ON Burns Night in Glasgow when it became European City of Culture six years a campaign was launched for the freedom of three artists, prisoners of their own countries. That campaign's success led to another in support of three further such imprisoned, of which the current show, "Freedom", supported by Amnesty International, is a major part.
The cause is exemplary, the list of invited artists including two Turner Prize hopefuls, Willie Doherty and Mona Hatoum impressive, and the individual cases of the prisoners are heartbreaking. The exhibition, however, is another matter in some instances magical, in others, sterile, superficial and facile.
Mona Hatoum presents a black and white video in enhanced close up of her own face, her voice gagged by a man's hands. Thinking of her Palestinian family in Lebanon, the words you can hear her say are "So much I want to say", the piece's title. Willie Doherty's £6,500 Factory (In A Corner) is but a punned combination of two technically competent Cibachrome prints of the interior of a bombed out factory. Avtarjeet Dhanjal's Candle a caged waxed wick on a black and wire fringed rock, is just a competent cartoon.
However, there is gilt on the daily gingerbread Mickey Donnelly's poignant symbols, Rory Donaldson's intricate delicacy, Angela Thesiger's moody forays, Pavel Buchler's use of the satirist's punchline.