A new annual award supporting emerging artists has been launched by Arthouse Glasgow, the cultural-led hotel opening in Glasgow on 24th June, in partnership with The Glasgow School of Art.
The Arthouse Award has been established as a recurring annual prize for MFA students at the School, combining a bursary with a commissioned public artwork produced specifically for the hotel. The initiative aims to provide meaningful support at a critical stage in an artist’s career, with a commitment to commissioning and exhibiting new work every year.
The inaugural recipient is MFA student Kate Glenn, whose commission was unveiled on 5th June, coinciding with Glasgow International, Scotland’s biennial festival of contemporary art, and ahead of both the GSA MFA Show and the official opening of Arthouse Glasgow later this month.
Glenn’s 2026 commission comprises two new works. The first, RADICAL / REBIRTH, is a large-scale temporary installation spanning the façade of the historic building at 129 Bath Street. Hand-painted fabric banners will cover the windows across the first three floors, drawing on the language of two historic plaques located on the building, including one commemorating former Prime Minister Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman.
Visible throughout Glasgow International, the work connects the building’s past with its future, bringing its history back into public view before the hotel opens its doors.
A second work, PEACE / PLACE, will become a permanent installation within the hotel. Using a single flickering letter to shift between two words, the piece is conceived as an open proposition rather than a fixed statement and reflects the hotel’s ambition to function as a civic and cultural gathering space.
The commission also acknowledges another chapter in the building’s history. A plaque at 129 Bath Street marks the founding of disability rights charity ENABLE Scotland at the address in 1954. In recognition of this connection, Glenn has created a separate work for the organisation and will donate the remainder of her production budget to the charity.
The Arthouse Award forms part of a broader cultural strategy by Oberland, the hospitality group behind Arthouse Glasgow. Rather than treating art as an addition to a completed project, the group aims to embed long-term cultural partnerships into the fabric of its hotels from the outset.
William Riordan, Co-Founder at Oberland, said:
“We firmly believe that Oberland hotels should enrich the cultural life of the cities they call home. The Arthouse Award embodies that commitment, and we are honoured to partner with an institution as historic and influential as The Glasgow School of Art.”
The award was conceived by Oberland and The Glasgow School of Art as a long-term commitment to emerging creative talent. Future commissions will accumulate within the hotel, creating a growing collection of works by artists at pivotal moments in their careers.
Lukas Zueger-Knecht, Head of Partnerships at Oberland and a judge for the award, said:
“Arthouse opens this June with the ambition of becoming part of Glasgow’s cultural life, not adjacent to it. The Arthouse Award establishes our partnership with The Glasgow School of Art on those terms, providing the structural support an emerging artist genuinely needs at the start of their practice.
“Kate’s commission opens the Award with work that draws the building’s history into a question about female visibility and bodily autonomy, and stages rebirth as a hopeful proposition rather than a closed statement. It speaks to the present with conviction. I am proud Arthouse opens with this commitment in place, and grateful to Kate and the School for the collaborative effort that made this possible.”
Margaret Salmon, Programme Leader MFA at The Glasgow School of Art and a judge for the award, added:
“This prize marks a wonderful investment and commitment by Oberland to support sophisticated, dynamic contemporary art emerging from the MFA programme at The Glasgow School of Art. MFA students, staff and myself are grateful for this opportunity to collaborate and look forward to seeing Kate’s commission integrated and celebrated within the city.”
Sarah Smith, Head of Development at The Glasgow School of Art, said:
“Emerging artists play a crucial role in Glasgow’s cultural life. Working with The Arthouse has offered Kate vital financial support at a critical stage in her career. We are excited to continue our collaboration with The Arthouse in the future and thank them for their generous support.”
For Glenn, the commission represents both a public debut and a statement of intent.
“I am grateful to The Arthouse for the opportunity to create my first public artwork,”
she said.
“In this new commission my hope is to amplify a feminist resistance, marking a space for creative and social connection. The word REBIRTH is central to this approach – it stems from the body and connects to histories of struggle and survival. The financial support offered by the Prize has been invaluable at a time when grants and bursaries for artists are limited. I believe that my work RADICAL / REBIRTH is a hopeful gesture that a new and better future can emerge.”
The exterior installation is on view from through to 21st June during Glasgow International, while the permanent interior commission will be unveiled when Arthouse Glasgow officially opens on 24th June.
About
Kate Glenn is a queer, feminist, interdisciplinary artist who explores vulnerability through emotional and physical processing. Her work draws upon feminist histories of disruption, intimacy and representation. Voice and visibility are central to her thinking…what it means to be seen or heard today. In this new commission, she hopes to amplify a feminist resistance to collective decay and despair by marking the space as one built for creative and social connection and restoration. The word REBIRTH is central to this approach – it stems from the body and connects to histories of struggle and survival.@kateglennartist
Opening on 24th June 2026, Arthouse Glasgow will be a 76-bedroom hotel aiming to offer a new kind of city experience – one that truly expresses the spirit of its location. It occupies a striking 19th-century townhouse on Bath Street – a street with a long connection to the arts, having been the home of Glasgow Art Club since 1892, set across two townhouses. The Award is one expression of how Arthouse intends to sit in Glasgow – as a neighbour to the city, not a tenant. Built with the city, not for it. In working terms, this means programming shaped by the institutions and artists defining Glasgow, spaces designed to host the local creative community, and a deliberate decision to let the city’s own scene shape what the hotel becomes. The Award anchors this ethos to one of the institutions most responsible for shaping contemporary art in Scotland, and commits the hotel to that relationship for the long term.
Arthouse Glasgow hopes to serve as a place for the city’s locals as well as guests, with interiors by award-winning design studio A-nrd, an inviting lounge space with a dynamic cultural programme, and Celentano’s restaurant by the acclaimed Dean and Anna Parker. At the centre of the property sits a bar and lounge designed to be used as an all-day hub – in the daytime as a space to meet, study or pause, with the atmosphere gradually shifting into evening with a programme of music and small cultural gatherings. Arthouse Glasgow, 129 Bath Street, Glasgow G2 2SZ @arthouseglasgow
