Young Glasgow artist Trackie McLeod talks us through Utopia, the boozer he built from scratch where punters can sink a beer, throw darts at Thatcher or Trump – and win chocolate coins from one-armed bandits
‘T
he art world has a real issue with making things overly conceptual, too complicated and using wanky jargon,” says Trackie McLeod. “It alienates people.” So, for his latest show, Utopia, the 32-year-old Glaswegian has decided to create something more welcoming and familiar: a pub.
Custom-built from scratch, the exhibition is a fully functioning boozer. McLeod will pull pints for punters, there’s a dartboard where you can take aim at images of Thatcher or Trump, and visitors can explore his mixed-media artworks, spanning print, sculpture and sound, and swing by to catch drag acts, DJs and panel discussions.
“I’ve even got a fruit machine that spits out chocolate coins,” he says. “Which is a comment on how these machines rinse working-class pockets for their own gain. Whereas with this work, everyone’s a winner.”
