Katie Nicoll

Appointed as Associate Producer to support the organisation on the production and delivery of key site-specific projects commissioned and curated by The Common Guild. These opportunities included;

A striking performance by artist Simon Starling, who worked in collaboration with theatre director Graham Eatough, to make a performance work entitled At Twilight: A play for two actors, one dancer, eight masks (and a donkey costume) that was set in the grounds of the National Trust of Scotland’s Holmwood House in Glasgow over three nights in August 2016. A stage was positioned within the grounds under a canopy of trees and on which a collection of sculptural works were positioned alongside three musicians and two actors, who took on multiple characters, which were all interconnected by Starling. The performance made reference to W.B. Yeats’s play At The Hawk’s Well, which was performed in 1916 in the midst of the First World War and created at a time when the writer worked with Ezra Pound.

For the project, Starling collaborated with a breadth of creatives from across the world. Performed by actors Adam Clifford and Stephen Clyde, the project incorporated masks by Yasuo Miichi, costumes designed and realised by Kumi Sakurai and Atelier Hinode, and a specially devised dance by renowned choreographer Javier de Frutos and the Scottish Ballet. Entitled The Hawk’s Dance, the piece featured dancer Thomas Edwards and was accompanied by live music from Chicago-based musician Joshua Abrams and Natural Information Society.

Commissioned by The Common Guild in collaboration with the Japan Society, New York. Courtesy of the artist and The Modern Institute, Andrew Hamilton/Toby Webster Ltd, Glasgow

Also in 2016, Ulla van Brandenburg created a new performance described as "a play for five actors and a chorus". 'Sink Down Mountain, Rise Up Valley' was inspired by the rituals of the Saint-Simonian commune, founded in the immediate aftermath of the French Revolution. The movement, to which von Brandenburg was drawn by their progressive attitudes to female equality in society, sought to eradicate any kind of inherited privilege. Instead they proposed a levelling of society, alluded to by the title of the piece.

‘Sink Down Mountain, Rise Up Valley' was presented as a live promenade performance in the particular surroundings of Langside Hall, Queens Park, Glasgow. The production was written and designed by Ulla von Brandenburg in collaboration with Benoît Résillot. The choral accompaniment was written by Ulla von Brandenburg and Joachim Saxenborn and was performed by the all-female Eurydice Choir, conducted by Rachel Argo.

Commissioned by The Common Guild as part of the Commonwealth 2014 celebrations, Phil Collin’s film is both a modern day city symphony and a love letter to Glasgow. Through a mix of musical numbers, animation and a uniquely Glaswegian cable TV station, the film conjures up a distinctive vision of a city. Collins spent over a year meeting people in maternity hospitals, schools, community groups and social clubs for the elderly, asking them to sing songs, make predictions for the future, debate the status of freedom in today’s society and guides us through the city’s most famous prison. With animation by Matthew Robins, stellar songs from Welsh singer-songwriter Cate Le Bon, soundtrack contributions from Mogwai’s Barry Burns and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Tomorrow Is Always Too Long is an exceptional new work by Phil Collins.

Role: Executive Producer

Returning to the Palazzo Pisani (S. Marina) in 2013, Glasgow-based visual arts organisation The Common Guild curated an exhibition of new works by Duncan Campbell, Corin Sworn and Hayley Tompkins, three of the most consistently interesting artists working in Scotland today. Corin Sworn was awarded the Max Mara Art Prize for Women 2013 – 2015 and Duncan Campbell won the Turner Prize 2014 for 'It For Others' made for the Scotland + Venice 2013 exhibition.

Scotland + Venice is a partnership between Creative Scotland, British Council Scotland and the National Galleries of Scotland and they have been the commissioning body behind Scotland’s participation at the Venice Art Biennale since 2003. The main objective for the partners is to profile Scotland internationally as a centre of excellence for the development and promotion of contemporary visual art.

Appointed by The Common Guild in 2012, I was able to continue in the role as the Producer of Scotland + Venice working with the curatorial team to deliver the project in Venice as well as developing stakeholders and key partnerships to support the project.

Dialogue of Hands was an outdoor sculpture park located on an exterior courtyard at the City of Glasgow College. The exhibition was built around an immersive sensory environment, with an emphasis on real time audience participation and attracting families with children. Dialogue of Hands was named after a collaborative work by Helio Oiticica and fellow Brazilian artist Lygia Clark, in which one of each artist’s hands were joined together within the loop of a paper moebius strip. The title reflects Oiticica’s belief that the viewer who fully participated in his work was joining a critical experiment in the exercise of freedom. The four artists commissioned to make new work for this exhibition were Chris Johanson (USA), Camilla Løw (Norway), Mary Redmond (UK) and Corin Sworn (Canada/UK), all of which were designed to be touched and played with.

Three Blows was a not for profit arts organisation established in 2007 by curator Sarah Lowndes and producer Katie Nicoll, to develop and produce innovative projects and events. The aim of the organisation was to benefit artists and musicians by providing them with a unique performance context both in terms of venue and programme, to introduce new audiences to interdisciplinary activity and to stimulate debate around new artistic practices through discussion events. Other projects by Three Blows include Three Blows, St Cecilia’s Hall a weekend of experimental acoustic performance by visual artists/musicians (2008) and an all-women performance event Urlibido (2010) as part of the Open Glasgow programme of Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art.

A solo show in 2011 by Karla Black received critical acclaim for the work she made and presented at the Palazzo Pisani (S. Marina), the same venue used by Scotland + Venice in 2009. The majority of work was made on site using raw, as well as pre-prepared materials, using eight rooms on the second floor of the Palazzo. The exhibition was curated by The Fruitmarket Gallery and was accompanied by a publication which was available for the launch of the exhibition in Venice. Karla Black was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2011.

Scotland + Venice is a partnership between Creative Scotland, British Council Scotland and the National Galleries of Scotland and they have been the commissioning body behind Scotland’s participation at the Venice Art Biennale since 2003. The main objective for the partners is to profile Scotland internationally as a centre of excellence for the development and promotion of contemporary visual art.

Appointed by the commissioners in 2007 as the Producer of Scotland + Venice, I have been working with the commissioners and the respective curatorial partner to deliver the project in Venice as well as developing stakeholders and key partnerships to support the project.

Urlibido was a cabaret-style night for the ‘Open Glasgow’ section of Glasgow International 2010. A one–off event staged in the eighteenth century setting of Sloans Grand Ballroom in Glasgow. Live events included a new performance work by Shelly Nadashi, called Affectionate Still. There was also a live performance by Susie Green inspired by the visions of Hildegard von Bingen, and new collaborative musical compositions by Cara Tolmie and Kimberley O’Neill using song, sampled sound and live performance. The ballroom was re-imagined through projected images of faces made up in 1920 and 30s period styles by make-up artist Morag Ross. Kim Coleman & Jenny Hogarth’s An Infusion of the Evening Air combined audience, performers, stage, seating, tables, curtains and lighting, rendering the mise-en-scène the material of the work.

Three Blows was a not for profit arts organisation established in 2007 by curator Sarah Lowndes and producer Katie Nicoll, to develop and produce innovative projects and events. The aim of the organisation was to benefit artists and musicians by providing them with a unique performance context both in terms of venue and programme, to introduce new audiences to interdisciplinary activity and to stimulate debate around new artistic practices through discussion events. Other projects by Three Blows include Three Blows, St Cecilia’s Hall a weekend of experimental acoustic performance by visual artists/musicians (2008) and an outdoor sculpture park for Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art called Dialogue of Hands (2012).

This was the first solo exhibition from Scotland at the Venice Biennale, presented in a C15th palazzo close to the Grand Canal chosen by the artist. The majority of the work was fabricated in Scotland and installed on site, using seven rooms on the 2nd floor of the Palazzo. Martin Boyce won the Turner Prize in 2011. The exhibition was curated by Dundee Contemporary Arts and this work was re-presented at DCA in December 2009 as part of their 10 year celebrations.

Scotland + Venice is a partnership between Creative Scotland, British Council Scotland and the National Galleries of Scotland and they have been the commissioning body behind Scotland’s participation at the Venice Art Biennale since 2003. The main objective for the partners is to profile Scotland internationally as a centre of excellence for the development and promotion of contemporary visual art.

For each presentation the commissioners appoint a curatorial partner who select the artist/s and enable significant new work to be realised for exhibition in Venice including the promotional and dissemination of that work.

Appointed by the commissioners in 2007 as the Producer of Scotland + Venice, I have been working with the commissioners and the respective curatorial partner to deliver the project in Venice as well as developing stakeholders and key partnerships to support the project.

Featuring three internationally acclaimed artists, Taiwanese painter Michael Lin, Stockholm-based former architect Apolonija Sustersic, and Glasgow-based Richard Wright, Jardins Publics asked the audience to consider the garden as an essentially social rather than natural space, a cultivated, created, man-made environment. With diverse references from Voltaire, through Patrick Geddes to the late Ian Hamilton Finlay, the exhibition took its inspiration form the city of Edinburgh itself, home to Geddes – the father of modern town planning and an advocate of the social value of the garden.

Works were site-specific and locations were: East Princes Street Gardens, Chessels Court, off the Royal Mile, an apartment in London Street in the New Town and St George’s Well on the Water of Leith.

Jardins Publics was curated by Katrina Brown and produced by Katie Nicoll for the Edinburgh International Festival, 2007.