IT has been referred to as The Glasgow Miracle.

Now the unprecedented success of contemporary artists in Glasgow is the subject of a new academic research project that will attempt to shed light on how Glasgow – its people, places, events and conditions – inspired a generation of award-winning artists such as Douglas Gordon, Toby Paterson and this year's Turner Prize winner, Martin Boyce.

The Glasgow School of Art, partnered with the Centre of Contemporary Arts (CCA), has been awarded a grant of £122,500 by the Arts and Humanities Research Council for the project on the renaissance of the visual arts in Glasgow since the 1970s. In particular, it will look at the history of the CCA.

The research team, led by curator Francis McKee and artist Ross Sinclair, will study two archives, the Third Eye Centre archive and the George and Cordelia Oliver archive, together with material from the early years of the CCA. It will be documented through a blog and the archival material will be digitised for an online resource.

Professor Seona Reid, director of the Glasgow School of Art, said: "Glasgow has one of the most active art scenes in Europe, producing artists of international significance and attracting many more to study and live in the city."

Mr McKee, director of the CCA, added: "We are in a unique position of having access to both the critical historical sources as well as many of the relevant artists themselves."