Collect 2007

An international interface
The experience and the legacy

Collect, the international art fair for contemporary objects, is a prestigious landmark event for international galleries to showcase craft work of creative excellence and quality in Europe. Collect has just enjoyed it’s fourth successful year and is organised in partnership by the Crafts Council and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London who hosted the fair for five days during early February.

This year saw the first Scottish Arts Council Crafts Curators Professional Development visit to Collect 2007.  Professionals in the visual and applied arts working in curatorial, gallery education and development roles from eight organisations across the country participated in this pilot project.

The trip was supported by the Scottish Arts Council’s Crafts and International Departments and aimed to provide both the opportunities for networking and for viewing some of the highest quality contemporary crafts being created at this point in time.

Helen Voce, Crafts Development Officer for Dumfries & Galloway Council and a Scottish Arts Council Specialist Advisor supported the Crafts Department in the implementation and delivery of the project.

Read on for Helen's review of the visit.

An international interface

The forum of 41 international galleries at Collect, complemented by the 'Collection' programme of special lectures, events and activities, plus additional spin-off activity in the capital provided for a rich programme for the visit, who for many group members was their first to the event. Designed to engage the group with curators, practitioners and works from across the globe the programme indeed enabled and stimulated key debate on the principles and issues of curating applied arts and challenged stereotyped perceptions of crafts.

Collect at the V&A Museum was the focus of the visit. Privileged access to the event placed the group at the interface with galleries of international repute, including Galleri NØrby, Denmark's leading exhibition space for modern ceramic art and Alternatives Gallery, Italy, one of Europe's finest venues for contemporary international jewellery. Works on display were outstanding and provided a unique opportunity to see a vast array of styles and schools of cutting edge contemporary applied arts. Architectural scale sculptural glass works exhibited by London's Plateaux Gallery demonstrated expert skill and technique in the discipline.

The conceptual contemporary jewellery ranges presented by the fabulous Dutch jewellery galleries - Galerie Ra, Galerie Louise Smit and Galerie Marzee – were exquisite, querying the value of materials used, our emotional engagement with these pieces and their relationship to the body.

US gallery, Bullseye Connection was an oasis of colour, presenting kilnformed glass of exceptional, innovative design by a select group of dynamic international artists. Also from Denmark, the recently established Gallery Drud & KØppe - Contemporary Objects, displayed conceptual exclusive unique exhibits, inviting the viewers’ reflection on content, aesthetics and the means of perceiving art.  The exclusive access to the event in advance of the official launch facilitated networking and direct access to exhibits. One group member commented, 'It was useful to spend a prolonged period of time at 'Collect' in order to experience the event from different perspectives: as a commercial enterprise, as a showcase for individual makers from the UK and abroad, and as a networking opportunity.' 

Current in the V&A's Future Plan, the Museum's long-term redevelopment scheme, is the massive renewal of the extensive ceramics galleries, a task charged to the Museum's ceramics and glass department's team of curators.  Proceeded by a visit to the Silver and Glass Galleries an exclusive behind the scenes tour of the currently closed ceramics galleries realised an insight into the redisplay of this rich collection of important works in secure and environmentally sound conditions accompanied by informative and imaginative interpretation.

Discussion of the latter realised valuable dialogue between the group and the curators of shared experiences and best practice in artist in residence programming; a proposed educational element of the galleries to be offered through an installed working studio. 

The final day of the programme was spent out in the field. Complimentary to previous days of the visit were studio visits to ceramicists Julian Stair, Edmund de Waal and the tenants of Vanguard Studios, including contemporary potter Chris Keenan and sculptural ceramicist Catrin Howell, noted for her haunting animal forms. In a relatively small geographical space of South London access to the pinnacle of contemporary British studio ceramics practice was experienced, providing the group with a unique opportunity to view a diverse range of practices, expertise, and scales of operation.

Visiting such prolific practitioners as Edmund de Waal, well known also for his writing, curating and teaching, further stimulated in depth discussion and critical debate of the curation of applied arts; 'The more cerebral discussions with Julian Stair and Edmund de Waal particularly useful for visual art/craft cross-over and gave us lots of ideas and encouragement for possible future links/activity which might involve them.'

For one member of the group, 'The studio visits to Julian Stair and Edmund de Waal were what really raised the bar for me. I had not encountered any contemporary makers discussing their work on a critical level before and this really increased both my interest in and engagement with the work.'

Experiencing the practitioners' studio and gaining a unique insight into the creative process provides the affirmation of the passion, reason and desire for bringing to the fore contemporary crafts practice. For one member 'The visits to the studios were probably the highlight of the trip, perhaps because they allowed time to meet makers and view their work first hand.' 

The varied programme appealed to the group on many different levels: 'The range of visits was excellent and offered unique opportunities to meet makers, craft retailers and curators. All gave rise to stimulating discussion as well as ideas and proposals for future collaborations and partnerships.' 

The experience and the legacy

Dependent on individuals' roles, delegates were able to explore their own agendas and interests. Free time enabled this pursuit as did networking events such as the curators’ dinner: 'the evening gave an insight into how the larger commercial galleries operated and [they] were very open about [their] work and how [they] operated.'

Collect season tickets enabled generous access to the event and therefore excellent opportunities for professional development.

This was particularly strong in the instance of delegates from Highlands and Islands' arts venues who through identified, shared cultural traditions established potential connections with northern European galleries: 'Holland and Denmark ... galleries [are of] particular interest and would provide focus for seeing a range of work within geographically manageable area. There might also be more interest from those countries in working with us as another small but creative northern European state.'

A healthy divide in the group was identified between those who hadn’t and had previously visited Collect.  For those new to the event the visit 'greatly enhanced ... knowledge of curating contemporary crafts.' For those who had previously visited the event alone the opportunity to attend as a group proved beneficial in stimulating discussion and progressing ideas with contemporaries: 'Learning through meeting other craft developers, sharing ideas and thoughts with people working and developing across art forms, hearing about common organisational and practical issues for curating and developing in Scotland was very useful for craft development in Shetland Arts. Seeing the work at Collect, the V&A curators visits, and the studio visits were all made more effective by sharing responses to the work with new colleagues.'

Describing how the visit met with original aims and objectives, one member of the group commented the visit had 'exceeded my expectations!'

'The whole visit was exciting and stimulating: seeing work of such a high standard, and from so many different countries was of great interest as we are somewhat isolated from exhibitions of this calibre; being able to talk to a group of curators and craft officers over an extended period was very beneficial.'

With a wide representation of craft curators from across Scotland the visit facilitated strengthened networks amongst professionals in the sector. From a simple 'putting names to faces' exercise to discussions of realising partnership exhibitions, joint initiatives and projects the visit was an extremely important opportunity for all to meet their contemporaries, especially considering for some the opportunity to network with colleagues from Scotland presents a geographical challenge.

The group dynamic was felt by all to be an enjoyable and importantly shared experience of the visit: 

'I particularly enjoyed spending time with everyone involved with the trip. This was really one of the big bonuses, as normally I work in relative isolation so to have time to catch up on projects, to hear others opinions and ideas, to socialise and exchange information was of great benefit and will also be invaluable in developing future projects.'

For those attending with organisational colleagues the visit stimulated ideas and immediately prompted discussion of realisation, 'Yes, the visit actually exceeded my expectations and has raised my own aspirations in terms of striving to deliver high quality and innovative contemporary exhibitions in our craft slots.' Another organisation commented, 'This will help the organisation to integrate future plans for contemporary craft exhibition and development.'  

Attendance of the preview of 'Place(s)', an exhibition of works about place, at Contemporary Applied Arts gallery made a strong impact.  

Selected by members of Think Tank: A European Initiative for the Applied Arts, the works presented an exhibition of the wonderful, beautiful, funny, melancholic and perverse ways in which objects connect with us in our varied places and represented the critical issues and thinking explored in writing by the international group.

Immediate outcomes of the professional development visit are apparent, including strengthened networks, contacts established, stimulated debate on the curation of contemporary applied arts and audience engagement with contemporary practice. Confidence in the long term benefits of the visit is evident in the groups’ intense engagement and desire to work in partnership and build on contacts to realise events of impact and international standing contributing to a strengthened programme of contemporary crafts exhibitions across Scotland. Collect certainly fueled the positioning of contemporary crafts produced in Scotland on the international scene.

A delegate commented: 'I still believe that there should be a higher Scottish presence at Collect as we have some excellent makers whose work is equal to much that was shown. I will be looking at ways we can do this in the future and, having had the opportunity to speak to people I now have a better understanding of what is involved.'

Thinking of the future, members had their sights on attending further international events including SOFA Chicago and the New York International Gift Fair.

Helen Voce, March 2007

If you are a curator based in Scotland working in the Visual Arts and/or Crafts and would like to know more about future Professional Development opportunities involving International Crafts please email Clare Hanna, Crafts Officer.