Textiles and Papers of Fraser Taylor

Introductory text for the Instant Whip edited publication (https://radar.gsa.ac.uk/9491/), which discusses Fraser Taylor’s collection within GSA’s Archives and Collections, provides insights into how his practice has evolved and how Taylor returns to previous work to inform new ideas and collaborations. Images of Taylor's work courtesy of GSA Archives and Collections feature alongside the text

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Does Postmodern Mean Capitalist? On Postmodernism and the Planned Economy in Poland and the German Democratic Republic

Does postmodern mean capitalist? This article attempts to answer this question by comparing postmodern neo-historicism in two late socialist contexts: the People's Republic of Poland, where in the 1980s the planned economy was progressively eroding and postmodern architecture mostly sponsored by non-state clients (private individuals, small housing cooperatives and the Catholic Church), and the German Democratic Republic (GDR), where in the 1980s the institutions of the state-planned economy remained in power and commissioned prominent postmodern projects. The inception of postmodernism in the early 1980s is commonly linked to the rise of neoliberalism in Western countries, characterized by figures like Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. Many iconic postmodern buildings celebrated “capitalist values” such as private capital, entrepreneurialism, and consumerism. Theorists of the time identified postmodernism with the “neoliberal turn” in Western Europe and North America, marked by the decline of the welfare state, the privatization of housing and public assets, and increasing wealth disparity. However, the article explores the notion that postmodern architecture in Eastern bloc countries, including Poland and the GDR, had different motivations and values than its Western counterpart. Despite operating within planned economies, postmodernism was influential in these countries. In both Poland and East Germany postmodern architecture shared certain characteristics: a critique of modernism, the use of historical references and quotations, and the incorporation of vernacular models. In both countries the overall output of construction was comparatively small due to an ailing economy, which was nonetheless still stronger in East Germany than in Poland. There were nonetheless important distinctions between postmodernism in East Germany and Poland. In East Germany, the institutions of the planned economy remained intact due to comparative political stability. State control over construction was inflexible.Poland, in contrast, implemented quasi-capitalist structures earlier and more gradually. Non-state entities, such as cooperatives and the Catholic Church, gradually gained approval for construction projects. Within the limitations of the slumping economy this allowed young architects to experiment with postmodern ideas beyond ideological constraints. These initiatives eventually led to a diverse architectural environment that continued even after the socialist regime ended. The article highlights the role of the Catholic Church in Poland, with numerous postmodern churches built during the 1980s. These buildings often had strong connections to the longstanding discourse on the Polish nation, which under socialism continued to hold positive connotations among both socialist officials and members of the opposition. They also reflected a desire for spiritual truth, providing an alternative to the perceived superficiality of socialist ideology. At the same time there were next to no postmodern projects financed by state institutions under the control of the ruling socialist party, the Polish Unified Workers’ Party. In this context, the article mentions churches such as Ascension Church in Warsaw-Ursynów (1980-85, Marek Budzyński, Zbigniew Badowski, Piotr Wicha), St Jadwiga in Kraków (1983-89, Romuald Loegler, Jacek Czekaj), or Our Lady Queen of Poland in Głogów (1985-89, Marian Fikus, Jerzy Gurawski). The article also discusses cooperative multi-family houses such as the infills on Legionów Józefa Piłsudskiego 2 in Kraków (1985-89, Wojciech Obtułowicz, Danuta Oledzka-Baran) or Przestrzenna 19-19A in Wrocław (1986, Anna Bożek-Nowicka), and the rebuilt old town of Elbląg (1979 master plan by Wiesław Anders, Szczepan Baum and Ryszard Semka, from 1983 revised and implemented under the influence of conservationist Maria Lubocka-Hoffmann, building design by various architects). In East Germany, postmodern projects were primarily initiated and financed by state institutions, aligning with the goals of the ruling Socialist Unity Party. The Nikolaiviertel project in East Berlin (1979-87, Günter Stahn and others) for example, recreated an old town using prefabricated concrete slabs, aiming to improve the state's image. However, such projects were less innovative and more utilitarian. Next to the Nikolaiviertel the article discusses projects such as the Friedrichstadt Palace (1983 Manfred Prasser and others) and the Zentrum Marzahn (1978, Wolf Eisentraut, Dietmar Bankert and others) in East Berlin, the Marktplatz area in Halle (1984-1989, Oswald Arlt and others) and the Five Gable House (1984-1986, Peter Baumbach and Erich Kaufmann) and surrounding buildings in Rostock. The economic underpinnings of postmodernism differed significantly in both countries. Poland's postmodern architecture largely emerged from private clients and non-state entities, reflecting the influence of capitalist pluralism. In East Germany, postmodern projects were predominantly top-down initiatives aimed at projecting an image of plurality, but firmly rooted in the institutions of the planned economy. The article argues that while the different economic regimes in Poland and the GDR did not lead to prominent stylistic discrepancies, they strongly influenced significance and perception of these projects in their particular national contexts. Challenging the notion that postmodernism is solely a product of advanced capitalism, the article argues that postmodern architecture in Poland and East Germany was shaped by capitalist ideas and values absorbed by non-capitalist regimes. Furthermore, it highlights the role of postmodernism in these countries as a reflection of their unique historical, political, and cultural contexts, distinct from the Western narrative

SALTHOUSE (FILM) 2023

SALTHOUSE takes place in two distinct but connected settings. The first is an abandoned Salthouse at Prestwick beach on the west coast of Scotland: semi-rural, post-industrial, intertwined with the natural world yet apart from it. The second is in the corridors of the McLellan Galleries in the nearby city of Glasgow – a place once culturally alive and physically salubrious, now abandoned, dilapidated, fungus growing from its walls. The two places are haunted by the film’s sole protagonist, a woman costumed in natural shells and drift wood, black lace, antique lampshades, and drawings printed on her skirt. This woman – or, perhaps, creature – haunts the spaces of the film, collecting sea water in a pot one segment, carrying that pot through the gallery corridors in the next .The defunct and decrepit interiors, the decayed confusion of nature and artifice, human and inhuman, reflect the failures of modernism but also the continuing nostalgic appeal that ‘lost future’ holds. Salt house was shown as part of an exhibition in the Reid Corridor Gallery Space that took it's name from the title of the film. The exhibition showcased latest SALTHOUSE (2023). Alongside the new film photographs from a selection of my films made over the past 14 years were exhibited. The closing event was held on the Tuesday 27th @ 5pm February in the Ried auditorium where Carl Lavery, Professor of the Theatre anPerformance, University of Glasgow was in conversation with the artist, this event included a screening SALTHOUSE (2023)

Envelope

‘Envelope’ is a fictional character study commissioned for the solo exhibition, ‘Leaves Turn Inside You’ by Charlie Hodgson at David Dale Gallery (Glasgow). This highly compressed and elliptical prose describes imaginary and real power struggles enacted in the medium of conversation. Through ‘Envelope’ the political and personal stakes of talking in social and public space are overlaid with interior monologues. ‘Envelope’ was written in response to a painting by Hodgson with the same title but veers into autobiographical writing and fuses memories of a car crash with observations on painterly touch. Protracted conversational loops are set in motion against the backdrop of a shattered windscreen which melts. This is an experimental character study which threads together moments of intense interiority, repressed anger and observations of exteriority. Together these strands create a stilted, asymmetrical conversation and an introduction to a painting of a shattered windscreen behind which lays a blank envelope

A Deficit Her Data

This study aims to embody a mindfulness-based approach to design research inquiry with ADHD Women. So that we may explore its potential to enrich both the research experience itself, and generate insights that can shape foundational components of healthcare experience design. Future healthcare envisions “patient empowerment” driven by health tracking and “self-management” technologies. Within this purview, ADHD Women present an entanglement of healthcare design challenges. Themes of gendered diagnostic data, accessibility issues, and potential challenges with design participation offer abundant opportunities to frustrate the research, design and development process. The study seeks to enter this space, by creating an empathetic design research pathway, in which to mindfully explore diagnostic perceptions. The mindfulness paradigm is defined here, as the cultivation of awareness, compassion and right action. Clinical trials have evidenced long-term positive impacts of mindfulness training on symptoms and general well-being in the ADHD community. The study aims to build on this success, by exploring how mindfulness praxes may be introduced into a group design setting. So that ADHD Women may be mindfully supported to create insights that inform future diagnostic support solutions. Six women will be invited to participate in online workshops, to investigate current ‘lived experiences’ of female ADHD diagnosis in Scotland. In doing so, contributions will be made to the fields of healthcare design research and the ADHD community

The effectiveness of a 3D Virtual Reality model of a paediatric abdominal Neuroblastoma for surgical planning and junior doctor education

Neuroblastoma (NB) is a rare embryonic cancer that presents surgical challenges, particularly in high-risk cases. High-risk cases are those stratified according to image-defined risk factors (IDRFs) on medical imaging. In abdominal NB, common IDRFs include encasement of major vessels: the abdominal aorta and inferior vena cava (IVC) amongst others, which poses an increased surgical risk. With a surgical resection goal of over 90% for optimal survival, three-dimensional (3D) models derived from patient datasets have proven beneficial for pre-surgical planning. This chapter presents the framework used to create a prototype 3D Neuroblastoma model within a virtual reality (VR) application for surgical planning and junior doctor education. The 3D VR model displays a large abdominal neuroblastoma with encasement of the IVC and inferior mesenteric artery (IMA), spatial relationship to the abdominal aorta, tributary vessels and abdominal organs. Key features of the VR development include (i) tumour transparency, (ii) a customisable interactive toggle display, (iii) CT dataset overlay, (iv) 360-degree rotation of the model, (v) medical information relating to neuroblastoma, including tumour volume and (vi) notation. User testing was conducted at the Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow (RHCG) with 20 medical professionals participating. Results demonstrate the application had a good usability rating (SUS 79.75) and sense of presence (ITC-SOPI) rating, with resulting scores in each category; Sense of Presence (Mean 3.75 ± 0.55 SD), Engagement (Mean 4.08 ± 0.4 SD), Ecological Validity (Mean 3.72 ± 0.83 SD), and Negative Effect (Mean 1.77 ± 0.78 SD). A counterbalanced anatomical identification experiment comparing the 2D dataset to the 3D VR model showed a significant difference (p <.05) in errors committed between the control and VR group, demonstrating that participants performed better in VR (MVR = 0.35, σ 0.59) compared to 2D (Mcontrol = 0.85, σ = 0.93). A significant difference (p < 0.05) was also noted in the evolution of error between groups, suggesting that Group 1 participants who have first undertaken the control condition and then VR, have seen the number of errors decreasing indicating that the VR condition promotes greater accuracy for anatomical identification. Limitations to this study include a small participant number (n=20) and a broad spectrum of knowledge among participants. Future research could address such limitations by increasing participant numbers and narrowing the education-level demographic, focusing on one cohort of participants

L’habit fait-il le genre de l’écolier ? La question de la mode genrée à l’épreuve de l’institution scolaire dans la France de la deuxième moitié du XXème siècle à nos jours. [Gender construction in the school environment, France, from the 1950s onwards].

Gender construction through clothing for children in French schools is particularly observed until the 1970s. Whether through strict regulations or simply by monitoring dress codes in a gendered school, the clothing differentiation between girls and boys takes place in the sharing of a common role: that of the schoolchild. The opening of schools to the notion of co-education through the cohabitation of girls and boys in the same spaces, leads to the attenuation of this distinction in gendered dress codes. The political and pedagogical choices which contribute to the mixing of genders in school, and to certain extent the estate constraints of the school institution after the Second World War, have certainly contributed to the appearance of a mixed fashion inspired by male style and reinvents the codes of children's fashion. The girls' pants are representative of this emancipation of childrenswear which, from the schoolyard, will influence adults dress code. Based on the analysis of regulatory texts, photographs of schoolchildren and fashion archives, this chapter first explores gendered fashion in French schools of the 20th and 21st centuries and the echo of this movement in school regulations. Secondly, the study of the shapes and types of clothes worn by pupils, and more specifically the appearance of trousers among girls, sheds light on the influence of the institution on gender construction in childhood, and finally on the fashion industry in a particular historical context

Solo Exhibition: Michael Stubbs, Cornerstone Gallery. Liverpool Hope University, UK, 2024

This solo exhibition, funded by Liverpool Hope University, aimed to showcase new paintings that included digital images and to include at least one double panel combination that I begun experimenting with for the first time in my last solo exhibition in 2023. The choice of all the works presented were determined by the particularity of the exhibition space which meant that two very large paintings were exhibited (one with a small panel attached), and eight very small paintings to accommodate the column walls between the large windows. Since the early 2000s my work has consistently used processes of visual layering as an open-ended, improvisatory painting style that shows fragmentations of signage and text. My paintings are constructed by combining poured, abstract configurations of transparent varnishes and opaque household paints with ready-made graphic stencils. The repeated pouring, in conjunction with the signs, form a physical process of flat-on-flat layering that reveals multiple perspectives and optical depths. In this way the paintings work through a series of impulses, riffs, accidents, false-starts and changes of mind, to arrive at a moment of dynamic complexity that can’t be planned. I have recently incorporated digital images of studio materials and tools to refer the viewer to the act of making a painting in the age of internet overload

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