First off, apologies for the lack of posts on this blog over the last few months. The truth is, that after the enormous success of Shauna McMullan’s Blue Spine Collection exhibition and Nicky Bird’s Unsorted Donations event, the Making Space project has been on a bit of a hiatus. We’ve had a very busy summer at Glasgow Women’s Library, when after an extended period of anticipation, we finally packed our bags and boxes and moved into the Mitchell Library. We are now in the former Anderston Library, on 15 Berkeley Street; our new phone number is 0141 248 9969. We’d love to see you, so please feel free to drop by.
But have no fears, Making Space is coming back with a bang. I am absolutely thrilled to reveal that accomplished film-maker Jane McInally is currently working on Making Space: The Movie (official title not yet available)! The film will feature photographs, audio clips, and video footage of the many stages of Making Space, from the selection of artists to their final exhibitions. If all goes to plan, it will be possible to access the film from this website in the near future.
We are also looking forward to 2 events over the next couple of weeks. We are going to have a celebratory lunch for the Making Space group, to say a big thank you for all the help they gave us with ideas, feedback, and even participation in the final artworks. The group will be first in line to view the Making Space film, after all, they have been the entertaining, enthusiastic and rather essential stars of the show!
Next up, GWL is proud to host the Making Space discussion event. Since the launch of the project, a symposium has been one of the most important things on our agenda. We wanted the chance to discuss our ideas about encouraging diverse women to participate in the arts; and to voice our concerns over the lack of public/permanent representation of women’s cultural contributions in Glasgow. (Did you know there are only 3 statues of women in Glasgow? Do you know who they are?)
We have invited key people involved in the arts, in education, in policy-making and politics, and in equalities and women’s issues, as well as members of the Making Space group and the GWL staff and volunteer team. We want to get everyone together and get talking, with the help of Shauna and Nicky who will be giving presentations on their work and what has been achieved with Making Space so far. The most important aim is to show everyone how important it is for us to reach Phase 2 of the project: to create a new public artwork for Scotland!
