The Craft of Curating: Presentation by Catriona Duffy and Lucy McEachan, Panel
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Catriona Duffy and Lucy McEachan of Panel's presentation at the Craft Scotland Conference 2014. www.craftscotland.org
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The Craft of Curating: Presentation by Catriona Duffy and Lucy McEachan, Panel
Editor's Notes
- Panel is an independent curatorial practice that creates engaging exhibitions, events and critical activity delivered across a range of locations, venues and environments. At the heart of what we do is the desire to explore the boundaries of curating design and craft in a cultural context. We are particularly interested in material culture and the narrative power of objects to serve as traces of our experience. When we talk about design we do so in its most expansive form to include craft and the hand-made. We are drawn by processes and techniques of craft making and their cross-disciplinary influence. We are also interested in the position of craft within our history and our industry and its changing role during the twentieth Century as we moved from a skill’s based to a service based nation and economy. To that end, we create research led projects that examine subjective local histories and collections with a focus on design and craft. Crucially, we are interested in extending this research into reality through the process of commissioning. We work with makers, designers, artists, writers and other practitioners across the wide spectrum of creative disciplines on public programmes with this focus.
- We work independently and are interested in finding spaces beyond the gallery to present new work. We also work with partners and much of our output is characterised by collaboration. In every case, our work is very focused on our own curatorial vision. We have developed this since we began working together in 2010, when we saw the opportunity and space to create something that would contribute to the existing cultural infrastructure in Scotland as well as the on-going regeneration and cultural re-imagination of Glasgow. We are interested in the process of commissioning and creating critical and cultural spaces for design. The detail of how we exhibit work is really important to us and we aim to create experiential environments for showing work. We work across disciplines because we are interested in expanding audience perception of design and in locating it within a cultural context. Today we want to focus on our curatorial work and how this has led to commercial outcomes for us, and perhaps a new way of looking at commissioning. We also want to look at how we have created narrative frameworks for commissioning and presenting design and craft- a key part of our curatorial approach.
- We think this is an interesting model for commissioning and one that perhaps questions existing ways of developing, presenting and selling new work. We will look at two of our most significant projects to date to expand on this idea, starting with our inaugural project, The Inventors of Tradition (2011). The Inventors of Tradition Sitting at the intersection between art, craft, design and social history, The Inventors of Tradition was a study of the Scottish textiles industry and a collaboration with design and visual art partnership Atelier E.B. Atelier E.B. consist of artist Lucy McKenzie and textile designer Beca Lipscombe. Through Atelier E.B. it is their ambition to bring fine art criticality to the world of the applied arts whilst celebrating and profiling its expertise and pragmatism.
- The Inventors of Tradition brought together samples of world-class design through the archive material of individuals and companies – in many cases private and modest collections where the material was not already filtered or contextualized. Through the presentation of a diverse collection of material – from artifacts to photographs to textiles pieces, dating from the 1930s to the 1990s, we sought to suggest working methods, relationships, and a culture of quality shared by the companies and individuals selected. From the intarsia knitwear of Ballantyne to the teddy boy style of John Byrne to the pop culture alliance of fashion collective ‘The Cloth’ to a collection of ‘Look Book’ photographs - found in the storeroom of Barrie Knitwear - They all told the story of Atelier’s connection to industry
- The inclusion of companies such as Singer, drew attention to the importance of the textile industry socially and economically, as well as culturally. To its impact upon our villages, towns and cities and on our architecture, and our buildings. The Singer Sewing Machine Factory at Clydebank (the largest of Singer’s factories) produced 36 million sewing machines from its opening in 1884 until 1943. Singer was the world brand leader at that time, selling more machines than all of their competitors combined. The Singer Factory was the dominant employer of women in Clydebank and contributed greatly to the wealth and stature of the area. The factory closed in 1980 and was demolished in the early 1990s, leaving an enormous social, economic and cultural legacy.
- The project explored the subject through a public exhibition, a film screening, a publication and a series of international touring showrooms. The exhibition took place in an empty retail unit in Stockwell Street on the edge of Glasgow’s style mile. It was important that the exhibition had a shop front and that is was distinguishable from a gallery on close inspection. Free standing temporary display vitrines, mannequins and a rail of mackintosh raincoats encouraged browsers and aimed to reflect the aesthetic of both a boutique and a museum.
- A selection of documentary films from the Scottish Screen Archive, shown in the exhibition space and at a screening as a part of Glasgow Film Festival at the GFT, explored the industry through its manufacturing processes, factory workers and fashions. This promotional activity illustrated the global reach of the industry as a cohesive brand and harnessed the idea of a collective Scottish style linked to quality and making.
- In response to this material Atelier produced a new fashion collection, manufactured by industry, entirely in Scotland – which perhaps was most concisely summed up in a series of workcoats – inspired in part by the factory workers at Glenhar Factory documented within one of the discovered films.
- Working directly with some of the most prestigious companies still operating locally, including Begg Scotland, Caerlee Mills, Hawick Cashmere, Mackintosh, Janette Murray Handknits and Steven Purvis, The aim of the collection was to see, once the historical research had been done, what was possible to make in Scotland through partnership with industry.
- Ultimately The Inventors of Tradition was a cultural project aimed squarely at a public audience– in receipt of funding from Creative Scotland. This allowed us to experiment and push boundaries without financial risk. However, by commissioning Atelier E.B. to create a collection that we could then tour internationally and become commercial – in its simplest form – as clothes for sale on a rail - through a series of showrooms - we aimed to expand the life of the project and generated a new way of working for Atelier E.B. that could potentially be self sustaining.
- And so - By choosing to present the new collection of clothing within the context of an exhibition that told a story, that took as its subject the social history of the Scottish Textiles industry, Atelier E.B. questioned whether focus should be placed on textiles as an artistic idea, social process, industry or commercial product. This is an interesting tension and one that we have been exploring through our programme since.
- Scotland Can Make It! Scotland Can Make It! was an ambitious cultural project to commission six unique souvenirs inspired by London 2012 and Glasgow 2014. Souvenirs designed and manufactured entirely in Scotland, each very much a collaborative work between practitioner and industry. The project spans the space between the cultural and the commercial and in summary: We have been working on this project since 2010 ; As a part of the Cultural programme associated with Olympic and Commonwealth Games- this was a vital lever in negotiating collaborations with industry ; It is a unique model of funding and has allowed us to explore new territories in commissioning, producing and presenting work to audiences in context of mega sporting events.
- From the start the project was conceived as a cultural one with no commercial pressure on what each product might be and we did not conduct usual market research associated with developing new products. Instead products were Ideas-led and chosen by open call and a carefully selected jury with the brief to explore alternative souvenir narratives and what is possible to make in Scotland industrially at this moment. Scotland Can Make It! offered an alternative to the common notion of mass-produced and branded merchandise- we worked with local manufacturers of varying scales from factory to hand producer- textiles, ceramics, leather and metal to confectionery and digital/music industry.
- The Scotland Can Make It! products were developed as: A set of three lambswool travel blankets with leather carry cases By Atelier EB and Marc Camille Chaimowicz with Begg Scotland and McRostie of Glasgow Tunnock’s Medal’s - teacake confectionary and packaging By Claire Duffy with Tunnock’s and Chesapeake Home/Away – a set of two merino wool scarves By Emlyn Firth and Angharad McLaren with Johnstons of Elgin Great Circle – an audio visual app By FOUND with Chemikal Underground and O Street FREE TO DOWNLOAD Common Wealth – a ceramic jelly mould and accompanying tea cloth By Katy West with Highland Stoneware and Centre for Advanced Textiles The Golden Tenement – a die cast, gold plated Glasgow tenement (model and keyring) By Neil McGuire and Marianne Anderson with Carlton Die Casting, Elizabeth Campbell and Hamish Dobbie The souvenirs represent a broad range of disciplines, styles and ways of making. Within the six designs a variety of ideas and objects are presented. Though desirable and saleable products none conform to our expectations of a traditionally Scottish keepsake. Rather they call to mind the places within which they were made.
- The collaboration between designers and industry was key in developing the professional practice and new ways of working for both, and also to a great extent Panel, in our role as brokers and negotiators we learnt a lot.
- As a part of Culture 2014 we presented the souvenirs for sale at South Block in Glasgow. Through the installation we were able to create a connection back to museum display of The People’s Palace (where the souvenir prototypes were displayed in 2012) and extend narratives of the objects through six specially commissioned films and an ephemeral events programme. The films and events intended to reveal the narrative behind each souvenir, the process of their making and their lives as owned objects, in playful and imaginative ways.
- These two projects represent differing curatorial approaches we have taken. The Inventors of Tradition reflected very closely the subjectivity of the artists and through Scotland Can Make It! We attempted to establish a pilot or a model that would have the potential to be replicated, expanded or contracted.
- A key part of these projects has been the commissioning process – inviting makers, designers and artists to work with industry across Scotland. For us it has developed as a mapping exercise to test what is possible to make in Scotland – what are the limitations and what are the best ways to work with them and what are the possibilities and how can we imaginatively stretch them? How can we challenge the way we commission and present new work – within both the cultural and commercial sectors?