In 1967, the world was being turned
upside down. With the counter culture in full psychedelic swing, the
so-called Summer of Love was about to break, even as protests against
the Vietnam War were building to a peak while race riots flared up
across America. In the UK, homosexuality was decriminalised, while
abortion was legalised.
It may have been the Fab Four's kaleidoscopic masterpiece, Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and later their Magical Mystery Tour record and film that sound-tracked the year, but things were happening underground as well. Beyond the tripped-out whimsy of Pink Floyd's debut record, the Doors, Love's Forever Changes and especially the Velvet Underground and Nico offered a darker flip-side that reflected some of the underbelly of unrest that was simmering.
Meanwhile, on a leafy campus of a brand new university in Scotland's Central Belt, another revolution was about to be set in motion. The opening of the University of Stirling was light years away from the hallowed halls of the older universities in Glasgow and Edinburgh which the town is equidistant from. The new build too seemed to reflect the shock of the new which, following an era of post Second World War greyness, had reinvigorated the decade with a cultural explosion that put youth at its centre. This could be seen particularly in the Pathfoot building, which, as the first completed construction on campus, became a flagship for a brave new world of idealism in a way that, for its initial batch of less than 200 students, put aesthetics at its everyday heart.
A programme of events includes a Happening on November 11th, which will feature badge making, tie dying, games, film screenings and a 1967 disco. A series of essays penned by various academics looks at different aspects of the era. Former artist in residence Ally Wallace's own architictural-based exhibition will run until December 2017. Photographer in residence Alan Dimmick, well known for his iconic images of more recent happenings, is documenting a year in the life of the University which will encompass events in the Pathfoot Building. There will be a dressing up box, while the music of 1967 will be key to illustrating how the year panned out in all its contradictions.
The University of Stirling was built on 330 acres of land within the grounds of Airthrey Estate, beneath the Ochil Hills two miles from Stirling itself and close tothe Bridge of Allan. The campus was the first new
university to be built in Scotland for almost 400 years. This
followed the Robbins Report, drawn up by
Lord Robbins, who recommended an expansion of universities across the
UK, and became the University's first Chancellor in 1968. In the
Report, and sounding not unlike a Zen
master, Robbins had stressed that 'The search for truth is an
essential function of institutions of higher education and the
process of education is itself most vital when it partakes of the
nature of discovery’
As well as the Crush Hall, the building itself originally housed lecture theatres, offices and classrooms, while extensions in 1979 to house a tropical aquarium and in 1987 for a virology unit saw it widen its remit. The Pathfoot building itself is a work of art, with international conservation organisation DoCoMomo recognising it in 1993 as one of sixty key Scottish monuments of the post-war era. It was also voted as one of Prospect magazine's 100 best modern Scottish buildings, and now has Category A listed status.
Significantly, perhaps, the University of Stirling also houses the archive of Lindsay Anderson, the iconic film and theatre director, whose big-screen depiction of public school rebellion, If..., appeared in 1968, just as Paris and Prague were being ignited into action on the streets. As an allegorical assault on the British establishment (a theme Anderson would continue in the 1970s with O Lucky Man! and the 1980s with Britannia Hospital, forming a loose-knit state of the nation trilogy), If...would define the revolutionary spirit of '68. Artist Stephen Sutcliffe has frequently looked to Anderson based iconography. Two of his images drawn from promo shots of If... and originally seen as part of Is That All There Is? at the Changing Room Gallery in Stirling in 2007 appear in1967. All this, however, was yet to come, with 1967 laying the groundwork just as the Pathfoot laid the foundations for the University of Stirling's future.
Closer to home, Celtic won the European
Cup and championship, the first Northern European club to do so.
Meanwhile, the global village Marshall McLuhan had predicted was
brought into our living rooms when the first ever live international
satellite broadcast saw 400 million viewers watch the Beatles fanfare
in All You Need is Love.
It may have been the Fab Four's kaleidoscopic masterpiece, Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and later their Magical Mystery Tour record and film that sound-tracked the year, but things were happening underground as well. Beyond the tripped-out whimsy of Pink Floyd's debut record, the Doors, Love's Forever Changes and especially the Velvet Underground and Nico offered a darker flip-side that reflected some of the underbelly of unrest that was simmering.
Meanwhile, on a leafy campus of a brand new university in Scotland's Central Belt, another revolution was about to be set in motion. The opening of the University of Stirling was light years away from the hallowed halls of the older universities in Glasgow and Edinburgh which the town is equidistant from. The new build too seemed to reflect the shock of the new which, following an era of post Second World War greyness, had reinvigorated the decade with a cultural explosion that put youth at its centre. This could be seen particularly in the Pathfoot building, which, as the first completed construction on campus, became a flagship for a brave new world of idealism in a way that, for its initial batch of less than 200 students, put aesthetics at its everyday heart.
Fifty years on, the Pathfoot building
celebrates its half century as the epicentre of the University
of Stirling's cultural life with 1967,
an ever expanding year-long exhibition intended to highlight the
building's roots in that crucial year as well as inspire future
generations of students. Conceptually speaking,
the exhibition asks what kind of world were the students living in
when they first arrived on campus. The exhibition also looks at what
they were wearing, listening to and reading as they lounged artfully
on Harry Bertoia designed chairs in this new modernist paradise.
1967 will feature work drawn from the
University's own collection from artists including Bridget Riley,
George Wylie, Wilhelmina Barnes Graham and Alan Davie. Also on show
from the collection will be pieces by Patrick Heron, Michael Tyzack
and many others. Personal stories, photographs, clothing,
music and memorabilia will be
added as the year goes on, creating a kind of living scrap-book of
past, present and possible futures for the Pathfoot through recent
acquisitions not in the exhibition by the likes of Jacqueline
Donachie, Katie Paterson and Kevin Harman.
A programme of events includes a Happening on November 11th, which will feature badge making, tie dying, games, film screenings and a 1967 disco. A series of essays penned by various academics looks at different aspects of the era. Former artist in residence Ally Wallace's own architictural-based exhibition will run until December 2017. Photographer in residence Alan Dimmick, well known for his iconic images of more recent happenings, is documenting a year in the life of the University which will encompass events in the Pathfoot Building. There will be a dressing up box, while the music of 1967 will be key to illustrating how the year panned out in all its contradictions.
“We're curating this in the spirit of
the era, in the spirit of counter culture, “ explains Jane Cameron,
Curator of the University’s Contemporary Art
Collection. “We
want the exhibition to keep changing, and to morph into something
else. We just want to let it happen.”
The University of Stirling was built on 330 acres of land within the grounds of Airthrey Estate, beneath the Ochil Hills two miles from Stirling itself and close to
Stirling was selected from a shortlist
that included Falkirk and Perth, with the Pathfoot being the first
phase of a thoroughly modern development. With its wide-open spaces
giving a countrified feel, the landscape surrounding the University
already provided a natural canvas. In keeping with the liberal
sensibilities of the era, the Pathfoot Art Collection was initiated
from the start, with the University's founding Principal Tom Cottrell
insisting that art 'should be part of everyday life on campus.' With
work displayed in the building's iconic Crush Hall and the
surrounding courtyards,
the Pathfoot collection has played a vital role in University life
ever since.
As well as the Crush Hall, the building itself originally housed lecture theatres, offices and classrooms, while extensions in 1979 to house a tropical aquarium and in 1987 for a virology unit saw it widen its remit. The Pathfoot building itself is a work of art, with international conservation organisation DoCoMomo recognising it in 1993 as one of sixty key Scottish monuments of the post-war era. It was also voted as one of Prospect magazine's 100 best modern Scottish buildings, and now has Category A listed status.
Significantly, perhaps, the University of Stirling also houses the archive of Lindsay Anderson, the iconic film and theatre director, whose big-screen depiction of public school rebellion, If..., appeared in 1968, just as Paris and Prague were being ignited into action on the streets. As an allegorical assault on the British establishment (a theme Anderson would continue in the 1970s with O Lucky Man! and the 1980s with Britannia Hospital, forming a loose-knit state of the nation trilogy), If...would define the revolutionary spirit of '68. Artist Stephen Sutcliffe has frequently looked to Anderson based iconography. Two of his images drawn from promo shots of If... and originally seen as part of Is That All There Is? at the Changing Room Gallery in Stirling in 2007 appear in1967. All this, however, was yet to come, with 1967 laying the groundwork just as the Pathfoot laid the foundations for the University of Stirling's future.
“We want to inject the same kind of
feeling of society's politics in 1967 into our students right now,”
says Cameron. “They've got the power. They can change things. It's
the job of the Art Collection to educate, stimulate and inspire in
that way, and for people to discover things they might not have known
about that reach their souls. That's what art and music can do. It's
about doing something colourful and fun, and that's about life and
energy and change.”
1967 runs 11th
September 2017 – 24th August 2018
www.artcoll.stir.ac.uk
Scottish Art News, Autumn / Winter 2017
Ends
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