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Making Histories Visible at The Centre for Contemporary Art
MAKING HISTORIES VISIBLE AT THE CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART
Making Histories Visible has since 2005 excavated creative histories. We work with major art museums and international cultural organisations to connect artists and communities with their local and international heritage through exhibitions, archive interventions and public art projects. We aim to act as cultural brokers to encourage a sense of belonging and contribution to the culture, while strategically engaging in curatorial collaborations, major collection interventions and public exhibition projects.
Research is undertaken by Professor Lubaina Himid with Susan Walsh and Christine Eyene.
As a result of current projects in 2012/2013 and previous work carried out in collaboration with Tate in 2005 and 2008, major acquisitions have been made of work by artists from the black diaspora by Tate itself as well as a number of internationally recognised institutions. Tate has acquired work by artists included in the MHV exhibition Thin Black Line(s) 2011 Tate Britain. Manchester Art Galleries has acquired work from Tailor Striker Singer Dandy 2010 and the entire installation Naming the Money 2004 has been recently acquired for the International Slavery Museum by National Museums Liverpool
The display, access and development of the Black Art Archive and Print & Drawing Study Collection at the Centre for Contemporary Art has encouraged, a steady growth of interest in the work of artists from the Black Diaspora. We actively engage in public talks and archive tours as well as significant loans of materials and artworks to external organisations.
We also edit and disseminate the on Line journal Colourcode ; currently in its fourth year. In it we encourage the building of working relationships between enthusiastic audiences, energetic curatorial teams, creative participants and artists from all over the world. We introduce young creative people to the work of professional visual art practitioners whose concerns range from the black urban experience to innovative experiments with process. We highlight educational courses which investigate the histories and promote the richness of visual art contribution of diverse cultures. We feature artists; web sites, new books, archive material, small visual art events, moving image festivals and major metropolitan exhibitions. We discuss the collecting policies of major museums and aim to expand the limited range of critical writing around the politics of representation .
We plan to continue working with several major museum collections to help them to show sensitive and never formerly displayed material around caricature and slavery. The papers and artwork work produced will encourage extensive dialogue around collecting and presentation while facilitating a respectful dialogue with core audiences and culturally diverse partners. This work is part of a HERA bid currently being assessed.
We have a firm and visible commitment to the development of future display opportunities for the creative projects internationally including venues and projects in Europe and Africa and importantly will strive share the creative histories of artists of African /Asian descent with audiences seeking to experience a real sense of belonging as well as with academics seeking to integrate this research into the canon of Contemporary Art where it belongs.