4 Best Performing Arts in Merchant City, Glasgow

A unique spectacle, Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre is the brainchild of Eduard Bersudsky, who came to Glasgow from Russia in 1989 to continue making the mechanical sculptures that are his stock in trade. They are witty and sometimes disturbing, perhaps because they are constructed from scrap materials. They move in a kind of ballet to haunting, specially composed music punctuated by a light show. The shows are 45 or 70 minutes.

One of the top music venues in the Merchant City, the stone-fronted City Halls hosts orchestral, jazz, and folk concerts.

Come here for contemporary theater from Scotland and around the world; there are three performance spaces. The theater often plays host to works from young Scottish playwrights, and is unafraid to showcase work with provocative and contemporary themes.

This vibrant contemporary arts center, housed in a converted Edwardian warehouse, is home base for diverse groups producing film, photography, paintings, and prints. It contains the Russian Cultural Centre and the Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre, as well as the Glasgow Print Studio, a well-established outlet for Glasgow artists; Street Level Photoworks, which aims at making photography more accessible; and the Transmission Gallery, a key exhibition space supporting nonconceptual art in the city.