Honest Truth
Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art this week marks the 25th anniversary of its public opening. Duncan Dornan, Glasgow Life’s head of museums and collections, told Ross Crae the Honest Truth about the contemporary gallery’s impressive role – past, present and
A fascinating interview:
How important is it to mark GOMA’S anniversary?
It’s been a remarkable 25 years so it’s really important to recognise the work of the teams and the artists, and what it has done for Glaswegians and visitors to the city.
It’s a commissioning museum, so Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) has been able to support the artistic community financially and in developing new talent. It has also worked very hard to address contemporary issues and to give voice to residents.
How important has contemporary art been over the years?
It’s a powerful and effective way to give a voice to communities who may otherwise not easily appear in museums.
It can pick up on current issues and respond to modern concerns and questions and explain in a way that makes sense for a contemporary audience.
The team at GOMA has engaged with audiences, with people in the city, and used the museum and the production of art as a way to communicate and to allow people to be represented and heard. That’s a unique characteristic of contemporary art.
How pivotal has GOMA’S central location in Royal Exchange Square been?
It places art and also those subjects it can address and communities it can represent very much at the heart of the city.
I strongly believe all visitors to a museum get some sense, even if it’s subconscious, of whether the institution is really connected into its own community and contributing something. That the people who live round it are breathing life into it.
The workshops and the programmes, all the activities GOMA does for a huge range of people, young and old, are critical to its success, vibrancy and influencing the art that’s produced.
GOMA has also interpreted and addressed the history of the building it’s housed in, which started life as a tobacco merchant’s mansion. The impact of slavery and empire on Glasgow, Scotland and the UK is embodied in that structure.
Why was GOMA controversial when it first opened?
It hadn’t particularly picked up on up-and-coming artists.
It was maybe not looking at the cutting edge and making that connection into the contemporary art scene in Glasgow. There was also discussion about whether or not the works displayed were populist or really addressing contemporary issues.
It was something new, and in the contemporary art field I guess an element of controversy would almost be inevitable.
What have the highlights been over the 25 years?
It’s difficult to pick. A lot of the work done around the centenary of the First World War was powerful in connecting the memories of that society-changing conflict with others that are having the same level of impact around the world. One of the works that struck me was by John Akomfrah, which tied in with issues of war and conflict.
In 2014, Generation, a pan-scottish programme looking at a new generation of artists, was a powerful work. Every two years we’re a main centre for Glasgow International, the contemporary art festival, and that always brings new and exciting artists.
How will GOMA represent stories of the pandemic?
As we go forward, GOMA will have a vital role in starting to collect people’s personal experiences and find ways to represent that. We’re looking to start and develop conversations.
We know the experiences of different groups within society are diverse and we’ll begin to see that expressed through art as we emerge from the pandemic into whatever the next phase is.
The work created will reflect that and over time will bear a strong, accessible record for people to look back on this period and begin to understand it.