Having a secure roof over your head is something we all appreciate, but for the visual arts organisations who now call the building their home, Trongate 103 represents a welcome recognition of what they, and their artistic practice, feed into the city’s cultural profile on both a national and international level.
In all, eight Merchant City-based visual arts organisations now occupy the six-storey Edwardian warehouse that once clattered with the noise of Glasgow’s rag trade. The £8 million conversion has laid those ghosts to rest with custom-built studios, gallery spaces and a bright, airy feel that is positively at odds with the kind of premises that most of these organisations had previously rented in the area. In a resilient spirit of “adopt, adapt and improve”, a host of painters, print-makers, photographers and film-makers had consistently defied a lack of natural light and cramped quarters in substandard accommodation that was not only off-putting to the public but lurching towards the kind of unsavoury dereliction that spells “closure” to health and safety inspectors.
The notion of artists burning inspirational midnight oil in grotty garrets is all very romantic, but in practice it’s not so appealing, especially in winter. Elisabeth Gibson, artistic director of Project Ability –which supports children and adults with disabilities and mental health issues – remarked last year that their move from “quite a squalid building” in Albion Street would enhance the charity’s work and offer more resources to the public. If you check out Project Ability’s section on the Trongate 103 website, you’ll discover that Gibson’s optimism seems to have been borne out, and not just in terms of her own specific organisation. Apparently more than 72,000 visitors have tapped into the building’s programme of exhibitions, artists talks, performances, creative workshops, family and youth events.
Elsewhere, Penny Sharp, director of the artist-led Glasgow Independent Studio (GIS), is also willing to accentuate the positive side of Trongate 103, remarking that “the layout of the new studio has a much better dynamic than the separate spaces in the old premises, the building feels much safer at night, and front of house staff are great”. Brian Hartley, one of the artists who is a member of GIS, adds that “the increased profile for the organisation and for the Glasgow Project Room presents a much more visible presence in the city for both the general public and the artistic community”. The Glasgow Project Room is currently showing Time to Give Up (by Penny Sharp and Simon Shaw).
Glasgow Print Studio, Street Level Photoworks, Transmission Gallery, GMAC (Glasgow Media Access Centre) and the Russian Cultural Centre – home to Cafe Cossachok – are now also gathered under one roof, in a creative hub that has more floor space than the Museum and Art Galleries in Kelvingrove. And with a “shop window’” frontage onto Argyll Street, there really is a sense of the visual arts being in the public eye.
Moreover, with the recent refurbishment and reopening of the Briggait – now home to a lively mix of visual artists, dance and physical theatre groups including Mischief-La-Bas – the long-awaited regeneration of the Merchant City as a cultural quarter, a dream much mooted in the heady can-do aura of Glasgow’s 1990 status as European City of Culture, now seems to be a concrete reality.
There really is nowhere in the UK that matches Trongate 103 in its supportive provision of facilities for visual artists – and in the visionary mix of public galleries that line up alongside an impressive array of studio and workshop spaces. That mix plays perfectly to the strengths of Trongate 103’s eighth tenant: Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre. And maybe not all the old rattling, clanking ghosts of yesteryear have quite left the building. For when Eduard Bersudsky’s gloriously quirky kinetic sculptures are in motion, there is a wonderfully witty outpouring of sounds that delight audiences of all ages.
Tomorrow night, when the building marks its first birthday, visitors will be able to savour some of Sharmanka’s attractions between 7 and 9pm, followed by Tips On No Spit - percussionist extraordinaire Fritz Welch and multi-instrumentalist John Cromar performing amidst the sculptures. And pointing up how Trongate 103 has become a focal point for other practitioners, Glasgow’s Dance House is staging a performance called Beating/Breaking Shell by Rosalind Masson and Aaron Lewis. Film works and various exhibitions will also be on show, a choice reminder of just how varied and extensive the creativity is within the building.
And you could, perhaps, say that Trongate 103 has already had an early birthday present that applauds its own design as well as its function. In May of this year it won one of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Awards 2010, and next weekend it is one of the city’s spaces welcoming visitors for Doors Open Day. It’s doubtful if any of the eight tenants now based in Trongate 103 could previously claim they worked in a space that was listed for its architectural excellence – reason enough to break out the fizz, the cake and the party hats tomorrow.
www.trongate103.com
