Capturing the Ephemeral: Transience and Materiality through Drawing

This practice-based research project will use the Nova Zembla collection of prints at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam - extraordinary for having lain frozen in the Arctic for three centuries - as a stimulus for an investigation of the relationship between the materiality of drawing and the ephemerality of museum objects on paper. The research will lead to the production of a suite of drawings that will be shown at the Rijksmuseum together with a selection of the Nova Zembla prints.

The prints were carried as merchandise on a 1596 failed Dutch expedition to the Far East via the Northeast Passage. An over-wintering refuge was built on Nova Zembla in which the prints lay in stacks until their discovery: the refuge had filled with ice, transforming the stacks into frozen papier-maché blocks. In 1977 methods were devised to separate the layers and reassemble the thousands of fragments. The physicality of the prints thus underwent metamorphic change: from two-dimensional paper sheets to three-dimensional hardened, blackened blocks and back again to paper.

As paradigms of ephemeral objects on paper, the Nova Zembla prints will provide, through the distortion and fragmentation of their imagery, the material transformation of their paper supports and the impact of their conservation, models for innovative ways of making drawings. New approaches to the employment of traditional methods and materials will be devised. For example, the historical practice of watermarks will be dedicated to new ends: imagery will be embedded into paper, revealed when the work is held up to the light, and referencing the images of the prints that were hidden within the frozen blocks.

The project will extend the applicant's ongoing interest in devising new ways of creating and exhibiting drawings to interrogate the museological dimensions of the state of flux. It is situated within the resurgent field of contemporary drawing and also connects with current debates on materiality and how the texture of objects can communicate in many ways. The project is further contextualised by drawing research and practice that explores themes of ephemerality through various means. The research will establish a pioneering, distinctive discourse that aims to bridge debates on contemporary drawing, materiality and the museum context.

The fact that the Nova Zembla Prints were frozen in the Arctic for three hundred years and were integral to a 16th Century voyage of endurance and discovery, is a fascinating point of entry for audience engagement. A diverse range of potential beneficiaries have been identified as: researchers from the same and other fields; professional and practitioner groups; educational groups and the general public.

It is anticipated that a range of social benefits both immediate (eg.resulting from lectures) and long-term (eg.resulting from the exhibition publication), would result from the project. These benefits would be in the form of improvements in cultural and intellectual capital, learning and skills, and quality of life.

In order to facilitate evaluation of the research at all stages, critical reflection will be a core element of dissemination. This will take the form of the exhibition and a project publication that will document and contextualise the research, whilst lectures and gallery talks will enable in-depth, direct knowledge transfer, and a web-based portfolio will extend on-going accessibility of the research to a world-wide audience.

BENEFICIARIES FROM THE RESEARCH

The main audience target groups have been identified as:

1. Professional and practitioner groups such as designers, curators, conservators and visual artists.
2. Educational parties and students, in particular from the Rijksakademie, Amsterdam and Groningen Universities, all of which hold existing links with the Rijksmuseum.
3 Third sector organisations such as museums and galleries and individuals in the creative and performing arts.
4. The general public including those with an interest in: fine art, drawing, conservation, printmaking, handmade paper, museum display, history, archaeology, cultural geography and polar exploration.


RELEVANCE OF THE RESEARCH TO BENEFICIARIES

It is anticipated that a range of benefits both immediate (eg.resulting from lectures) and long-term (eg. resulting from the exhibition publication), will result from the project. These will be primarily in the form of enhancing cultural and intellectual capital, learning and skills, and quality of life and would include:

1. Providing innovative content and support for the creative and cultural industries through active engagement with the Rijksmuseum's exhibition, education and public lecture programmes.
2. Enhancing public debates, participation and engagement through exhibition of works, events, project publication and website documentation.
3. Informing developments in visual arts practice through innovative use of traditional of methods and materials.
4. Stimulating creativity by allowing audiences to think about drawing in new ways and about imaginative approaches to their display. The latter has particular relevance for people working in art and design, other creative industries, and more broadly for those interested in devising new ways to engage audiences through display in museums.
5. Deepening social identity by showing that the Nova Zembla prints are relevant today by their interpretation through contemporary drawing.
6. Encouraging life long learning by presenting contemporary drawing in response to a museum collection. This would show how a contemporary artist can offer fresh perspectives on museum collections and also on how museum objects can prompt unique ways of making, installing and viewing drawing.
7. Enhancing the knowledge economy by bringing the rarely exhibited Nova Zempla prints to public attention. This would result from both exhibition of a selection of the prints and the new drawings made in response to this selection.


MANAGEMENT OF RESEARCH TO ENGAGE BENEFICERIES AND INCREASE LIKELIHOOD OF IMPACT

Meetings have been held between the applicant, curators Jan de Hond and Eveline Sint Nicolaas, and Director of Collections, Taco Dibbets, to discuss ways in which to maximise potential impact. The applicant will draw on past experience of working with audiences in a museum context as resident artist at the V&A, London and also at the Museum of Costume and Textiles, Nottingham.

1. The Exhibition
Based on Rijksmuseum statistics, the exhibition is likely to attract 250,000 visitors, 60% of whom are likely to be from the Netherlands, 40% from the rest of world.

2. Project Publication
A project publication will supported on an in-kind basis by Northumbria University, in association with the Rijksmuseum, a UK publisher such as Editions North, and distributor such as Cornerhouse. This will ensure a wide range of distribution outlets and as such, reach different audience target groups

3. Events
As part of the Rijksmuseum's education and public programme, a series of events will be developed in order to extend the range of users and beneficiaries:
i. Lectures at strategic points of the project.
ii. Formal educational visits for students and schools.
iv. Gallery talks during the exhibition.

4. Website
Documentation of the project