Online Premiere: Donald Butler, ‘FLARE’ (2026)

We are delighted to present the online premiere of ​‘FLARE’, a new work by Donald Butler commissioned by LUX Scotland as part of We Contain Multitudes.

‘FLARE’ is available to watch on the LUX Scotland website until 30 April 2026, and is accompanied by a pre-recorded in-conversation between Butler and David Upton, LUX Scotland’s Public Programme Manager.

‘FLARE’ reflects on Butler’s early art making growing up in the shadow of Grangemouth, until recently the location of Scotland’s largest oil refinery. Using the refinery’s literal burning of excess gasses and the linguistic use of ​‘flare’ to describe brief emotions or temporary intensifications of conditions related to chronic illnesses, Butler explores the processes through which excessive feelings and materials are expressed or consumed. Consisting of scanned 35mm photographs, early drawings, throw-away pieces of writing, instant photography and archival material, the film seeks to draw parallels between industrial and emotional processes and to queer typical narratives of industrial heritage. Produced using a flat bed scanner and with materials from Falkirk Archives, ​‘FLARE’ digs into the ways the materials have entered and re-entered different forms of petrochemical production.

Donald Butler is an artist originally from Grangemouth, now based in Glasgow. Working across moving image, writing, drawing, programming and digital image making, their practice utilises a poetic self-reflection to consider how the personal interfaces with infrastructures of economies and political agency. Previous projects include From Here a Home Was Imagined, CCA Annex, Glasgow; Ceramides, Lunchtime Gallery, Glasgow. Butler’s writing has been published by MAP, TACO, Bloomberg New Contemporaries, The Skinny, The List, The Yellow Paper and LUX Scotland. Butler studied Contemporary Art Practice at Gray’s School of Art, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen and Art Writing at The Glasgow School of Art.

We Contain Multitudes is a collaborative project that seeks to create systemic change in the Scottish visual arts sector for disabled artists, arts professionals and audiences. The project is a collaboration between Collective, DCA and LUX Scotland and is funded by Paul Hamlyn Foundation.

We Contain Multitudes is dedicated to helping arts organisations embed anti-ableist practices and build programmes that more accurately reflect the diversity of the Scottish population. It is a process of learning – one that acknowledges the ongoing challenges and recognises that access measures alone are not enough to dismantle ableism.

As part of the project each partner has generated a commission with an artist, Collective commissioned a new solo exhibition by artist and filmmaker Shen Xin ​‘Highland Embassy’ that was presented at Collective in Autumn 2025. In February 2026, DCA opened a group exhibition ​‘We Contain Multitudes’ featuring new and existing works by Andrew Gannon, Daisy Lafarge, Jo Longhurst and Nnena Kalu, which runs until Sunday 26 April.

‘FLARE’ is presented with closed captions by Valery Tough in consultation with Jamie Rae.

‘FLARE’ is presented with presented with Audio Description by SoundScribe. Audio describer and Narrator: Elaine Lillian Joseph and Access Consultant: Kirin Saeed.

An Easy Read version of this text is available to read here.

Sensory notes:

• Visual: FLARE contains rapid moving imagery. It passed the Harding Test, an automatic test for photosensitive epilepsy (PSE), with no instances of Luminance Flash, Red Flash or Spatial Pattern. Viewers sensitive to archival film textures or screen flicker should be advised.
• Audio: FLARE contains high volume buzzing throughout.

Image descriptions:
1. A glowing fluorescent orange substance, speckled and acid-like, dripping downwards over a scanned analogue photograph of a large industrial tank.
2. A scanned analogue photograph of the Grangemouth skyline. Many industrial chimneys push white steam and smoke into the sky as the smoke merges with the white of the clouds against a blue sky.