AREA URBANIZADA (U)

‘Spaghetti without Tears’ was developed as part of a broader idea for providing support to artists and galleries working with media technologies and throughout its own history Moviola had become well attuned to the range of problems presented by making and exhibiting media art, as well as relying heavily on loaned technology for early screenings and the first two Video Positive festivals.526 This recognition that artists and art galleries needed to have easy access to technological equipment led to the establishment of the Moving Image Touring and Exhibition Service (MITES) in April 1992 following discussions with the ACGB that can be traced to September 1991.527 Clive Gillman was the architect of the project and envisaged a service that would not only provide equipment for other

524 _{ibid., p.3} 525

Gillman, interviewed by the author, 27 July 2010 526

Berg (2003a), “Video Positive ‘89,” p.11; Haskel, interviewed by the author, 21 January 2010 527_{Moviola: A Development Agency, Board Papers 12 March 1992, (Available: FACT Archive, Box –} Board File 1, Folder – Moviola Board Papers 1992-1993)

galleries, but could offer technical support for those accessing the service. He also stated a desire to offer training courses and workshops for curatorial staff, and to undertake cutting edge research and development of media technologies.528

Clive Gillman joined Moviola on a freelance basis prior to Video Positive 1991 having previously worked with London Video Arts (LVA). LVA had been supporting media artists during the 1980s by hiring its video editing suite, although its services were more suited to artists than curators.529 In a handwritten fax sent by Gillman to Eddie Berg in September 1991, Gillman outlined a threefold vision for the service, namely the provision of direct technical support for galleries, training and education, and research and development.530 Following a short period of refinement, the service launched in 1992 with six aims, which were:

1. To provide access to subsidised audio/visual exhibition resources for curators and artists working with the touring and exhibition of moving image art 2. To provide an advice service for curators and artists working with the touring

and exhibition of moving image art

3. To provide access to technical support services for curators and artists working with the touring and exhibition of moving image art

4. To provide training opportunities for exhibitors and artists working with the touring and exhibition of moving image art

5. To provide video documentation service for exhibitors and artists working with the touring and exhibition of moving image art

6. To provide a research and development platform for the investigation and exploitation of new technologies for artists working with the touring and exhibition of moving image art531

Funding for the project, however, was reserved for capital investment and although these aims demonstrate that Gillman was keen to integrate a research and development strand,

528 _{Gillman, C., Handwritten fax to Eddie Berg, 25 September 1991, (Available: FACT Archive, Box –} Funding and Grants 1, Folder – ACE 1991)

529

Gillman, interviewed by the author, 27 July 2010 530

ibid.

531_{Key Mission of MITES, Board Papers 18 June 1992, (Available: FACT Archive, Box – Board File 1,} Folder – Moviola Board Papers 1992-1993)

it was in the creation of an “extensive equipment resource pool,”532 and an associated training programme, that MITES focused its energies.

MITES was built around a central ethos that “skill and advice are not a luxury,”533 and as the first service of its kind in Britain,534 it played a significant role in introducing media artworks to the gallery system. This ethos contributed to Moviola using MITES to:

Assist in the development of a climate in which exhibitors have the confidence to make bold, radical programming decisions with the firm knowledge that these decisions can be supported by the necessary skills and resources.535

As discussed in Chapter 2.1, Moviola was attempting to deliver a programme of this nature through the Video Positive festivals, and by the end of the Video Positive era, MITES was established as “a unique national resource” which was unrivalled despite criticisms that it was not located in London.536 Nevertheless, by the end of the 1990s, FACT claimed that MITES had supported over 600 artists and exhibitors, provided technology for nearly 300 exhibitions,537 and in so doing, had worked with 95% of all exhibitions which used new technologies from 1992–1998.538 Evidence to support FACT’s claims is not available in its archive, although Gillman states that MITES had a “near monopoly on providing exhibition technology” in the 1990s.539 According to documentation in his personal archive, in 2001/02 the service supported almost 120 projects, including working with renowned artists such as Carolee Schneeman and Gillian Wearing, galleries such as Tate Britain and the Whitechapel Gallery in London, and other art organisations as far-reaching as Brighton,

532

Moviola: A Development Agency, Board Papers 12 March 1992, (Available: FACT Archive, Box – Board File 1, Folder – Moviola Board Papers 1992-1993)

533_{The Moving Image Touring and Exhibition Service Interim Report, January 1991, (Available: FACT} Archive, Box – FACT Centre Mail, Folder – MITES)

534

Berg, E. (2003e), “Foreword” in FACT Annual, ed. E. Berg, M. Brewster and E. Oliver, Liverpool: FACT, pp.5-6 (p.6)

535_{The Moving Image Touring and Exhibition Service Interim Report, January 1991, (Available: FACT} Archive, Box – FACT Centre Mail, Folder – MITES)

536

Gillman, interviewed by the author, 27 July 2010

537 _{Clive Gillman suggests that this figure may be a reflection of the number of individual hires rather} than whole exhibitions, whereby five artists requiring support from MITES in a single show may have been counted as five projects (Gillman, C. (Director, Dundee Contemporary Arts, former Lead Artist and Associate Director, FACT) email message to the author, 25 June 2012)

538

Foundation for Art & Creative Technology Business Plan: Update (1997/98), (Available: FACT Archive, Box – Admin General 1; Folder – Business Plans 1997-2000)

539 _{MITES Self-Assessment: 2001/02, (Available: Clive Gillman’s Personal Archive); Gillman, email} message to the author, 25 June 2012

Edinburgh, Norwich and Burnley. By 2003, Gillman claims that MITES had celebrated its thousandth hire.540