On Saturday 1st of October 2016, I attended my first study day with the OCA. This was a full day out to see the show by Glasgow artist Jacqueline Donachie. The visit was led by OCA tutor Emma Drye. The other students who attended were undergraduates and perhaps even foundation level. I enjoyed the day very much and also enjoyed answering all of the question they asked me throughout the day!
The itinerary was as follows:
11am -1pm: Katie Bruce, producer curator at Glasgow Museum of Modern Art will meet us to talk about curating and producing the show. View the work.
1pm – 2pm: Lunch
2pm – 3.30pm: We will attend a panel discussion where Mark Hamilton, a clinical research fellow at Glasgow university’s institute of molecular and systems biology institute will be responding to the work alongside the artist, Jacqueline Donachie.
Katie Bruce (above, 2nd from right in picture), who curated the show did a smashing job of discussing the show and answering all the questions the ladies asked her. It was very enlightening to find out about the budget that was involved for the show, how it was out together from various sources, how the budget for the show was split up for example what was spent on fabrication, materials, artist fee, etc and the total budget that the service has annually. These are all usually well kept secrets! It was good to discuss points about who owned the work in the show, who might buy it and how it might be conserved. Katie also talked about when the dialogue began with the artist regarding the inception of the show and how this progressed over the years. She also talked about the layout of the objects and the video installations and how the ideas changed through 2 way discussions. All in all, it was very refreshing to hear a curator being so honest and open!
In the afternoon, there was a presentation by Dr Mark Hamilton, who is studying the disease for 3 years and has just completed year one. The presentation was very in depth, with lots of fascinating information about genetics. From an artists point of view, what I took from this was the volume of information that has to be processed when carrying out research. It can be overwhelming and it takes real skill and understanding as to how to use the research, what parts of it to use and more importantly how to translate it into a visual language and aesthetic.
Rather than trying to describe the show, the curator Katie Bruce has written an excellent article about it, which you can read on the GoMA website
As photography was permitted, you can also view a gallery of my personal images on my flicker site