The Hunterian

11 November 2022–16 April 2023
Hunterian Art Gallery
Admission free

Press view: 10 November, 9.30am to 12 noon

Details revealed for first solo exhibition in Scotland by Turner Prize winning artist Elizabeth Price to focus on Glasgow’s textile heritage. 

The Hunterian are pleased to announce the first solo exhibition in Scotland by Turner Prize winning artist Elizabeth Price. Referencing and employing never before exhibited archival material, the commission will focus on the textile heritage of Glasgow’s industrial age and in particular Stoddard International Plc and James Templeton & Co. Ltd, world-famous carpet manufacturers based in Renfrewshire and Glasgow. The exhibition opens to the public from 11 November 2022–16 April 2023.

UNDERFOOT is being developed in partnership with The Hunterian, Panel, Fiona Jardine (The Glasgow School of Art) and Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh. Working with these partners, Price will create an ambitious new moving image work and bespoke textile piece – the artist’s first in this medium – both of which have been commissioned by The Hunterian for its permanent collection. The textile piece also marks Price’s first major commission in a medium other than video in over five years.

Carpet designs, industrial machinery and architectural interiors will all feature within the moving image work UNDERFOOT and the textile piece, SAD CARREL will take the form of a hand-tufted rug. Though it reflects the process of its production in largely abstract ways, a recurring vinyl record motif is a key point of connection to the themes of the moving image work.

“As an artist working in digital media, I am also really fascinated by the shared technical histories of woven textiles and computing, and most of the industrialised carpet production of Templetons directly employed jacquard technologies, or processes derived from the Jacquard loom. Understanding the relation between carpets and data in this way, perhaps also offers ways to think about the realm or terrain they visualise: related to the creation of digital or virtual worlds. But, I am always also interested in the political and social histories and/impacts of cultural artefacts, and this is why part of the project focuses upon the use of carpet in civic and public space – specifically the Mitchell Library with its intensely coloured and patterned carpets, which have unexpected psychedelic effect. If carpets imagine another space, what space was/is imagined here?” said the artist.

Elizabeth Price is an artist who creates powerful, accessible and innovative works that address social history. Her 2012 Turner Prize-winning work, The Woolworths Choir of 1979, stitched together news footage of a fatal fire in a Manchester branch of Woolworth’s with a TV performance by the Shangri-Las and digital animations analysing the cultural and political relationships between the two, to profoundly moving effect. Throughout her oeuvre, Price creates narrative works that feature historic artefacts and documents, often of marginal significance or derogated value. Her selection and treatment of them is shaped by a politics of gender and social class and she often uses historical material to consider and give expression to the adjacent blind spots, oversights and erasures of particular archives and museum collections.

UNDERFOOT was developed by Price’s 2020 Research Fellowship with the University of Glasgow Library that facilitated access to the archives of the Stoddard and Templeton carpet and textile factories, held within the University Archives and Special Collections and which encompasses thousands of design sketches, photos, books, journals and carpet pieces. Stoddard International Plc and James Templeton & Co. Ltd were world-famous carpet manufacturers based in Renfrewshire and Glasgow respectively, operational during the 19th and 20th century. The artist looked at the Stoddardt Templeton pattern books and also at photographic records which showed industrial manufacturing processes. A particular interest was in the way these framed the bodies of workers themselves, often showing them only partially, as working or gesturing limbs.

UNDERFOOT is generously funded by the National Lottery through Creative Scotland with support from The Glasgow School of Art and Kingston University, London, and a University of Glasgow Library Research Fellowship.

Alongside the exhibition of new work by Price, The Hunterian and Glasgow School of Art will present a two-day symposium in March 2023 as well as a public programme of talks and events during the run of the exhibition, aimed at bringing new audiences to The Hunterian for the first time.

Dominic Paterson, Curator of Contemporary Art, The Hunterian, said, “The Hunterian is honoured to be working with our collaborators to bring new work by Elizabeth Price to our audiences. We are very grateful to receive Creative Scotland funding to support this project and are particularly excited that this public funding will enable Elizabeth to make an ambitious new body of work that will become part of The Hunterian's permanent collection. This project has been developed through close collaboration with Panel, Dovecot and Fiona Jardine, and it was supported by a research fellowship at the University of Glasgow Library which gave Elizabeth access to the remarkable archival resources held there. UNDERFOOT is a key moment in our ongoing effort to make our exhibitions and collections more meaningful and relevant to audiences today. Elizabeth's work considers major issues in contemporary culture: using digital animation, she has raised questions of power, gender, value and language in post-war history, often thinking in particular about how technology and culture intersect. In UNDERFOOT these themes will be explored through the specific context of the Stoddard Templeton archives, giving the project a profound connection to Glasgow and its heritage. We are thrilled that Elizabeth and our collaborators have been so committed to the project and can't wait to share its results with our visitors in November.”

Catriona Duffy and Lucy McEachan of Panel said, “Panel is delighted to be working with Elizabeth Price, The Hunterian, Dovecot Tapestry Studio and Fiona Jardine of The Glasgow School of Art on this exciting new commission, investigating classified ideas of social space through design and making.”

Celia Joicey, Director of Dovecot, said, “The exhibition is an outstanding opportunity for Dovecot Studios to explore Elizabeth Price’s thoughtful approach to creating art, craft and design with hand and machine processes. Price is a world-class contemporary artist and this commission will showcase art made in Scotland to an international audience.”

Fiona Jardine said, “I am thrilled to be working with Elizabeth Price, The Hunterian, Panel and Dovecot on UNDERFOOT, sharing expertise and resources. The Glasgow School of Art holds the Stoddard Templeton Design Library, actively used in teaching a new generation of students for whom Elizabeth’s powerful, intellectually curious approach will be inspirational. The opportunity to reflect on the legacies of local textile and manufacturing histories through this project is especially resonant today, as we reimagine what it means to inhabit and construct our social spaces.”

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Further Information

For press information contact Nicola Jeffs
nj@nicolajeffs.com
07794 694 754

Notes to Editors

About the Artist:

Elizabeth Price makes immersive video installations, which feature diverse historical materials including film and video, documents, plans, photographs and popular music. She punctuates the visual material with bold, graphic interventions. Satirical texts and slogans recall the vernaculars of advertising as well as of political protest and summon their respective theories of the world. Aural motifs such as finger clicks, claps, percussion and samples of vocal harmonies are used to provide rhythms and create urgent, ritualistic undertones.

Price has exhibited in group shows internationally, and has had solo exhibitions at Artangel, London; Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester; Tate Britain, London; Chicago Institute of Art, Chicago; Julia Stoschek Foundation, Dusseldorf; Index Gallery, Stockholm; Musee D’art Contemporain, Montreal, and the Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, Madrid. In 2012 she won the Turner Prize for her solo exhibition, ‘Here’, at the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead. In 2013, she won the Contemporary Art Society Annual Award with the Ashmolean and Pitt Rivers Museums, Oxford. In 2022, she is exhibiting at the Kunstnernes Hus Oslo as part of an international group show curated by the British author Tom McCarthy. In 2023 Price’s trilogy of films Slow Dans will be shown at the Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow and she will present a solo exhibition at Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt. UK.

The exhibition in Glasgow will coincide with further opportunities to see works by Price in Glasgow - her recent Art Angel commission, SLOW DANS at GOMA will be on view early in 2024.

The Hunterian Contemporary Art Programme

The oldest public museum in Scotland, with collections spanning arts, sciences and humanities, The Hunterian is at the forefront of university museums around the world. Since it opened at the University of Glasgow in 1807, The Hunterian has been an invaluable academic and community resource. It is committed to becoming a more meaningful place for more diverse audiences.

Hunterian’s contemporary art programme responds to and interacts with The Hunterian collections, spaces and histories to make new connections and to reflect people, ideas and stories. The Hunterian collection’s historic foundation is a repository of knowledge that materialises the problematic history of Western society and its fundamentally colonial and capitalist underpinnings. Taking this as a point of departure and critical reflection, The Hunterian’s contemporary art programme seeks to interrogate the institution’s genealogy, and to introduce different perspectives into its spaces.

Working with a wide range of artists on acquisitions, commissions, exhibitions and events, our contemporary art programme allows The Hunterian to find new ways of using our historic collections to understand the contemporary world.

The Hunterian’s University context creates room for intellectual inquiry and a process of learning and experimentation. As one of the few purpose-built art galleries in Glasgow — a city renowned for its large art community—The Hunterian offers a space in which work by emerging local artists and more established international practitioners can be exhibited to wide and diverse audiences, enabling connection, reflection and experimentation.

Since 2017, The Hunterian has featured solo exhibitions by artists such as Neil Clements, Ilana Halperin, Alex Impey, Ulrike Ottinger and Jimmy Robert. Group exhibitions have included works by, among others: Sarah Browne; Phil Collins; Tacita Dean; Manthia Diawara; Andrew Kerr; Nalini Malani; Jade Montserrat; Shahryar Nashat; Otobong Nkanga; Charlotte Prodger; Carol Rhodes; Margaret Salmon; Simon Starling; Corin Sworn.

Hunterian has also supported projects with John Gerrard (a major outdoor video installation for COP26), Elisabeth Schilling (a week of dance performances and a symposium in 2019). They have undertaken collaborations with other arts organisations, including The Common Guild, Goethe Institute Glasgow, Glasgow International, Film and Video Umbrella, Leeds Arts University, and the Roberts Institute of Art, all of which have brought benefits through co-funding and knowledge exchange.

The Hunterian have commissioned new works from artists including: Claire Barclay, Alex Impey, Neil Clements, Minty Donald & Nick Millar, Louise Hopkins, and Georgina Starr (in partnership with Art Fund, FVU and GI). We have received funding awards from VNXXCAS 2021, CAS Rapid Response Fund 2020, Art Fund Moving Image Fund for Museums (2018), Henry Moore Institute (2018), the Kingdom of the Netherlands Embassy (2021).

Open Tuesday to Sunday 10am - 5pm.

About Dovecot Studios

Dovecot is a world-renowned contemporary fine art tapestry studio in Edinburgh. Established in 1912, Dovecot continues a century-long heritage of collaboration with international artists to maintain Scotland’s reputation as a centre of excellence for tapestry and fine art textiles. Dovecot has a track record of working with some of the most important artists of the last 100 years and today the Studios form part of a landmark centre for contemporary art, craft, and design exhibitions.

About Panel

Panel is a curatorial company led by Catriona Duffy and Lucy McEachan. Based in Glasgow, Panel promotes design in relation to particular histories, archives and collections through exhibitions, events and cultural projects. Their programme engages designers and public audiences and also makes connections with practitioners and institutions whose work extends into visual arts, craft and other cultural contexts and frameworks.
wearepanel.co.uk

About Creative Scotland

Creative Scotland is the public body that supports the arts, screen and creative industries across all parts of Scotland distributing funding provided by the Scottish Government and The National Lottery. Further information at creativescotland.com. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Learn more about the value of art and creativity in Scotland and join in at www.ourcreativevoice.scot

First published: 24 October 2022