Contemporary art and the heart of a hero

Published: 13 April 2012

The life, death and legend of iconic Scottish explorer David Livingstone is a source of creative fascination for two Dutch artists, whose new international research project into the ‘afterlife’ of the trees associated with the great explorer, is to be shown at The Hunterian.

The life, death and legend of iconic Scottish explorer David Livingstone is a source of creative fascination for two Dutch artists, whose new international research project into the ‘afterlife’ of the trees associated with the great explorer, is to be shown at The Hunterian as part of The Mutual’s contribution to Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art 2012. 

Drawing on the remarkable collection of the David Livingstone Centre at Blantyre, Sybren Renema and Timmy van Zoelen have assembled over 20 wooden objects and tree fragments for display at The Hunterian. Hoping to shed new light on the Scot whose missionary travels and 'disappearance' in Africa gave him almost mythical status, the artists have set themselves the task of assembling the scattered fragments of David Livingstone’s ‘funeral tree’, the African muvla tree in under which the explorer’s heart was buried by his loyal servants after his death in 1873 in present-day Zambia.

You Took The Part That Once Was My Heart is commissioned by The Mutual for The Hunterian as part of The Mutual Charter in association with Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art 2012.

It runs from 20 April until 7 May 2012 at The Hunterian Museum, University of Glasgow.

An exhibition preview, publication launch and live event will take place in the Hunterian Museum on 21 April 2012 from 1.30pm - 4.30pm.

You Took The Part That Once Was My Heart
20 April - 7 May 2012
Hunterian Museum
Admission free

Hunterian Museum
University of Glasgow
Gilbert Scott Building
Glasgow G12 8QQ

Tuesday - Saturday 10.00am - 5.00pm and Sunday 11.00am - 4.00pm
Closed Mondays


For further information, interviews or images please contact:
Juliet Fellows-Smith
Email: press@themutual.org.uk Telephone: 07527915857

Notes to Editors

The Mutual Charter
The Mutual, an artists’ co-operative, comprises more than 150 early career creative practitioners. Created to bypass the economic restraints typically encountered by emergent artists, The Mutual encourages collaboration, placing emphasis on mutual support as a means to realize ambitious ideas.

Drawing inspiration from Glasgow’s history of socialist investment in guilds and unions, a campaign‐style build up of live and online events will take place towards the festival in 2012, marking the progress of a series of fourteen simultaneous international projects. Each of these projects has been proposed and created by Mutual Members in response to an open call to explore new and existing international links within The Mutual membership, and which consider collaboration and conversation over continents with artists, organisations, events and locations.

Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art
Taking place every other year, and combining some of the characteristics of a conventional arts ‘biennial’ with a more event-based experience, Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art is a unique event in the international calendar with one of the most groundbreaking and dynamic presentations of contemporary visual arts practice. GI is a unique event that offers both globally recognised and emerging Glasgow-based artists across the spectrum of the city’s art scene a platform to show new work to both national and international audiences while also introducing the work of important international artists. Since its inception in 2005 the Festival has brought together the key organisations in Glasgow’s diverse artistic community, presenting unique events and special commissions rooted in the achievements of the local artistic community, while drawing on important international developments in contemporary art.

The Hunterian
Founded in 1807, The Hunterian is Scotland’s oldest public museum. Built on William Hunter’s founding bequest, the collections include scientific instruments used by James Watt and Joseph Lister; outstanding Roman artefacts from the Antonine Wall; major natural sciences holdings; one of the world’s greatest numismatic collections and impressive ethnographic objects from the Pacific Ocean. The Hunterian is also home to a major art collection ranging from Rembrandt and Chardin to the Scottish Colourists and contemporary art; the world’s largest permanent display of the work of James McNeill Whistler; the largest single holding of the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and The Mackintosh House, the reassembled interiors from his Glasgow home.

There are four Hunterian venues on the University of Glasgow campus - the Hunterian Museum, Hunterian Art Gallery, home to The Mackintosh House, the Zoology Museum and the Anatomy Museum.

Hunterian Art Gallery Refurbishment
The Hunterian Art Gallery will undergo major refurbishment in 2012, which will see significant investment and improvement to its gallery and circulation spaces, giving visitors greater access to this world class art collection. All exhibition spaces are currently closed to the public and will re-open in September 2012 with the new exhibition ‘Rembrandt and the Passion’. The Mackintosh House and the Art Gallery shop remain open. The Hunterian Museum is also open as usual.


 

First published: 13 April 2012