I was pleased to be invited to the Digital Visions project at the University of British Columbia and act as a European guest curator, representing the East Kilbride Arts Centre in Scotland. While accepting this position, I realised I could only reflect on my own experiences, cultural geography and ultimately my own artistic network, however, I realised my knowledge set could benefit those unfamiliar with events from Scotland, the UK and the EU. In this essay, I will comment about my involvement about this project in two capacities. First, I will speak about my own position and relate how artists were selected and secondly, I will describe what I envision as the long-term benefits of being involved with such an endeavour on an international level.

As Arts Development Officer (Visual Arts) at the East Kilbride Arts Centre, I am responsible for the management and public instalment of art programs, exhibitions, and related cultural endeavours within the district of South Lanarkshire (4th largest district in Scotland) In this capacity, I work with the Scottish National Arts Council, local and community arts councils to represent artists and related cultural projects within and beyond my own local area. I also co- manage and curate the East Kilbride Arts Centre gallery, an intimate space for presentation of local and national projects.

I welcomed the opportunity to recommend artists to Digital Visions project, knowing I could increase my own remit and invite a wider pool of participating artists than usually represented through my own endeavours. I also realised the project would directly assist artists in gaining greater insight about their own practice while learning about how other cultural areas examine and critique work. A portion of my job involves discussion of artistic practice, and I realise this is an important engagement for artists as it concludes and rationalises their work. Lastly I was excited that there would be a written record to publicise both the writers and artists engagement in this reciprocal Q+A process. In Scotland, there seems a shortage of widely distributed writing about our own talent.

I first recommended artists Gair Dunlop and Alex Hetherington, who are from the Glasgow in Southwest Scotland which I serve. Since I am working with local Scottish artists on an on-going basis I endeavoured to represent strong talent who could benefit from a wider international audience. On a personal level, I too had recently encountered a successful delivery of information online, wherein, the arts centre posted an artist call by email and had received applications from as far as Korea, Vietnam and Australia for local exhibition in Scotland. Keeping this in mind, I knew nominated artists to this project would also have a far wider audience than my regional network. I was pleased to anticipate that my own local council area could benefit directly from such exposure and placement on the website.

To this extent, I knew my recommendations would enable these select artists in different ways. Again I saw the immense potential of this endeavour by profiling individuals within my local Scottish community to readers beyond my own geography. I was moreso drawn to the Digital Visions project since artists were invited to participate in a critical dialogue about their work. I believe communities (and artists) gain new insight when artworks and process are examined in depth. This discussion process between individuals creates new engagement, learning tools and insight about art and cultural production values, particularly in regard different geographies.

My second set of artists were drawn from the EU and represented applicants who proposed to undertake research projects and exhibitions at the East Kilbride Arts Centre, while I could not represent their endeavours in Scotland at this time, I was engaged with their practice and could see their potential. My last set of artists were drawn from this pool and included Veronica Brovall (Swedish born/now residing in Berlin) and Olivia Plender (British artist now residing in London, England)

I was fascinated that my involvement could assist in forming new information communities and international bridges about local and contemporary art. In reading previous essays and correspondences on the Digital Visions website, I realised that artistic and individual integrity could be successfully disseminated on a large scale platform such as a web portal. This endeavour seems only possible through the skilful management of Sylvia Grace Borda, who has invested considerate hours to ensure artist interviews and practices are written at an intimate level retaining personal views while also placed in a larger framework in order to educate visitor audiences about locations and practices they may not be familiar with. I believe the latter strategy is critical for any project to succeed whether physical or virtual. In educating public audiences about art I have come to appreciate the Digital Visions site as another solid learning channel from which people can gain new insight and interests in art beyond their own locale. I am pleased my participation has become another link to promote interest in Scottish art and look forward to the continued dialogue about contemporary art at all levels - the local, regional and international.