Sunday, 6 November 2011

ARTANGEL PROJECT IN THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT ARCHIVE

Judith Clark and Adam Phillips: The Concise Dictionary of Dress

28 April - 27 June 2010
Blythe House, London W14

Gateway at Blythe HouseSwords at Blythe House. Photograph by Julian Abrams

Although The Concise Dictionary of Dress has now closed, please see our web section (links are on the right hand side of this page) for a wealth of especially commissioned writing, video and audio created during the project's residency in Blythe House.

Located within the working store for the V&A’s vast reserve collections of furniture, ceramics, glass, jewellery, textiles, fashion and fine arts, The Concise Dictionary of Dress began with a journey through a turnstile, into an industrial goods lift and up to the first in a sequence of intriguing definitions in a walk-through dictionary of dress…

Cast objects and photographs, tableaux of clothing and accessories were arranged amongst the rolling racks and wrapped objects stored at Blythe House, the former headquarters of the Post Office Savings Bank in Olympia, west London. The anatomy of the building revealed surreal and evocative interventions in unexpected places; metaphors of repression and ceremony; fragments of the clothed body briefly glimpsed.

Commissioned by Artangel, The Concise Dictionary of Dress re-described clothing in terms of anxiety, wish and desire, as a series of definitions created by psychoanalyst Adam Phillips and accompanying installations designed and assembled by fashion curator Judith Clark.

The Concise Dictionary of Dress is also a 128-page hardback book. Illustrated in colour and with written contributions from Adam Phillips and Judith Clark and specially commissioned photography by Norbert Schoerner, it was published in April 2010 by Violette Editions in association with Artangel priced £25.00.

The second edition of the Artangel Podcast was released on 19 May 2010 and saw Artangel Co-Director Michael Morris take a walk through the V&A's vast, maze-like stores at Blythe House - in the company of the building's longstanding manager Glenn Benson. Click here to listen, download or subscribe.

The Concise Dictionary of Dress was produced by Artangel in collaboration with the Victoria & Albert Museum. It was supported by Arts Council England, Artangel International Circle, Special Angels and The Company of Angels. Artangel is also grateful to the London College of Fashion for their support of this project.
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Thursday, 3 November 2011

Access to Blog and Grayson Perry

With Robyn's help, I think everyone is now made an equal author on the Blog, so get blogging and putting up your pics and ideas.
I think you might find it interesting to see the programme, 'Imagine' from Monday night, 31st Oct, on iPlayer looking at Grayson Perry and the making of his show at the British Museum, Homage to the Unknown Craftsmen.  He made a proposal to look at certain objects based on his own interests and to make works giving credit and acknowledgement to those works made by anonymous crafts people over the centuries.  Of course the curators welcomed him in and made it easy for him to choose about 170 objects among their 80.000 objects on show, 8 million in storage! A lot easier than it will be for us.  What was interesting was that in some instances, even some of the Museum staff were not sure which pieces were by him and which pieces were historical, although of course he also had a lot of obvious and almost cartoon responses on show, together with his crazy motor bike.
Unfortunately I think we have been double pre-empted in our mission.  The University of the Arts students are doing a special show at the British Museum on Friday night 11th based on similar ideas, oh dear!  Shall we go?
Entrance to his main show is £5 per student if we go as a group, interested?  Coral
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The Horniman Museum

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Wednesday, 2 November 2011

Yey I am in

Thanks Coral.
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Monday, 24 October 2011

Pics from the Foundling Museum




The Museum, Thomas Coram, Foundling Archive Pics
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Sunday, 23 October 2011

The Foundling Museum and beyond

Hi Gals,
Just to let you know I went to the Foundling Museum today.  Started by Thomas Coram and supported by Hogarth and Handel, it was a hospital, fostering resource, and school for those children who would otherwise be abandoned often by poor single mothers with no means of support.  It was extremely sad and quite heart breaking, especially to hear the experiences of the children who suffered harsh regimes and discipline with little love or comfort in their lives.  Their stories in the Foundling Voices exhibition are very moving.  I have some contacts for the Archive and Education Dept, but I feel that the history has been well trodden with lots of arts responses, and as is right, a lot of the best work has been done by the children and adults who experienced the institution first hand.  Interestingly, Grayson Perry was their Foundation artist for a year.  Historically of course it was also a resource for training domestic servants, and fodder for the armed services and artisan apprenticeships.  Standards of care did not really become more humane until after the 2nd world war.  I understand that all their archives are looked after by the London Metropolitan Archive, probably the same one Kate mentioned.  A Philanthropic enterprise with some difficult/ambivalent outcomes!
Don't forget to look at the Horniman Museum website before we meet tomorrow, lots of collections and 100 favourite objects.  See you at 2pm.  Coral
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Tuesday, 18 October 2011

At last the pics from the BGMC 'Doll Face' artwork!

An example of an artwork based on stored/archived materials in a museum.  Coral
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The Horniman Museum

Hi Gals,
Went to the Horniman Museum today to ask about their archives, and got some info on who to contact and how.  They have an archivist, store, library, exhibitions section, all sorts.  Said like most museums, only 30 percent of artefacts on view at any time.  Can request access to specific materials if we know what we are looking for (?)  Got some historical info on Horniman, tea importer and obsessive art and anthropological collector. Collection originally shown in his home.  Also interesting that the architect who designed the actual museum, also designed the Whitechapel Gallery and the Bishopsgate Institute, all in the Arts and Crafts style.  I am interested in the aspect of Victorian Philanthropy and their desire to educate the poor and illiterate, and those rarer people like William Morris who wanted to increase real opportunity and equality for the working class.
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Pics from art work, BGMC

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Sunday, 9 October 2011

Greetings from The Collective

Hi Gals,
Have made a blog, I think, that I hope we can use for the group.  It is called The Collective, for want of a better inspirational title!  If anyone has a better idea, then you are welcome to change it. The way to get into the blog is via:  groupwork-profprac.blogspot.com  Hope that works and I will send it on to you.  I am happy that we are going to somehow comment on how Professional Practice can work for us, and to use the ideas of working both collectively and in a political context.  Kate, please write something to elaborate on the original idea, good to get it down in words and let things evolve.  In the absence of any other visual stimulus, I am going to give you an image of the Barbie dolls that I added to the Venice Biennale collage in Reception, as this is an instance of responding to a larger group experience by making some collaborative work.  Coral
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