Earth Month 2025
Cultures of Action

Dr Zoë Mendelson(b. 1976) is an artist and writer with an expanded field practice that owes its spatialisation, historical narratives and compositional framework to painting. Her work includes various forms of writing (fiction and non-fiction), painting, collage, drawing, hand-driven animation, installation, and singing. Mendelson has exhibited widely showing works, performing and publishing, nationally and internationally. Her work is also installed permanently (visibly and covertly) in public buildings.
Zoë’s research engages disorder as a culturally produced phenomenon, in parallel to its clinical counterpart, suggesting its value to knowledge production within Fine Art and critical theory. She is interested in how culture co-opts psychological and medical motifs and spectacularises them, leading to complex and widespread mis-readings. This has led her to produce artworks in direct response to imagery produced or used within medicine itself - particularly in diagnostics. She has a profound interest in ill-being as a place of potential agency and advocacy - at odds with a current focus on well-being as a ‘success’ narrative.
Zoë is Head of Painting & Printmaking at Glasgow School of Art. She co-curates the network paintingresearch with Geraint Evans and is co-founder and editor of The Edit, an online and inclusive, de-canonised bibliography for students in Fine Art and related fields, now used in Arts education internationally.

Alexia Holt was appointed Director of Cove Park in April 2023. She has worked for Cove Park since 2004 in a number of senior roles, overseeing its international programme of residencies, commissions, special projects, partnerships, and collaborations. Prior to Cove Park, she was Curator at Tramway, Glasgow, where she commissioned solo exhibitions by artists such as Martin Boyce, Chris Evans, Ilana Halperin, Henry VIIIs Wives, Scott Myles, Pipilotti Rist, Stephen Sutcliffe, Salla Tykkä, and Tatham & O'Sullivan. A graduate of Glasgow University's History of Art department, she also worked at The Glasgow School of Art and CCA Glasgow whilst completing a PhD on early twentieth century fashion design. As Curator for the Scottish Print Network between 2012 and 2016, she developed 'Below another sky', an international programme of residencies, exhibitions and events for Scotland's five print studios. In addition, during 2016 and 2017, she was Project Coordinator for Little Sparta, the garden of Ian Hamilton Finlay, and its Sharing Little Sparta programme.
 

John Thorne is an environmentalist working with students and staff at Glasgow School of Art. He explores how art, architecture and design can address issues like the Climate Emergency, along with other environmental and social justice issues, and help us both gain perspective and reduce our distress.

Andrew Parkinson is a graduate of Edinburgh Collage of Art and has worked at the Pier Arts Centre since 1994 delivering a programme of contemporary art exhibitions and caring for the Centre’s collection of British 20th Century art, arranging exhibitions, tours and loans nationally and internationally.

Susanna Bassois a curator and designer specialising in cultural programming for climate action. Susanna’s portfolio includes multidisciplinary creative commissions by a number of high-profile clients, leading non-profits, and international arts institutions.

 

Hanna Dede has been working as a cultural manager for the Goethe-Institut in Munich, Bukarest, and Istanbul, before joining the team at Goethe-Institut Glasgow as director in 2023.