artist-run space
An artist-run space or artist-run centre (Canada) is a gallery or other facility operated or directed by artists, frequently circumventing the structures of public art centers, museums, or commercial galleries and allowing for a more experimental ...
in Glasgow. It was established in 1983 by graduates of
Glasgow School of Art
The Glasgow School of Art (GSA; gd, Sgoil-ealain Ghlaschu) is a higher education art school based in Glasgow, Scotland, offering undergraduate degrees, post-graduate awards (both taught and research-led), and PhDs in architecture, fine art, an ...
. It primarily shows the work of young early career artists and is run by a changing voluntary committee of six people. Among the artists who have served on its committee are
Douglas Gordon
Douglas Gordon (born 20 September 1966) is a Scottish artist. He won the Turner Prize in 1996, the Premio 2000 at the 47th Venice Biennale in 1997 and the Hugo Boss Prize in 1998. He lives and works in Berlin, Germany.
Work
Much of Gordon's ...
Martin Boyce
Martin Boyce (born 1967) is a Scottish sculptor inspired by early 20th century modernism.
Boyce was born in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire and educated at Holy Cross High School in Hamilton. He studied at the Glasgow School of Art, graduating with ...
,
Simon Starling
Simon Starling (born 1967) is an English conceptual artist and won the Turner Prize in 2005.
Early life
Simon Starling was born in 1967 in Epsom, Surrey. He studied photography and art at Maidstone College of Art from 1986 to 1987, then at Tre ...
,
Lucy Skaer
Lucy Skaer (born 1975) is a contemporary English artist who works with sculpture, film, painting, and drawing. Her work has been exhibited internationally. Skaer is a member of the Henry VIII’s Wives artist collective, and has exhibited a numb ...
, Adam Benmakhlouf,
Alberta Whittle
Alberta Whittle (born 1980, Bridgetown, Barbados) is a Barbadian-Scottish multidisciplinary artist who works across media: film, sculpture, print, installation and performance. She lives and works in Glasgow. She was the winner of the Margaret T ...
, Ashanti Sharda Harris and Katherine Ka Yi Liu 廖加怡.
History
Transmission is Glasgow's oldest artist-run gallery, established in 1983 by art school graduates who felt dissatisfied with the opportunities available to them on graduating. From its inception the gallery has been run by a changing committee and offered membership. When it was founded, it was supported by the
Scottish Arts Council
The Scottish Arts Council ( gd, Comhairle Ealain na h-Alba, sco, Scots Airts Cooncil) was a Scottish public body responsible for the funding, development and promotion of the arts in Scotland. The Council primarily distributed funding from the ...
and Glasgow City Council. Its first address was 13–15 Chisholm Street, Trongate, Glasgow. On the opening night Alexander Moffat gave a speech, calling the gallery 'far more important than the
Burrell Collection
The Burrell Collection is a museum in Glasgow, Scotland, managed by Glasgow Museums. It houses the art collection of Sir William Burrell and Constance, Lady Burrell. The museum reopened on 29 March 2022 with free entry, having been closed for ...
.'
As well as exhibitions, the gallery's programme has always included talks, readings and events. Curator Craig Richardson notes that in the early days of Transmission, the gallery's membership 'was encouraged to take advantage of the gallery typewriter and telephone which were domestic rarities for mainly unemployed artists in the late 1980s and early 1990s.'
In 1989 the gallery moved to 28 King Street, Trongate, Glasgow. The new space was a 'white cube' gallery. Nicola White wrote in 1995:
'Previously the gallery had deliberately positioned itself outside the cultural mainstream. In the early '90s Transmission became, not mainstream, but certainly more allied to the international art scene. Entering the clean-lined space, once could have been in any city in Europe. Alliances and exchanges were made with like-minded artists and galleries in such places as Belfast, London, Chicago and Cologne. The gallery became increasingly recognised outside of Scotland, and increasingly reviewed in the press.'
Several artists associated with the gallery (either through serving on the committee, being a member, or showing at the gallery) have gone on to win or be nominated for the
Turner Prize
The Turner Prize, named after the English painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist. Between 1991 and 2016, only artists under the age of 50 were eligible (this restriction was removed for the 2017 award) ...
.
The resource room at Transmission Gallery holds a physical library, a collection of slides and visual material left by artists, as well as the Transmission Archive. The Archive includes the gallery's exhibition and events poster archive. The Transmission website also displays encounters with the archive by invited researchers and artists, these are available to view on the website for two years post publishing.
In June 2017 the Gallery announced that it would postpone its annual members' show due to burnout among several members of the committee, who were holding down multiple paid and unpaid positions.
In 2018 Transmission Gallery was dropped from
Creative Scotland
Creative Scotland ( gd, Alba Chruthachail ; sco, Creative Scotlan) is the development body for the arts and creative industries in Scotland. Based in Edinburgh, it is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government.
The o ...
's portfolio of regularly funded organisations (RFOs) for its 2018-21 cycle. This caused surprise and consternation among many artists, curators and former Transmission committee members. Amanda Catto (Head of Visual Arts at Creative Scotland) said the decision ‘was not taken with any intention to damage Transmission. We respect and value their very long and quite exceptional history in terms of being an artist-run space’.
Committee
The first committee of Transmission, from 1983 to 1986, was Alastair Magee, Lesley Raeside, John Rogan, Michelle Baucke and Alistair Strachan.
The second committee, from 1986 to 1988, was Gordon Muir, Malcolm Dickson, Carol Rhodes, Peter Thompson, Simon Brown and Douglas Aubrey.
From 1988 to the present the following people have been among those on the committee:
Douglas Gordon
Douglas Gordon (born 20 September 1966) is a Scottish artist. He won the Turner Prize in 1996, the Premio 2000 at the 47th Venice Biennale in 1997 and the Hugo Boss Prize in 1998. He lives and works in Berlin, Germany.
Work
Much of Gordon's ...
Martin Boyce
Martin Boyce (born 1967) is a Scottish sculptor inspired by early 20th century modernism.
Boyce was born in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire and educated at Holy Cross High School in Hamilton. He studied at the Glasgow School of Art, graduating with ...
,
Simon Starling
Simon Starling (born 1967) is an English conceptual artist and won the Turner Prize in 2005.
Early life
Simon Starling was born in 1967 in Epsom, Surrey. He studied photography and art at Maidstone College of Art from 1986 to 1987, then at Tre ...
,
Eva Rothschild
Eva Rothschild RA (born 1971) is an Irish artist based in London.
Eva Rothschild was born in Dublin, Ireland. She received a BA in Fine Art from the University of Ulster, Belfast (1990–93), and an MA in Fine Art from Goldsmiths College, Londo ...
Lucy Skaer
Lucy Skaer (born 1975) is a contemporary English artist who works with sculpture, film, painting, and drawing. Her work has been exhibited internationally. Skaer is a member of the Henry VIII’s Wives artist collective, and has exhibited a numb ...
, Adam Benmakhlouf,
Alberta Whittle
Alberta Whittle (born 1980, Bridgetown, Barbados) is a Barbadian-Scottish multidisciplinary artist who works across media: film, sculpture, print, installation and performance. She lives and works in Glasgow. She was the winner of the Margaret T ...
, Ashanti Sharda Harris and Katherine Ka Yi Liu 廖加怡.
Each committee member serves for a minimum of two years. Matt Locke has noted that this means that 'patterns cannot become fossilised, but need to change and remain flexible.'
Exhibitions
Notable exhibitions at Transmission have included:
* Urban Life (2 December - 8 January 1983) , This was the first exhibition at Transmission and was curated by Ken Currie, Matthew Inglis and Lesley Raeside.
* Fifth International Festival of Plagiarism: Slogans of Reversal/Reversal of Slogans (August 1989) , This was the first exhibition in the new Transmission space on King Street. It was a group show, and included the work of Nathan Coley, Douglas Gordon, Ross Sinclair and Roderick Buchanan, amongst others.
*
Lubaina Himid
Lubaina Himid (born 1954) is a British artist and curator. She is a professor of contemporary art at the University of Central Lancashire.Himid of 26 painted pieces.
*Wet Flannel On My Side, Like a Saddle on a Horse: Angharad Williams, Sebastian Ymai, Orestis Lazouras, Lee Lozano (1 October - 5 November 2016) , Included a notable loan of two drawings by Lee Lozano.
*Rabiya Choudry, COCO!NUTS (15 September - 20 October 2018) , First solo exhibition of this Glasgow-based artist, that examined her experience of growing up in a mixed race family in a city and art world that is predominantly white - her mother is white and her father is from Pakistan.{{Cite web, title=Rabiya Choudhry's Paintings Reveal What’s on the Inside {{! Frieze, url=https://www.frieze.com/article/rabiya-choudhrys-paintings-reveal-whats-inside, access-date=2021-01-29, website=Frieze, language=en