A church on a canal in the north of Venice will be the venue for Scotland's show at the world's biggest visual arts festival next year.

The artist Rachel Maclean, known for her surreal, colourful and disturbing film works, will present the Scotland + Venice show at the Chiesa di Santa Caterina in the Cannaregio area of the city for the Venice Biennale.

The deconsecrated church is a different venue from the Palazzo Fontana used by Graham Fagen for the Scottish presentation in 2015, which stood on the banks of the Grand Canal.

Maclean's solo show of work will be centred around a major new film commission.

Her work has been commissioned and will be curated by Alchemy Film and Arts, in partnership with Talbot Rice Gallery and the University of Edinburgh.

The producers of the film will be Barry Crerar; a production company recently set up by producers Rosie Crerar and Ciara Barry.

Rachel Maclean said: "The Chiesa di S. Caterina is a beautiful venue, filled with so much history and power.

"I’m incredibly excited to create a new work that will transform this space - and provide a new context for my work.

"I’m also thrilled that Barry Crerar have been selected to produce the new commission, and look forward to working closely together over the coming months!”

Amanda Catto, head of visual arts at Creative Scotland, speaking on behalf of the Scotland + Venice Partnership, said: "The dramatic and historic space that Chiesa Santa Caterina will be an excellent venue for Rachel’s work.

"A former church in a beautiful location, the venue has scope for huge impact, and provides Rachel with an unprecedented opportunity to develop new work in an exceptional context.

"We look forward to welcoming visitors from across the world during the 6 months that the exhibition will be showing."

Maclean creates art films which mix themes of surrealism, fantasy, social and personal identity, with special effects, sometimes highly coloured day-glo worlds, elaborate sets, high art and popular culture.

One of her recent films, Feed Me, was purchased for the National Gallery of Scotland and the galleries described the "nightmarish, candy-coloured" world she created as "elaborate, beautifully realised...and extraordinary".

Ms Maclean, who was born in Edinburgh and graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in 2009.

She said she is already inspired by the historic connection between Venice and masks, and in particular those worn by plague doctors.

The artist said: "I've already been thinking about the plague masks, and the plague victims, and setting the film partly in a contemporary setting and partly in the 17th century - continuing the theme of my work being neither in one place or the other."

The Biennale is considered one of the world's top showcases for contemporary art.

More than 33,000 people visited the Scottish show, by Graham Fagen, at the 56th international art exhibition in Venice in 2015.

The Biennale itself drew more than 500,000 visitors to the famous canal city, as well as the world's media: more than 8000 journalists.