Posted by BAN_Admin on June 29th, 2023.
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24–25 November 2023
Kelvin Hall, Glasgow
Deadline for presentation proposals: 31 July 2023, Midday
The British Art Network Annual Conference 2023 considers the cultural legacies of devolution.
As questions about statehood, democracy and (dis)unity rise anew in the year of a Coronation, British Art after Britain reflects on the influence of regionalisation since the historic moment of the Good Friday Agreement and founding of parliaments in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. Converging with these pathways of self-determination, a decentralising agenda backed by lottery funds established new galleries and arts centres across the country at the turn of the millennium. As these organisations and their buildings approach their quarter-centenary and with a renewed levelling-up plan incentivising relocation outside of London, this conference calls for a conversation about the changing provisions for art, its histories, and audiences outside of the metropolitan centre and amidst the challenges of economic and ecological permacrisis. Imagining futures beyond endurance, it asks how approaches to exhibition-making, collecting and curatorial work might negotiate, trouble and respond to the changing relations of Britain to its constituent nations and the world beyond.
The conference aims to bring together curators, artists, art historians and a range of culture professionals from across geographies in an imaginative and cross-disciplinary dialogue. We invite proposals for presentations to be given in-person at Kelvin Hall, Glasgow, on 25 November 2023, on topics including but not limited to:
- Devolution in art, curatorial work or public programming
- The cultural legacies of millennial projects
- Political neutrality, republicanism and the gallery
- Case studies in decentralisation
- Creative reuse of cultural buildings and/or assets
- Outposts and franchises of museums and galleries
- Regionalism, peripherality and/or transnational solidarities
- Post-Britain futures
Please provide a title and abstract (of no more than 250 words or a 1-minute audio/video recording) for a 15-minute academic paper, work-in-progress presentation, or provocation by email to [email protected] by 31 July 2023. Presenters will be notified of outcome during the week of 7 August 2023.
A fee of £200 GBP will be granted for each selected presentation.
Kelvin Hall’s accessibility provision includes step-free access, wheelchair-accessible toilets and a hearing loop. Full information on facilities can be found via AccessAble Accessibility Guide. A quiet room will be available at the conference. The conference will include British Sign Language interpretation. Funding is available to support presenters with their access needs.
British Art after Britain is guest convened by Dr Marcus Jack in partnership with the Hunterian Art Gallery.
Dr Marcus Jack is a curator, art historian and AHRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow at The Glasgow School of Art. His research uses archival and oral history methods to locate overlooked histories of visual culture within contexts of policy, infrastructure and socio-economic systems. His recent projects include Cinema Despite (Tramway, forthcoming) and DOWSER, notes on artists’ moving image in Scotland (2020–), an open-access serial for new writing and archival republication. His writing has been published by MAP, LUX Scotland, the Hunterian Art Gallery (Glasgow) and Institute of Contemporary Arts (London). Jack is a Trustee of Glasgow Artists’ Moving Image Studios SCIO (2020–) and was Programme Lead at the Scottish Contemporary Art Network (2022–2023). From 2019 to 2022 he served on the Steering Group of the British Art Network as Emerging Curators Group representative.
