Towards a Collection of Artists’ Moving Image in Scotland, Edinburgh

Following the launch of the LUX Scotland Collection project in Glasgow in January 2017, this event continues a series of public dialogues around the establishment of a new distribution collection of artists’ moving image based in Scotland.

The LUX Scotland Collection is intended as a public resource to map and consolidate a lineage of moving image culture in Scotland; to make this work publicly accessible through distribution; and to enhance the national and international profile of this work through exhibition, touring, research and publishing. LUX Scotland is developing the collection as an open research project, working in consultation with the arts community across Scotland on the question of what it means to build such a collection and what it might comprise.

This event will analyse how artists’ moving image has been collected in Scotland, excavating the reasons and motivations behind decisions made around the development of public collections. Through a series of presentations tracing the processes, aspirations and issues that institutions face as a moving image work passes through its doors and into its collection, the event will aim to address some of the following questions:

How does a collection come into being?

What does it mean to bring works together in a collection?

Why should artists’ moving image works be collected?

How are acquisitions and curatorial research financed and supported?

Who decides what to acquire and how are these parameters defined?

How does a moving image collection sit within the context of the broader museum collection?

What are the particular challenges faced in documenting, caring for and ensuring the longevity of artists’ moving image works?

How does the growing complexity of digital technology and its lack of fixed materiality create risks for preservation?

What considerations need to be taken into account in the lending and exhibition of artists’ moving image?

How can museums’ standard loan practices better accommodate the specific needs of moving image works?

Each presentation will provide an in-depth focus on one aspect of the collection process – from funding and strategy, to acquisition, preservation and exhibition – followed by a panel discussion. Speakers include Brian Castriota (time-based media conservator and doctoral candidate, University of Glasgow), Will Cooper (Curator of Contemporary Art, Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow), Julie-Ann Delaney (Curator, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art), Robert Dingle (Contemporary Projects Manager, Art Fund), Rachel Maclean (Artist, Scotland + Venice 2017, British Art Show 8), and Kirstie Skinner (Director, Outset Scotland and editor and lead researcher, Collecting Contemporary: Curating Art Collections in Scotland).