Turner Prize winner's new artwork celebrates River Clyde

Jasleen Kaur has always been fascinated with the river that flows through her home city.

So when she was commissioned to make a public artwork for the Glasgow 2026 Festival, which runs alongside the Commonwealth Games, she turned to the Clyde for inspiration.

"My whole relationship to the city of Glasgow revolves around that, as it does for anybody whose families moved here in the 50s and 60s.

"All of our lives are totally shaped by that history."

Her questions about the river's connections to trade, industry and empire as well as its key role in migration - which brought previous generations of her own family to the shipyards of Govan - have been worked into eight weathervane-like sculptures entitled Superstructure.

Each steel pole is topped by a gold aluminium phrase which turns in the wind, questioning ideas of home, nationality and ownership.

"I was here b4 you" reads one sign while "This should be public" swings between Scottish Enterprise's HQ and the new Barclays Bank.

Born in Glasgow in 1986, Jasleen Kaur's work often explores cultural memory.

In 2024, she won the Turner Prize for work which paid tribute to her Scottish Sikh heritage.

It was shown at Tramway, a venue in the Pollokshields area of the city where she grew up.

For this work, her first in Glasgow since then, she has worked with Jude Barber of Collective Architecture.

She too has many questions about the Clyde, some of which she has discussed with writer Louise Welsh on their podcast Who Owns The Clyde?

"I think as a resident you're asking these questions of yourself," she says.

"And to have this collection of questions as moments along the river is a good way to reposition our relationship with the river as a city. Art has that power to do that."

The work is one of 161 projects funded through the Glasgow 2026 Festival, which will run for 10 weeks alongside the Commonwealth Games.

One of the ambitions is to see the city streets, parks and neighbourhoods transformed into stages and exhibition spaces.

"It's a spectacular summer of sport in Scotland this year, but actually having arts and culture at the heart of our games is really important," says Phil Batty, CEO of Glasgow 2026.

"Major events are really powerful catalysts for places, but without arts and culture they don't have a sense of community, and actually what community brings is great storytelling."

And Jasleen hopes her work will remain in the community, after the festival draws to a close on August 10th.

She has gifted all eight parts of Superstructure – situated between the Broomielaw and the Briggait – to the city, although their final locations have yet to be announced.

"They feel very specific to this site so it's a very simple decision to want them to live on somewhere, and not be kept in storage somewhere," says Jasleen.

Jude Barber is equally pleased that these constantly questioning artworks will remain in the city.

"I think everyone has a part to play in the transformation of the city and this is an incredible example of that," adds Barber.

"We need more public art down here at the river and more activity happening on the river. I'd love to see more."