The Glasgow School of Art

Conditions of Carriage 
Curated by Council Baby and Robert McCormack
6 to 21 January 2023
Reid Ground Floor Corridor

Visit: Mon-Sat, 10:00 – 16:30

Preview: 17:00-19:00, Fri 13 January 2023 (book via Eventbrite)

Conditions of Carriage is a documentation of two experimental drawing workshops led by Robert McCormack and Council Baby, which were staged on the iconic Glasgow SPT subway in 2022 as part of the Close of Play: Climate Emergency and Creative Action series. During the workshops, at each subway station, participants were tasked with a variety of drawing exercises to carry out in transit. Experimental drawing developed the 24 participants’ speed and accuracy across the two sessions. The exhibition includes several sketchbooks and drawings resulting from the workshops, documentation of the sessions, and artwork by Scottish sculptor, Council Baby.

Robert McCormack is an artist, curator, and educator living and working in Glasgow. Recent curatorial projects include Graduate Drive-Thru, an exhibition staged on the top story of a car park, and Open Cut, a graduate exhibition at Transmission gallery. Robert holds a fine art degree from The Glasgow School of Art and an Alt Masters from the New Art school where he worked under artist Karla Black. Alongside his projects, Robert works at a Special Education school which supports and informs his practice.

Council Baby (b. 1997) is a Scottish artist based in Glasgow, born in Edinburgh. Her work is autobiographic, part sarcasm and deals with addiction, rage and grief. Poems and drawings created whilst exploring liminal spaces like train stations, airports and telephone boxes act as the starting point for her work. In 2016, Council gained a 3-year educational grant from rail freight company EWS to support her Sculpture and Environmental studies at The Glasgow School of Art. She produced an arts programme during a summer residency in New York; facilitated an arts project at Glenochil Prison and worked night shifts at a local taxi call centre. Council won the 2022 RSA Benno Schotz Prize for her sculpture The Best Thing to Come Out of Edinburgh is the Train to Glasgow and has exhibited in the Royal Scottish Academy, Otherlands Festival and the Briggait.

This exhibition is supported by GSA Exhibitions and GSA Sustainability following workshops in 2022 which were part of GSA’s Close of Play: Climate Emergency and Creative Action series, which was set up to explore the ways in which creative actions and multi-disciplinary practice can address climate emergency, sustainability, and climate justice.