25 years on: reflections on the Garter Lane Arts Centre Artists' Commissions

Garrett Phelan

“Working on this project was very intense. I wanted the artists to be totally in charge of everything, because that’s what I’d wanted as an artist. So the role of Garter Lane was to facilitate – to help the artist make exactly what they wanted to make and not direct an artist away from that. So if the artist wanted to take out a centrefold in the Munster Express, like Hermione [Wiltshire] did, we would get that done for her. I wanted Garter Lane to learn to manage an artist in the truest possible way.

“The experiment was based on trust, looking at curatorial trust – at what point did trust between artist and commissioner work well, break down, or to what extent could it be pushed. I had certain constraints in place – the artists’ project had to be legal, and it had to be financially accounted for. There were other basic standard constraints.

“I wanted to look beyond showing artworks in galleries, and towards more temporal practices happening outside them, which wasn’t really done at the time. It was meant to be a very fluid, natural project. For that reason, we didn’t intentionally record/document anything from it – anything that was recorded was done by the media.

“Four years was also a very lengthy commitment to make for all of us. Some projects went on for two years, some went on for one year, and then Theo [Sims]’s went on for a very long time. He designed a football strip and created a new crest for a local football team, St Joseph’s AFC. They went on to be very successful with that strip, and St Joseph’s AFC still uses the crest today. The way that project unfolded was beautiful. Theo seamlessly introduced himself into the community and built great relationships with people. Initially, this was situated around a bar, then it became part of his weekend – frequenting these spaces, engaging with people long-term to develop the kit for the club. It challenged ideas of sponsorship and how they affected a local club.

“I know Theo returned to Waterford during the course of [Dreamtime Ireland]. He reignited a relationship with some club members and was truly welcomed by them. Obviously it’s 27 years later, so a lot of the guys who played for the club at the time would be in their 50s now. But it’s definitely a part of their history. Other projects we worked on were substantially more controversial and were much more difficult. But with Theo’s project, there was this engagement with the local community that wasn’t contrived; it was natural and it happened in a very empathetic way, responding to the needs of the local community.

"His whole reason for doing this piece was to find a group of people who basically did what they do out of love and dedication, and for very little or zero cash. He formed an invested kinship with those outside of the art sphere. By aligning and presenting this collaboration, he illustrated that when different groups did not compete for public funds to support themselves, they worked together and achieved what they both wanted/needed.

“Hermione Wiltshire’s piece, Alien, was also brilliant. It was highly controversial, it registered with what was happening in the social climate locally at the time with subjects like the X case, the Pro-Choice movement, and access to information.

"In retrospect, what Mary Cloake [then Development Director of the Arts Council] and Annette [Clancy, then Director of Garter Lane] were willing and prepared to become involved in at the time was hugely challenging but they were willing to go for it. I would see it as an exciting, challenging, worthwhile experience for making art and testing ourselves. Much freer.”

Extract from the Arts Council Report, 1999

This project originated from an invitation to propose a project to Garter Lane Arts Centre (GLAC) in 1995. The project was accepted and funded unconditionally by the Arts Council of Ireland.

The curatorial aims and objectives were to avoid influencing or determining the criteria for the production of new works of art. They were to avoid guiding the understanding of contemporary artworks by the public. The curatorial concept of the project was to avoid using artists, art or the public responses to contrive publicity for the arts centre. This project was designed to support and facilitate artists in the creation of their work and also support the GLAC venue in the commissioning process. The ultimate curatorial experiment was to let responses, decisions and interpretations be determined naturally by both the public, the artists and the GLAC.

CURATORIAL AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

1. To establish an alternative temporary visual arts project for Garter Lane Arts Centre. This would be an important contributor to the development of energetic contemporary artforms in Ireland’s south-east region at that time.
2. To generate within the county of Waterford exposure to and debate surrounding current artistic theory and practice.
3. To broaden the criteria of the principal funding agency of the arts in Ireland, the Arts Council, by proposing unconditional financial support for this experimental visual arts project.
4. To create a situation where responses to works of art are determined by the public naturally and are not directly influenced by pre-defined curatorial criteria and exhibition design.
5. To attempt a neutral introduction of contemporary art and artists into the framework of Garter Lane Arts Centre and the associated communities.
6. To attempt to create the most idyllic situation for an artist to create a work of art.
7. To examine the process of creativity, exhibition and how art is mediated to an audience.

A traditional visual arts infrastructure already existed in Waterford and, at that time, GLAC had limited experience in working with contemporary artists and art forms. It was an important curatorial feature and learning mechanism that the administration of GLAC would be given the opportunity to be involved with every aspect of each project, and would ultimately be responsible for each project. The objective was that the administration of the GLAC was to be given the opportunity to question and become involved in a discourse relating to curatorial criteria or an artist’s proposal.

The GLAC would ultimately be responsible for how they themselves interpreted and commissioned the work. This would be vital if situations were to arise whereby the administration had to support their position in selecting and commissioning a work of art that proved to be in some manner contentious.

On acceptance of each artist’s commission it was also agreed that GLAC would be responsible for each project, unless otherwise stated by the artist, and, where requested by the artist, would mediate to the county of Waterford its position on the artist’s commissions and its independent position on creating a visual arts policy. It was important that this mediation was facilitated by known professionals within the County of Waterford rather than outside representatives who would be seen to mediate, in cultural terms, a what was visually good for Waterford position which might not be welcomed by the community.

The intention was to establish a policy of inviting an artist to create a work of art with as little curatorial or administrative intervention as possible. The brief was left entirely to the artist.

Through conversation with each artist during the invitation stage it was pointed out that each artist would be allowed to interact with Waterford County in whatever manner they wished to, as long as it was in keeping with the initial constraints. Artists were also informed that they themselves were to determine the structure and format for their project. If direction was requested by the artist, a system was in place which would provide the artist with facilities, support as well as an administrative backup.

Each artist was given complete control of their own project. The artist would determine their own schedule and format for the realisation of their project.

Constraints

The initial basic constraints for each artist’s commission were minimised in comparison with that of other curated projects of a similar experimental nature.

• The project had to be completely legal.
• The artist had to financially account for the project.
• The artist had to present receipts for costs in relation to the project to the accounts department of GLAC.
• The director of GLAC would be responsible for controlling the distribution of funds to
each artist.
• The artist had to submit a proposal for presentation to the curator and finally to the Director of GLAC for approval. If any concerns were to arise for GLAC, the artist would be requested to answer these concerns formally, either verbally or in a written format. This process existed so that all parties would gain an in-depth perception of
the work and an informed commitment could be made to each work by GLAC.
• Once a proposal had been approved of by GLAC, finances would be distributed to the artist and the project would begin.
• The Arts Council’s Arts Centre’s officer would be informed of the existence of all projects and happenings throughout the course of the entire project.

Ultimately this was a research development project that examined the perceptions and interpretations of the role of the curator, artist, administrator, audience, public art/art in public places, funding organisations, exhibition venues and formats etc.

Projects were not dependent on being realised in order to be deemed successful as the artists were entitled to experiment within the general aims and objectives of the project as a whole.

ARTISTS SELECTED

Tom Molloy – Irish – Waterford

Maurice O’Connell – Irish – Dublin

Hermione Wiltshire – British – London

Theo Simms – British – Belfast

Paul Gregg – American – County Clare/Dublin