The Glasgow School of Art

Close Of Play: Climate Emergency and Creative Action

Collecting the Climate Emergency: Process and Practice

12pm-1:30pm, 22 April 2022

The Museums and Heritage Sector declares a climate emergency. We can change lightbulbs to LEDs and examine climate control, but what are the radical questions? Should we be collecting less and differently? Should museums be loaning digital artefacts? Also, what makes an activist want to give their campaign materials to a collection? A group of different voices ranging from activists to archivists discuss these questions on Earth Day 2022 and move to action.  

This event is in association with Glasgow Women’s Library, University of the Arts London and The Glasgow School of Art.

Bookings via Eventbrite.

Speaker bios:

Roots & Branches is an ambitious, environmentally-driven partnership project between Manchester Museum, Museum Development North West and The Carbon Literacy Project. Over two years, Roots & Branches will see the roll-out of Carbon Literacy training to 1,500 individuals, accelerating the museum sector’s ability to respond to the climate crisis. Kaye Hardyman is from Museum Development North West (MDNW) team based at Manchester Museum. MDNW is one of nine regional Museum Development programmes funded by Arts Council England and they are leading the roll-out of Carbon Literacy training. Ian Bapty is Programme Manager at Museum Development North East and is supporting the delivery of the project through delivering training across the North of England with colleagues in Yorkshire and the North West.

Judy Willcocks is Head of the Central Saint Martins Museum & Study Collection and a Senior Research Fellow with a specialism in object-based learning. Judy is very motivated by social justice and her professional practice is centred on equity, access, anti-racism, wellbeing and climate action. She is the founder of the UAL Collections Action Group: Intersectional Environmentalism.

Elisabeth Thurlow is a digital preservation specialist, currently completing a Postgraduate Certificate in Digital Curation with the University of Salford. Elisabeth previously completed an MA in Contemporary History at Sussex University before undertaking archive traineeships at Kew Gardens and the Guardian. A registered archivist, Elisabeth graduated with a Postgraduate Diploma in Archives and Records Management from UCL. Early career roles include working as the first professional archivist at St George’s, University of London, and as an Assistant Archivist at UAL. More recently she held a digital role at the Royal College of Nursing and returned to UAL in 2018 to implement a digital preservation system. She recently worked with colleagues across the University to launch a new portal for UAL’s growing digital collections.

Polly Christie has worked in the arts sector for 25 years, promoting the access and use of art and archive collections for teaching, learning and research, both to academic and general audiences. She was a founder member of the Visual Arts Data Service, becoming Director in 2007; she established an Image Bank and then the Digitisation Unit for the University for the Creative Arts in 2009 and 2011 respectively, and then moved to Tate in 2012 to manage the Transforming Tate Britain: Archives & Access project. At GSA Polly has lead on the Archives & Collections Recovery Project over the last 7 years, overseeing a programme of conservation, digitisation, collection management and collection development work. She also lead on the Mac(k)cessibility Project and is now focusing on maximising engagement with GSA Archives and Collections through its visitor services, and through loans, exhibitions and display activities.

Dr Caroline Gausden is a curator and organiser based in Glasgow with a practice-based PhD in Feminist Manifestos and Social Art Practice from Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen. She is a Development worker for Programming and Curating at Glasgow Women’s Library.

Ellie Harrison is an artist & activist based in Glasgow (UK). Her work takes a variety of forms: from installations and performance / events, to lectures, live broadcasts & political campaigns. Using an array of strategies, Harrison investigates, exposes and challenges the absurd consequences of our capitalist system: from over-consumption, inequality and alienation, to privatisation and climate change – and explores the impact free-market forces are having on our society, and our individual day-to-day lives. In autumn 2021, a new and updated edition of her book The Glasgow Effect: A Tale of Class, Capitalism & Carbon Footprint was published by Luath Press. Her Early Warning Signs are also installed at four ‘host venues’ across the city to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the project during COP26.

This event is part of Glasgow Women’s Library 30 Anniversary programme and GSA’s Close of Play: Climate Emergency and Creative Action series, which explores the ways in which creative actions and multi-disciplinary practice can address climate emergency, sustainability, and climate justice.