Georgia Smithson

• Arts and Creative Industries, University of Sunderland
• Email: georgia.smithson@research.sunderland.ac.uk

New Collecting and Distribution Models for Contemporary Art: How can new media be used to develop international distribution networks, and new economic models for a regional contemporary art organisation? This research will investigate models of collecting and distribution methods currently used in the curation of Digital Art, Fine Art and Design to inform economic policies for small regional art organisations. Although new media art is collected, and is increasingly becoming an important part of contemporary art practice, the distribution of, modes of collection, the commissioning of, and the rationale for collecting appear disconnected. An established model to follow for the wider distribution of artworks does not exist in regional England. Regional contemporary arts organisations would benefit from a model to enhance productivity and economic growth of both the organisation and artists while keeping costs to a minimum. This research aims to collect data on associated ‘disparate’ activities: from forging relationships with emerging artists, promotion of the ease of distribution, editioning of artworks and ease of access to artworks; the aim is to produce a reference model to be used by organisations to facilitate efficacy within the scope of distribution and collecting.

Supervisory Team: Prof. Beryl Graham, Arts and Creative Industries (Sunderland), Dr Alexandra Moschovi, Arts and Creative Industries (Sunderland), Alistair Robinson (Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art).

Start Date: October 2017