The Gathering, a new exhibition at Longside Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, delves into the archives of the Arts Council Collection, the largest national loan collection of modern and contemporary British art managed by Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre. The exhibition looks at how a number of key works came to enter the Collection over the past 36 years; who was involved and why these particular pieces were acquired.
The Gathering is the first exhibition to come out of the new Select.ac scheme launched by the Arts Council Collection in 2008. This new initiative is a curatorial competition for post-graduate students, which invites them to create an exhibition drawn from the Collection. From its outset the intention of the Collection was to support artists at the beginning of their careers, in the same vein, Select.ac aims to support and nurture a new generation of curators. The selected exhibition, The Gathering, has been curated by Robert Dingle, who graduated this summer from the Masters Fine Arts (MFA) in Curating at Goldsmiths, University of London.
Featuring 31 works by 21 artists and with historical text and interviews, it traces seminal moments in the Collection’s history and captures the voices of the artists and selectors involved in the acquisition process. Artists represented include David Batchelor, Victor Burgin, Adam Chodzko, Keith Coventry, Tony Cragg, Martin Creed, Peter Doig, Gilbert & George, Richard Long, Rebecca Warren, Catherine Yass and Bettina von Zwehl.
THE GATHERING
Building the Arts Council Collection 1973 – 2009
Longside Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park
4 March – 18 April 2010