News

DEC 2004 Updated 9 Dec

ART EXHIBITIONS – JANUARY CONFERENCE ON MEDIA, PUBLIC EDUCATION AND MALE VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND CHILDREN- POSTER EXHIBITION - (16 DAYS REMINDER) – PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES ON CHILD ABUSE AND VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN - SCOTTISH WOMEN AGAINST PORNOGRAPHY DEMONSTRATION, EDINBURGH

GALLERY OF MODERN ART, GLASGOW

TODAY - 9 Dec 2004 - saw the launch of elbowroom , an exhibition looking at violence against women, which also launched the Gallery of Modern Art’s Rule of Thumb programme.

’Rule of Thumb: Contemporary Art and Human Rights’ is the second social justice issue programme developed by the Glasgow gallery.

Information about elbowroom and Rule of Thumb, including various related events, is on the Glasgow Museums website at www.glasgowmuseums.com/venue/showExhibition.cfm?venueid=3&itemid=84

The following information is from the website:

New Glasgow Exhibition Examines Violence Against Women

Glasgow ’s Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) opens elbowroom on 9 December, an exhibition examining the subject of violence against women.

elbowroom was an eight month participatory art project to develop new work on the theme of violence against women and the violation of women’s human rights.

For elbowroom , GoMA initiated partnerships between Red Road Women’s Centre, Glasgow Women’s Library, Glasgow Women’s Aid, Base 75 and artists Katie Bruce, Anne Elliot, Rachel Mimiec and Janice Sharp.

Workshops, events, consultations and research were part of the process that involved the women and young people. Regular sessions were run in the organisations’ venues and visits to exhibitions and talks were included as part of the project. Everybody contributed into the making of the work, with some women drawing from their experience of violence.

To support the exhibition there will be various workshops for adults and teenagers based on the work and techniques in the exhibition. There will also be an exhibition talk on 15 January 2005 where you can meet the women involved in the project, discuss the work and the process of making it.

elbowroom will launch the programme Rule of Thumb: Contemporary Art and Human Rights , which is the second social justice issue programme developed by the Gallery of Modern Art.

elbowroom
Gallery of Modern Art, Royal Exchange Square , Glasgow
9 December 2004 - 14 February 2005
Admission Free

Further information on the exhibition from Glasgow Museums……

Rule of Thumb: Contemporary Art and Human Rights

Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow (GoMA) December 2004- December 2005

Rule of Thumb: Contemporary Art and Human Rights is the second social justice issue programme developed by GoMA. Rule of Thumb is a thirteen-month programme of exhibitions, events, outreach arts projects and workshops highlighting the issue of violence against women . This work builds on the success of the first of these biannual programmes – Sanctuary: Contemporary Art and Human Rights, for which Amnesty International was also a partner organization. Surveys for Sanctuary indicated a strong positive public response to the impact made by the exhibition and outreach programme and, significantly, visitors overwhelmingly supported the initiative to develop more exhibitions and programmes addressing social justice issues.

elbowroom

9 th December 2004 – 14 th February 2005

Gallery 3

elbowroom is the first exhibition in the Rule of Thumb programme and was an 8 month art project to develop new work on the theme of violence against women and violation of women’s human rights . For elbowroom GoMA initiated partnerships between the organisations: Red Road Women’s Centre, Glasgow Women’s Library, Glasgow Women’s Aid and Base 75 and artists: Katie Bruce, Anne Elliot, Rachel Mimiec, and Janice Sharp. Workshops, events, consultations and research were part of the process that involved the women and young people. Everybody contributed into the making of the work, with some women drawing from their experience of violence.

The work in elbowroom and its process

Base 75

The women attending Base 75 often live a very chaotic lifestyle and they live with the presence of violence or abuse in many forms. In some people’s eyes, the nature of their work on the streets almost legitimises the violence they experience. As part of the battle for power and control, money can buy you a sexual service but does it give you the right to control? The work at Base 75 was generated through dialogue over dinner with women that use the centre and the staff who support the women. Violence, housing, self-defense, drugs, policing, dress codes were all discussed. The artworks are simple response to the conversations that arose over the weeks.

Glasgow Women’s Aid

The group of young people (aged 10 –15) from Glasgow Women’s Aid began the project expecting to be taught as if they were in school and it took a little time for them to be more confident in their own ability. The room they created in the studio at GoMA marked an important point where t hey became more involved in the work they were doing and strong opinions began to come out about how the artwork should look, their situation and their rights as young people. Stories and ideas for work then emerged from their personal experiences of being denied the possibility of playing outside where they lived, being bullied due to their situation in refuge and life as a teenager.

Glasgow Women’s Library

Women who participated at the Glasgow Women’s Library had the opportunity to work with the libraries resources. Selecting book titles that held some resonance, the women were invited to photocopy a number of book spines, the resulting ‘spine poetry’ began to allow the women to confidently and quickly make statements that were about issues that they felt strongly about. The work in the library space was further developed when books were used as the material for making sculptures in situ. Dens, towers, abstract figures, houses and carefully balanced structures became metaphors for their concerns.

Red Road Women’s Centre

The women in Red Road Women’s Centre instinctively worked together as a collective voice, the artists drew their attention to the scope of the site of Red Road as a backdrop to their activities; it seemed like a symbol of for some of the crisis issues in Scotland today: Housing, poverty, employment, ethic diversity, alcoholism, drugs, safety, broken homes and violence. The very surface of the site they worked on was damaged, neglected and dangerous but the approach they took was one of collectively, positivity, organisation, and sharing through the simple act of play.

MEDIA CONFERENCE

The Women's Support Project in Glasgow is organising a conference on media, public education and male violence against women and children.

It will take place on Friday 28 January 2005 in Glasgow. Full details are on the WSP website at:

www.womenssupportproject.co.uk/files/pdf/conference.pdf

The WSP is also hosting a poster exhibition of anti-violence posters from around the world. This is also in Glasgow and will run from January 21-27 2005.

Again, full details are on the WSP website at:

www.womenssupportproject.co.uk/files/pdf/exhibition.pdf

See November news on this website for the 16 days campaign information. This campaign runs into the middle of December.

APOLOGY AND DEBATE ON ABUSE IN CHILDREN’S HOMES

First Minister Jack McConnell has apologised to those who suffered abuse and neglect while in institutions such as children’s homes. The apology, on behalf of the people of Scotland , came on 1 Dec, the day the Scottish Parliament held a debate on past abuses, following a petition which called for a public inquiry. There was all-party support for the Ministerial Statement and the Parliament noted the petition.

The BBC news report is at:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4056927.stm

The text of the motion debated is:

*S2M-1988 Michael McMahon on behalf of the Public Petitions Committee: Public Petition PE535 —That the Parliament notes public petition PE535 calling for the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Executive to (a) conduct an inquiry into past institutional child abuse, in particular for those children who were in the care of the state under the supervision of religious orders and (b) make an unreserved apology for the said state bodies and to urge the religious orders to apologise unconditionally.

Supported by: John Scott *

The full text of the petition is at

www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/petitions/pdfs/PE535.pdf

The full text of the debate is at

www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-04/sor1201-02.htm#Col12390

Earlier, on 25 November, the International Day to Eliminate Violence Against Women, the Parliament passed the following Scottish Executive motion:

Resolved, That the Parliament supports the International Day to Eliminate Violence Against Women on 25 November 2004; affirms its commitment to eradicating all forms of violence against women in Scotland; acknowledges the significant funding that has gone into domestic abuse initiatives over the last four years; welcomes the more recent work of the Scottish Executive in setting up the Violence Against Women Service Development Fund and supporting Rape Crisis Scotland and the ten rape crisis centres throughout Scotland, and, noting the complexity of many of the issues involved, supports the Executive's decision to set up an expert committee to support the development of a strategic approach to tackling these issues in future and, in particular to explore the cultural reasons underlying the recent report that one in five young men and one in ten women thought that violence against women was acceptable and to examine the crucial role that the media and entertainments industry has in compounding such attitudes, and, furth of Scotland, abhors the increased use of violence against women as a weapon of war.

The Executive accepted an SNP amendment, incorporated in the above motion.

The full debate is at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-04/sor1125-02.htm#Col12320

SCOTTISH WOMEN AGAINST PORNOGRAPHY CANDLELIT VIGIL

Information from SWAP about their vigil on 14 December….

Scottish Women Against Pornography

CANDLELIT VIGIL

SWAP invites you to our candlelit vigil outside the Signet Library

Parliament Square, Edinburgh .

on Tuesday the 14th December at 6.20pm

We will hold this vigil in remembrance of all the women and children who have suffered through the pornography industry or harmed by its products.

This vigil will coincide with a drinks party hosted by the Bank of Scotland in the Signet Library and will serve to highlight the Bank’s involvement in the pornography industry.(The Bank is the main financial backer of Richard Desmond’s pornography empire, which includes magazines; ‘Asian Babes’, and ‘Barely Legal’.)

We hope very much that you will join us-please bring candles and your friends.

See November news and the SWAP website for information on their campaigns