Third Eye Centre archives of travelling shows that may have been considered

I thought that it would be fun to produce a blog entry for every time I come into the archives. At times it’s quite funny because I imagine that I’m working like a secret shopper, performing  random tasks for the sake of testing the system. As librarians and archivists know, you can’t tell what’s missing until someone is searching for it. They also talk about the importance of having images to use as a reference, so here are plenty of images to entice you. I'm still wondering if there is a way to make this information more accessible, more meaningful. If anything has struck me, it's that everything seems important, especially when I imagine that it's useful for someone else's practice.

For example, I just came across this rare booklet on Ken Gray's Electro Sculptures that I know some friends of mine would love to see. It was one of many proposed travelling exhibitions that never came to the Third Eye Centre, but someone hung onto it; so now it’s here.

A spread from Ken Gray’s handout titled Electrosculpture, On the left is an image of Music Box No. 2 from 1970. Besides memorializing those events which occurred within the walls of the Third Eye, the archive contains even those who may have been considered to compare to their programming. There’s sparse information about him online, but surprisingly there’s actually a well-written biography on his life listed within the online version of Artists in Britain since 1945. Page 109. http://issuu.com/powershift/docs/dictionary_g

 (Photographer: Mr. E. Phillippe. The image is courtesy of the Third Eye Centre/CCA)

The image on the left is the control system for ‘Static Dancer’ by Ken Gray and to the right is an acrylic box with sensors that light neons responding to a ball that would swing above it. Although I mentioned that there isn’t much about him online, there is also a Youtube video that was uploaded rather recently. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piInxmeaEE8

(Photographer: Peter Fowler. The image is courtesy of the Third Eye Centre/CCA)

Last photo I’m uploading is of the artist himself operating Yellow Column, which was designed for Aberdeen Art Gallery. I have added his name to the Third Eye Box List so that now his self-published hidden gem can be found.

(Photographer: David McDowell. The image is courtesy of the Third Eye Centre/CCA)

I also came across a nice photograph that really highlights Alexander 'Greek' Thomson's facade with the Third Eye Center below to give an idea of how much this corner on Sauchiehall has changed. There isn't a credited photographer or a date, but it is along with information about an exhibition in 1984 featuring Thomson that was put on in conjunction with the Glasgow School of Art.

(The image is courtesy of the Third Eye Centre/CCA)

These images are from a box that mostly includes information both about exhibiting ready-made travelling shows (usually photography) as well as papers describing attempts to diversify income by touring Third Eye Centre exhibitions, large and small.