The Glasgow Effect

How would your career, social life, family ties, carbon footprint and mental health be affected if you could not leave the city where you live? 

Artist Ellie Harrison sparked a fast-and-furious debate about class, capitalism, art, education and much more, when news of her year-long project The Glasgow Effect went viral at the start of 2016.

Named after the term used to describe Glasgow's mysteriously poor public health and funded to the tune of £15,000 by Creative Scotland, this controversial 'durational performance' centred on a simple proposition – that the artist would refuse to travel beyond Glasgow's city limits, or use any vehicles except her bike, for a whole calendar year. 

'I'd already lived in Glasgow over seven years when the 'chips hit the fan' in January 2016. It was frustrating how the media took everything out of context. The Glasgow Effect was an epic undertaking resulting from years of research – a project which has shaped my thinking, action and life course ever since. This books is that hidden story.' Ellie Harrison