Take your partners
Gareth Harris finds out why museums and galleries are working hand-in-hand with non-collecting organisations to commission and acquire artworks
This month, artists involved in Down at the Bamboo Club will begin working on a project exploring Bristol's social and political history that is inspired by three venues in the city: the Georgian House museum; the New Room, the first Methodist chapel in the world, created by preacher John Wesley; and the Bamboo Club, a venue once located in the St Pauls area.
Barby Asante, Mandy McIntosh and Mark Wilsher will work with community groups to develop a series of films and events based on the three locations.
Picture This, an organisation that produces films with contemporary artists, is spearheading the initiative and is working with the Bristol Black Archives Partnership. It is also collaborating with Bristol's Museums, Galleries and Archives, which is interested in acquiring the works as part of the creation of the £25m Museum of Bristol, planned to open in 2011.
"The key is to try and keep these works in Bristol as they are so relevant to the city," says Josephine Lanyon, director of Picture This.
"Many of our previous works have been acquired by national or international collections subsequent to their completion, but by securing a joint agreement between Picture This and Bristol's Museums, Galleries and Archives, any funds secured up front could be invested in the production of the work."
The venture is typical of several newly-formed collaborations between collecting and non-collecting bodies, according to Paul Hobson, director of the Contemporary Art Society (CAS). He says that they reflect the "growing recognition of the benefits of working together for museums and commissioning bodies along with temporary exhibition programming organisations".
An exhibition of work by Romanian artist Mircea Cantor opens next month at Camden Arts Centre. It includes a four-element sculptural work co-commissioned by the north London gallery, Modern Art Oxford and the Arnolfini in Bristol. The joint project, entitled 3:3 artists/3 spaces/3 years, is a "new collaborative model", says Suzanne Cotter, senior curator at Modern Art Oxford.
"A grant from Arts Council England (ACE) enabled us to commission three artists to make three new works, each of which would be presented at our respective institutions," Cotter says. "One of the ambitions of the programme is to place each of the commissioned works in public collections in the UK, thus creating a more lasting legacy for the public."
Meanwhile, discussions are underway over plans for new works commissioned by the organisers of last year's Liverpool Biennial to enter national collections based in the city.
Level playing field?
Opinion is divided within the visual arts sector about whether the approaches of collecting and non-collecting organisations are different. Lewis Biggs, director of the Liverpool Biennial, says that collaborations between visual arts organisations are still relatively rare: "It does tend to multiply the workload but also, art people often like to keep the recognition specific to their organisation or brand."
Hobson says that at the moment the culture of most collection-based museums and temporary programming spaces are not well aligned. "The training, knowledge, skills and experience of curators who manage collections are radically different from curators who conceive and develop temporary exhibitions.
They simply do not speak the same language." He says the CAS professional development programme aims to help curators develop an insight into building contemporary collections through partnerships with commercial galleries and temporary exhibition spaces.
London's Hayward Gallery straddles collecting and non-collecting cultures through its management of the Arts Council Collection (though this is designed to be a touring loan collection as opposed to a permanent collection on view) and its role as a temporary display space. Ralph Rugoff, the director of the Hayward Gallery, sees little conflict between the two types of establishments.
"Non-collecting organisations need to deal with issues related to the storage, care, conservation and handling of art with the same diligence and commitment as institutions that collect," Rugoff says. "I also don't think there's a great difference in the degree of curatorial freedom at these two types of institutions."
Rugoff sits on the committee of the Art Fund International scheme, which gave £1m each to five regional partnerships in late 2007 to spend over five years. The project is seen as a contemporary collecting lifeline following the end of the CAS Special Collection Scheme in 2005 and the decision by the Heritage Lottery Fund not to support the acquisition of items less than 10 years old.
The Art Fund venture unites collection-based bodies and contemporary art organisations such as the Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow (see right) with the Common Guild, a visual arts organisation set up in the city in 2006.
A challenge facing such schemes is that works by some artists tend to drift on to the open market rather than end up in permanent collections.
"There is a frustration that a number of high-profile works commissioned as part of the artistic programme at Milton Keynes Gallery over the last few years have not found their way to collecting institutions in this country," says Michael Stanley, former director of the Milton Keynes Gallery, who becomes the head of Modern Art Oxford this month. "However, it's too simplistic to imply this is down to lack of ambition on behalf of the museum sector or purely financial."
Commercial galleries
The influence of the artists' commercial galleries needs to be taken on board as well as the artists' aspirations and the international context within which they work, according to Stanley. "Would you, as a young artist, want your work to be acquired by a museum such as the MACBA in Barcelona or Moderna Museet in Stockholm - or one of the country's regional museums?"
But museums may need to facilitate this process by changing their "old-fashioned" attitude to the market, says Tot Taylor, director of London's Riflemaker gallery, who emphasises that museums "need to stop viewing collaborations with the commercial sector as a conflict of interest.
The problem is that museums are not promoting artists in the long term; they are promoting themselves in the long term. Therefore, many see working with a commercial gallery as a 'conflict'."
The ephemeral nature of projects initiated by non-collecting organisations means that they are less open to such market-driven "shop window" charges and tend to liaise more effectively with dealers.
The recently opened Quad arts centre in Derby works with commercial galleries and has requested loans from dealers worldwide, including work by Irish artist Willie Doherty from Galerie Peter Kilchmann in Zurich.
Dealers Larry Gagosian and Sadie Coles are listed on the Serpentine Gallery website as supporters of the London institution's exhibition programme. (Both venues also receive arts council funding.)
Last year, ACE set up a working group to develop a national strategy for collecting contemporary art. It is anticipated that the strategy will be completed by summer 2009.
Many of the discussions have centred on developing schemes to ensure a public legacy for commissioned works of art. One of the possibilities is a dedicated fund to foster joint commissions destined for public collections.
ACE also published guidelines in September last year on the reinvestment of public funds by subsidised visual arts organisations, with tips on recouping production costs and profit-share advice. For example, it suggests: "We recommend as good practice that the arts organisation receives payment from gallery/artist only upon the sale of the artwork and only upon receipt by the artist/gallery of at least 50 per cent of the sale proceeds."
Recoup to reinvest
A reinvestment model cited by ACE is New Art Gallery Walsall's commission of three new works by Conrad Shawcross. The gallery provided him with an artist's fee and production monies which were split equally between the three newly commissioned works.
One third of the production budget plus 15 per cent of the gross price would be returned to the gallery upon the sale of any of the pieces. One work sold and the New Art Gallery recouped a "substantial amount of money" plus a small surplus. The sales return went back into the gallery's contemporary acquisitions pot.
But there are pitfalls in such processes. The arts council guidelines on the reinvestment of public funds by subsidised visual arts organisations highlight that the National Audit Office criticised the Baltic's failure to recoup its production costs for the commission of Chris Burden's 30-foot Tyne Bridge sculpture when it was acquired by luxury goods company Louis Vuitton in 2004 for a reported sum of £400,000.
Even if museums become more market-savvy, the acquisition procedures at most collecting institutions, which operate according to trustees' decisions, can be drawn out. Museums Journal understands that a new work by Manchester-based artist Nick Crowe (commissioned by the city's Cornerhouse Gallery) could not be considered by a museum in the region because of their lengthy purchasing processes.
Another test in this credit-crunch climate is whether collection-based bodies can sustain the momentum started by projects such as Art Fund International.
Brett Littman is the executive director of the Drawing Center in New York, which has teamed up with Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (Mima) to help bolster the latter's collection of US contemporary drawings as part of the Art Fund International scheme. "The issue is whether Mima can leverage the Art Fund enterprise to find new funders," Littman says.
Gareth Harris is a freelance arts journalist
Barby Asante, Mandy McIntosh and Mark Wilsher will work with community groups to develop a series of films and events based on the three locations.
Picture This, an organisation that produces films with contemporary artists, is spearheading the initiative and is working with the Bristol Black Archives Partnership. It is also collaborating with Bristol's Museums, Galleries and Archives, which is interested in acquiring the works as part of the creation of the £25m Museum of Bristol, planned to open in 2011.
"The key is to try and keep these works in Bristol as they are so relevant to the city," says Josephine Lanyon, director of Picture This.
"Many of our previous works have been acquired by national or international collections subsequent to their completion, but by securing a joint agreement between Picture This and Bristol's Museums, Galleries and Archives, any funds secured up front could be invested in the production of the work."
The venture is typical of several newly-formed collaborations between collecting and non-collecting bodies, according to Paul Hobson, director of the Contemporary Art Society (CAS). He says that they reflect the "growing recognition of the benefits of working together for museums and commissioning bodies along with temporary exhibition programming organisations".
An exhibition of work by Romanian artist Mircea Cantor opens next month at Camden Arts Centre. It includes a four-element sculptural work co-commissioned by the north London gallery, Modern Art Oxford and the Arnolfini in Bristol. The joint project, entitled 3:3 artists/3 spaces/3 years, is a "new collaborative model", says Suzanne Cotter, senior curator at Modern Art Oxford.
"A grant from Arts Council England (ACE) enabled us to commission three artists to make three new works, each of which would be presented at our respective institutions," Cotter says. "One of the ambitions of the programme is to place each of the commissioned works in public collections in the UK, thus creating a more lasting legacy for the public."
Meanwhile, discussions are underway over plans for new works commissioned by the organisers of last year's Liverpool Biennial to enter national collections based in the city.
Level playing field?
Opinion is divided within the visual arts sector about whether the approaches of collecting and non-collecting organisations are different. Lewis Biggs, director of the Liverpool Biennial, says that collaborations between visual arts organisations are still relatively rare: "It does tend to multiply the workload but also, art people often like to keep the recognition specific to their organisation or brand."
Hobson says that at the moment the culture of most collection-based museums and temporary programming spaces are not well aligned. "The training, knowledge, skills and experience of curators who manage collections are radically different from curators who conceive and develop temporary exhibitions.
They simply do not speak the same language." He says the CAS professional development programme aims to help curators develop an insight into building contemporary collections through partnerships with commercial galleries and temporary exhibition spaces.
London's Hayward Gallery straddles collecting and non-collecting cultures through its management of the Arts Council Collection (though this is designed to be a touring loan collection as opposed to a permanent collection on view) and its role as a temporary display space. Ralph Rugoff, the director of the Hayward Gallery, sees little conflict between the two types of establishments.
"Non-collecting organisations need to deal with issues related to the storage, care, conservation and handling of art with the same diligence and commitment as institutions that collect," Rugoff says. "I also don't think there's a great difference in the degree of curatorial freedom at these two types of institutions."
Rugoff sits on the committee of the Art Fund International scheme, which gave £1m each to five regional partnerships in late 2007 to spend over five years. The project is seen as a contemporary collecting lifeline following the end of the CAS Special Collection Scheme in 2005 and the decision by the Heritage Lottery Fund not to support the acquisition of items less than 10 years old.
The Art Fund venture unites collection-based bodies and contemporary art organisations such as the Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow (see right) with the Common Guild, a visual arts organisation set up in the city in 2006.
A challenge facing such schemes is that works by some artists tend to drift on to the open market rather than end up in permanent collections.
"There is a frustration that a number of high-profile works commissioned as part of the artistic programme at Milton Keynes Gallery over the last few years have not found their way to collecting institutions in this country," says Michael Stanley, former director of the Milton Keynes Gallery, who becomes the head of Modern Art Oxford this month. "However, it's too simplistic to imply this is down to lack of ambition on behalf of the museum sector or purely financial."
Commercial galleries
The influence of the artists' commercial galleries needs to be taken on board as well as the artists' aspirations and the international context within which they work, according to Stanley. "Would you, as a young artist, want your work to be acquired by a museum such as the MACBA in Barcelona or Moderna Museet in Stockholm - or one of the country's regional museums?"
But museums may need to facilitate this process by changing their "old-fashioned" attitude to the market, says Tot Taylor, director of London's Riflemaker gallery, who emphasises that museums "need to stop viewing collaborations with the commercial sector as a conflict of interest.
The problem is that museums are not promoting artists in the long term; they are promoting themselves in the long term. Therefore, many see working with a commercial gallery as a 'conflict'."
The ephemeral nature of projects initiated by non-collecting organisations means that they are less open to such market-driven "shop window" charges and tend to liaise more effectively with dealers.
The recently opened Quad arts centre in Derby works with commercial galleries and has requested loans from dealers worldwide, including work by Irish artist Willie Doherty from Galerie Peter Kilchmann in Zurich.
Dealers Larry Gagosian and Sadie Coles are listed on the Serpentine Gallery website as supporters of the London institution's exhibition programme. (Both venues also receive arts council funding.)
Last year, ACE set up a working group to develop a national strategy for collecting contemporary art. It is anticipated that the strategy will be completed by summer 2009.
Many of the discussions have centred on developing schemes to ensure a public legacy for commissioned works of art. One of the possibilities is a dedicated fund to foster joint commissions destined for public collections.
ACE also published guidelines in September last year on the reinvestment of public funds by subsidised visual arts organisations, with tips on recouping production costs and profit-share advice. For example, it suggests: "We recommend as good practice that the arts organisation receives payment from gallery/artist only upon the sale of the artwork and only upon receipt by the artist/gallery of at least 50 per cent of the sale proceeds."
Recoup to reinvest
A reinvestment model cited by ACE is New Art Gallery Walsall's commission of three new works by Conrad Shawcross. The gallery provided him with an artist's fee and production monies which were split equally between the three newly commissioned works.
One third of the production budget plus 15 per cent of the gross price would be returned to the gallery upon the sale of any of the pieces. One work sold and the New Art Gallery recouped a "substantial amount of money" plus a small surplus. The sales return went back into the gallery's contemporary acquisitions pot.
But there are pitfalls in such processes. The arts council guidelines on the reinvestment of public funds by subsidised visual arts organisations highlight that the National Audit Office criticised the Baltic's failure to recoup its production costs for the commission of Chris Burden's 30-foot Tyne Bridge sculpture when it was acquired by luxury goods company Louis Vuitton in 2004 for a reported sum of £400,000.
Even if museums become more market-savvy, the acquisition procedures at most collecting institutions, which operate according to trustees' decisions, can be drawn out. Museums Journal understands that a new work by Manchester-based artist Nick Crowe (commissioned by the city's Cornerhouse Gallery) could not be considered by a museum in the region because of their lengthy purchasing processes.
Another test in this credit-crunch climate is whether collection-based bodies can sustain the momentum started by projects such as Art Fund International.
Brett Littman is the executive director of the Drawing Center in New York, which has teamed up with Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (Mima) to help bolster the latter's collection of US contemporary drawings as part of the Art Fund International scheme. "The issue is whether Mima can leverage the Art Fund enterprise to find new funders," Littman says.
Gareth Harris is a freelance arts journalist
Partners in art
At the end of last year, Glasgow's Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) became the first organisation to announce acquisitions under the £5m Art Fund International scheme.
GoMA has bought 12 works by four artists: Matthew Buckingham, Emily Jacir, Peter Hujar and Lothar Baumgarten.
An exhibition, Collected: Matthew Buckingham/Peter Hujar, opened in December to showcase the work of two of the artists.
Hujar, best known for his images of New York transsexual and Warhol superstar Candy Darling on her deathbed in 1974, influenced Robert Mapplethorpe, Diane Arbus and Nan Goldin. Seven of his photographic prints have been bought for £55,263.
The other work is a video narrative, Everything I Need, by Buckingham, an artist who explores human rights and social justice issues, particularly in relation to sexuality. The work cost £32,254.
Jacir was born in Saudi Arabia, and her work highlights the restricted day-to-day lives of the Palestinian people. Crossing Surda (A Record of going to and from work), From Texas with Love, and Ramallah/New York, cost £35,576.
The last piece GoMA acquired is by German artist Lothar Baumgarten. Unsettled Objects is from the late 1960s and looks at how non-western art and artefacts are displayed in the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford. It cost £71,480.
The five Art Fund International partnerships are:
Bristol's Museums, Galleries and Archives in partnership with the Arnolfini
Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow in partnership with The Common Guild
Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art in partnership with the Drawing Centre, New York
Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne in partnership with Photoworks, Brighton Photo Biennial and Artsway
West Midlands partnership: Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and New Art Gallery Walsall in partnership with Ikon
At the end of last year, Glasgow's Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) became the first organisation to announce acquisitions under the £5m Art Fund International scheme.
GoMA has bought 12 works by four artists: Matthew Buckingham, Emily Jacir, Peter Hujar and Lothar Baumgarten.
An exhibition, Collected: Matthew Buckingham/Peter Hujar, opened in December to showcase the work of two of the artists.
Hujar, best known for his images of New York transsexual and Warhol superstar Candy Darling on her deathbed in 1974, influenced Robert Mapplethorpe, Diane Arbus and Nan Goldin. Seven of his photographic prints have been bought for £55,263.
The other work is a video narrative, Everything I Need, by Buckingham, an artist who explores human rights and social justice issues, particularly in relation to sexuality. The work cost £32,254.
Jacir was born in Saudi Arabia, and her work highlights the restricted day-to-day lives of the Palestinian people. Crossing Surda (A Record of going to and from work), From Texas with Love, and Ramallah/New York, cost £35,576.
The last piece GoMA acquired is by German artist Lothar Baumgarten. Unsettled Objects is from the late 1960s and looks at how non-western art and artefacts are displayed in the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford. It cost £71,480.
The five Art Fund International partnerships are:
Bristol's Museums, Galleries and Archives in partnership with the Arnolfini
Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow in partnership with The Common Guild
Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art in partnership with the Drawing Centre, New York
Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne in partnership with Photoworks, Brighton Photo Biennial and Artsway
West Midlands partnership: Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and New Art Gallery Walsall in partnership with Ikon