Publications created by the Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow

• Reference:GB 2978 CCA/5
• Dates of Creation:1st Jan 1992 - 2013, 2013 - ongoing
• Name of Creator:
  Centre for Contemporary Art Glasgow Glasgow
• Language of Material:English
• Physical Description:
  Approximately 110 publications

• Scope and Content

  This collection holds all of the publications produced directly by or in association with the Centre of Contemporary Arts from 1992 until the 2014. The publications produced relate to exhibitions of visual art and commissions associated with the institution, documentation of events, conferences, festivals and collections of critical and creative writing.

• Administrative / Biographical History

  In 1974 the Scottish writer and playwright, Tom McGrath, founded The Third Eye Centre in Glasgow. Described by the Guardian as 'a shrine to the avant garde', the centre hosted visiting artists and performers such as Allen Ginsberg, Whoopi Goldberg, John Byrne, Edwin Morgan and Kathy Acker, as well as quickly becoming the focus for Glasgow's counter culture. When it consolidated its activities in the 1980s it presented some of the key exhibitions by the new Glasgow painters such as Stephen Campbell, Ken Currie and Peter Howson and was the home of the National Review of Live Art.

  With the demise of The Third Eye Centre at the turn of the 1990s, the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) established in its place, opening in 1992. In 1996, the organisation was awarded a lottery grant to redevelop and expand the building complex and in 2001 the newly refurbished CCA opened to the public. Now housing a spectrum of cultural tenants as well as a café/restaurant, bar and cinema. In 2006, the organisation itself underwent a profound cultural shift, deciding to pursue a more open curatorial policy - an 'open source' approach - which encouraged artists and organisations to propose their own programmes to sit alongside those curated by CCA. Today, that policy has produced a livelier and more varied programme that offers a new kind of accessibility to audiences, drawing on the spirit of The Third Eye Centre and the early history of the CCA.*

  Commencing in January 2012 The Glasgow School of Art (GSA) in partnership with the CCA embarked on a speculative research project to open up previously inaccessible archive material to assist research and reflection upon the causes and conditions which encouraged this renaissance of the visual arts in Glasgow since the late 1970s. The research team, led by Dr Francis McKee and Ross Sinclair, have overseen the cataloguing of existing archival material from the Third Eye Centre and CCA (material spanning the period 1972- the present) and conducted a series of interviews with artists, critics, curators and art administrators from across that time span to construct an archive for future investigators.

  *Information taken from CCA website www.cca-glasgow.com

• Arrangement

  Collection is kept and catalogued in chronological order of publication date.

• Access Information

  The CCA Archive is open to all researchers including the CCA's staff and external researchers including members of the general public, subject to proof of identification and acceptance of the Reading Room General Rules and Access Policy.

  The CCA Archive Reading Room is accessible by appointment only. To access the collection please contact archive@cca-glasgow.com

• Archivist's Note

  Detailed catalogue compiled by Rachael Gallacher between April-June 2013 and revised by Carrie Skinner July 2013. Collection Level Description created by Rachael Gallacher June 2013 and revised by Carrie Skinner July 2013. Catalogue revised and additions made by Holly Belch in April 2014. Collection Level Description revised by Carrie Skinner in July 2014 and again in June 2022 by Kristen Nelson.

• Appraisal Information

  Duplicate copies have been separated to be user copies in the CCA reference library or for stock.

• Custodial History

  Records of the CCA / Third Eye Centre – press / misc / publications / brochures deposited Glasgow City Archives c.2001. Records of Centre for Contemporary Arts, Exhibition and project records, correspondence and event files, slides and publicity information, 1993-2005, deposited Glasgow City Archives 2006. All CCA records were returned to the custody of CCA in 2012. Records of CCA Board of Governors 1992-2000 donated by Trevor Davies to CCA May 2013.

• Related Material

  As it relates to a period of over ten years of exhibitions, events and performances related material can be found in all other CCA collections.

• Corporate Names

  Centre for Contemporary Art (Glasgow Scotland