6 December 2004

Digitising Demarco's archives

Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design at the University of Dundee, has been awarded a grant of over £300,000 from the Arts and Humanities Research Board to create a digital database and website of photographic images from Richard Demarco’s archives making his unique collection available to a public audience.

Researchers in the School of Fine Art will digitise 10,000 of Demarco's 250,000 photographic images and make them available on a website that will be accessible to the public. The selection of images will be mainly photographic and will reflect the most important and historically significant aspects of Demarco's 40 years in the art world.

Working in close collaboration with Richard Demarco, his European Art Foundation and the National Galleries of Scotland, the images will be scanned or recorded with a digital camera and uploaded onto a website on the University of Dundee and National Galleries sites with dedicated terminals in both institutions.

Elaine Shemilt, Arthur Watson and Euan McArthur from the School of Fine Art will liaise with artists, curators and historians from several countries to select the images and ensure that the project also tells the story of Demarco’s international art network.

Euan McArthur, Head of Fine Art at Duncan of Jordanstone said: "Richard Demarco's work is of great historical importance for Scottish and international contemporary art. There are so few public archives in this field that it is all the more important that we digitise these images to make them publicly available. Making the images available in digital format will give the public and many researchers in contemporary art history access to this unique historical record. Dundee is well placed to do this work with our knowledge of the archive and digital facilities. We are delighted to work with such an important archive."

The relationship between Duncan of Jordanstone and Richard Demarco has evolved from Richard's association with some of the college’s renowned artists including Arthur Watson and Elaine Shemilt.

Richard Demarco reacted to news of the grant saying: "Enduring art originates in the meetings of friends and their shared values and aspirations. I have always believed that the archive was an artwork and my life's work. This is the justification of that belief. I am deeply touched that the project is with the University of Dundee that encouraged me and gave me an Honorary Doctorate."

Steve Robb from the Demarco European Art Foundation will manage the digitisation project and the University will employ an archivist for the duration of the 3 year project. The project will begin in May 2005.

The archives have been compiled by Richard Demarco as artistic director of the Traverse Gallery, Edinburgh (1963 -1966), director of the Richard Demarco Gallery, Edinburgh (1966 -1998) and the Demarco European Art Foundation, Edinburgh (1992 - present). The camera has been his constant companion, enabling him to build a comprehensive visual record of his activities. His great skill has been to bring together leading thinkers and practitioners from many disciplines and to give them a platform on which they can interact: the gallery, the theatre, the conference and the extended journey. Among them are Seamus Heaney, George Steiner, Marina Abramovic, Tadeusz Kantor, Joseph Beuys, Buckminster Fuller, James Turrell, Magdalena Abakanovic, Roland Penrose, Blinky Palermo and Harald Szeeman.

Richard Demarco holds an Honorary Doctorate from University of Dundee and has been a visiting Professor in Fine Art for nine years.

By Jenny Marra, Head of Press 01382 344910, out of hours: 07968298585, j.m.marra@dundee.ac.uk