Scotland´s exhibition at the 51st Venice Biennale, the world's most important festival for contemporary art, opened today and includes work by artists Alex Pollard, Cathy Wilkes, and Joanne Tatham and Tom O'Sullivan.

In a project entitled Selective Memory, curators Jason E Bowman and Rachel Bradley have chosen artists, not on the basis of any common theme, but because each artist's practice is concerned with the notion of artistic labour and the process of making art as a significant matter for debate. By commissioning a series of new works by the artists, the curators hope that the Selective Memory exhibition will encourage spectators to investigate and recognise the evidence of artistic labour that is inherent in the artists' work.

Scottish Arts Council Chairman Richard Holloway, speaking on behalf of the initiating and funding partnership which comprises the Scottish Arts Council, National Galleries of Scotland and British Council, said: 'Scotland has an international reputation for excellence in the visual arts, and the Venice Biennale is a wonderful opportunity to highlight the outstanding quality of its artists, to promote the strongest and most interesting work being made in Scotland today, and to strengthen long-term relationships between artists in Scotland and galleries worldwide.'

Alex Pollard is a studio-based artist whose work includes painting and sculpture (in particular, wooden constructions). Through these he explores the possibilities and limitations of working via the studio. Recently he has developed work using handpainted casts or customised antique articulated rulers in an attempt to establish and represent his own system or structure with which to communicate.

Joanne Tatham and Tom O'Sullivan have collaborated since 1995, creating work that is concerned with the mythic potential of art. They draw upon disparate narratives and themes, expressing themselves in a wide variety of artistic forms. Their work for Venice entitled, A routine sequence of external actions, will be a choreography of sculptures and motifs that exist both within and outwith the exhibition space and includes a mischievous outdoor piece adjacent to the Giardini.

Cathy Wilkes' practice includes sculpture, painting and writing, as well creating detailed installations that combine each of these elements. Descriptions of her work might easily become lost in the process of describing the individual parts and part of its fascination is that Wilkes makes work where no one constituent object is awarded more significance than any other.

Each of the artists has developed their practice amidst Scotland's vibrant artist-led culture where artists are also involved in the running of exhibition spaces, publishing, developing international exchange projects, establishing bands and record labels, DJ-ing, lecturing and writing. To reflect this, the Selective Memory project will celebrate the exhibition's launch with a showcase event that will include live music by artist-bands and others who contribute to the thriving social scene that surrounds the production of contemporary art within Scotland.

Curators Jason E Bowman and Rachel Bradley said: 'Scotland is home to one of the world's most stimulating contemporary art scenes; the artists chosen reflect this vitality and the project is about the cultural role of artistic practice and its impact on the development of Scotland's greater cultural fabric.'

Following the exhibition in Venice, which runs from 10 June until 6 November, audiences in Scotland will have an opportunity to see Selective Memory at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh in December 2005.

Selective Memory follows the highly acclaimed Zenomap exhibition in 2003, the first presentation of contemporary art from Scotland undertaken by the Scottish Arts Council and British Council, which featured work by Claire Barclay, Jim Lambie and Simon Starling. Scottish artists have shown work at the Venice Biennale since 1897. The Scottish artist Mark Boyle represented Britain in 1978, and since then David Mach, Arthur Watson, Kate Whiteford, Douglas Gordon, Christine Borland and Roderick Buchanan, among others, have participated. This year will be the first time that presentations from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are all complementing the British Pavilion at this prestigious event.

For more information, visit www.scotlandandvenicebiennale.com.

Notes to Editors

1. The Scottish Arts Council champions and sustains the arts for Scotland, investing over ?60 million from the Scottish Executive and National Lottery funding to support and develop artistic excellence and creativity throughout Scotland. Further information is available from our website, www.scottisharts.org.uk.
2. The National Galleries of Scotland comprise the National Gallery of Scotland, the Royal Scottish Academy building, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and the Dean Gallery in Edinburgh.
3. The British Council is the United Kingdom´s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. It operates independently from the UK Government. In Scotland the British Council offers its partners a gateway to its global networks, and it provides its audiences worldwide with a window on Scotland. For more information please see www.britishcouncil.org/scotland