Brixton Calling!

Brixton Calling! was a collaborative and participatory project and an exhibition that connected contemporary Brixton to its past - through the history of 1980s Brixton Art Gallery & Artists Collective and their archives. It was a collaboration between 198 Contemporary Art and Learning (director: Lucy Davies and curator: Barby Asante) and BACA (5 individual members of the Brixton Artists Collective: Teri Bullen, Guy Burch, Françoise Dupré, Rita Keegan, Stefan Szczelkun). Françoise Dupré was BACA project manager and co-curator. Brixton Calling! received funding from Arts Council England and Heritage Lottery Fund. Project partners included: Tate Archive, Tate Britain; Women’s Art Library, Goldsmiths, University of London; Women’s Library, London Metropolitan University; Lambeth Archives, Tate Collective, (formerly known as Tate Forum); The Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies, Oxford; Burntwood School, Wandsworth. Archive materials, ephemera and records gathered during Brixton Calling! were deposited at Tate Archive (TGA 201211), Women’s Art Library, Hall Carpenter Archive (LSE) and Lambeth Archives. Brixton Calling! main activities included: • Research development and realisation of a series of Archive Installations by BACA, focussing on key exhibitions that took place at the Brixton Art Gallery between 1983-1986. • Research development and creation of an interactive digital Timeline by Sally Mould. • 7 Community Archiving and Engagement projects based at 198 and developed in Brixton right through the Project. • Project's exhibition at 198 (28 October- 21 December 2011) • A series of gallery talks, events and a symposium • A Project booklet Photo credits: Andy Martinez, Françoise Dupré Images and information on this webpage are only a small selection. For more information about Brixton Calling! and all its activities, contact Françoise Dupré Published text by Guy Burch and Françoise Dupré: 'Wow! I'm touching history!', Case Study: Brixton Calling! Reclaiming the Past in the Present is now online and part of engage 31 issue: The Past in the Present. Autumn 2012. Published by engage, London. http://www.engage.org/journal.aspx?id=32 For a pdf version contact Françoise Dupré. Brixton Calling! review: Filling Archival Gaps The role of participatory curatorial projects by Roma Piotrowska pp 19-25 in engage 31 issue The Past in the Present, Autumn 2012, published by engage, London http://www.engage.org/journal.aspx?id=32 ISSN 1365-9383. South London Press, Brixton Calling: 80s art on show, (25 November 2011). For more information about the Brixton Art Gallery and Artists Collective visit Andrew Hurman’s website: http://brixton50.co.uk. Check: Projects facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/BRIXTON-ART-GALLERY/237080968297 Project's blog: brixtoncallingproject.blogspot.com Photos of the Launch: flickr.com/photos/brixtoncalling For Timeline, check: http://www.yellowduckhouse.co.uk/bac/ For Oral Histories film, check: https://vimeo.com/32511303