Tracey Emin to appear at festival

Tracey Emin's work My Bed attracted much attention in 1999

Tracey Emin, Mark Wallinger and Elizabeth Blackadder are among the artists who will appear at this year's Edinburgh Art Festival.

Set up five years ago to push the visual arts back into the summer festival calendar, the event is now one of the most prominent in the UK.

The artists' work will be celebrated in a 20-year retrospective at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.

It is one of 50 exhibitions being held across Edinburgh from 31 July.

Others exhibiting include celebrated Canadian artists Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller and English painter Richard Hamilton.

There will be a number of group shows, featuring work from new and emerging artists, along with guided tours and talks about the various exhibitions.

It is no secret that Edinburgh has a vibrant visual arts community Joanne Brown Edinburgh Art Festival

After a successful pilot programme last year, there will also be a series of late-night events in galleries across the city, involving artists, DJs, poets and comedians.

Joanne Brown, director of the Edinburgh Art Festival (EAF), said: "It is no secret that Edinburgh has a vibrant visual arts community.

"The EAF is a catalyst for the development of new and exciting work, showcasing the full range of the cites galleries and artists at a time when the eyes of the world are on the city.

"This year features new work by leading international artists, new galleries, some participating in the festival for the first time."

Tracey Emin is a controversial English artist, one of the group known as Britartists or YBAs (Young British Artists).

Her work My Bed, which featured a urine-soaked sheet, attracted much attention in 1999.

Essex-born Mark Wallinger is best known for his sculpture for the empty fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square.

Elizabeth Blackadder is a Scottish painter and printmaker. She studied at Edinburgh University and went on to Edinburgh College of Art.