170 x 230mm, 48 pages, black and white interior, full colour covers, saddle stitched, edition of 1000, 2013.

The Burning Sand features creative and critical writings and drawings from artists, musicians and writers involved in the unique and largely self-initiated arts infrastructure in Glasgow. The magazine is also designed, edited and printed in the city and means to plough the furrow of Critical Regionalism outlined by Kenneth Frampton in “Towards a Critical Regionalism: Six Points for an Architecture of Resistance” (1983). Our intention, in Frampton’s words, is to ‘mediate the impact of universal civilization with elements derived indirectly from the peculiarities of a particular place.

Since the collapse of Glasgow’s heavy industries post-WWII, the city’s predominately self-organised and autonomous arts scene has grown exponentially, fuelled by the twin energies of class politics and youth culture. The aesthetic of necessity apparent since the late 70s in the photocopied placards, posters, fanzines and flyers of Glasgow-based activists and artists continues to shape the activities of local non-profit organisations today. The city’s many independent exhibition spaces, music venues, record labels and publishing imprints continue to champion work that is process-based, rooted in social co-operation and often realised with an economy of means and materials. This first issue of The Burning Sand features diverse examples of new works coming from and addressed to Glasgow, but which all reflect the investment of time and energy and a belief in society, community and in art. Our first contributors are: Giles Bailey (London), Rob Churm (Glasgow), Romany Dear (Glasgow), Mark Hamilton (Leipzig), Ashanti Harris (Glasgow), Chris Johanson (Los Angeles), Tom Worthington (Glasgow), Richard Wright (Glasgow), and working collaboratively, Katy Edelsten (London) & Annie Hazelwood (London), Barry Burns (Glasgow) & Louise Shelley (London) and Laura Smith (London) & Rebecca Wilcox (Glasgow). Seven out of the fourteen contributors are Glasgow-based, but most of the other contributors also have a significant connection to the city, having either lived and/or worked in the city in the past. The Burning Sand hopes to foreground the way in which Glasgow’s uniquely resistant strain of cultural activity has grown in part through a network of outside alliances, a network, which has expanded and diversified since the rise of digital and internet technologies.

- Sarah Lowndes, Editor

Published by