Output details

Space Age Archaeology: Eduardo Paolozzi and Science Fiction

A reconstruction of Eduardo Paolozzi's studio is permanently installed in the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, which interfaces with an exhibition space. Its contents and morphology provide an index to the artist's imaginative world. Using this metaphor, can a dialogue between these adjoining rooms - the studio containing material evidence of the artist's themes, processes, methods and sources, and the gallery, containing his artworks - be facilitated for a general audience?

In 2012 a test version of the exhibition was staged at the Special Collections in MMU. In the final version at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (17 July - 27 October 2013), sculptures, prints and preparatory material were selected to reflect the artist's concerns with science fiction, and works were arranged to illustrate a transition from the robot-based figures of the 1950s to abstract representations of the late 1960s that invoke information technologies. Relevant artefacts and ephemera were removed from the studio and introduced into the exhibit.

The project aimed to demonstrate how the Paolozzi studio might be a catalyst to facilitate the interpretation of Paolozzi and other artists. Its main contribution is as a model for generating new interest and fresh interpretations of Paolozzi's oeuvre, informed by new research around the technology and art and the archive. This model was proposed to the SNGMA as a prototype for future guest-curators that may seek to orchestrate the two spaces.

Research was supported by The Paolozzi Foundation and the SNGMA. An associated events programme included a curator's talk, an education pack and a performance by Martin Kershaw of his jazz suite, ‘Hero As Riddle’ inspired by Paolozzi.