Aberdeen Art Gallery Micro-Commissions 2026

This year, Aberdeen Archives, Gallery and Museums invite creative practitioners to respond to the AAGM collection and the topic of Scottish Identity. This commission asks artists to reflect on what Scottish-ness means today. Responses might consider heritage, place and belonging, or explore how identity is shaped through lived experience, culture, memory and myth; whether past, present or future. AAGM welcome creative and thought‑provoking proposals that bring fresh perspectives to how Scotland is seen, understood and imagined in the 21st century.

 AAGM use the term micro-commissions as the making period is 12 weeks, in which you, the artist, will have developed and realised your proposed work(s). There are two levels of funding available. AAGM expect to award one commission of £2700 and two commissions of £1200.

This is the seventh round of Micro-Commissions by Aberdeen Art Gallery (Aberdeen City Council). The first rounds were funded using award money received from winning the Art Fund Museum of the Year prize. All subsequent rounds have been supported with generous funding from the Friends of Aberdeen Archives, Gallery & Museums.

Creative Brief

Scottish identity has never been fixed. While earlier artists and writers helped define powerful images of Scotland, contemporary artists continue to question and reinvent what it means to belong today. This micro‑commission programme builds on that continuum, inviting artists to contribute new perspectives that expand and diversify this dialogue. AAGM are particularly interested in proposals that:

• offer fresh interpretations of Scottish identity, beyond established or familiar narratives; 

• engage with the tension between myth and lived reality in representations of Scotland; 

• reflect underrepresented voices, communities or experiences; 

• explore Scotland through contemporary concerns such as migration, climate, language, rural/urban life, or cultural hybridity; 

• respond creatively to the existing collection, for example its Romantic landscape tradition, while reimagining its relevance today.

Through these new commissions, AAGM aim to move beyond a singular or inherited idea of Scotland, presenting instead a layered, evolving and inclusive vision of identity that resonates with contemporary audiences.

Depending on the artwork produced the resulting work may be displayed at Aberdeen Art Gallery or shared in a public performance, online or in the public realm beyond the Gallery. There are opportunities for single-artist displays, group shows, interventions and side-by-side comparisons within existing collection galleries.

Commissions will not automatically enter the permanent collection. Instead, upon completion and transfer of title they become the property of Aberdeen City Council. Each commission will then be individually assessed by the Acquisition panel to determine whether they should be accessioned into the permanent collection.

• Be an artist/creative individual with a committed practice  

• Be able to create, develop and present a new piece of artistic work to the programme timetable  

• Evidence a desire to develop and an ability to reflect upon their practice and personal development 

• Demonstrate an ability to profile their work and communicate their practice to an audience