Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) is the most visited modern and contemporary art museum in Scotland. Housed in an iconic building located in the heart of the city, it also has a unique position in Glasgow as a collecting institution of contemporary art, a civic space highly visited by a wide demographic, and a key tourist attraction for a world class city. GoMA’s public programme is free to everyone and recently included the permanent exhibition ‘Stones Steeped in History’ on the history of the building and ‘Domestic Bliss’, which references Empire, Transatlantic Slave Trade and our building’s historical role as the city’s Royal Exchange. 

Reflecting, responding to, and supporting exhibitions is our learning programme for schools, colleges and visitors of all ages facilitated by an experienced in-house learning team. This programme includes events, workshops, talks, and tours. We also run popular handling box sessions about the history of the building. More information about the kit can be found here: https://galleryofmodernart.blog/portfolio/legacies-of-empire-in-gomas-handling-kit/

The kit aims to shed light on the history of our building, which is entangled in legacies of slavery and empire. For some years now GoMA has been working with museum and academic colleagues, artists and communities looking at this rich history. The current COVID-19 situation has created a different need and an opportunity for GoMA to experiment online and learn new ways to engage audiences with the history of our building.

This project aims to help us rich a wider audience, in a period when object handling in the gallery space is not possible, by employing two freelance Black or other BAME artists/practitioners to respond creatively to a selection of objects and topics in the box.

We are looking for two freelance contributors to:

1. Write short pieces responding to the objects in the box, to be posted on the GoMA blog (galleryofmodernart.blog)
2. Film the objects for wider online sharing, on the Glasgow Museums social media and YouTube channels

We will share this project widely through online content made available through this blog, exploring new ways of inviting audiences to engage with our programme and archives, and creating a long-term online resource to reach isolated audiences or those that are not able to visit our buildings. 

Each artist will be paid according to the Scottish Artists’ Union’s fees for three days’ work, depending on experience: https://www.artistsunion.scot/pay_rates_2021

To apply, please send a CV and a couple of lines expressing your interest to Angela.Massafra@glasgowlife.org.uk by the end of Sunday 18th July 2021.