GSA Director
GSA Director
05 February 2020
Centre for Contemporary Arts
350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow G2 3JD
an open-source application to be Director of Glasgow School of Art lead by Neil McGuire
GSA Director was a project stemming from widespread concern about the then management and direction of the Glasgow School of Art. The project was agitprop, and was an open-source collective application to become the next Director of the Glasgow School of Art. The intent was to influence the applicants and eventual appointee, to take onboard thoughts and opinions from the creative community in the city.
I was asked to contribute to the provocations at an event held at the CCA in Glasgow. I explored an imaginary Glasgow School of Architecture (akin to the real-life Mackintosh School of Architecture at the Glasgow School of Art), and focussed my pitch on challenging existing deficits in equity, deepening a school’s connection to the city it sits within, and seeking to better support staff, students, and our fellow citizens.
”Glasgow is a magnificent city,” said McAlpin. “Why do we hardly ever notice that? Because nobody imagines living here...think of Florence, Paris, London, New York. Nobody visiting them for the first time is a stranger because he’s already visited them in paintings, novels, history books and films. But if a city hasn’t been used by an artist not even the inhabitants live there imaginatively.”
From Lanark by Alasdair Gray
I proposed that:
- GSA BE AN ACTIVE PARTICIPANT IN THE DAILY REALITY THAT IS THE CITY OF GLASGOW
- GLASGOW BE THE CURRICULUM* *PLACES NOT GLASGOW ALSO EXIST
- CONTEXT MATTERS. RESTORE THE CONNECTION BETWEEN SCHOOL AND PLACE
- DEVELOP LONG TERM WORKING RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER PEOPLE IN GLASGOW, NOT AS SOMETIME CASE STUDIES
- SLOW. DOWN.
- PEOPLE FIRST - STAFF + STUDENTS + SOCIETY
- MORE CONTACT TIME
- NO TUITION FEES / YES A GRANT
- CREDITS FOR THOSE WHO WORK PART-TIME = CREDITS FOR THOSE WHO VOLUNTEER PART-TIME
- BRING INTO PUBLIC UNIVERSITY OWNERSHIP ALL PRIVATE STUDENT ACCOMMODATION AND CUT THE RENTS
The full open-source GSA Director project can be found here.
Image: Provocation slides by Andy Summers
Provocation slide
Provocation slide
Provocation slide
Provocation slide
