About the Contemporary Art Societies special collections scheme
Whatever you might think about contemporary art, it is a reflection of the times in which we live, and if we are to leave a trace of our experience of life and living in the current age for future generations, we need to represent this work in our permanent collection. It has been recognised that contemporary collecting is difficult for public galleries such as Leeds, since inevitably questions are raised about the use of public funds to buy art.
In recognition of this the Arts Council of England and the Contemporary Art Society initiated and funded the Special Collections Scheme for fifteen galleries throughout England to build up collections of contemporary work over a five year period.
This has presented the curators at Leeds with an opportunity to rethink the direction the collections might take so that they accurately reflect the world in which we live. Leeds has rich holdings of British twentieth century art, having acquired work by living artists over the last hundred years. This collection is now ranked second only to that of the Tate Gallery in London particularly in the field of sculpture. Paintings and sculpture dominate this collection, and yet increasingly, in this televisual age, artists are looking at the possibilities offered by new media such as video, DVD, and the digital manipulation of images. The traditional concentration on the visual has also been challenged by some artists who create artworks based on sound alone, or which can be experienced through the other senses, touch and smell.
Curators at Leeds have decided to explore this area for the new collection. DVD works by Mark Wallinger, Mark Dean and Annelies Strba have been purchased along with a sound work by Tacita Dean. Works have also been commissioned from Mariele Neudecker in collaboration with Opera North, Georgina Starr and Bill Fontana.
New acquisitions are currently on show in a dedicated space on the first floor of the Gallery, with a changing display of related aspects from the permanent collection - we hope that some of the juxtapositions might surprise you in the course of the next few months!