AHM organise 'The Arts in a New Scotland' at the Ceilidh Place, Ullapool

AHM are organising one of the discussion weekends that have taken place twice a year over several years at the Ceilidh Place in Ullapool. The event is entitled The Arts in a New Scotland and it will cover as much of the arts as possible including Literature, Film and Television, Visual Art, Gaellic Arts, Theatre, the national arts institutions. It will take place from 2 to 4 November 2012. MORE DETAILS LATER.

AHM Manifesto

AHM Symposium 2 - Introduction

Sandy Moffat, Chair, introduces AHM's 2nd State of Play - Art and Culture in Scotland Today Symposium at The Hawthorden Lecture Theatre, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh

AHM Manifesto

Documentation of the AHM manifesto presentation at State of Play - Art and Culture in Scotland Today symposium at the National Galleries, Edinburgh in April 2011

Afternoon discussion

Discussions following the afternoon presentations at the AHM Symposium 2, National Galleries, Edinburgh

Liz Ann MacGregor Video Presentation

Liz Ann MacGregor making a video presentation at the AHM Symposium

Morning discussion

Discussions following morning presentations

Less than a week to STATE OF PLAY – CONTEMPORARY ART AND CULTURE IN SCOTLAND TODAY

STATE OF PLAY – CONTEMPORARY ART AND CULTURE IN SCOTLAND TODAY.

Reflections on Contemporary Art and Culture in Scotland today by eminent artists, critics and curators who live and work abroad. Themes range from explorations of dual identity, to living locally and engaging globally.

Speakers include Douglas Gordon, Berlin, Peter Hill, Melbourne, Margaret Hunter, Berlin, Thomas Lawson, Los Angeles, Jim Mooney, London and video presentations by Neal Ascherson, London and Liz Ann MacGregor, Sydney.

There will be a performance of spoken, one-minute manifestos by a wide range of artists between 10-00 and 10-30. We regret that latecomers cannot be admitted during this time.

At the Hawthornden Lecture Theatre, National Galleries of Scotland.
On Saturday 2 April 2011 from 9-45 to 4-30
Registration from 9-15 to 9-45.

Tickets: £10. £5 concessions.
Tickets can be purchased in person at the Weston Link info desk at the NGS or by telephone on 0131 624 6560 between 9-30 and 4-30 Monday to Friday with credit or debit card. It is recommended that tickets are purchased in advance as our previous Symposium sold out and therefore may not be available on the day.

For more information please email us

Manifesto Performances at the AHM Symposium State of Play 1

450

Glasgow Life or Death by Rebecca Gordon Nesbitt

An analysis of the privatisation of Glasgow City Council’s cultural and leisure services was met with legal threats when it was published a couple of years ago. 

For the past six months, Rebecca Gordon Nesbitt has been updating this research using as many of the investigative tools at my disposal as possible. A full report is now online  http://www.shiftyparadigms.org/images/Glasgow_Life_or_Death.pdf
 
Please download it before it is threatened with removal.

Against a backdrop of growing inequality in the city, Culture and Sport Glasgow (CSG), or Glasgow Life as the company now prefers to call itself, has:

• failed to attract the outside funding on which its financial model was predicated, which means that vital services will have to be cut.
• run up a staggering pension deficit during its time of operation.
• trampled on the rights of its workers, which were supposed to be protected under the terms of its agreement with the council.
• prioritised the attraction of tourists to the city over the needs of the people of Glasgow.
• allowed its board members to profit from skewed procurement processes.
• bypassed mechanisms in place to ensure transparency.

In the current climate of cuts to the public sector,  it is necessary to make these findings known to the broadest possible readership, so that this devolved model of service provision is thoroughly rejected as a future option.

Please disseminate this report to anyone you think might be interested.

Neil Mulholland Presentation

Neil Mulholland delivered a talk which illuminated the paradoxes inherent in contemporary Scottish culture and politics, drawing on Michael Gardiner’s arguments in, From Trocchi to Trainspotting: Scottish Cultural Theory since 1960. Referring to the anxiety which has arisen in the wake of devolution Mulholland compared Scotland with Venice...fiercely independent... punching above its weight, but slowly sinking. He reminded us that there was a British culture and a Scottish culture, that there was currently no English parliament, and that the “big society” was only applicable to England. The Tate Gallery’s brand, for example, is an expression of British statecraft which barely registers in Scotland.  Acknowledging the influence of Hedley Bull’s, The Anarchical Society,  Mullholland noted that within the world order there are multiple loyalties and when applied to Scotland this reveals what he describes as ‘ disputed national imaginaries’.

Mulholland went on to discuss ideas of cultural ecology - how long will our share of the world’s wealth be maintained ? - citing Eric Raymond’s, The Cathedral and the Bazaar,  before returning to the local, where artists’ voices and activities can be and should be of real importance. The example of the New 57 Gallery’s constitution, which was in turn adopted by Transmission and the Collective Gallery amongst others, exemplifies a set of values developed locally, but capable of allowing national and international dialogues and exchanges and offers a ready-made course of action for artists.

AHM pose a question

At the AHM symposium in October, Philip Schlesinger questioned whether Creative Scotland will be successful - will it convince the public it works? As yet there there are no clear set of objectives - only a vacuum of silence - although it appears that a business plan will be finalised in December. Philip Schlesinger noted that The Symposium offered the first real focus for debate since the establishment of Creative Scotland in July, 2010.

The discussion session was mainly about how artists could achieve a “voice” with Schlesinger suggesting that effective lobbying should reach out beyond obvious self-interest and that a more sophisticated argument, involving others, needs to be thought through.

AHM would like to pose an initial question: What do you, artists, designers, creative beings, expect and want from Creative Scotland?

Please share your thoughts via the AHM Symposium group on Central Station:


http://community.thisiscentralstation.com/_AHM-pose-a-question/blog/3024058/126249.html

Photos from the Symposium

AHM Symposium Report

After a great deal of reflection, AHM have produced a report on their first State of Play symposia that took place on Saturday 9th October at Gilmorehill, Glasgow.

It reads:

AHM were determined that the artist’s voice be heard and the Symposium began with a sequence of 27 one-minute manifestos - with the artists entering the darkened auditorium one after the other, lit only by a single spot - a dramatic and thought-provoking event in itself. The views expressed were wide-ranging in content - Jac Mantle argued that the proliferation of social media and digital content is displacing the national mainstream media as the main source of arts criticism for the general public and that artists should make more use of these new digital platforms. Chris Freemantle presented a manifesto for Art and Ecology quoting John Latham “ the task of the artist is to look from a very great height and over a long time span “. And there was some plain speaking from Jimmie Durham “ we live now in a world that is on the edge of destruction: let us then not act stupid. Let us resist. We must make art that is useful and moral, in the same way that we demand that writers write books that are useful and moral. “

David Harding, chairing the Symposium, began by setting out the main aims of AHM - to raise the profile of artists in the public domain whereby they can make a more significant contribution to the future life of Scotland - and to directly influence institutions and politicians of the vital importance of the arts to our society.

Philip Schlesinger’s main theme, given that cultural policy is a devolved matter, centered upon a critical examination of the political (New Labour) origins of Creative Scotland. The core of the idea, developed by “think tanks” in London and surprisingly adopted by the SNP government when it assumed power in 1997, is a classic neo-liberal model, deeply influenced by the ideology of the creative economy and based on vacuous assumptions that the UK would become the world’s creative hub in the new digital age of the 21st century. Schlesinger argued that although Creative Scotland is officially presented as democratic, in reality decisions will be made by a small inclusive/exclusive? group.

He explained how Scotland is deeply effected by UK politics with expenditure determined in London and as a result devolution itself will be challenged in the coming age of austerity. This means how Creative Scotland performs will be of major significance. Will the new body be successful - will it convince the public it works? As yet there are no clear set of objectives - only a vacuum of silence - although it appears that a business plan will be finalised in December. Schlesinger noted that The Symposium offered the first real focus for debate since the establishment of Creative Scotland in July, 2010.

Schlesinger pondered how artists might make an effective intervention at the heart of cultural policy. He pointed out that to achieve credibility has high costs in terms of understanding the political processes involved...in gaining knowledge of how things work, what questions to ask, how to access ministers...all of this involves an engagement with legislation and needs dedication, resources and people who are prepared to do it.

The discussion session was mainly about how artists could achieve a “voice” with Schlesinger suggesting that effective lobbying should reach out beyond obvious self-interest and that a more sophisticated argument, involving others, needs to be thought through. Susan Galloway, who recently completed a study of the Scottish Arts Council and its policies from 1968 onwards, said there is evidence to show that artist’s groups (such as the Federation of Scottish Artists in the mid 1970's) intervened successfully in the democratisation of SAC decision making. She asked “ do we have to accept the inevitable ?” and suggested that forming new kinds of political alliances could be a way forward. Others thought that the Scottish Artists Union already provided a good model and there was no need to form a new organisation.

Christine Borland talked about her experiences as an artist - a journey which began at art school and proceeded via artist-run spaces, private galleries, art fairs, to being on the dole, then teaching - experiences she felt she shared with many artists. As a student in Glasgow and then in Belfast in the 1980’s there was a lot to “kick against” and the development of her position as an artist took place in opposition to both the policies of the Thatcher government and to the extravagances of Neo-Expressionist painting.

Her period as a Transmission Committee member was also of great significance...not least the way the committee had to deal with the bureaucratic demands of the Scottish Arts Council. She described the meetings with the SAC as “ a confrontation ...they had no understanding of what artists needed “. She explained that the ambitions of Transmission - including a fierce commitment to Glasgow and a determination to bring artists to the city proved successful …. and that by working together and supporting each other artists could indeed, really change things.

Speaking of her own work, she described her collaboration with the Anatomy department at Glasgow University in the realisation of the exhibition From Life at Tramway in 1994, before talking of her relationship with the Lisson Gallery in London and her nomination for the Turner Prize - “ perhaps a contradiction in terms of my earlier beliefs - of going out there, doing it in the streets”. She concluded by acknowledging that as one gets older, there are different challenges, new questions to be asked and that it becomes less easy to find a forum for her work.

The discussion session was mainly concerned with the possibilities of making art in one’s home town (Glasgow) picking up on Christine’s comments about Transmission and how it was important to stay where we were and make that into a place where others had to visit, etc.

Neil Mulholland delivered a talk which illuminated the paradoxes inherent in contemporary Scottish culture and politics, drawing on Michael Gardiner’s arguments in, From Trocchi to Trainspotting: Scottish Cultural Theory since

1960. Referring to the anxiety which has arisen in the wake of devolution Mulholland compared Scotland with Venice...fiercely independent...punching above its weight, but slowly sinking. He reminded us that there was a British culture and a Scottish culture, that there was currently no English parliament, and that the “big society” was only applicable to England. The Tate Gallery’s brand, for example, is an expression of British statecraft which barely registers in Scotland. Acknowledging the influence of Hedley Bull’s, The Anarchical Society, Mullholland noted that within the world order there are multiple loyalties and when applied to Scotland this reveals what he describes as ‘ disputed national imaginaries’.

Mulholland went on to discuss ideas of cultural ecology - how long will our share of the world’s wealth be maintained ? - citing Eric Raymond’s, The Cathedral and the Bazaar, before returning to the local, where artists’ voices and activities can be and should be of real importance. The example of the New 57 Gallery’s constitution, which was in turn adopted by Transmission and the Collective Gallery amongst others, exemplifies a set of values developed locally, but capable of allowing national and international dialogues and exchanges and offers a ready-made course of action for artists.

Sam Ainsley drew together a number of writers and commentators on visual art and culture whose positions she supported and felt had been, in many cases, overlooked. These ranged from Gramsci to Tom Lawson, Ross Sinclair, Russell Ferguson and Sarah Lowndes, whose book “Social Sculpture” (charting the developments in the visual arts in Glasgow over the last thirty years) has recently been re-published by Luath Press.

Her position on “art degrees becoming the preserve of the wealthy” has been stated many times - working class (or to use the current lingo “ students from disadvantaged backgrounds”) would find it extremely hard to enter any Art School now. There are so few bursaries to support these potential students - this is a major problem that Scotland must resolve.

The Scottish Government and Creative Scotland need to listen to artists rather than bureaucrats; it was deeply worrying to hear their representatives talk of the “health benefits of the arts”, that “ we need to set targets, social and economic, not just cultural”, and promote “ Scottish culture as part of an import/export model, as a ‘ calling card’ to other countries “.

Who has put Scotland on the map internationally over the past twenty years ? Scotland’s artists, writers, dancers, theatre people, that’s who: most of our politicians are unaware of this and have little sense of the impact that the visual arts especially, have made abroad. We can provide the evidence...and would dearly love to enter into dialogue with any interested politicians.

Sandy Moffat pointed out that within the mainstream of cultural/political discourse, art and artists are rarely mentioned. Who is speaking for the visual arts and what are they talking about ? Unlike our writers who seem

able to directly address the Scottish people, the interface of contemporary art with the public realm has been taken over by celebrity artists whose apologists (including institutions such as the National Galleries and Art Schools) speak in jargon and are part of an elite art world that seems to answer only to itself - an art world that is perfectly happy to stand apart from society. This has led to confusion about what art and artists actually stand for.

Commenting on the lack of meaningful criticism, Moffat cited the example of George Davie, who in his great book, The Democratic Intellect, showed why critical thought, linked to the history of ideas is essential to the development of art and culture. Davie also knew that culture is not some separate thing ‘out there’ disjointed from the experience of ordinary people.

All of this poses a big challenge to artists. Do we want to take part in the political and cultural discourse; do we want to democratise intellectual ideas; or do we want to remain in an art world that speaks largely to itself ?

The final discussion session was somewhat confusing (as is often the case) with various interventions from audience members more concerned with their private obsessions than with the content/ideas which the Symposium’s main speakers had sought to illuminate.

Philip Schlesinger Presentation at AHM State of Play Symposium

The presentation made by Philip Schlesinger at the AHM State of Play: Art and Culture in Scotland Today symposium at Gilmorehill, Glasgow in October 2010.
Philip discusses the broad context of policy-making – the role of the state and agencies.
His presentation covers topics such as lobbying, the new coalition government, cuts to funding, Scotland's independence and philanthropy.  Philip provides an introduction to, and brief history of the launch of Creative Scotland and some of the problems with, and issues facing  the organisation.

Join the AHM Symposia group on Central Station

AHM Symposia group is on Central Station - please join!

One month ago, the first of three symposia organised by AHM (Ainsley Harding Moffat) took place at the Gilmorehill Centre, University of Glasgow.  The aim of the event was to examine where Scotland’s art and culture stands today and to re-engage the radical imagination.

The symposium sold out three days before the event and 186 people turned up to spend a Saturday sharing their views on the State of Play in the arts today.

This group has been established to continue the discussions that began with the initial symposium.

AHM realise that there were many people that would have liked to have attended, but who were unable to. Through this group it will be possible for such people to access symposium material. Over time, there will be plenty of footage (video, photos, text and audio) from the symposium to help stimulate more debate and response.
There will also be information about the forthcoming symposia.

Please get in touch and lets continue the discussion!

http://community.thisiscentralstation.com/_AHM-Symposium/blog/2967289/126249.html

Centre for Cultural Policy website

"Philip Schlesinger gave the opening keynote at the conference ‘State of Play: Art and Culture in Scotland Today’, held at the University of Glasgow’s Gilmorehill Centre. With 190 attendees from across Scotland’s arts world, the conference, organized by the ahm consultancy, testified to the great appetite for debate on the future of funding. Philip’s lecture set out the UK and Scottish policy context for culture and reflected on the issues confronting Creative Scotland. From the floor, Susan Galloway gave an invited comment based on her research into the Scottish Arts Council."

To read more about Philip's other research, please visit the Centre for Cultural Policy website:

http://www.gla.ac.uk/centres/ccpr/newsandevents/

"MASHING UP" : Art+Labour a public conversation

"MASHING UP" : Art+Labour a public conversation

CCA 5
Tue 9th Nov 2010
12.30-6pm


Art+Labour is a public conversation exploring the conditions and experiences of creative labour in the cultural industries - working conditions, pay, working hours; freedom and autonomy, pleasure and obligation; insecurity and uncertainty; social reproduction, networking and isolation - and artists' organising within it - unions, artists' associations, or self-organised studio/exhibition spaces.

What diverse forms of employment do artists undertake? Who are their employees? How secure and how flexible are these forms of employment? What are the conditions of employment and how are these changing? What can we say of artists' autonomy in relation to contemporary labour practices? How do cultural workers effectively organise around labour issues? What would it mean for artists to withdraw their labour in defence of conditions in one's primary or secondary employment? With successive governments' emphasis on arts' social function, how does communality express itself in competitive Creative Industries? What is industrial about the Creative Industries; where do 'Cultural' producers sit within the policy frame of the 'Creative' Industries? How do we as cultural producers recognise our own positions and dependency on/within/alongside the public sector? With the entrepreneurial restructuring of the arts in Scotland and in the face of selective public sector cuts throughout the UK, how constructive are artists' isolated appeals for a state of exception? What is so unique about artists in the social factory?

These are some of the questions to be addressed during this public conversation. The discussion is open to anyone - cultural workers, artists, students, interns, precarious and self-organised labour affiliated to academia - concerned with issues of art, labour and economics. The event will begin with a series of short position statements from invited speakers followed by discussion among panelists and audience.

Panelists include:

Angela McRobbie
Professor of Communications, Dept. of Media & Communications, Goldsmiths

Scottish Artists Union
The representative voice for artists in Scotland

Graham Jeffery
Reader: Music and Performance, The School of Creative and Cultural Industries, UWS

Katarzyna Kosmala
Reader, Centre for Contemporary European Studies, UWS

Gesa Helms
Researcher & artist

Brett Bloom
Member of Chicago-based art collective Temporary Services who recently produced 'Art Work : A national conversation about art, labour, and economics'

Owen Logan
Researcher, School of Divinity, History and Philosophy, University of Aberdeen

Facilitated by Gordon Asher
Effective Learning Tutor, UWS Centre for Academic & Professional Development

Event is free but ticketed, tickets available from CCA Box Office:
CCA, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow G2 3JD
tel : +44 (0)141 352 4900
http://www.cca-glasgow.com

Photos of Speakers Presentations

Neil Mulholland


Christine Borland


Philip Schlesinger


Philip Schlesinger and David Harding


David Harding

photos from the manifesto performance at the AHM Symposium

Jac Mantle

Escutcheon Department of Athletics

Roxana Meechan

Dalziel and Scullion

Alice Bradshaw

Nicola Atkinson

Alistair Quietsch

Sue Biazotti

John Pride

Minty Donald

Shelly Nadashi

Peter McCaughey (On behalf of Michelle Hannah, Jonathan Monk, Emilia Muller-Ginorio)

Oliver Metzger

Shauna McMullan

Sam Ainsley (On behalf of Alex Gross, Anthony Shrag)

Ruth Barker

DMM McEwan (Black Sun Drum Corps)

David Harding (on behalf of Jimmie Durham, Ilana Halperin, and AHM)

Chris Freemantle

Janie Nicoll

Justin Carter

Ellie Harrison