Art, Archives
and
Publics
Funded by The Department of Education and
Learning NI and The Atlantic Philanthropies
On Documentation?
Where does the urge to document and archive
come from?
• (Lack) of sense of place and history
• Need for validation of cultural / social practice
• Trans/Formation of Identities
Archives as ‘mirrors of ourselves’
Funded by The Department of Education and
Learning NI and The Atlantic Philanthropies
Art Practice
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Recording
Circulation
Documentation
Validating
Archive
Memory
Public(s)
Influence
History/ies
Identity/ies
Civil Society
Funded by The Department of Education and
Learning NI and The Atlantic Philanthropies
Interface: Research Centre
•
Established in 2004 through major
successful funding bid (SPUR II)
•
Major initiative in A&D in the UK with
21 members of research staff and
dedicated research facilities
•
Based on distinct areas of
excellence in research activities of
School of Art and Design - Textiles &
Fine Art
UU, Belfast campus refurbishment, 2006
Funded by The Department of Education and
Learning NI and The Atlantic Philanthropies
Research Aims
• Focused Exploration of key processes in
innovative research practice in Art and
Design:
Interface @Corporation Street - Archive
[1] inherited models of practice and categories
of value
[2] impact of digital media and new
technologies of production, distribution and
mediation of art and design
• Situated in context of wider
social/economic/political arena of Northern
Ireland and globally = the ‘glocal’
Funded by The Department of Education and
Learning NI and The Atlantic Philanthropies
Research Objectives
Alistair MacLennan
Dr. Kate Wells
• Trans- and Interdisciplinary research and
postgraduate provision
• New partnerships and forms of
collaborations and practice in Art and
Design
• Development of new ways of thinking and
working at local, national and transnational
level
• Prototyping, testing and evaluating of new
models of practice
• Cross-border dimensions in the Irish
context
• Outcomes with international reach
• Building of critical mass in Art and Design
research
Funded by The Department of Education and
Learning NI and The Atlantic Philanthropies
Research Strands
- Art and its Locations
Platforma
- Fabric Forward
- Customisation and Construction
- Hybrid Textile Configurations
Trish Belford
Funded by The Department of Education and
Learning NI and The Atlantic Philanthropies
Art and its Locations:
Research Foci
- Art
in Contested Spaces
Willie Doherty
- Art
and Documentation
Workshop, 2006
Funded by The Department of Education and
Learning NI and The Atlantic Philanthropies
Interface Resources
• Dedicated researchers / archivist
• Research and thinking space
• PhD research opportunities
• Provision of MA Art in Public
• Opportunities to network and collaborate
• Image and sound production, post-production
and display equipment
• Storage space
• Technical and clerical support staff
Funded by The Department of Education and
Learning NI and The Atlantic Philanthropies
Interface Activities
Connecting
Prototyping
Facilitating
Testing
Discussing
Documenting
Negotiating
Archiving
Speculating
Disseminating
Experimenting
Evaluating
Funded by The Department of Education and
Learning NI and The Atlantic Philanthropies
Documentation and Archiving
• Critical dialogue: performance, interventionist,
process-oriented practices
• Narratives related to contestations and conflicts
• Creative processes, (audio-) visual work and curatorial
interventions
• Inquiry into local archives and community-based
memory (ARE, Catalyst, Beat Initiative, Duchas)
• Strategies for documenting and re/materialising Generating Public Pedagogies
• Securing Memory - Producing Publics
Funded by The Department of Education and
Learning NI and The Atlantic Philanthropies
I confess that I was there:
Art, Archives and Location
• A programmed series of events in December 2006
• Inquiry into archives related to creative practice:
Artpool, Budapest; Trace Archive, Cardiff; North-West
Visual Arts Archive, Derry; Peter Haining, Dundee
• Focus on Artists’ interventions in repositories of
records and the re/materialisation of archives
Funded by The Department of Education and
Learning NI and The Atlantic Philanthropies
Public Art Strategy for
West Belfast (PAS)
• DSD commissioned consultancy
• West Belfast and the Greater Shankill area
Aims:
• Public Art Trail
• Connection to City Centre and Laganside
• Links to existing public art projects
• Visibility of West Belfast and Greater Shankill area to
promote tourism and economic regeneration
Funded by The Department of Education and
Learning NI and The Atlantic Philanthropies
Deliverables of PAS
• Community participation methodology
• Stakeholder audit
• Map and audit of existing public art
• Map and audit of other relevant projects
• Strategic map of potential sites for public art
• Survey of potential funders
• Review of key documents and policies
• Seminar on Public Art
• Report
Funded by The Department of Education and
Learning NI and The Atlantic Philanthropies
PAS Process
• Forms of documentation
• Strategies of re/presentation and positioning
• Power relations and vested interests
• Pragmatics/ Public(s)
• Trust building with communities
• Media format - authority and authenticity
• Oral accounts - episodic memory / memory of fear
• Maps - factual memory
• Reports / minutes - procedural memory
Funded by The Department of Education and
Learning NI and The Atlantic Philanthropies
Creative Transformations
• AHRC funded workshop and networking project
• PI: Prof. Ruth Morrow
• Community oriented creative processes
• Conversations on determination, risk, failure, and
unquantifiable success
• Documentation/ Validation of marginalised
practices
Funded by The Department of Education and
Learning NI and The Atlantic Philanthropies
Performing the Archive
Providing Interrogative
Moments
• AHRC funded Doctoral Research Training Provision
• Collaboration with University of Sunderland
• in association with Locus+, Public Art Agency Newcastle
upon Tyne
• Series of workshops and colloquia between November
2006 – October 2007
• Related book and online learning resource:
Arkive City; www.interface.ulster.ac.uk/arkivecity
Funded by The Department of Education and
Learning NI and The Atlantic Philanthropies
Art out of the Ordinary
• Collaborative project with CityArts Dublin
• Folk Memory and material culture
• Related to Loraine Leeson’s exhibition Art of Change
• Two seminars, public interventions,
• Planned publication
Funded by The Department of Education and
Learning NI and The Atlantic Philanthropies