Towner Collection acquires its first ever performance piece
Posted on 26 May 2022Performance Exchange has today announced details of three museum acquisitions from its inaugural live programme in summer 2021.
Towner is one of three UK museums to receive a significant acquisition from these performances, made possible with the generous support of ArtFund. Towner will be presenting the acquisition, which is the first ever performance piece to be added to our collection, as part of our programme next year - more details to come!
The acquisitions are as follows: The Drip by Amalia Pica (represented by König LONDON) has been acquired for Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool; Taboo Durag by Paul Maheke (Galerie Sultana Paris and Goodman Gallery) for Leicester Gallery at De Montfort University; and The Long Note by Helen Cammock (Kate MacGarry) for Towner Eastbourne.
Helen Cammock, The Long Note, performance at Arnold Circus for Kate MacGarry, part of Performance Exchange London, 2021. Photo: Manuela Barczewski
“The Towner Collection started in 1920 as a bequest of twenty paintings, and has now grown to include moving image, installation, and now its first-ever performance piece – ‘The Long Note’ by artist and Turner Prize winner, Helen Cammock. Towner is committed to growing and diversifying its contemporary collections and, in collaboration with Performance Exchange and with support from Art Fund, we are delighted to be able to add Cammock’s unique voice to our Collection, representing an important landmark in Towner’s acquisitions history. Exploring social history and challenging mainstream historic narratives, Helen’s multi-disciplinary practice represents some of the most exciting work being made today and we look forward to sharing it with our audiences.” - Joe Hill, Director, Towner Eastbourne
Helen Cammock, The Long Note, performance at Arnold Circus for Kate MacGarry, part of Performance Exchange London, 2021. Photo: Manuela Barczewski
Performance Exchange is a dispersed platform for performance art in commercial galleries. The organisation aims to highlight the ways in which commercial galleries support artists whose practice is multi-disciplinary, yet might struggle to make the live and ephemeral elements of their work visible within the object-focused art market and acts as a catalyst for changing collecting structures so they can reflect individual artist’s practice as a holistic entity.
Museum Acquisitions create new audiences for artists and provide important long-term legacy for their practice. Through this acquisition programme, Performance Exchange also creates a cross-sector collaboration of the art market and museums, encouraging them to share knowledge and expertise towards their common goals of having as broad a spectrum of practices as possible being supported now, and understood in the future.
Follow Performance Exchange on instagram for news and future updates:
@performance_exchange
