Front cover: Sarah
Browne: The gift, 2003, mixed-media installation;
courtesy the artist
CIRCA 108 Editorial Adviser:
Cian Donnelly
Theme: Collectors and Collecting;
Theme Coordinator: Liz Aders
Introduction Liz
Aders introduces the collection theme
Enigma variations: collecting
'new media' New
media take the collector into unknown territory.
Noel Sheridan sketches the paths that brought us
to the flatscreen image and the dangling video lead.
Quote: "My real point
is that without collectors you would not now have
your Matisses, Cézannes or Chardins. (Is
that woman knitting?)"
On collectability How
do you decide what or whom to collect? Fergus McCaffrey
surveys the New York minefield. Quote:
"...insider information is incredibly important.
Talk and gossip about who is collecting which artists
and why, what's hot right now, and what's on its
way back."
The digital collector Has
the internet changed the way we buy and sell art?
Gemma Tipton samples some sites to see what's going
on out there in cyberspace.
Quote:
"The...online demo currently demonstrates that
Robert Rauschenberg had a 48% fall in turnover between
2002 and 2003, and that his price index had fallen
by 21% too."
How to collect You
think you're ready to take the collecting plunge,
but you wonder where to start. CIRCA interviewed
Anya von Gösseln, long-time adviser to many
collectors, about the ways and means.
Quote: "By the way, you
would be better off going into vintage cars or wines
if most of what I've said scares you."
Under the hammer - collecting
at auction in Ireland The
secondary market for art in Ireland has grown at
a stunning pace. Jane Eckett explains how and why. Quote:
"Is the increasing amount of contemporary art
seen at auction a result of expedience in the face
of an ever-dwindling source of good quality older
pictures?"
From storeroom to showroom You're
a public space with a growing collection. How best
do you use it? Nathalie Weadick describes some alternatives.
Quote: "Expanding the
possible meanings generated by and around the works
of art within a collection, devising new ways of
showing works of art, and creating structures within
which to set up themes with conviction, animation
and flexibility, is key to a living collection."
Purging that 'sentiment
d'incomplitude' Why
collect? It's hard to find a full answer, but Peter
Murray tackles the question.
Quote: "...for every
woman there seems to be a queue of men - mostly
business and professional people - hungry to enter
this competitive field of action and acquisition.
Some do so with intelligence and acumen, others
with the frightening efficiency of a vacuum cleaner."
Feature
Dislocate,
regenerate and flow - Part II: the practice of process This
is Part II of a three-part investigation by Regina
Gleeson into globalisation's impact on art practice.
This work was commissioned by the Arts Council of
Ireland / An Chomhairle Eala’on in association with
Critical Voices 2003.
Quote:
"This all-inclusive modus operandi would seem
to suggest that the birth of collaborative practice
signals the imminent death of the artist."
