakiveli’ refers to one of the artist’s rap monikers, adapted from an alias of the late rapper 2Pac, ‘Makiveli’. Taking the premise that heritage is constituted through performative and discursive practices, this exhibition reflects Pandhal’s ongoing exploration into the ways in which identities are subject to conflicting realities that shift over time and place.
Pandhal takes as a starting point the historical application of the word 'thug’, which originated in British-India to name a so-called religious cult of murderers. Although opinion is divided, many believe that ‘thugs’ were politically sensationalised by the British to appear innately criminal. The fiction ‘Confessions of a Thug’ mentioned above is exemplary of such sensationalism. It was adapted from real British criminal records and took the form of a deposition of a supposed ‘thug’.
Bridging different contexts, Pandhal has approached this exhibition as an exaggerated deposition, connecting methods of associative thinking and playful ellipsis akin to rap production across a wide range of subject matter and media formats, including rap itself.
This exhibition is supported by The Henry Moore Foundation.
Photography by Max Slaven
Les Amazones d’Afrique & Special Guests

BEMIS presents
Les Amazones d’Afrique & Special Guests with Celtic Connections in the Community
As part of our Celtic Connections season, Tramway is delighted to welcome the truly awe-inspiring Les Amazones d’Afrique, an all-female supergroup of acclaimed West African singers dedicated to ending women’s inequality and oppression, whose founders include Mariam Doumbia (of Amadou & Mariam) and Angélique Kidjo.
“A proud, forceful demonstration of the strength and variety of modern African music” (Independent)
The evening will begin with a special showcase programme featuring artists and groups from five Glasgow communities, presenting specially-created performances that celebrate the city’s contemporary diversity of cultural traditions. This showcase is the finale to a new Celtic Connections in the Community programme, a partnership with BEMIS, Scotland’s support body for the ethnic minority voluntary sector, backed by UNISON and the Scottish Government.
Fatoumata Diawara and VILDÁ

A line-up of compelling World Music as part of Celtic Connections 2020
Fatoumata Diawara’s 2011 debut LP saw her hailed as a thrilling new standard-bearer of Mali’s celebrated musical traditions. Since then, she’s featured in collaborations with Bobby Womack, Herbie Hancock, Roberto Fonseca and Damon Albarn, plus compatriots Amadou and Mariam, Oumou Sangaré and Toumani Diabaté. 2018’s Grammy-nominated second album, Fenfo, showcased her compelling range and depth of expression amid a vibrant array of ancient and modern sounds. “One of the most dynamic voices in Afropop today” (PopMatters)
Also drawing fruitfully on both old and new, Nordic duo VILDÁ evoke their wild native landscapes in a unique fusion of Sámi joiks and Finnish accordion tradition, allied with shamanic grooves, beatboxing, throat-singing and electronica.
Simon Thacker's Svara-Kanti and Naad-hara

An evening of Indian-influenced music from Celtic Connections 2020
Simon Thacker is an artist of myriad musical passions and polymath virtuosity: a guitarist, composer, improviser and ensemble leader. Here, he explores and reimagines north Indian folk-song traditions, with young Punjabi/Sufi/Bollywood star Afsana Khan, Grammy-winning tabla master Sukhvinder Singh 'Pinky' and violinist Jackie Shave, leader of the Britten Sinfonia.
Sharing the bill is brand-new Scottish/Indian project Naad-hara featuring Lewis singer Mischa Macpherson and Hyderabad’s Ankna Arockiam, exploring their respective traditions together with award-winning Snuffbox fiddler/bassist Charlie Stewart, pianist Alistair Iain Paterson and Glasgow-born Hardeep Deerhe (Sodhi) on tabla.