tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/vanda-dundee-44700/articlesV&A Dundee – The Conversation2020-06-24T15:30:22Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1414012020-06-24T15:30:22Z2020-06-24T15:30:22ZCoronavirus: how museums and galleries are preparing for the ‘new normal’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343770/original/file-20200624-132972-1x5xc8l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5917%2C3938&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Institutions such as the Natural History Museum in London are preparing to open their doors to the public once again. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">elRoce via Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The announcement by UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, that a range of public spaces in England, including museums and art galleries, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/jun/22/museums-galleries-and-cinemas-to-reopen-in-england-from-4-july">will be allowed to open on July 4</a> has everyone in the cultural sector working furiously to create a safe, inclusive and welcoming environment to entice people back in. </p>
<p>But they face many challenges. On top of the swingeing <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/libraries-museums-arts-galleries-funding-recourses-county-council-network-cnn-social-care-a8741271.html">cuts to arts funding across the nations</a> against which cultural providers have battled for decades, there is now the imperative to provide more inclusive and stimulating content to persuade audiences to return. </p>
<p>We’re lucky in Scotland in that we have a <a href="https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-framework-decision-making-scotlands-route-map-through-out-crisis-phase-2-update">bit longer to work on this</a> than our counterparts in England, but the issues remain the same. How can we make spaces as safe as possible while maintaining a welcoming atmosphere? And who is going to pay for these adjustments? How can we maintain the quality of our offerings and create content that is so compelling and engaging and inclusive that people will flock to see it despite the inconvenience of safety restrictions?</p>
<p>Social media has been vital to the way many people are navigating their way through lockdown, and the cultural sector – populated as it is with innovative and creative people – has risen to the occasion. One of the most successful and widely emulated initiatives was the <a href="https://mymodernmet.com/recreate-art-history-challenge/">Getty Museum’s online challenge</a> to people to create their own copy of an artwork using easily reached objects and members of their household. </p>
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<p>When the lockdown started, many museums, galleries and theatres moved quickly to get huge swaths of activity online. The <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org">Metropolitan Museum of Art</a> in New York, for example, has really <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/now-at-the-met/2020/coronavirus-response-president-director">finessed its online offering</a>. At my university in Dundee, the world-renowned <a href="https://www.dundee.ac.uk/cooper-gallery/aboutus/cooper-gallery/">Cooper Gallery</a> at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design had programmed a cutting-edge exhibition project with <a href="https://www.anothergaze.com/suddenly-woman-spectator-conversation-interview-feminism-laura-mulvey/">Laura Mulvey</a>. The plan was to examine
her work with her collaborator, the <a href="https://www.dundee.ac.uk/cooper-gallery/exhibitions/aisforavant-gardezisforzerolauramulveypeterwollen/?utm_content=buffer4ed5d&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer">avant-garde filmmaker Peter Wollen</a>, who passed away in December 2019 at the age of 81. We were unable to open the exhibition because of lockdown. Principal curator <a href="https://www.dundee.ac.uk/people/sophia-hao">Sophia Hao</a> developed an <a href="https://sites.dundee.ac.uk/cooper-gallery-inbetween/">online programme of events</a> that has explored the work in an immersive and participatory way including live-streamed talks and writing projects.</p>
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<h2>Engaging in the virtual space</h2>
<p>Online access to vast collections of artworks and magnificent performances has been a genuine joy to many people for whom the loss of access to culture would otherwise have been depressing. The fact that this work is now available to a much wider audience than can actually physically go to the galleries has meant that many non-traditional audiences are now able to engage with work that they would otherwise never have come across. I hope that this taster has encouraged many more people to really explore a new range of artistic and cultural offerings that they previously considered not to be for them.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343801/original/file-20200624-132982-td0o42.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343801/original/file-20200624-132982-td0o42.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343801/original/file-20200624-132982-td0o42.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343801/original/file-20200624-132982-td0o42.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343801/original/file-20200624-132982-td0o42.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=616&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343801/original/file-20200624-132982-td0o42.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=616&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343801/original/file-20200624-132982-td0o42.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=616&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">‘Whistler’s Aubergine’ : a new take on the classic painting Whistler’s Mother.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cate Newton</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Of course, those without access to fast broadband and up-to-date technology are still out in the cold. Access to free, inclusive, location-based engagement projects that are such an important part of the work of all museums and galleries has been cut off.</p>
<h2>Safe – and sound</h2>
<p>At the top of everyone’s agenda is of course safety. Maintaining physical restrictions with clear, accessible signage outlining lanes and one-way systems should be simple enough for creative exhibition designers. But it’s going to take a lot more to earn audience confidence. </p>
<p>In Dundee, the main players in the cultural sector including V&A Dundee, Dundee Contemporary Arts, both universities and the city council are working collaboratively to create strategic plans for the reopening of venues.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343748/original/file-20200624-132982-288z9m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343748/original/file-20200624-132982-288z9m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=280&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343748/original/file-20200624-132982-288z9m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=280&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343748/original/file-20200624-132982-288z9m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=280&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343748/original/file-20200624-132982-288z9m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343748/original/file-20200624-132982-288z9m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343748/original/file-20200624-132982-288z9m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The V&A in Dundee is working with other institutions in the city on a post-lockdown strategy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">DigitalNatureScotland via Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>As well as developing clear messages about the value of culture to society and the economy as well as public health and communities, we are working on practical solutions to some of the issues. For example, building on a University of Dundee initiative to engage the local crafting community to create <a href="https://www.dundee.ac.uk/stories/stitch-time-saves-ninewells">scrubs and masks for NHS workers</a> a project is in development to commission local craft makers and small businesses to make masks for the cultural and tourist venues in the city. This will not only support self-employed practitioners to earn, but it will hopefully normalise the wearing of masks and facilitate a caring and community focused atmosphere in arts spaces.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343756/original/file-20200624-133002-1o6dhe7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343756/original/file-20200624-133002-1o6dhe7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343756/original/file-20200624-133002-1o6dhe7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343756/original/file-20200624-133002-1o6dhe7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343756/original/file-20200624-133002-1o6dhe7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343756/original/file-20200624-133002-1o6dhe7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343756/original/file-20200624-133002-1o6dhe7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The ‘Scrubs Project’ has engaged local crafters to create masks and safety equipment for NHS workers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Helen Healy</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Building audience confidence is a huge part of the equation, but it must be complemented by a renewed and innovative sense of purpose among curators and producers. There is an imperative to <a href="https://theconversation.com/director-of-science-at-kew-its-time-to-decolonise-botanical-collections-141070">decolonise</a> the way we display museum collections and programme exhibitions and theatrical productions and we must focus far more on accessibility, inclusion, equality and diversity. Alongside this, there is a need to create genuinely engaging content that will be strong, exciting and relevant enough to make it worthwhile coming out of lockdown bubbles.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/director-of-science-at-kew-its-time-to-decolonise-botanical-collections-141070">Director of science at Kew: it's time to decolonise botanical collections</a>
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<p>Let’s just hope that funding is allocated to make this transition possible and that the multifaceted benefits of engagement with the arts are recognised as the essential element of the human experience that we know it to be. If anyone can come up with innovative designs to deal with these issues, it’s a sector that is populated by some of the most creative people in the country.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/141401/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Janice Aitken is a trustee of Dundee Women's Aid, Tin Roof Artists collective, the Duncan of Jordanstone Centenary Trust.</span></em></p>Cultural institutions are puzzling out to to make their buildings exciting and safe at the same time.Janice Aitken, Reader in Art and Design, University of DundeeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1060042018-11-08T15:07:38Z2018-11-08T15:07:38ZThe V&A in Dundee – the city shares more than a century of history with the London museum<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244398/original/file-20181107-74754-55e2f9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.vam.ac.uk/dundee">V&A Dundee</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Glowing from enthusiastic reviews and well-deserved plaudits since the spectacular Kengo Kuma building was unveiled in September 2018, the <a href="https://www.vam.ac.uk/dundee/">V&A Dundee</a> – the first V&A outside of London – has much longer standing connections with the city than many people realise.</p>
<p>Billed as Scotland’s first design museum, the building houses a permanent new <a href="https://www.vam.ac.uk/dundee/exhibitions/scottish-design-galleries">Scottish Design Gallery</a> and space for circulating exhibitions. Discovering this hidden history helps reflect on this new V&A, the stories it tells and the stories it chooses to leave out – chiefly, why a gallery dedicated to telling the story of Scottish design, focuses only on the past 600 years. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244386/original/file-20181107-74766-s6wmcw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244386/original/file-20181107-74766-s6wmcw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=693&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244386/original/file-20181107-74766-s6wmcw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=693&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244386/original/file-20181107-74766-s6wmcw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=693&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244386/original/file-20181107-74766-s6wmcw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=871&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244386/original/file-20181107-74766-s6wmcw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=871&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244386/original/file-20181107-74766-s6wmcw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=871&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The book references 5,000 years of Scottish design, but the V&A does not.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Thames & Hudson</span></span>
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<p>Published to coincide with the opening of the new V&A, <a href="https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-story-of-scottish-design/philip-long/joanna-norman/9780500480335">The Story of Scottish Design</a> acknowledges more than 5,000 years of Scottish design history. The gallery includes accomplished objects whose design consciously references Scotland’s earlier heritage, such as a <a href="http://www.groamhouse.org.uk/index.asp?pageid=36914">George Bain</a> carpet, an <a href="http://www.alexander-ritchie.co.uk/history.htm">Alexander Ritchie</a> firescreen, and metalwork designed by <a href="https://www.dundee.ac.uk/museum/exhibitions/fineart/duncan/">John Duncan</a> – all showcasing the two Celtic revivals of the <a href="https://arthist.net/archive/11724/view=pdf">late 19th century</a> and post-war period <a href="http://www.groamhouse.org.uk/index.asp?pageid=36914">after 1945</a>.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.vam.ac.uk/shop/a-living-room-for-the-city-155805.html">A Living Room for the City</a> (as Kuma described the new museum), <a href="https://www.vam.ac.uk/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIsp7V5p603gIV6LDtCh0pGQi8EAAYASAAEgLwH_D_BwE">V&A London</a> director Tristram Hunt notes an important historical connection to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert – after whom the V&A is named – thanks to her love of Scotland. In 1844 the royal couple made a visit to Dundee during one of their early trips to the Highlands. And it is in the 19th century that the reasons can be found as to why the museum has decided not to provide the full history of Scottish design.</p>
<p>The strengths of the V&A’s own Scottish collection, which have shaped today’s Scottish Design Gallery, lie in the period from the 15th century to present. This reflects the ethos of the 19th-century V&A. However, my <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jhc/article-abstract/27/1/73/694312?redirectedFrom=fulltext">research</a> shows that Dundee and the V&A have a history that goes back to the late 1880s – which did embrace earlier Scottish design from the 8th century onwards. To understand why this material might not be present in V&A Dundee, we need to look at the history of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1179/1461957115Y.0000000011">creating and circulating replica artefacts</a>, and what has happened to them since.</p>
<h2>V&A beginnings</h2>
<p>The V&A was originally established to improve the design of popular manufactured goods, by providing suitable models for artists and others needing technical training. Native prehistoric design was not a part of that preferred 19th century design repertoire, but <a href="http://www.medievalists.net/2015/09/who-were-the-celts-the-british-museum-offers-answers-with-new-exhibition/">post-Roman Christian Celtic art</a> styles burst on to the scene in <a href="https://www.nms.ac.uk/grammarofornament">Owen Jones’s influential Grammar of Ornament</a> (1856), an illustrated book of world designs intended to improve the repertoire of craftspeople.</p>
<p>The South Kensington Museum, as it was then known, acquired just two examples of Scottish early Christian art, still on display in the V&A – a decorated Pictish cross slab from <a href="https://canmore.org.uk/site/15280/nigg">Nigg</a> and the Anglo-Saxon <a href="https://canmore.org.uk/site/66586/ruthwell-cross">Ruthwell Cross</a>. These were plaster casts, for replicas that could be circulated among international museums were the in thing 150 years ago.</p>
<p>Antiquarians made efforts to interest curators in acquiring more casts of early and later medieval Scots sculptures, but were rebuffed. As <a href="https://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/25962">Gerard Baldwin Brown</a>, Professor of Fine Art at Edinburgh University <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jhc/article-abstract/27/1/73/694312?redirectedFrom=fulltext">noted</a> in 1902, the V&A was “not a place where national self-love is flattered”.</p>
<h2>Out in the provinces</h2>
<p>While the V&A did not invest much in earlier Scottish material for itself, it supported Scottish museums in copying Celtic sculptures that might inspire local artists to improve the design of gravestones, for instance.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244473/original/file-20181108-74778-1y4keig.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244473/original/file-20181108-74778-1y4keig.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=614&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244473/original/file-20181108-74778-1y4keig.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=614&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244473/original/file-20181108-74778-1y4keig.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=614&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244473/original/file-20181108-74778-1y4keig.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=771&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244473/original/file-20181108-74778-1y4keig.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=771&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244473/original/file-20181108-74778-1y4keig.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=771&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Nigg Pictish cross slab.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Nigg_Pictish_cross_slab_-_Flickr_-_S._Rae_%285%29.jpg">S Rae/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>At the turn of the century, in other parts of Scotland, Dublin, Cardiff and the Isle of Man, there was a strong interest in acquiring collections of <a href="https://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/23640/1/Foster%202015%20-%20Celtic%20collections%20imperial%20connections%20-%20History%20Scotland%2015-2.pdf">Celtic crosses</a>. Serious scholarship on these monuments was just <a href="https://www.scottishheritagehub.com/content/232-scholarship-1990s">maturing</a> and the regionally distinctive sculpture spoke to an awakening sense of national identities.</p>
<p>The V&A supported the creation of such collections as part of the package of loans, grants and advice to provincial museums delivered by its circulation department to newly founded operations in Glasgow, Dundee, Paisley and Aberdeen (in Edinburgh the Royal Scottish Museum originated as a branch of the V&A).</p>
<h2>The V&A in Dundee then and now</h2>
<p>As the 19th century ended and the 20th century began, Dundee’s curator <a href="https://www.wikiart.org/en/james-archer/john-maclauchlan-chief-librarian-of-dundee-free-library-1893">John Maclauchlan</a> was highly appreciative of the V&A’s support. Between 1894 and 1917 V&A staff visited and advised on annual loan collection displays, educating teachers about new exhibitions, and giving lantern-slide lectures to the public. The Albert Institute (now <a href="https://www.mcmanus.co.uk/">The McManus</a>) had begun acquiring plaster casts of sculptures and other types of reproductions, including the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Elgin-Marbles">Elgin Marbles</a>. In 1904, Dundee acquired casts of some of the finest Celtic crosses in Scotland.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244479/original/file-20181108-74760-drutmv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244479/original/file-20181108-74760-drutmv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244479/original/file-20181108-74760-drutmv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244479/original/file-20181108-74760-drutmv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244479/original/file-20181108-74760-drutmv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244479/original/file-20181108-74760-drutmv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244479/original/file-20181108-74760-drutmv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The new Scottish Design Gallery at the V&A Dundee.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.vam.ac.uk/dundee?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI2O_E49LD3gIVYSjTCh3amwLrEAAYASAAEgJ7NfD_BwE">V&A Dundee</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Visitors to Dundee’s new V&A will hopefully get a chance to visit the McManus Gallery whose earlier history is bound up with the V&A in London. While a plaster cast, particularly a Scottish Celtic subject, might today have spoken for that earlier relationship, none of Dundee’s V&A-assisted collection now survives (although equivalent collections do in Glasgow’s <a href="https://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/museums/venues/kelvingrove-art-gallery-and-museum">Kelvingrove</a> and <a href="http://www.aagm.co.uk/">Aberdeen Art Gallery</a>. </p>
<p>The evolution of the collection in London has framed the chronological breadth of V&A Dundee’s Scottish Design Gallery. The point is not to criticise, but to promote awareness and debate. V&A Dundee should have a profound impact for generations on how people living in Scotland and international visitors alike perceive the pedigree and value of Scotland’s extended design history. How the institution realises its aims depends upon both vision and accidents of its history.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106004/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sally Foster has received/is receiving funding from the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Historic Environment Scotland and AHRC for various research projects. </span></em></p>Thanks to the 19th-century obsession with plaster casts of artefacts, Dundee began a relationship with London’s V&A long ago.Sally Foster, Lecturer in Heritage and Conservation, History and Politics, University of StirlingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/849282017-10-13T14:39:37Z2017-10-13T14:39:37ZA beacon of urban renewal: how post-industrial Dundee transformed itself<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189766/original/file-20171011-16686-2yjlm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">V A from River AR</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Creativity and culture have always contributed enormously to the evolution of our societies, but in recent years there has been a growing realisation of the value of the arts as an economic driver.</p>
<p>Cities have woken up to the fact that a vibrant cultural offering makes people want to live there, and the numbers back this up. <a href="https://nycfuture.org/pdf/Creative-New-York-2015.pdf">New York</a> is home to nearly 14,000 arts-related businesses employing nearly 300,000 people and generating revenues of $230 billion each year. <a href="https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/creative-industries-in-london.pdf">London’s</a> creative industry sector is worth £35 billon and employs around 800,000 people.</p>
<p>These may be massive global cities, but in Dundee, a small city on the east coast of Scotland, the creative industries produce a total annual <a href="https://www.rgu.ac.uk/download.cfm?downloadfile=6117EE60-FB84-11E3-80660050568D00BF&typename=dmFile&fieldname=filename">turnover</a> of £190m and provide employment for 3,000 people. When you consider that the population of the city is just 150,000, you get some indication of the importance of the cultural sector to its economic well-being.</p>
<h2>Renaissance city</h2>
<p>Dundee is a dynamic city with a <a href="http://www.dundeecityofdesign.com/downloads/Dundee%20Cultural%20Strategy_online.pdf">strong cultural identity</a> and a <a href="http://creativedundee.com/2015/08/dundee-creative-industries-eu-study/">history of innovation and creativity</a>. But by the late 1980s, profound <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264816898_The_decline_of_jute_and_the_de-globalisation_of_Dundee">post-industrial decline</a> had turned a once proud and world-facing city into a fragmented shadow of its former self.</p>
<p>Now the city famed for <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/scottishhistory/victorian/trails_victorian_dundee.shtml">jute, jam and journalism</a> – the three Js that defined its economy and global reputation – has become home to a thriving digital media industry, internationally respected universities, world-renowned <a href="http://www.drugdiscovery.dundee.ac.uk/about-us/news">drug discovery</a> and medical <a href="http://medicine.dundee.ac.uk/main-news">advancements</a>, not to mention a vibrant design and creative sector.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/m_pSyg0UPgA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">V&A Dundee/YouTube.</span></figcaption>
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<p><a href="http://www.archdaily.com/tag/kengo-kuma">Kengo Kuma’s</a> new <a href="https://www.vandadundee.org/building-vanda-dundee/the-building">Victoria and Albert building</a> which sits at the heart of Dundee’s £1 billion <a href="https://www.dundeewaterfront.com/about/masterplan">waterfront regeneration</a>, is already having a transformative effect, with investment flowing into the city and businesses springing up to service the anticipated tourist numbers.</p>
<p>The economist <a href="http://luskin.ucla.edu/person/allen-j-scott/">Allen Scott</a> refers to the “<a href="http://escholarship.org/uc/item/77m9g2g6#page-1">new economies</a>” of post-industrial cities, saying:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The peculiar forms of economic order that are in the ascendant today represent a marked shift away from the massified structures of production and the rigid labour markets that typified <a href="http://www.cddc.vt.edu/digitalfordism/fordism_materials/thompson.htm">fordism</a>… [and are] made up of sectors such as the high-technology industries; neo-artisan manufacturing; business and financial services; cultural-product industries (including the media).</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is surely an apt description of contemporary Dundee, where the solution becomes one of nurturing and retaining diverse and rich talent.</p>
<h2>Voyage of rediscovery</h2>
<p>The fact that the V&A will soon open its first building outside of London coupled with its elite <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-30275768">UNESCO City of Design status</a>, means that Dundee is finally being recognised as a design hothouse. Both of these initiatives are the result of dogged determination by groups of passionate people within the city, who believe in the city and wouldn’t live anywhere else. Why move when you can help build?</p>
<p>It is a <a href="http://en.unesco.org/creativity/creative-economy-report-2013">well-evidenced</a> fact that the creative and cultural economy is growing, and smaller cities like Dundee can benefit from the opportunity to take their share of this market. Many of the building blocks are already in place. The city enjoys a great resource of talent nurtured by the universities of Dundee and Abertay, and a great coastal location with a wealth of local heritage.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189774/original/file-20171011-15748-epex7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189774/original/file-20171011-15748-epex7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189774/original/file-20171011-15748-epex7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189774/original/file-20171011-15748-epex7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189774/original/file-20171011-15748-epex7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189774/original/file-20171011-15748-epex7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189774/original/file-20171011-15748-epex7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dundee sits on the River Tay, looking over to Fife.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ernpics/37489411666/in/pool-dundee/">Eric Niven/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This and Dundee’s transformation is not lost on the growing audience for cultural tourism. A thriving cultural scene can drive exponential growth in both tourism and inward investment. It makes a place not just attractive to visit, but also to live, study and work in. This in turn engenders civic pride, a strong identity and a burgeoning self-confidence.</p>
<h2>Lessons to be learnt</h2>
<p>Dundee’s path to “rediscovery” has much to offer other cities. It’s not based around any individual’s ambition or success. It represents a strong partnership between government, local authorities, agencies, industry, academia and education, where organisations and focused like-minded individuals have agreed a shared vision.</p>
<p>Many people cite the establishment of <a href="http://www.dca.org.uk/about">Dundee Contemporary Arts</a> (DCA) as the turning point for this cultural shift. DCA opened in 1999, but the idea of building a visual arts centre in Dundee was established in the early 1980s with the aim of brightening up a decaying industrial townscape. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190162/original/file-20171013-11680-1v2epa6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190162/original/file-20171013-11680-1v2epa6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190162/original/file-20171013-11680-1v2epa6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190162/original/file-20171013-11680-1v2epa6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190162/original/file-20171013-11680-1v2epa6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190162/original/file-20171013-11680-1v2epa6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190162/original/file-20171013-11680-1v2epa6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The creation of the DCA - Dundee Contemporary Arts - in 1999 prompted a cultural shift in the city.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">DCA</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The establishment of a <a href="https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/627b195f-7918-3bae-a3dc-c72ce077029a">biological sciences centre</a> at the University of Dundee effectively kickstarted a new focus in both academia and spin-off businesses around drug discovery. This new identity, labelled <a href="http://www.biodundee.co.uk/About+BioDundee/">Bio-Dundee</a>, harnessed the notion of a dense cluster of scientists and businesses compressed within a three-mile radius. The opportunities for growth on a global scale attracted talent to Dundee from all over the world, and the talent wanted good housing and good schools, but also good cultural and recreational provision. </p>
<p>In the late 1980s to mid 1990s, a new industry began to form in Dundee. Driven by closure of the <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/timex-closes-dundee-factory-company-leaves-city-after-bitter-dispute-1464205.html">Timex factory</a> which was producing <a href="https://www.extremetech.com/computing/127109-zx-spectrum-30-years-old-and-still-one-of-the-cheapest-computers-ever-made">ZX Spectrum computers</a>, a bedroom computer games industry started to emerge, with the globally successful game <a href="https://readonlymemory.vg/the-making-of-lemmings/">Lemmings</a> and later <a href="https://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/fp/dundee-games-designer-says-two-decades-grand-theft-auto-boosted-citys-reputation/">Grand Theft Auto</a> exemplifying its ambition.</p>
<p>Throughout the 1990s the games industry cluster grew, with University of Abertay launching the world’s first <a href="https://www.abertay.ac.uk/discover/academic-schools/arts-media-computer-games/">computer games degree programme</a>, attracting students and other creatives to the city, which was now garnering international acclaim. The <a href="http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/interactive-tayside-profile">Interactive Tayside</a> business support agency was set up by Scottish Enterprise Tayside, and an industrial strategy was formed.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189773/original/file-20171011-16653-ba8vqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189773/original/file-20171011-16653-ba8vqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189773/original/file-20171011-16653-ba8vqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189773/original/file-20171011-16653-ba8vqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189773/original/file-20171011-16653-ba8vqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189773/original/file-20171011-16653-ba8vqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189773/original/file-20171011-16653-ba8vqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Desperate Dan, a much-loved character from The Dandy, a comic first published in 1937 by Dundee publishers DC Thomson.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seapigeon/37459911032/in/pool-dundee/">Graeme/Flickr</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Since then, the city has been able to retain and attract creative talent from all over the world, causing a rising swell of demand, activity and development. In short, people took risks, invested their lives, generated success, and government took note. Investment soon followed.</p>
<p>The city’s continuing evolution is part of a journey which began centuries ago with Dundee’s trailblazing achievements in exploration, trade and communications, and is based on authentic activity and indigenous growth. Linen and textiles, education, jute, jam, journalism, drug and medical research, computer gaming and the creative and cultural industries have all grown from activities that were started by citizens of Dundee, in a physical and political landscape both challenging and complementary, and changing with the times.</p>
<p>Dundee is not built around recommissioning a brownfield site, developing buildings and then incentivising their use. It is in fact the very opposite: strong, industrious and innovative activity attracting further development funding. Dundee has always been about adapting to change and exploring new opportunities. A new journey of discovery has begun.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/84928/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Harris has received funding from AHRC; Scottish Enterprise; Creative Scotland; Scottish Arts Council; Scottish Government.
Paul Harris is Chair of Regional Screen Scotland.</span></em></p>Many cities could learn from Dundee, which overcame industrial decline to become a UNESCO City of Design, with a shiny new cityscape to matchPaul Harris, Professor and Dean of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, University of DundeeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.