Call for Papers: The LYC Museum & Art Gallery and the Museum as Practice

Call for papers for The LYC Museum & Art Gallery and the Museum as Practice an international conference to be held at the Manchester Art Gallery and University of Manchester on 6-7 March 2019.

The LYC Museum & Art Gallery (LYC Museum), located in the village of Banks astride Hadrian’s Wall, showcased the work of more than 320 artists between 1972 and 1983. Its transformation from dilapidated farm buildings into a hyperactive space for art was the single-minded effort of artist Li Yuan-chia (1929–1994), whose initials gave the museum its name. Artists shown ranged from local artists (Andy Christian, Susie Honour) to totemic national figures (Paul Nash, Barbara Hepworth) and contemporary artists, now of international renown (Lygia Clark, Andy Goldsworthy), but then barely known in Britain

This symposium proposes a consideration of the LYC Museum as an extension of Li’s pioneering participatory art practice; for example, he was one of six participants in Popa at Moma: Pioneers of Part-Art, at Museum of Modern Art, Oxford in 1971.

Moreover, the symposium highlights the role of the LYC Museum as a site from which to explore the questions of how friendships inform shared practices, generate work, and circulate stories. The networks and practices that the LYC Museum enabled and enriched have yet to be studied widely. For example, his friendship with the concrete poet and Benedictine monk, dom sylvester houédard, or the pioneering sound artist, Delia Derbyshire – Li’s assistant, and briefly partner, at the LYC Museum (1976–77).

This symposium invites contributions that consider the LYC Museum in the context of Li Yuan-Chia’s wider practice, and the role of friendships and affinities in the development and functioning of the LYC Museum. Proposals are welcomed on specific case studies, as well as those that frame a broader enquiry into the role of museums; and the place of friendships, affinities, and networks.

For more information and details on how to submit a paper please click here.

Image courtesy of the LYC Foundation and The University of Manchester. Li Yuan-Chia standing at the porch of the LYC Museum. The window was designed and made by artist David Nash.