We recently held a study day on ‘artist led culture’ at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art which brought together visual arts practitioners from the UK and overseas.
Galleries and exhibition spaces that are run by artists as opposed to curators and administrators as described as being ‘artist led.’
The backdrop for the study day was the Selective Memory exhibition which was held in June 2005 at the Venice Biennale and had ‘artist led culture’ as a theme.
Selective Memory then returned to Scotland with an exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art held earlier this year. Artists Alex Pollard, Cathy Wilkes, Tom O’Sullivan and Joanne Tatham focused on the notion of artistic behaviour and the conditions and environments within which artists develop.
Over the two days delegates at the artist led culture study day were able to:
- hear about a variety of artist-led organisations and their structures through key-note speeches and ‘soapbox’ opportunities
- visit artist-led spaces and projects in Edinburgh including Selective Memory
- network and share experiences of their practice
- debate issues of artist-led culture
- discuss potential collaborations.
Key-note speakers included:
- Tobias Berger from Para/Site in Hong Kong
- Lise Nellemann from Sparwasser HQ in Berlin
- Becky Shaw, who spoke about Static, an artist-led space in Liverpool
- Michael Stumpf from Transmission, an artist-led initiative in Glasgow.
International delegates came from all over the world, including:
- USA
- Estonia
- Finland
- Nigeria
- Australia
- Ireland
- Netherlands
- Serbia and Montenegro.
The study days were organised in partnership with:
The final report and appendices is now available to download. It includes transcripts of the keynote speeches and case-studies, and the outcomes of the discussion groups. To find out more information how we support the arts contact art.scotland@britishcouncil.org or telephone +44 (0)131 524 5714.
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