Delivered by Dr Rhiannon Mason, Dr Chris Whitehead and Dr Helen Graham from International Centre for Cultural and Heritage Studies, Newcastle University at Museums Association Conference October 2010.

1. ‘Art on Tyneside’: Redeveloping a
Permanent Display about Art, Place and
Identity at the Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle.
Dr Rhiannon Mason
Dr Chris Whitehead
Dr Helen Graham
International Centre for Cultural and Heritage Studies,
Newcastle University

2. The project:
to contribute to the redevelopment of an important
permanent display - Art on Tyneside - at the Laing Art Gallery
and to study how people construct identities in reference to
place (North-East of England) and its visual representations.
funded through the AHRC's
Museums, Galleries,
Libraries and Archives
Research Grants. Value:
£345,637.

3. Aims of the project
Our research will explore the relationships between
art, identity and place in order to develop audience-
generated content in various media for display
purposes.
This content, and insights derived from the research,
will be integrated within, and add value to, the
redevelopment of an important permanent display
at the Laing Art Gallery.

4. Research Questions
1. How is the relationship
between people’s identities
and sense of place
performed, produced, and
negotiated through, or in
response to, art (with
specific reference to the
Laing’s collection)?
2. How is sense of place
represented and
constructed in a display like
‘Art on Tyneside’ and what
role can audience
perspectives play within
this process?
3. How can the polyvocality
of audience perspectives
be represented in a
coherent and engaging
display?
4. Can the use of digital
technology within the
redeveloped display fulfil
the Laing’s objective to
work towards the
democratisation of
curation?

5. The project (2008-2010)
Has involved working with:
• families and young people
• local, regular visitors already familiar with the Laing
• specialist interest visitors (Friends of the Laing)
• non-visiting members of specific, local community groups
• artists and representatives of the regional and national
arts community (artists, critics, curators)
• older people
• people with disabilities
• refugee and asylum seekers living locally but new to the
area

6. The project (2008-2010)
Has involved working with:
• museum and gallery practitioners,
• curators,
• learning and outreach staff,
• designers,
• audio-visual experts and creative professionals (artists,
film-makers, sound-specialists, photographers),
• youth workers,
• carers,
• plus local organisations like Nexus Transport and St
James’s Park Football Stadium

7. Photography

8. Digital Stories

9. Film

10. Sound

11. Other forms of content
• Talking Heads
• Archival images
• Flickr

12. Flickr in Gallery

13. Projection and Touchscreens

14. Interactive touch-table

16. Reasons for Partnership Working
• Using cultural resources to ask questions about visual culture,
society, identity, behaviour, knowledge production,
representation, role of public galleries, sense of place etc.
• Opportunity to be involved in practice
• Creating interaction between cultural resources and
communities to lead to theorisation
• High visibility project with societal impact; contributes to the
social and cultural life of the region
• Availability of grant funding

17. Challenges faced in establishing or maintaining
the partnership and how these were overcome.
Distinct research and gallery aims
(research outcomes vs display
outcomes)
Quality plan; project board,
interpretation workshops; show and
tell sessions; summary documents
Practical management issues e.g.
finance, FEC, procurement, IP,
contracting/commissioning,
One person designated to oversee.
Partnership arrangement at outset
specifying relationship. Close liaison
with uni Grants and Contracts team
and TWAM management; attention to
detail
Communication between various
parties (project board, curators,
education staff, outreach, public,
artists, designers, community groups,
gatekeepers)
Difficult! Requires continuous effort to
keep all relevant people in the loop.
Designating specific responsibilities to
team members. Needs a full-time
Research Associate. Needs full support
from senior staff.

18. Challenges faced in establishing or maintaining
the partnership and how these were overcome
Different working methods/styles
between academic and practitioner
teams
Recognising each other’s professional
practices and working preferences;
regular meetings; co-chairing of
meetings; joint agenda setting
Timetable – different working speeds
at different times; need to balance
with timetable of other
responsibilities e.g. teaching
Planning and reviewing GANTT chart;
regular research team meetings;
being flexible and responsive; support
from institution

19. How the experience compares to your
expectations
• Very positive and beneficial
• Learning all the time – feeds into teaching and
research
• Developed project management skills/confidence
• Helped us to reflect upon how we do our research
• Refreshed understanding of curatorial practice
• Created other opportunities for collaboration
• Had to let go of some control
• Time intensive

20. Benefits of the partnership
• Generating new research and providing us with answers to our
research questions
• Access to new resources – gallery, staff, building, audiences
• Providing insight into the experiences and subjectivities of
community members
• Greater awareness of museum professionals’ working
environment, constraints, drivers etc.
• Complicates distinctions between research and practice;
university and museums; academics and gallery professionals –
more nuanced understanding of ‘research’

21. Further information
• Visit us at: Flickr: Northern Spirit
• http://artontyneside.wordpress.com/about/