Gillian McIver

ART, CULTURE, TRAVEL AND MORE

United Kingdom

Gillian McIver is a Canadian based in London, UK.
She writes about art and culture, and sometimes travel.

Portfolio

BOOKS

Bloomsbury
Art and the Historical Film

Art and the Historical Film provides an important examination of fine art's impact on filmmaking, grappling with the question of authenticity.From Eugene Delacr...

Bloomsbury Publishing
Art History for Filmmakers

Since cinema's earliest days, literary adaptation has provided the movies with stories; and so we use literary terms like metaphor, metonymy and synedoche to describe visual things.

Tarkovsky's River
2012
Tarkovsky's River

Travel and photography book, published by Parallel Project

RECENT

THE ART TRAVELLER
10/23/2023
Materiality Unleashed: Exploring the Sensory World of 'Matter'

Art Travelling London - 'Matter' Curated by Jo Dennis MATTER: Anna Blom, William Cobbing, Jo Dennis, Sophie Goodchild, David Hepher, Nicola Hicks, Henry Hussey, Pia Ortuño, Maria Positano, Catriona Robertson, Richard Smith, Melania Toma, Lorenzo Vitturi This exhibition at Flowers Gallery Kingsland Road features various works united not by theme or artist identity, but by...

Travel

THE ART TRAVELLER
04/03/2021
Art Travel in Cairo: the old Egyptian museum

Horus It's an exciting day today because this is the day that the mummies are to be moved to the new National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation in Fustat, near old Cairo. The new building will have a special research centre and showcase for the Pharaonic mummies, including Hatshepsut and Ramses II.

THE ART TRAVELLER
03/13/2020
Art Travelling: Five Of The Best Art Destinations In Lisbon

Lisbon is an outstanding destination for seeing both traditional and contemporary art and architecture in a chilled out, comfortable and very friendly environment Art Travelling: Five Of The Best Art Destinations In Lisbon When it comes to art travelling, people usually think of the great capital cities of Europe: Paris and the Louvre, Madrid's Prado,...

THE ART TRAVELLER
03/05/2020
Wonderful Lisbon: travels in pastry

Lisbon is one of those places I can never get enough of. Its natural beauty, climate, people, wonderful art, chill and friendly atmosphere, and delicious pastries always make my trips unforgettable. I'll start by telling you about natas. You know those tiny egg custard tarts that have been appearing in your favourite cafes for...

THE ART TRAVELLER
02/21/2020
Art Travelling. Torun: from Astronomy to Gastronomy

Torun: from Astronomy to Gastronomy Why is Poland off the tourism radar? I have been visiting Poland regularly for decades now, and while I do enjoy the relative lack of tourist crush, I do sometimes wonder why it is that the country is a little bit off the tourism radar.

THE ART TRAVELLER
10/16/2019
Art Travelling: Art in New York City

I spent a week in Manhattan (mostly) for the express purpose of looking at art. That meant spending a lot of time in the Met and MOMA, not to mention as many of the other museums and galleries I co...

ART

Colour and Film
02/22/2019
'Apocalypse Colour' by Gillian Mciver

On 8 August 1588 the English navy defeated the invading Spanish Armada. Over two centuries later, in the middle of another war, émigré Frenchman Philip James de Loutherbourg painted his interpretation of the great sea battle. As a theatre designer and special-effects expert, de Loutherbourg had created spectacular naval battles onstage; this painting gives a...

THE ART TRAVELLER
04/29/2018
art travelling: welcome to the horror show

"Frightening isn't it?" remarks the stranger standing next to me. I follow her gaze. Oh yes, she's right, it's terrifying. But it's undeniably beautiful. Two slender, velvet lined metal wings rise up from a filigreed base, graceful and almost insubstantial. It casts a delicate shadow on the red fabric of the display case.

a-n The Artists Information Company
06/02/2020
London's Street Art: art under Coronavirus - a-n The Artists Information Company

Since March most of us have been largely confined to our houses except for 'exercise,' which in my case means a substantial dog walk every day. I went out to see if the coronavirus experience had motivated any of east London's street artists to respond to our current situation.

Artsprofessional
Over site?

Where did the site-specific idea come from? And can an artist ever really know how it will turn out? Gillian McIver traces its emergence and looks forward to future developments.

a-n The Artists Information Company
02/22/2015
The black subject: ancient to modern - a-n The Artists Information Company

The black subject: ancient to modern Tate Britain Saturday 21st of February This symposium, which in only one day tried to cover the appearance of the black subject in art from ancient times up to modernism, was a gathering together of interesting recent research, given by compelling speakers.

A-n
Review: Frieze London - a good education in how the art market works

Is Frieze Art Fair useful in any way to artists and is it good for artists and art? Filmmaker, artist and Frieze first-timer Gillian McIver roams the gallery booths and curated projects at the fair's vast Regent's Park marquee and finds the experience useful, enlightening and at times troubling.

A-n
Castiglione, Lost Genius | Reviews | Interface | a-n

Castiglione, Lost Genius The Queen's Gallery, London1 November 2013 - 15 March 2014 Reviewed by: Gillian Mciver " Castiglione, Lost Genius There was initial confusion about this exhibition, because I had confused Giovanni Castiglione the Baroque painter, with Baldassare Castiglione the Renaissance writer.

FILM

THE ART TRAVELLER
11/19/2019
Sunset. László Nemes's Dostoyevskian portrait of a dying empire.

Sunset Directed by László Nemes Cinematography Mátyás Erdély 2018 Set in fin de siècle Budapest, Sunset is a Dostoyevskian portrait of the final embers of the Austro-Hungarian empire guttering out in a maelstrom of anarchism, nihilism crime and unexpressed and inexpressible secrets. The film follows a young woman, Irisz , as she returns to her...

THE ART TRAVELLER
11/19/2019
Valley of the Gods; a Film by Lech Majewski

The Valley of the Gods is a sandstone valley in the American desert. It is an iconic landscape, best known to most people from Western films, many filmed in the nearby and similar Monument Vallery. The fascinaton goes back even to the 19th-century when Europeans first encountered the mysterious canyons and buttes (rock formations) in...

Medium
03/07/2019
Watching History Films Critically

Watching History Films Critically: Watching Tudors on screen One of the things that I have been doing recently in my writing about film and art, is thinking a lot about how we watch historical movies.

Candidmagazine
WHITE GOD

Hagen is a handsome youth who, through no fault of his own, is violently cast out from his family. Learning to survive on the streets with the help of other homeless, he finds there love and companionship. But mainstream society permits no place for Hagen or his friends; only exploitation or incarceration.

Candidmagazine
Suite Française

In a picturesque village on the outskirts of Paris, time seems to stand still. Young bride Lucille Angellier (Michelle Williams) goes through the routines of daily life, under the brusque supervision of her domineering mother-in-law (Kristin Scott Thomas), as both quietly wait for news of her husband at the front.

Candidmagazine
HACKNEY'S FINEST

One genre that Britain has really made its mark on is the gangster film, with classics like Brighton Rock (2010) and Sexy Beast (2000), and edgy indies like Dead Men's Shoes (2004). Our cinema has never shied away from the kind of social realism that shows the grime and bleakness of hard drugs and gang violence.

Candidonline
THE CALLING - Review

A slip of the tongue would allow you to confuse Canadian police procedural The Calling with Scandinavian police procedural The Killing. What they share is the sense of profoundly disturbing and unpleasant things happening in a proverbial quiet, peaceful, even complacent Nordic country, expressed in cool, desaturated tones and myriad shades of white.

PREVIOUS

A-n
OUT OF BALANCE | Reviews | Interface | a-n

OUT OF BALANCE GALERIE GERKEN, BERLIN8 September - 11 October 2012 Reviewed by: Gillian Mciver " There are two principal cities for artists in the European part of the world now: London and Berlin. No others come close to matching these cities for their vigour: their astounding historic collections counterpointed by contemporary verve.

The Overflowing Milkmaid with Curved Feet a publication of the London Surrealist Group
2012
Still Surviving

The state of the surreal in contemporary cinema

A-n
SUNDAY ART FAIR | Reviews | Interface | a-n

SUNDAY ART FAIR AMBIKA P3, LONDON12 - 14 October 2012 Reviewed by: Gillian Mciver " Art fairs are a pretty good way of getting a quick overview of what is happening in the art world in terms of what galleries and curators are setting out to present how they want to be perceived.

A-n
earth:NOW:being | Reviews | Interface | a-n

earth:NOW:being Hackney City Farm, London8 - 9 October 2011 Reviewed by: Gillian Mciver " Earth now being Valentin Manz and Christine Cynn earth:NOW:being is a project by artist Valentin Manz & film-maker Christine Cynn, made at Church Farm Ardeley (a high-welfare, ecological farm in Hertfordshire).

Axis
09/2010
Stefanos Pavlakis Artist of the Month

Each month a guest selector chooses an artist from the Axis directory to be featured as our artist of the month. This month curator and writer Gillian McIver discusses her selection.

A-N
2009
Sarah Turner / Rosalind Nashashibi

The juncture of a screening of Sarah Turner's new feature film Perestroika, and the tail end of Rosalind Nashashibi's exhibition of film based art, came together briefly at the ICA.

A-N
2008
Expanded Cinema, The Live Record

An unexpected and welcome opportunity to reintroduce the issue of “Expanded Cinema” into current debate around art, cinema and culture.

Sitespecificart
2004
ART/SITE theory and practice in site-specific/ site-responsive contemporary art

ART/SITE: AN INTRODUCTION TO ART AS SITE RESPONSE Ed.Gillian McIver A selection of essays commissioned and introduced by Gillian McIver. APOCALYPTIC POLLINATIONS: GOING BEYOND "THE SITE" Kelty Miyoshi McKinnon ART/SITE/CONTEXT Gillian McIver IN CONCLUSION Gillian McIver A RECENT HISTORY OF SITE-SPECIFICITY IN ART Gillian McIver ART AND HISTORY: CHRISTO WRAPS THE REICHSTAG Niko Rollmann JUNK SPACE: TOWARD A THEORY AND PRACTICE OF RECYCLING THROUGH ART Hilary Powell ON...

Catalogue for Overflow, an exhibition by Ima Pico
01/05/2009
Ima Pico and the Digital Mural

Ima Picó uses the media-tools of camera and computer, photography and computer-generated images, to make artwork that explores media saturation in contemporary culture. Her compositions are based on original photographs that have been further developed using digital tools.