ATTIC ARCHIVE POSTCARDS

The Attic in Union Street produced a set of postcards that were given out to visitors.

They featured some of the correspondents Pete Horobin was communicating with.

Each postcard has the image of a correspondent made entirely from the content of the letters they wrote to each other. These were done using the original cut and paste method, sentences and words physically cut from a page then reassembled and photocopied into these excellent portraits shown above.

So as a wee memento from Retro's recent visit to the Attic, here are the people in the cards above - Chris Horobin (Pete's brother) - Jack Saunders - Stefen Szczelkun - Susan Young - Mark Pawson - Philip Pilkington - Karen Strang - Barry Mitchell.

There is a good 2 part video up on Youtube made in Budapest showing the mountain of material from the Attic Archive they have in storage in the Artpool Gallery.

Boxes and boxes of stuff from Union Street being dipped into!

They go under the title of "From A to A - New Directions" (2 videos).

Here are the links -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUUsa5EQjYE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HppxEPH42c

Courtesy of The Attic Archive.

DESTRUCTION / CREATION - PART 1 - 1981

[The first public performance by the Prinicipal Player – and in fact the first work of performance art in Dundee – took place in February 1981 at Laing’s in Roseangle, which at the time served as the art college union. Horobin’s Destruction/Creation resulted in the destruction of all the inadequate and unnecessary paraphernalia of his painting course, including the tearing up of his diploma, pieces of which were then distributed among the audience. The action emphasised the inadequacy of a visual artist to communicate when compared to a rock band, symbolised in this instance by Boo Hooray.]

The top image is the poster for the Destruction / Creation event at Laings in Feb '81.
It was also used as the cover of a journal that documented the event in its various stages, featuring Pete in action along with Boo Hooray on stage and an engrossed group of art students!

Courtesy of The Attic Archive.

THE ATTIC ARCHIVE

It's time to take a delve into The Attic Archive and display some of the material that has been stashed away for 3 decades.

The Attic Archive in Union Street, closed down last year, the contents of which have since been distributed far & wide.

This was a space where lots of artwork was produced and stored, but a place that was visited by a select few.

It was the brainchild of artist, Pete Horobin, and it is mostly his work that will be showcased on Retro Dundee, including photos, art, ephemera, literature & recordings.

To give you a more detailed overview of The Attic Archive and Pete Horobins DATA project, here below is a more authoritative introduction...

[When Pete Horobin graduated from Duncan of Jordanstone college of Art in 1975 he began the habit of collecting daily ephemera and sealing it in cardboard boxes. These little time capsules led to a compulsive documentation which was to expand over the course of the ensuing 40 years.
Two seminal and influential projects – The Accessibility of the Art Object (1978) and Junk Into Art/Art Into Junk (1979) – prepared the ground for a more sustained and obsessive ten-year documentation called DATA – Daily Action Time Archive - which began precisely on 01.01.1980 and concluded just as precisely on 31.12.1989. DATA was intended to be an extremely detailed self-portrait of an ordinary working-class artist living within a very particular moment in time within a British welfare state culture. Horobin gave everything that he produced and amassed, equal status, which is to say that complex artworks were equal to little pieces of ephemera – everything was data. And this data could provide the components for more artworks and collaborations with other artists. DATA was self-published and freely distributed globally through the Mail Art Network. Parts of the DATA project are now archived in Dundee University, Dundee Central Library, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, and Artpool in Budapest which holds the greater percentage.
The creative life of Pete Horobin terminated with the precise conclusion of DATA and the activities of the DATA Attic - as an open space for artists to visit and correspond - closed down. The Attic continued to be a repository for Horobin’s output, and over the course of the following 15 years was occupied by various sympathetic art students. It was administered by Marshall Anderson, a freelance arts journalist, whose own journals and drawings were added to the archive. Anderson’s role concluded at the end of the 20thC and was taken on by Peter Haining whose activities as a researcher and artist were focused in Ireland where he made an audit of autodidactic self-expression and folk art. In 2005 Haining assumed responsibility for The Attic Archive and began to self-publish a series of DVDs & CDs, the contents of which deployed the considerable material within the archive.
Since the end of 2010 The Attic Archive has ceased to exist. Its many varied parts are now relocated in numerous museums and collections as follows –
The Museum of Childhood, Edinburgh.
The Museum of Communications, Burntisland, Fife.
Kirkcaldy Museum & Art Gallery, Fife.
McManus Museum & Art Gallery, Dundee.
Central Library, Dundee.
Dundee University Archives.
Artpool, Budapest.
The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh.
The National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh.
The National Irish Visual Art Library, Dublin.]

Courtesy of The Attic Archive.

SUPERCHARGE - BOWLING ALLEY - 1978

Below, is a rare live recording of a gig that took place at the Bowling Alley - AKA the Students Union in Marketgait.
This was the first of 4 visits by Supercharge, captured on reel to reel on 21st April 1978.
Supercharge were a decent funky disco band, but this track here called "She Moved The Dishes First" is something completely different to the rest of their musical output.
For some reason they thought it a good idea to include a comedy cabaret routine into their set, but I really don't think they did themselves any favours with this mix of soul doo-wop, laced with student rag mag humour. I suppose after 12 pints it might have been amusing - it seems to have gone down well with the crowd anyway - and the band did return to the venue 3 more times after this.
Anyway, after playing all those shows here , there's bound to be someone who can recall something of their visits to Dundee.
We'll wait and see..!!
Thanx to Brian Wilson - Bowling Alley DJ.

GOW'S FISHING BOOK - 1962

Not sure if yesterdays location was a place to go fishing but in 1962, Gow's in Union Street, brought out this catalogue showcasing the fishing equipment they had available at their shop.

The book had the full range of gear you'd expect - rods, reels, flies, waders, and so on, plus they also had a few gift items such as tankards, wallets, cigarette cases etc.

There was a brand of fishing equipment on the go at the time called the "Tayside" range, which included the Tayside Fly Rod, Spinning Rod, Artificial Bait, Sprat & Prawn Tackle, Cast Book, and the example shown here being the Tayside Bag.

While I was at it, I thought I'd stick on the Tayside Fly Rod section because it had an amusing error, detailing a "19ft" rod, when it should have been 10ft.

19ft?....what a whopper!

At the back of the book they list all the nearby rivers and lochs you could visit to indulge in the sport.

The book was also published locally - by David Winter.

NHS MARCH - PART 2 - MID 80'S

Stretching the full length of Lochee Road, the protesters march past Peter Flynn's fence down to the Marketgait and eventually arrive in the city square.

It was the Thatcher government who was in power at the time so needless to say they were the ones who brought upon the privatisation of the NHS, kick-starting these rallies in the first place - and still the battle rages today.

They'll be putting parking meters in ambulance depots next!

Photos by The Bear.

NHS MARCH - PART 1 - MID 80'S

Yes I know, there are a lot of photos to scroll through and I could have just plucked out a selected few to display instead, but I decided to post the whole caboodle because I reckon the people who crop up in them will not have seen them before, so thought I'd use this opportunity to include all the images I have for the participants and their families to see.

This NHS march was an "anti privatisation" protest that took place around 1986ish.

It starts off with the great gathering up at Dudhope Park (the DRI was still on the go back then) then from the Pleasance Bar on the corner of Gardeners Lane it snakes its way down Lochee Road heading for the city centre.

It was a good natured march with nurses leading the way, followed by fellow workers, unionists and family members. Even the police are smiling!

Some of the placards and banners are from the like of COHSE - NALGO - NUPE - TGWU etc...with a few home-maders too.

I will be putting a similar quantity up again tomorrow, so if you don't spot anyone you know in this bundle, perhaps you may have better luck with the second set.

To view the large versions, just give the pictures a click.

Photos by The Bear.

SAXON - MARKETGAIT GIG - 1979

Saxon's debut gig on Scottish turf took place on 21st September 1979 and the venue was the College of Technology Union in the Marketgait - or the Bowling Alley as we all called it.
The show was recorded by resident Bowling Alley DJ Brian Wilson and he has passed on this rare track to me from the gig, featuring the vocal delights of the Dundee crowd as an added bonus!
So here are the heavy metal rockers going back to the old style rock 'n' roll days with a song called "Bop Shoo Wop"...and getting all interactive in the process!
A lively wee beastie!
Big thanks to Brian.