Outer Spaces presents a bold programme of three new commissions in Glasgow’s former Clydesdale banking hall this Spring

This Spring in 30 St Vincent Place, Glasgow Outer Spaces will welcome audiences to explore three newly commissioned installation works by artists Sooun Kim, Greer Pester and Jamie Fitzpatrick through a series of pop up exhibitions in the architecturally prominent former banking hall.

The works will respond to the iconic Victorian structure’s symbolic relationship to power, stability and prosperity while simultaneously engaging with the building’s current transitory state, which allowed Outer Spaces to secure a temporary lease in late 2024 for this disused space in Glasgow’s city centre, last open to the public in Summer 2023.

Outer Spaces is committed to building a new infrastructure for arts in Scotland, and has supported over 900 artists in 120 properties across 13 local authorities. Since 2021, they have harnessed unused commercial spaces for public good by removing financial barriers to visual artists looking for access to space for research and experimentation, encouraging collaboration and cultural renewal in our arts sector.

Jamie Fitzpatrick, POP LIFE, City Art Centre, 2 November 2024 – 9 March 2025. Image credit: Greg Macvean

“The banking commissions mark an exciting moment for Outer Spaces, where we can offer both space to create and present to artists from our growing network. By hosting work in such a large scale and central location we are able to support and bolster the Scottish arts ecology in a positive way, and help artists make work in spaces suitable for their practice. It’s also fantastic to be working in the city centre as we can invite and host so many members of the public, both those passing by during their everyday lives or who are already engaged in the city’s art scene.” Shân Edwards, Director, Outer Spaces.

These commissions make public the vital work that happens when artists are offered support and space to create work, with all three artists selected from the Outer Spaces network to present work at a pivotal moment in their careers. While other parts of this building are now occupied by a dynamic community of artists, the opulent banking hall will make public the activity of this network through these commissions with each adding a layer of dialogue to the space's transformation and responding to the building’s complex legacy.

Sooun Kim, a multidisciplinary artist and Korean immigrant in Scotland, explores cultural hybridity, displacement, and post-colonial memory. His forthcoming commission, Resilient Chandelier, will reimagine a chandelier as a spectral symbol of resilience, intertwining history, mythology, and personal migration. This new commission has extended support for Sooun Kim, who was the recipient of the first Outer Spaces Scotland RSA award in 2024, where he received a free studio space and £1000 bursary.

Through immersive 3D animation, the work will challenge oppressive power structures, revealing how identity is reshaped through ongoing adaptation, transformation, and resilience. The chandelier drifts cultural landscapes across diverse times and spaces, seeking to absorb and reflect the ever-fluid forces of identity. Sooun Kim's Echoes, 2023 will be shown alongside the newly commissioned work.

Sooun Kim, Born Beneath, 2021, film still.

Sooun Kim’s Resilient Chandelier will be open from Saturday March 29- Wednesday April 2 through bookable one-hour visits. This work is best experienced in the evening, Outer Spaces will welcome visitors between 5 - 7pm.

For Mother Clyde Greer Pester draws inspiration from the bust of "Father Clyde", an emblem of prosperity placed above the entrance to Glasgow's oldest bank in the 1800s. The title of the commission, Mother Clyde, offers a counterpoint to the traditional myth of the river as a provider of material wealth. Instead, Mother Clyde invokes a new imagined deity that embodies the feminine power of the river, challenging the capitalist ideals upheld by the original bank. This reimagined mythology critiques the ongoing environmental toll of material wealth, envisioning a sacred space for slowing down, reflecting, and embracing the river’s roles of fragility, resilience, and renewal.

Greer Pester’s Mother Clyde will be open from Saturday May 3 - Wednesday May 7 through bookable one-hour visits between 11am and 4pm.

Jamie Fitzpatrick’s new commission Crème Fraiche Amygdala Hummmm will see a new monumental figure for the banking hall that draws its influence from the architectural authority of the central hall and the surrounding buildings. He will also exhibit wall-based work for the first time, again, drawing influence from the decorative sculptural motifs of the building and their use of mythological and classical narratives to reinforce and legitimise the authority of capitalist economic and social structures.

Greer Pester, Cuddle Puddle at Sensory Glisk, in collaboration with artist Salima Punjani, 2022. Image credit: Augustina Isidori.

Jamie Fitzpatrick’s Crème Fraiche Amygdala Hummmm will be open from Saturday May 31 - Wednesday June 4 through bookable one-hour visits between 11am and 4pm.

Each of these artists have been offered the exceptional opportunity to present new work, supported by Outer Spaces, in the landmark of Victorian architecture with a hall reflective of the social and economic aspirations of its era. The evolution of this space from Victorian banking hall to its current use, space for artists, highlights the importance of Outer Spaces ongoing commitment to cultural regeneration and the reinvigoration of disused commercial space for creatives.