School of Culture and Creative Arts

Dr Rebecca Gordon

  • Research Assistant (History of Art)

email: Rebecca.Gordon@glasgow.ac.uk


Biography

PhD (History of Art), University of Glasgow; MLitt (History of Collecting and Collections), University of Glasgow; MA (Hons) (History of Art), University of Edinburgh

Rebecca Gordon is the Research Assistant for the Research Network for Textile Conservation, Dress and Textile History and Technical Art History, funded by the Getty Foundation.

Rebecca's doctoral thesis examined the concepts of authenticity and material significance in contemporary art, with particular focus on the artist’s intent. In promoting a theoretical framework for the consideration of authenticity, the identity of the artwork can be established and its future care more sympathetically administered. A significant part of her research involved conducting filmed interviews with artists, including Claire Barclay, Karla Black, Christine Borland, Will Maclean, Toby Paterson, Ross Sinclair, and Lucy Skaer. As well as various academic publications and papers delivered at international conferences, Rebecca has written commissioned texts for artists, including ‘The Agency of Absence’ to accompany Christine Borland’s exhibition ‘Cast From Nature’ at the Glasgow Sculpture Studios in November 2010.

Research Interests

  • Authenticity – a theoretical framework for thinking about the concept of authenticity in art, with particular interest in its implication for conservation issues and ethics.
  • Material choice and significance in contemporary art.
  • Artists’ practices and creative processes.
  • Artists’ testimonies and oral history, particularly in the form of artist interviews (transcripts, audio recording or filmed interview).
  • The artist’s intention and the authority of the author.
  • Conservation ethics, especially the role of authenticity in conservation decision-making processes and the care and reinstallation of artworks.
Jump to: 2009
Number of items: 2.

2009

Gordon, R. (2009) Authenticity and intent: the REAL LIFE artist's interview. In: Stefanaggi, M. (ed.) Art Today – Cultural Property of Tomorrow: The Conservation and Restoration of Contemporary Artworks. Section Francaise de l’Institut de Conservation, Champs-sur-Marne, Paris, France, pp. 43-50. ISBN 9782905430168

Gordon, R. (2009) The “paradigmatic art experience”: reproductions and their effect on the experience of the “authentic” artwork. In: Hermens, E. and Fiske, T. (eds.) Art, Conservation and Authenticities: Material, Concept, Context. Archetype, London, UK, pp. 259-266. ISBN 9781904982517

This list was generated on Fri May 3 00:35:00 2013 BST.

Conference papers and talks

‘Material significance and authenticity in relation to the work of Karla Black’, Scotland & Venice Partnership CPD Seminar: The Display, Use and Conservation of Ephemeral Contemporary Art Materials, 25 April 2012, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art One, Edinburgh.

‘Artists’ Interviews and the Pursuit of Meaning’ (poster presentation), International conference organised by the Foundation for the Conservation of Contemporary Art (SBMK) and the Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage (ICN) in collaboration with the University of Amsterdam, Contemporary Art: Who Cares?, 9–11 June 2010, Amsterdam.

‘Communicating Research: Christine Borland’s research practice in relation to the exhibition “Communication Suite”’, Association of Art Historians annual conference, 15–17 April 2010, University of Glasgow, Glasgow.

‘Authenticity and Intent: The REAL LIFE Artist’s Interview’, SFIIC Conference Art Today – Cultural Property of Tomorrow: The Conservation and Restoration of Contemporary Artworks, 24–26 June 2009, Paris.

‘Mortality and Interpretation: Communicating the Artist’s Intent’, Symposium of the working group Modern Materials in Collections: Scotland (MMiC:S), Material Matters: Materiality in Contemporary Art, 20 November 2008, Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh.

Exhibition texts

‘Sheela Na Gig’, commissioned text to accompany the work of Hazel Moore at Glasgow School of Art, June 2011.

‘The Agency of Absence’, commissioned text to accompany Christine Borland’s exhibition ‘Cast From Nature’ at the Glasgow Sculpture Studios, November 2010.

Text to accompany the exhibition ‘Communication Suite’, curated by Christine Borland, 8 July-1 August 2008, Wolfson Medical Building, University of Glasgow, Glasgow.