Visitors and Visiting

The GSA Archives and Collections Centre has been busy these last couple of weeks with artists participating in the forthcoming CCA exhibition ‘What We Have Done, What We Are About To Do’ conducting research in the Third Eye Centre archive material, and it is becoming increasingly evident of the wealth of various and often deviant information from a linear history that the material provides.

 While some of these visitors may directly reference material found within the archive, others will also explore broader discussions on the role of archives within contemporary art practice and institutions.  

We have been out visiting too, and similar discussions, specifically curatorial intention in dissemination of archives, were prevalent during the recent Whitechapel event ‘Curating the Archive’.

We also visited Flat Time House, which holds a unique collection of the personal papers and work in the former studio of John Latham, an artist who networks with the Third Eye Centre through Better Books and the Artist Placement Group.  Significant evidence of direct communication between Latham and the Third Eye Centre is yet to be uncovered, but as detailed research on the first few years of the Third Eye Centre continues for the exhibition, we look forward to uncovering more tangible articles such as this carbon copy of a letter from Tom McGrath to Latham, the original of which amazingly is still currently held at Flat Time House. 

Archive Observations

Last week the Glasgow Miracle’s Research Assistant and I visited sunny London to find out more about the work of the Whitechapel Gallery’s Archive and Cinenova. Many thanks to the individuals at these organisations who spent time talking to us!

We found it really useful to see how Whitechapel’s archives form a key part of the Gallery’s exhibition and education programme, encouraging reflection on past events and acting as a stimulus for new creativity. The Glasgow Miracle project hopes to organise a number of public activities utilising the archives we are working with. More details will be posted here as soon as they become available...

Cinenova work with women filmmakers to support the distribution of their work. In doing so, they also work closely with the users of this material. By establishing dialogue with and between film makers and film users, Cinenova are able to accrue more information about the films they work with and observe changing approaches to the perception and use of this material. We are also keen to establish a dialogue with people who were involved in the ‘making’ of activities related to The Third Eye Centre and CCA and/or who are interested in potentially using the Third Eye and CCA archives once they have been indexed.

Finally, this week’s image – a list of material (including archive items!) used by The Third Eye in an exhibition about Garnethill in 1976. The files show that this exhibition used a wide variety of artefacts and archives to explore Garnethill’s past and its present, confirming our belief

that archives can play a key role in cultural engagement.

Image Credit: Third Eye/CCA Archive

One Hundred and Three Boxes

The purpose of this blog is to disseminate ‘highlights’ from the vast wealth of material that the project has procured, encompasses and will be producing via its four main strands of enquiry.

In terms of quantity, the largest of these strands of evidence is the archives of the Third Eye Centre and the Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA).  Comprising paperwork, photographs and ephemera from 1972, (prior to the inception of The Third Eye Centre), up to the current activities at the CCA as recently as 2011.  This nearly forty year period covers the highs and lows of contemporary art practice at 350 Sauchiehall Street, drawing in public, social and personal histories from Glasgow and beyond.

The prospect of cataloguing this rich and diverse material is as daunting and as problematic as it is exciting. Much of my time so far has been spent considering and discussing with my colleagues how to approach the arrangement, description and processing of the material in a manor that remains sensitive to its ideology and character, whilst making it a valid and useful tool for research.

Researching the approach of other art institutions to archiving  (IKON, Whitechapel, The John Latham Archive, Transmission etc) has revealed that there cannot, and probably should not, be a ‘one size fits all’ methodology for cataloguing creative content.  We have worked out a methodology which places emphasis on generating a comprehensive timeline of activities and a list of index terms rather than on arrangement and analysis. This fits in with the project’s wish open up the archives for the research and curiosity of others.  

Since establishing our cataloguing system, my daily process of sorting through the Third Eye boxes has become more accurate and efficient. In this week alone I have indexed twice the quantity of boxes that I had been through on the first month of the project.  From blueprint and preparations for the opening of The Third Eye Centre, photographs of the Gables End project, to personal correspondence between Jimmy Boyle and Tom McGrath; the last ten boxes I’ve sorted through are so rich in information and historic texture.  The thought of having to pick just one thing out from one box every week will not be easy, so this week I’ll cheat, and show you all one hundred and three boxes instead.

Image Credt: Carrie Skinner