Dundee Contemporary Arts
Encyclopedia
Dundee
Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
which houses two contemporary art galleries
Art gallery
An art gallery or art museum is a building or space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art.Museums can be public or private, but what distinguishes a museum is the ownership of a collection...
, a two-screen cinema
Movie theater
A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....
, a print studio
Printmaking
Printmaking is the process of making artworks by printing, normally on paper. Printmaking normally covers only the process of creating prints with an element of originality, rather than just being a photographic reproduction of a painting. Except in the case of monotyping, the process is capable...
, a visual research centre and a café bar.
History
DCA opened on March 20, 1999, but the idea of establishing a visual arts centre in Dundee had been discussed by many concerned parties from the mid-1980s. In particular, there was a desire to both nurture the students and graduates of the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design (now a faculty of the University of DundeeUniversity of Dundee
The University of Dundee is a university based in the city and Royal burgh of Dundee on eastern coast of the central Lowlands of Scotland and with a small number of institutions elsewhere....
and one of the leading art colleges in the UK) and to build upon the work of those involved with the (now defunct) Seagate Gallery and Dundee Printmakers' Workshop. Additionally, it was hoped that the project would replace and improve upon the only arthouse cinema in Dundee - the part-time Steps Theatre, which closed when DCA, with its two-screen (and full-time) cinema, opened.
Initiated by Dundee Printmakers Workshop (Chaired by Sheena Bell and Vice Chair Douglas Black), a partnership was formed between the Council, the University of Dundee and a newly-formed company, Dundee Contemporary Arts, led by Sheena Bell (founding Chair), Douglas Black, Steve Grimmond, Ian Howard, John McDougall and Charles McKean. In March 1995, the Council purchased a semi-derelict garage at 152 Nethergate, favoured due to its geographical proximity to the Dundee Repertory Theatre
Dundee Repertory Theatre
Dundee Repertory Theatre or Dundee Rep is a theatre and arts company in the city of Dundee, Scotland. It operates as both a producing house - staging at least six of its own productions each year, and a receiving house - hosting work from visiting companies throughout Scotland and the United...
and the University. At the time of purchase, the building was being used as an unofficial skatepark
Skatepark
A skatepark is a purpose-built recreational environment made for skateboarding, BMX, aggressive inline skating and scooters. A skatepark may contain half-pipes, quarter pipes, spine transfers, handrails, funboxes, vert ramps, pyramids, banked ramps, full pipes, pools, bowls, snake runs stairsets,...
by local skateboarders. Although the creative usage intended for the building was seen as a positive outcome by many skateboarders (as opposed to it become just a car park or a block of flats), it still led to some resentment towards the Council amongst skateboarders, who had invested their time and money cleaning up the original three-storey building and constructing several elaborate, custom-fit ramps. The resentment was primarily due to the inability of the Council to provide a place to store the ramps they had built, due to this the ramps had to be destroyed. It was not until May 1998, when a local church invested £43,000 pounds in a new skatepark, that the issue was finally resolved. Many skateboarders are still hoping for some kind of Exhibition to celebrate its former usage.
The subsequent international design competition to create a new building was won in July 1996 by Richard Murphy Architects
Richard Murphy (architect)
Richard Murphy OBE is an architect based in Edinburgh, Scotland, and principal architect in Richard Murphy Architects.-History:Murphy was educated at Newcastle and Edinburgh Universities, and has taught at the latter. He formed his practice in 1991, which has since grown to over twenty architects,...
. The resulting building was instantly hailed as an innovative modern space. The final cost of the construction was £9 million. The centre currently receives approximately 300,000 visitors per year. On the whole, most local people in Dundee believe DCA to be a success, although some (particularly callers to the local phone-in radio show, the Tay Talk-In) have criticised it for exhibiting modern, conceptual art
Conceptual art
Conceptual art is art in which the concept or idea involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. Many of the works, sometimes called installations, of the artist Sol LeWitt may be constructed by anyone simply by following a set of written instructions...
at the expense of more traditional work.
In addition to the art shows and films, DCA has also hosted festivals such as Kill Your Timid Notion
Kill Your Timid Notion
KYTN is an experimental arts festival that occurs annually in Dundee, Scotland. It has been based in the DCA venue since its inception in 2003. The festival lasts a weekend and combines left-field musical performances and experimental cinema showcases...
which combine experimental music with expanded avant garde cinema and symposia.
The current director of DCA is Clive Gillman.
Facilities
- Art Gallery: A large variety of local, national and international artists have had their work presented at DCA, including: Beck's Futures prize winner Roderick BuchananRoderick BuchananRoderick Buchanan is a Scottish artist working in the fields of installation, film and photography.After attending Thomas Muir High School, Buchanan studied at the Glasgow School of Art in the 1980s, where he was part of a group later described as "The Irascibles", which included fellow students...
, Turner PrizeTurner PrizeThe Turner Prize, named after the painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist under the age of 50. Awarding the prize is organised by the Tate gallery and staged at Tate Britain. Since its beginnings in 1984 it has become the United Kingdom's most publicised...
winner Simon StarlingSimon StarlingSimon Starling is an English conceptual artist and was the winner of the 2005 Turner Prize. He lives and works in Copenhagen and Berlin, and is a professor of art at the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main.-Biography:...
, Turner PrizeTurner PrizeThe Turner Prize, named after the painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist under the age of 50. Awarding the prize is organised by the Tate gallery and staged at Tate Britain. Since its beginnings in 1984 it has become the United Kingdom's most publicised...
nominee Fiona BannerFiona BannerFiona Banner is an English artist, who was short-listed for the Turner Prize in 2002. In 2010, she produced new work for a Duveen Hall commission at Tate Britain. She is one of the Young British Artists.-Life and work:...
, and acclaimed video artist Eija-Liisa AhtilaEija-Liisa AhtilaEija-Liisa Ahtila is a video artist and photographer. She lives and works in Helsinki.In 1998 Eija-Liisa Ahtila participated in the second edition of Manifesta. She was the winner of the inaugural Vincent Award in 2000. In 2002 she had a solo show at Tate Modern, and in 2006 her multi-screen video...
.
- Print Studio: DCA print studio offers a range of classes for both professional and amateur artists and also complete beginners.
- Two-Screen Cinema: DCA's cinema has screened a variety of works, from blockbusters such as The Da Vinci CodeThe Da Vinci Code (film)The Da Vinci Code is a 2006 American mystery thriller film directed by Ron Howard. The screenplay was written by Akiva Goldsman and based on Dan Brown's worldwide bestselling 2003 novel, The Da Vinci Code...
to Andy Warhol'sAndy WarholAndrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
rarely seen 1960's "Screen Tests" series. For the most part, however, it screens classic and modern arthouseArt filmAn art film is the result of filmmaking which is typically a serious, independent film aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience...
cinema.
- Visual Research Centre: Unlike many visual research centres, the one run between DCA and the University of Dundee is open to the public. The Centre itself is staffed by researchers and PhDPHDPHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
students belonging to the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design.