A personal reflection from a month spent in Venice as part of the Scotland + Venice personal Learning Programme* by recent CAPetc… graduate Beth Primrose.
What are you going to do next? The dreaded question I have been asked, almost daily, for the past six months. An arts course is not a sensible choice. At 40 it’s a midlife crisis and so I feel like I have something to prove. Fortunately, as I graduate from my HND in Contemporary Art Practice, I have been offered the opportunity to take part in the Personal Development Programme for Scotland+ Venice at The Venice Biennale. Surely the superstar of art exhibitions, in one of the world’s most glamorous settings, will put everyone off the scent that I have no idea what I’ll do next. At least for four weeks.
The soup of excitement and ubiquitous nerves swills around my belly as I write copious lists and try to plan for life and work in a country so far removed from the grey skies of Scotland and structure of teaching and the school run. I wrangle with the little green owl who teaches me Italian phrases which I struggle to imagine using and I prepare for new flatmates and work colleagues that I barely know but will become the people I spend most of my time with, and rely on, in this new adventure.
I imagine strolling round Venetian streets in silk trousers and casually chatting to the literati of the artworld whilst I brace for a heat that I am not entirely comfortable with. I look forward to delicious cicchetti (bitesize open sandwiches to accompany your vino), gelato and immersing myself in Venetian culture.
But of course… no lists or google search can really prepare you for a month living and working abroad. And as I land on an airstrip flanked by murky-grey waters and travel along the one road that leads to the island of Venice I wonder what I’ve let myself in for.
I had also failed to incorporate the hours spent in the gallery invigilating the Scotland + Venice exhibition (one of the main reasons I am here) into my romanticised daydreams. However, after a few hours of acclimatising and grabbing a food shop, plus a night in our very plush apartment, I’m off to my first shift.
We are living on the island of Guideccca and so catch the Vaporetto (a public boat service- like the bus) to the main island. Many better people have described the special and spectacular landscape of this uniquely ancient and stranded place but needless to say the view from this commute is unreal. The light and the architecture truly are picture-postcard and I think it something that will be etched in my memory until I’m old and doddery.
After a stroll through the beautiful park, off the Giardinni, and a hello to a gathering of turtles, we arrive at the gallery and prepare for visitors. It’s such a pleasure to get up close to Bugarin + Castle’s Shame Parade, which by now I know intimately on paper but haven’t seen in person. Viewing the film also titled Shame Parade alongside the sculptural works helps bring all the concepts and visual elements together as a cohesive work. And placed in a crumbling historic building on the edge of the water- the aesthetics of the work really sing.
I’d imagined throngs of people in the space, but as a collateral event, which is a little off-the-beaten track there are times when there are very few people coming into the space. When they do though, it’s a real buzz to speak to visitors about the work and the reaction from the LGBTQIA+ community is overwhelming. I see how much visibility means to folks who are often overlooked and I feel childishly proud that I am part of supporting this inclusive work.
As part of the opportunity we are given passes to access the behemoth that is the Biennale and I take every opportunity to visit the leafy Giardini to take in the art, shade and caffe crema (think a latte in slushie form). Highlights included the ethereal French pavilion and exploration of cosmic breath by Endre Koronczi from Hungary. Dipping into collateral events and a couple of days at the Arsenale mean I am thoroughly immersed in Art of every form.
As part of our creative project for the development programme I was also able to host a creative writing event at the Scotland + Venice pavilion. Other invigilators and a charming lecturer and spoken word artist from The Netherlands came together to create beautiful blackout, sensory and found poetry which I’m excited to develop as an artist’s book.
All this art was punctuated by evenings filled with spritz, nights out at local festivals, ubiquitous pizza and pasta and celebrating midsummer at the beach on the Lido. The opportunity to meet and chat with people from all over the world was both illuminating and at times a little exhausting but one of the high points of the whole experience.
As I look back on the experience it almost feels like a dream. Hot evenings, beautiful people and time and space to really explore art and consider my next steps in the artworld. And while I don’t have a definitive answer to the question ‘what will you do next?’ I’m certainly a lot clearer on the path I’d like to take and the art I’d like to continue making.
Text by Beth Primrose: Beth graduated from CAPetc… in June 2026. She is an artist, writer, educator and founder of CAPture Art Magazine, based in Edinburgh.
Further Writing, articles and interviews by Beth Primrose: https://fadmagazine.com/author/beth-cockerline/ – https://snackmag.co.uk/author/beth-primrose
Images by Alan Holligan: Lecturer HND Contemporary Art Practice.
*The HND Contemporary Art Practice course at Edinburgh College is the only non degree course to be selected to participate in the Scotland + Venice Learning Learning Programme.
