Artist Michael Landy in conversation with Richard Calvocoressi 30 November 2013

Henry Moore Lecture Theatre, Leeds Art Gallery
5-6pm
Free

Join artist Michael Landy and Richard Calvocoressi (Director of The Henry Moore Foundation) discussing their mutual and longstanding fascination with the work of Jean Tinguely (1925–91). The talk will begin with a screening of Michael’s documentary film H2NY (Homage to New York). This event follows the Henry Moore Institute conference Pyrotechnic Sculpture and coincides with its exhibitions Dennis Oppenheim: Thought Collision Factories, Jean Tinguely: Spiral and Stephen Cripps: Pyrotechnic Sculptor.

Michael Landy is an artist who lives and works in London. He graduated from Goldsmiths College of Art in 1988, exhibiting at Freeze in the same year alongside the cohort that would come to be known as the Young British Artists. Landy’s work came to wider public attention in 2001 with Break Down, an installation in a former branch of C&A at Marble Arch, in which he catalogued and destroyed all of his possessions. He returned to this theme in 2010 with Art Bin at the South London Gallery, where the public were invited to dispose of their ‘failed’ artworks. Most recently, the exhibition Saints Alive displayed his engagement with the representation of saints in the permanent collection of the National Gallery through drawing, collage and a series of monumental kinetic sculptures.

Richard Calvocoressi has been Director of The Henry Moore Foundation since 2007. He was formerly Director of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh (1987-2007), where he acquired important international collections of dada and surrealist art from the estates of Roland Penrose and Gabrielle Keiller and was instrumental in attracting the Anthony d’Offay gift to Edinburgh and London. He recently co-curated the exhibition Bacon Moore: Flesh and Bone at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. He has also organised exhibitions of, or published on, Georg Baselitz, Reg Butler, Lucian Freud, Anselm Kiefer, Oskar Kokoschka, Paul Klee, René Magritte, Lee Miller and Jean Tinguely. He is an expert member of the Comité Magritte, a member of the Francis Bacon Catalogue Raisonné Committee, a trustee of The Art Fund and a member of the U.K. government’s Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art. In 2008 he was awarded a CBE for services to the Arts, particularly in Scotland.

Book online at: http://www.henry-moore.org/hmi/events/pyrotechnic-sculpture/book-a-place-at-this-talk-online

'Edmund de Waal: Make Pots or Die' BBC imagine series.

Hello everyone! Whilst I was at home over reading week I sat down with my mum and sister to watch this documentary on Edmund de Waal. Both my mum and sister had read his recently renowned book 'Hare With The Amber Eyes', which I hope to finish once university reading comes to a close! Whether you have read the book or not, it is a great documentary about such an interesting man. I really enjoyed learning how his academic research informed his artistic practice. It was a very inspiring watch, which I thought might be ideal as a cold weekend viewing! So, here it is...

Watch here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b03hcmmp/

BBC introduction:
"Edmund de Waal is the bestselling author of the Hare With The Amber Eyes, a family memoir that captured the hearts of millions. But he isn't just a writer; from the age of five he has been making thousands and thousands of pots. After 45 years, he is exhibiting his work for the first time in America and researching his next book, a globe-spanning journey through porcelain. imagine... follows Edmund over a remarkable year"

How to help first year students?

So I am a first year student and enjoying my history of art degree thoroughly, however I want to see some art. Northern England is rich with museums, galleries, exhibitions-the like. But, being new to this area I have no idea where to go, what is good, or even what's on. Now lecturers say just 'get out there', buts it's hard to explore an area that you are completely unfamiliar about, as well as in a position where you're just getting to grips on how to do laundry. As an avid reader of this blog, I think it would be fantastic to get older students who have done this a bit more to do a '20 places to go before you leave uni' for this blog. Even provide a brief review? I know I've got some first years reading this blog and would definitely find it useful if this thing could crop up every now and then?

Any comments or ideas?

Exhibition project: interpreting collections

When I moved here from Canberra, Australia this past September, I was a bit nervous about how intensive and challenging the MA program in Art Gallery and Museum Studies would be at the University of Leeds. So far, I have been proven right about the rigorous program, but this intensity has been softened by its fun and interesting intellectual engagement. The challenges the program presents me with simply make the completion of each step more rewarding.

The first day of the program included an introduction to our exhibition project for the Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery. Imagine my concern when I learned the details:

• 12 brand new masters students 
• 5 weeks 
• 2 display cabinets 
• 141 pieces of Yorkshire pottery 
• ￡50 

The organisation of our exhibition was formed around deadlines for our ‘client’ (the gallery), formal learning sessions and informal group planning meetings.

The formal learning sessions with University Research Fellow extraordinaire Helen Graham got us thinking about how to bridge the gap between the objects and our audience. This informed the interpretation strategies we used in our exhibition.

The main interpretation tool which we found invaluable in our process was the development of a ‘Big Idea’. We used several of the strategies suggested in Beverley Serrell’s Behind It All: A Big Idea in Exhibit Labels: An Interpretative Approach. The ‘Big Idea’ can be summed up as a clear and concise idea that we are delivering to the audience, an idea that the visitor can easily recognise in the exhibition and something that they can take away with them. Basically, an exhibition isn’t successful if you can’t recognise the message that the curator is trying to deliver! The ongoing dialogue of a successful exhibition has the following elements:

• Big Idea or Theme (objects) 
• Interpretation strategies 
• Audience 

Taking all of this into account, we began thinking about the collection of objects we had to work with and conducted preliminary research on Yorkshire pottery. We made our first selection of 25 objects for our handling session with Curator Layla Bloom and the gallery staff.

Collection handling session

Brainstorming for our ‘Big Idea’ began, and we discovered a common thread of interest amongst our group members was the function and use of the quirky ceramics. We have all seen plates, teacups, teapots and bowls, but what about the jelly moulds, pickle dishes, spice castors and knife rests? Today, we can scarcely even recognise these objects, let alone consider putting them on our tables.

We divided our group into different teams responsible for research, writing, marketing and display with myself as the group organiser. The research group began the contextual research, in which they made informative excursions to the Doncaster Museum, Leeds City Museum, Leeds Central Library Special Collections and the Leeds University Library Special Collections.

The contextual research that our team conducted allowed us to compose our title and confirm our ‘Big Idea’, tag line and audience.

Title 
From Pantry to Table: The Preparation and Presentation of Food in 18th and 19th Century Yorkshire

Big Idea
Ceramics were essential for fine dining in Yorkshire during the 18th and 19th centuries.

Tag Line
The exhibition showcases ceramics essential for the ideal fine dining experience in Yorkshire during the 18th and 19th centuries. The collection highlights objects significant in the creation and storage of food, as well as those used for display and table decoration.

Audience
We determined our target audience for the exhibition based on consideration of the existing audience research conducted by the gallery. We decided the display did not have enough scope to attract a new audience, so we targeted the over-55 age group and those with an interest in cooking, dining and tableware. We hoped to evoke nostalgia by presenting familiar objects and to encourage engagement with the unfamiliar. 

 
Once we had established the foundations of our exhibition, we began to structure our interpretation hierarchy. We had a great session with Michael Terwey, Head of Collections and Exhibitions at the National Media Museum, during which we learned how to develop and implement an interpretation plan. 

Our final interpretation plan, with the Big Idea featured along the top of the board

Interpretation Strategies
Each of our groups implemented the use of interpretation strategies to reach our audience. Our main strategies were:

• conducting research about the Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery's principle audience 
• composing clear, concise text to accompany our display, including an introductory panel, laminated page, and individual labels 
• creating icons to establish visual links between our texts and displays 
• developing consistent 'branding' used on all printed materials (both on marketing materials (leaflets, advertisements, and emails) and in the exhibition itself
• distributing promotional leaflets to locations frequented by our prospective audience 
• contacting and liaising with local cultural organizations 
• raising curiosity through the 'mystery object' postings on our Facebook page 

Preparation icon

Presentation icon

This opportunity to practically apply the theory we have been learning in our modules has been an extremely valuable experience. Our exhibition, ‘From Pantry to Table’, opened on the 29 October with a private viewing and will be open at the Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery, Parkinson Building, University of Leeds until 7 December, so please do take a look. 

We are now moving on to the visitor feedback stage of the project so any feedback you have would be greatly appreciated and prove very valuable to our learning experience. Also, Like us on Facebook!

From Pantry to Table marketing leaflet

Our exhibition shares the Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery's education space with 'Through the Keyhole: The Camden Town Group Re-interpreted’, a display of works on paper presented by our fellow classmates. Their exhibition offers a thought-provoking look at how this group of Edwardian male artists portrayed working class women in the domestic space. 

Ji Hyung, Rosie and Danielle on exhibition installation day

Beverley Serrell (1996) Exhibit Labels: An Interpretative Approach. AltaMira Press, California.

More on MA Museum Studies field trip to London

Thanks again to Dr Km Sloan, curator of prints and drawings, and curator of the Enlightenment Galleries at the British Museum for talking to the MA students about the development of the Enlightenment Galleries at the BM.

Here's the group, with Kim explaining the interpretation in the Enlightenment Galleries - we all very much appreciated having such an expert on hand at the BM!
Mark

Art Market London Trip

It was a busy week this week - Thursday and Friday, with the Museum Studies MA students in London, at various museums (see Libby's blog entry below!)....we did a LOT of museums (as usual!)...and Monday with the BA students on the Art Market module for a walking tour of the 'cultural geography' of the London art markets of the 18th and 19th centuries....

BA students at Christie's Auction Rooms in London

We did a big perambulation around St James's...and along Pall Mall...and up Bond Street...popped into Christie's, Sotheby's and various galleries, including PACE, Fine Art Society..etc....

More BA students at Christie's Auction Rooms, London

Well done to the students for undertaking all that walking....!
Mark

MA London Trip

This is just a quick post, on behalf of everyone who came, to say thank you to Mark, Abigail and Helen for all the museums you took us to, the fascinating talks you gave/arranged for us and the conversations they inspired. We've had a great time (despite the sore feet!) We'll be blogging more about our thoughts on the trip soon.

Henry Moore Institute Pyrotechnic Sculpture Conference 30 November 2013

This one-day conference coincides with the Henry Moore Institute exhibitions Dennis Oppenheim: Thought Collision Factories, Jean Tinguely: Spiral and Stephen Cripps: Pyrotechnic Sculptor. All three sculptors extended the boundaries of sculpture not only by employing purpose-built mechanised objects and kinetic contraptions, but also through pyrotechnics. Each turned to fireworks, explosives, flares, fires and other kinds of combustibles and detonations to make temporary sculptural works, the sparks of which shone brightly across the landscape of contemporary sculpture in Europe and North America during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

Fire, flare and smoke were all harnessed for visual, sonic, material and spatial effects, in fascinating, ambitious and imaginative ways, with associations and meanings that extend well beyond their more literal ‘dematerialising’ qualities. This conference will consider examples of pyrotechnic sculpture found across the modern and contemporary period, through original research on the deployment of kinetic sculptural form and use of activated assemblage, accounts of temporality and ephemerality, the conjunction of object and event, modes of staging, display and re-display, and the on going life of this work today.

10.30am
Reception – Registration

10.45am-1pm
Seminar Room

Welcome

Katinka Seeger (Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel)
‘Explosion as an Artistic Tool’

Marin Sullivan (University of Leeds)
‘Purging by Fire: Alberto Burri, Arte Povera, and Postwar Italian Art’

Claire Louise Staunton (Flat Time House)
‘The Act of Burning, Exploding and Destruction in John Latham’s Sculptural Work’

1pm-2pm
Boardroom – Lunch

2pm-4.15pm
Seminar Room

Mari Dumett (The Fashion Institute of Technology, NYC)
‘The Volatile Matter of Jean Tinguley’s ‘Homage to New York”

Rozemin Keshvani (Independent Writer/Curator)
‘Five Artists – The use of Explosives and Gun Powder to produce Transient Installation and Sculptural Works’

Ursula Ströbele (College of Fine Arts, Berlin)
‘Sculpture as Performance? Pyrotechnics in the work of Anish Kapoor, Roman Signer, Cyprien Gaillard, Andreas Greiner and Armin Keplinger’

4.15pm-5pm
Boardroom – Tea/coffee

5pm-6pm
Seminar Room

Artist Michael Landy in conversation with Richard Calvocoressi

Tickets £10/£5 concessions.
Bookings can also be made via our website: http://www.henry-moore.org/hmi/events/pyrotechnic-sculpture/book-a-place-at-this-conference